A figure stood in a long cloak that reached the cobblestones. Dark eyes glowed from underneath the hood, watching me with hunger.
“Who are you?” I breathed, terrified my words were as frozen as the talwar in my hand.
“You know who I am.”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to voice what I suspected.
Because saying it out loud meant this had turned into something far beyond my control. That not only did I have to deal with my own world, but another one too.
An unseen one.
There was a beat of silence so long it felt as if a lifetime stretched between us. And then I said a single word, the one I had been afraid to utter.
“Djinn.”
Forty-one
The djinn who stood before me smiled, his teeth straight and white, like small chips of diamonds in an ageless face.
He looked human like me, just older. Or younger. I couldn’t quite tell. And he stared as if he knew me, which I found much more troubling.
I didn’t want to be known by a djinn.
“You are different from the last human I bargained with. She had a black vengeance in her soul that could not be contained. But Vahid had the same hunger as you.”
His ageless voice shot through me, cold and impersonal. Then his hold on me lessened, and my frozen limbs thawed until my sword dropped. Words stuck in my mouth like cold ghee, but I pushed past my fear. Noor was still captured, and I didn’t have much time to help her.
“You are the djinn that gave Vahid his power?”
The djinn smiled again, as if he took delight in my question—no, as if he took pride in it.
“Vahid was a simple farmer then, raging about the injustices of the kingdoms.” The djinn chuckled, though his face barely moved. “He rambled about how the children in his village died from starvation,and that he would make the king pay for creating the famine. He had suchhatredmanifesting inside him.” The djinn sounded gleeful. “I warned him that if he wanted my power he would have to accept the cost as well. I warned him, but you see, he didn’t listen.” The djinn’s eyes were ravenous.
I inhaled sharply, a word he used burning my insides like acid.
“Thecost?” My voice was a whisper, and I wasn’t sure if I was more scared of my question or his answer.
The djinn leaned forward, his eyes gleaming. “Surely you feel it? Hmm? The leaching of yourself. The darkness that is eating away at you the more you consume. Some take years to feel it. But humans that use as much as you do, thatfeelas much as you do, they experience it almost immediately.”
My mind whirled. That voice I kept hearing. Those instances of deep anger that made me feel like I was going out of my mind. The moments where it felt like the rage had blackened my vision. It had nearly taken over when I’d been with Mazin, egging me on to get revenge, but my own small voice had fought back. I clutched the hilt of my sword tight, my fingers unsteady, despite knowing my blade would do little good against the creature before me.
“Why are you here now?” I desperately wished my voice didn’t shake, and that I could stand firm on my feet, instead of edging away from him like my skin wanted to leave more than I did.
He smiled again, that haunting, intense stare. “To offer you the same bargain I offered Vahid—a piece of my power. A piece of djinn magic that will give you your vengeance.”
I inhaled, my breath catching in my throat, my chest feeling like it would explode.
But there was something bitter at the back of my throat, and I turned one word over in my mouth.
Bargain.
This was not a gift. It would always have a cost.
“I already have access to your power, djinn. I don’t need to bargain for it.”
“You have access to a grain of sand compared to what I can give you. If you want to save your friend, I can give you everything you need to do it.”
I exhaled, knowing he spoke the truth. I had no chance of saving Noor with the power I had now. If he gave me something I could destroy Thohfsa with, I could take Vahid down…
