by A. Star
We held each other afterward, like two people who had just discovered love. It must have been the swelling of my heart that made me confess. Or maybe I just didn’t want there to be any lies keeping us from being together.
“I didn’t find your Chronolier at a pawn shop,” I said. I didn’t shy away from his gaze. If he was going to be upset with me for lying, then I wanted him to know it was okay and I deserved it.
But Irving’s smile was gentle. “I know.”
“You do?” I had a thought. “The verity meter.”
“Actually, no. I realized in the Hindu Kush you lied about my Chronolier. Your grandmother was Adele Delvaux. I have no doubt that she gave it to you.”
I shook my head, more at the fact that I’d always thought Addie’s last name was Favreau. Elena too. More lies. “She didn’t give it to me. I found it in her basement in an old box. I don’t think she meant for anyone to ever get their hands on it, let alone me.”
“Glory.” Irving lifted my hand and kissed it. “Adele Delvaux did not just toss a Chronolier into a box and hide it in her underground chamber for no one to find. Think about it. She had me at her mercy for years and never once summoned me or turned me over to the League. What does that tell you?”
My chest clenched. Could it be? “Addie was protecting you.”
Irving nodded once. “I only encountered Adele Delvaux once, but in that single encounter, I knew that she was resentful of her duty and that she hunted because she had to, not because she wanted to. Now I have my proof. A true hunter never would have hidden a Chronolier from the League of the Black Cloud. Especially not the Chronolier of Irving Amir.”
“So you knew my grandmother? Like, knew her?”
“Yes, but not in the way I knew of Madeleine Delvaux, who by the age of thirteen had already killed over forty Djinn.”
I gasped. “Forty Djinn?” My mother’s been a killer since she was a child. “I’m so sorry, Irving. I don’t—”
“Why are you apologizing? You are not responsible for your family’s actions regardless of bloodline. You are innocent in this, do you understand me?”
I nodded, but it was so hard not to feel guilty. How could I not have known that the women in my family were murderers, that killing was their hobby? How could I not have seen the deadly glint in my mother’s eyes every time she looked at me? How could the same woman who read me bedtime stories as a child and taught me to swim be a cold-blooded killer, and one that enjoyed it? It didn’t make any sense to me.
And Elena. I didn’t even know what to say about her. Other than Ash, she was like my best friend. We practically grew up together and we shared everything. Except this, it seemed. Words could not express how betrayed I felt.
“How did Mom and Elena know about the Chronolier?” I asked in a tiny voice. Irving squeezed my hand and I knew he wanted me to explain. “In the Hindu Kush, Mom said Elena suspected that I had your Chronolier all along.” I met his eyes. “How did they know that Old Addie had hidden it?”
Irving shrugged. “I have never, in all of my existence, been in the service of a hunter or anyone even associated with them. So I could not tell you why or how she acquired my Chronolier or why she would risk everything to protect me. But for you, I will find out.”
I nodded, knowing that he would.
He took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you, Glory.”
By his tone, I could tell I wasn’t going to like it. But I nodded for him to continue anyway.
“The Djinn kind live an existence surrounded by threes,” he began. “Three turns of the key. Three rules to wishes. Three wishes to be granted.” He squeezed my hand. “Three days for you to come back to life.”
My heartbeat slowed. “So I—”
“Yes. You died, Glory.”
For a moment, I had no words. What it felt like to be told that you had come back from the dead after you had just convinced yourself that you had managed to live through the worst day of your life…well, I had no real response. Just one word. “How?” And even that one word came out as a whisper.
Irving told me, though it was apparent it was the last thing he wanted to do. “When you were shot, I was right there beside you, but there was nothing I could do but watch you bleed to death. I was so helpless. The arrow was poisoned and I could not save you. I was forced to let you die,” he said, “because you did not wish for it.”
My eyes, which had been focused on my lap, raised to look at Irving.
“What are you saying?” I breathed.
