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Maybe the vizier wasn’t so crazy after all. Had I really just summoned a genie? Gods, I hoped so. I could do with a wish right now. Top of my list—get me the hell out of there. Second and just as important—save mybrother.
The smoke molded into strong, muscled legs covered by billowy pants that started at the knees. Well-built arms sprang from a vest barely covering a hard chest. Chiseled jaw, smooth, tanned skin, and brown eyes, like cinnamon with a fiery-red ring around the outside. Hair as dark as the night sky, shaved above his ear, the length pinned back in a long ponytail. A little beard plaited and bound together draped from hischin.
Gods.I shuffled backward, taken aback by his beauty. I felt a tug at myheart.
The genie touched his chest, as if he felt the same thing too. He got down on one knee. “Your wish is my command,Master.”
Sunlight reflected off the gold wristbands hewore.
Crap. Right when I needed to utter a few simple words, like, “take me home,” my mouth opened and closed, unable to make apeep.
“At last,” cried the vizier, clasping his hands. “Ultimate power at mycommand.”
Damn. All the fear, shock, and confusion had made my brain seize; I’d forgotten the evil vizier wanted the genie for himself. The dark flame spasmed in his palm, as if the prospect of more magic excited it. Smog fanned off the vizier and twisted through the air over thepit.
Crap. That can’t begood.
But before I could even warn the genie, yellow and blue smoke began piping out of the lamp, too, curling into two more genies, bringing my total to three. Both men were just as handsome as the first, each in different ways. One a brunette and the other with a gorgeous, golden mane. There went my heart again, twanging like a sitar for allthree.
Excitement skated up my spine. I was at a loss for words—something that never happened. I couldn’t believe my luck. One genie granted three wishes. Did that mean by unleashing three, I earned nine ofthem?
The yellow-vested genie, the smallest of the three, gave me a wink and flashed a cheeky smile. “At last, a pretty master.” The gold ring in his blue eyes—the same color as his clothes—shimmered.
My gorgeous daydream was suddenly brought to a halt by the vizier’s grating laugh andclapping.
“Three! Three!” hecheered.
Above us, lines of dark magic crisscrossed over each other, in what looked like the top of abirdcage.
“A trap,” said the red-clothedgenie.
My pulse cranked up anotch.
To my left, one a guard looped a noose on a long pole around one of the tiger’s necks. It roared, thrashed and scratched at the rope, and the guard lost his hold and fell to the ground. The tiger scrambled away, dragging the pole across thepit.
The other stupid guard tossed in more snacks for the cats. But thanks to the arrival of the genies, the poor animals were too on edge to beenticed.
A blast of black magic sliced the edge of the blue genie’s arm, and he jumpedback.
Crap. Stupid brain. Too many things to focus on at once. Genies. Tigers. Guards. Evilvizier.
I scurried forward to help the injured genie, but the red one yanked me back, pressing me tightly to his body, as if protectingme.
Gods. He smelled like smoke, coals, and burningwood.
More dark projections flew at us. Black goo stained the sand where I’d previously stood. It burned the soil, and a hole opened in theground.
I shook my head. My fingers found my temples. This had to be a dream. Magic, genies, and evil sorcerers—none of these things were real. Not in my experience anyway. But when an icy dart struck me, and decay crawled along my arm, I knew this was no dream. My chest thumped from my wildly beating heart. We had to get out of there. But my tongue felt like concrete, and I couldn’t speak a single coherentword.
Skin along my wrist erupted in a pale blaze of magical fire that melted the darkness on myflesh.
“Protect the master from the dark magic.” The red genie’s gruff voice, the sheer hulking size of him, and the way the other two followed his order told me he was the leader of thegroup.
A pale fire sparked to life on the blue genie’s fingers. As quickly as it appeared, it snuffed out. He tried again. Nothing. The red genie got off a few fireballs, but they petered out before they hit the vizier. Beside me, the one in yellow seemed more concerned with winking at me, despite the danger surrounding us. How could he remain so carefree and flirt with me at a time likethis?
“Brother,” barked the one in red. “Focus.”
They were brothers? Didn’t look like it. Maybe they had different fathers orsomething.
