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Chapter 11
Zand whisperedin his strange language, and the magic carpet returned, floating a few good meters from The Collector’s perch on the treebranch.
The woman’s eyes blazed with temptation, and she confidently navigated the limb, balancing on it with ease, as if she’d been climbing her whole life. Reaching out, her fingers traced the length of itssilk.
It pulled away as if frightened ofher.
“I’m listening,” she said to the genie, totally in command of thisnegotiation.
Zand lifted himself onto the branch beside her. “You can have the carpet and threewishes.”
I felt as if a tree trunk had slammed into my gut. I couldn’t breathe. Unable to get a word of protest out. What was he doing? Giving away my wishes? How was it even possible for him to leave me when he hadn’t granted me a wish? My mind tumbled, trying to make sense of itall.
Red’s voice cut through my confusion. “Deal.”
My heart crumbled in my chest. “What about the wishes you oweme?”
Zand glanced over at me. “But first, I must fulfill my commitment to my currentmaster.”
What? I stared at him, working out his scheme. He was playing the woman. Dirty rascal, and here I thought he was fooling me. I felt like anidiot.
Darkness stormed across Red’s face, and she looked ready to spear him in the chest. “Do I look like asucker?”
She swung around the branch like a gymnast, and landed on the ground with the agility of acat.
Hands fisted, I jumped in front of Zand prepared to fight for my genies if needbe.
Zand sidestepped me, and pulled the ruby ring from his forefinger and held it out for her. “Take this. In one month, my service to my master will be complete. Then you may summon me withthis.”
Red inspected Zand’s belonging as if it were a piece of trash, and her nose wrinkled with disgust. “Proveit.”
My hands squeezed by my sides. I couldn’t believe my ears. He didn’t just ditch me for that prettier bitch did he? “Um, Zand, you got amoment.”
He waved a hand at me as if I were a pesky fly. Ruby flames flared on Zand’s wrist and jumped onto the ring. They shot out, lashing Red on the wrist, leaving a scorch mark on herskin.
Was he sealing their agreement with magic? What was hedoing?
Satisfaction flickered in Red’s eyes as she examined the marking. “We are tied magically. Now you cannot cheat me out of ourarrangement.”
My legs wobbled, and I almost fell to myknees.
The collector accepted his ring with a smile. “It’s a deal. Wait here, handsome.” Her gaze teased across his body as if she imagined doing the dirty with him. “I’ll get you your magicalsands.”
With a wink, she drifted off into thedarkness.
The remaining wreckage that was my heart turned to dust and scattered around my body. That pain twisted into fury. It surged inside me, like a vicious sandstorm blanketing thecity.
“I can’t believe you’ve just made a deal without my permission,” I shouted. “Aren’t I yourmaster?”
“Calm down, Master.” He grabbed my hand and stared deep into my eyes. “Trust me. I’m handlingit.”
I rubbed my forehead. My feet carried me the length between the two closest trees. “I don’t understand what’s happeninghere.”
“Master if you don’t calm down you will ruin everything.” Impatience gave Zand’s voice a brittle edge. “Control your anger. In this situation it’s your greatestweakness.”
My ears couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Fire scorched the inside of my stomach. I shot him a glare more deadly than a cobra’s bite. “I’m helping save your brother so you’ll savemine.”
Hot, bitter tears streamed down my cheeks. Needing to put space between us, I raced off into the forest. The darkness caught up to me, and I stumbled again on what I thought was a tree root. This brought me crashing down on my knees. I shuffled to sit against a huge trunk, and leaned my head back on it. Dead leaves crunched in my hand, and I let them flitter to the ground, each representing the grains of myheart.