“I can only grant the wishes of the one who has possession of my Chronolier, Glory.” His watery eyes turned away from me. “But you died, and the moment your heart stopped beating, you were not my master anymore.”
I swallowed hard, realizing what he was about to say and wishing on a star that it wasn’t true.
“No…”
“We were desperate. We had to make a decision before your soul slipped from my grasp and I could never be with you again.”
“No…”
“Madeleine was hysterical. So was I. Elena had no choice.”
“No…”
“We had no other choice, Glory. Elena had to do it. It was the only way to save you.”
“No.”
“I am so sorry, my love.”
“No!” The tears burst from my eyes. The truth was more than I could bear.
I was no longer Irving’s master. Elena was.
I sat alone for an hour or so, coming to terms with the fact that Irving no longer belonged to me. He had assured me that he still loved me and that nothing would ever come between us again, but I didn’t believe him. How could I? The one thing we dreaded most had happened. A hunter was his master now and there was not a damn thing we could do about it. The only bright side? That hunter was not Madeleine Delvaux.
By the time Irving could no longer stand to be away from me, I was ready to talk and welcomed the second glass of water he brought me. I was parched, though I still didn’t have an appetite. I didn’t understand how that could be possible since I hadn’t eaten a single morsel in three days.
“Tell me about my mom,” I said as he settled himself in next to me on the bed. “Tell me who Madeleine Delvaux really is.”
“Are you sure you want to know, Glory?”
Of course, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the truth about my mother. But I needed to know. How could I ever move forward without knowing?
“Tell me everything,” I said.
Irving nodded once, then began. “Madeleine Delvaux is one of the most feared hunters in all of Shrinelyn,” he said. “She despises Djinn, always has, but even more so after she met and fell in love with a Djinn named Karaman.”
My eyes widened with surprise. “My mom was getting it on with a Djinn?”
“Yes, though to this day it is rumored that Madeleine only pretended to love Karaman so that she could infiltrate the palace and get close to the Sultan. Karaman was my uncle’s closest advisor on the Grand Council and had all the rights of a royal at the palace.”
I frowned. “Why would my mom want to kill the Sultan?”
“It is well known that the Sultan is the ultimate target for all the hunters, though I don’t believe for a moment that Madeleine feigned her love for Karaman just so she could assassinate my uncle.” Irving stuck me with a hard stare. “I know, because my uncle still lives and the beautiful evidence of Madeleine and Karaman’s affair is sitting right here with me.”
I swore the Earth stopped spinning in that very moment. I looked at Irving and tried to force him to take it all back and tell me the truth. But he didn’t take it back, and he didn’t look away. I thought about what Irving had said, about the arrow I’d been shot with being poisoned. If it had been black ash from Crypt, which I was sure it was, then there was my proof.
Still, I was in shock and could barely get my next words out. “So this Karaman was my—”
“Father, yes. You’re half-Djinn, Glory.”
&
nbsp; The words sunk in slowly. I was half-Djinn. My father had lived and served in Shrinelyn, on the Sultan’s Council, and Irving had known him. I was half-Djinn. I was half-Djinn. True to form, my first instinct was to find a reason why it couldn’t be true, despite the evidence that proved that it was.
“But…I don’t look anything like a Djinn.”
“That isn’t unusual. Most flaws resemble their human parent more than their Djinn one.”
“Most what resemble huh?”
“Flaws. It’s a term we often use when referring to half-Djinn.”
I rolled my eyes and settled back against my pillow. “This just keeps getting better and better. I thought being related to hunters was bad. No, now I’m a fucking flaw. A wart on the ass of Shrinelyn.”
“You are no such thing, Glory St. Pierre. You are perfect, half-Djinn or not, and I love you.”
I squeezed his hand. I knew that he did. “So what happened?” I asked. “With my mother and Karaman?”
Irving’s expression hardened. “There was yet another great battle between the Djinn kind and the hunters. Many were lost and nothing was accomplished. But it was at this time that the hunters attempted to assassinate the Sultan.”
My eyes widened. “Was it my mom?”
“No. But she was there and one hundred hunters accompanied her, including Carter Ruiz, the commander of the League of the Black Cloud, and Karaman. Now, after years of reliving the events in my mind, I believe that Carter did not involve Madeleine in his plot against the Sultan, but rather used her to gain access to Shrinelyn and the palace through Karaman. The hunters almost succeeded too, but Ada discovered the plot and foiled it before the hunters could carry out their plan. Very few escaped with their lives, but unfortunately, Ruiz was one of them. Later, when an imprisoned hunter revealed that Karaman was Ruiz’s confidant, he was also imprisoned and questioned. His confession came easy.” Irving shifted on the bed. “Ada has a very…compelling manner when it comes to discovering the secrets others conspire to hide.”
I thought back to what my mom had said to me about Ada being dangerous and how I trembled in the princess’ presence. Karaman, my father, had been tortured for the information Ada Amir sought. I didn’t know how to feel about that at all.
“Why didn’t he run?” I asked. “When everything fell apart, why didn’t Karaman run and save himself?”
“I do not know, Glory.” Something told me that he did know, but I didn’t push it. There were more important things to learn from this conversation.
“So what happened to him after he confessed?” I asked.
“The Grand Council imprisoned him for all time in Mount Sucha, which is how we have always dealt with traitors to the crown, including Munir Khan.” Irving drew in a breath then let it slowly blow past his lips. I could tell he wasn’t at all comfortable with this conversation, but I needed him to keep going. I had to know.
“But that was not enough for Ada,” he continued. “Not where her father was concerned. An outright plot to murder the Sultan could not be passed off with imprisonment, not with the consequences of the Khan rebellion still plaguing our history. So my cousin forced the Grand Council to sanction Karaman’s execution.”
Something twisted in my gut and I choked down a gasp. Karaman was dead? For some reason, I’d allowed hope to bloom the second I’d learned my birth father’s name. Hope that I would actually get to meet him face-to-face and finally know where the other half of me came from. Of course, Peter would always be my dad, but I’d just thought… Well, that didn’t matter now. Karaman was dead and it was Ada Amir’s fault.
“Well, at least I now know why my mom hates your family so much,” I mumbled. “The Amirs executed the man she loved.”
“We executed a traitor,” Irving replied, picking up on my conflicted feelings. “A traitor to the Sultan is a traitor to all of Shrinelyn. Yes, Ada acted with selfish intentions, but she also acted for the good of our kingdom. Despite her many flaws, I have never doubted Ada’s love for our kind, and you should not either.”
“Yeah, but what about my mom? What about me?”
“Madeleine was our enemy then and remains so now. Her desires, her love for Karaman would have never been taken into consideration. And as for you…no one could have guessed that Madeleine was to soon birth a child. After Karaman’s death, she disappeared, along with your grandmother and several other hunters, including Ruiz. We let them go. They were the hunters, not us. We wanted peace. And after Madeleine Delvaux and Carter Ruiz vanished, we got it.”
I looked away, frustrated that I couldn’t make out who to guilt with the state of affairs between the two realms. I’d picked a side and I stuck by that decision, but did that mean that I was supposed to just stand by while the Djinn obliterated the hunters, humans, just like I was? I was conflicted once again and it didn’t help that I now knew I was half-Djinn. Both realms deserved my allegiance, and I could see how from the outside looking in it would seem the League was the antagonist in all of this. But the Djinn were not innocent, by any means. It pissed me off that I was even in this position. I hated being backed into fucking corners.
There was a knock at my door. I looked up to see Elena standing in the doorway, knuckles resting against the wooden door frame. I stiffened and struggled with whether to invite my aunt in or tell her to kick rocks. I wanted to do both.
Elena apparently sensed my hesitation. “I’m not here to make trouble or apologize. We are way past that, and nothing I say could make amends.”
She was damn right about that. I looked at Irving, asking him how he felt about her presence with my eyes. Not that it mattered really. She was his fucking master now.
“If you want me to go, I will,” Elena said. I hesitated a moment and then gestured for her to come in.
“Mom still sleep?” I croaked. I reached for my water and Irving handed the glass to me.
Elena stepped inside and dropped down into my armchair after I nodded that it was okay. Despite my pissivity, it felt weird that she had to ask permission and felt even more strange that I had to grant it. Things were already changing between us and I didn’t like it at all. “Yes, she’s still asleep. She’d been sitting by your side since you were shot. I think she may have slept two hours total. I finally made her leave some hours ago, and once she was knocked out, I got some much needed shut-eye of my own.”
I nodded. “So I hear you’re Irving’s master now.” I felt no need to beat around the bush with her. If that made her uncomfortable, oh well. She’d lied to me all my life so it served her right.
“I did what I had to do to save your life, Glory.”
“But not because you felt guilty, right?”
Elena seemed surprised at my accusation. “You’re my niece, Glory. You have always been the most important person in this world to me. How could you ever think that I would risk everything to save your life for any other reason besides the fact that I love you?”
I snorted. “Risks? What risks? You have exactly what you wanted. Irving Amir in your service. It’s only a matter of time before you hand him over to the League of the Black Cloud.”
“Never,” she said. “The League will never get their hands on the Chronolier of Irving Amir.”
My eyes narrowed, not trusting her words. “Why would you protect Irving?”
Elena averted her eyes, like she was ashamed. Or embarrassed. “I was never revered like Kit was within the League. I was always just Madeleine Delvaux’s baby sister, more or less because I shared Maman’s sentiments toward the Djinn kind. I never understood why we hunted them, or why Maman never left the League even though she despised it and everything it stood for. It was only after Maman became too old to hunt that I found out that Carter Ruiz had threatened Kit and I. If she had tried to leave the League, he would have had us all hunted and killed. Besides, Kit loved being a hunter so much that Maman was afraid that Kit wouldn’t cooperate if we decided to run. So she stayed.”
I took a moment to proces
s that. “Okay. How did Old Addie get her hands on Irving’s Chronolier?”
Elena shrugged. “I don’t know. It was only about five years ago that Ruiz informed us that he suspected Maman had the Chronolier and that he thought it had been in her possession since before the attack on Shrinelyn. That shocked us because the League had been hunting for Irving for centuries and we couldn’t believe our mother could have the Chronolier and not say something. So we questioned her about it, but she denied having ever laid eyes on it. Kit didn’t believe her, and I have to admit, neither did I. That’s when the trips began.”
I nodded. “I remembered you guys were always going on “shopping” trips when I was in high school and Dad would never give me more than the basic details about where you were going or why I couldn’t go with you. I hated you guys so much for not inviting me on a single trip. Now I know why.”
My aunt nodded. “We wanted to keep you away from the League for as long as possible, so we never let you come with us. We traveled to some pretty shady places in search of that Chronolier. Kit was so sure Maman had gone to great lengths to hide it from us, and her chronic desire to please Ruiz, even after what had happened with Karaman, blinded her. Blinded me too, I guess. Because never did we once think to look in Adele Delvaux’s basement.” Elena laughed. “It was right there under our noses all along, hiding in plain sight. She must have known that she’d probably be dead before we ever found it.”
“Still, she took a chance,” Irving said. “Either one of you could have discovered my Chronolier. It was simply luck that it was Glory.”
Elena disagreed. “Maman’s basement was Glory’s playground as a kid. She played dress-up and make-believe and all sorts of games down there. I think Maman hid it there on purpose, knowing that if anyone found it, it would most likely be Glory.”
“But I hadn’t been down there in years,” I said. “Yet, she didn’t bother to move it or anything. Why?”
None of us had an answer for that question.
“I need you to know that I will never try to keep him from you, Glory,” Elena said, gesturing at Irving. “Not if you want him. Not if you love him.”