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Fear tightened my chest until I could barely breathe. My knees weakened beneath me, but Dahvi never let mego.
Ali was all I had left. I could not lose him. A man like the vizier was not going to let Ali and me live once I surrendered the genies. The vizier would slay my brother and me and then dump our bodies in the river, ensuring our silence forever. Was this the fate the gods had chosen forus?
Then what would happen to my city, my home? An evil vizier with three genies by his side…or the power of three genies and his dark flame…was a terrifying prospect. Would he murder the sultan and his family and claim dominion over the kingdom? Kill anyone who did not bow to his leadership? The people of Utaara loved their sultan. Every month, he and his family visited the slums to distribute meals, water, clothes, and blankets to those in need. No one liked the vizier. Around the slums, he’d earned the nicknameyarkosh, which, roughly translated, meant evil pig. Chaos followed that wicked man, and the people of Utaara would surely revolt. But with the genies by his side, that might lead todeath.
Zand crumpled the letter in his fist. Flames licked at its edge, consuming it, until it was nothing more than ashes the wind blew out of hishand.
If I had magic, that was how I would have treated the letter, too. But Ididn’t.
My shoulders sagged. How was I going to save my brother and the genies? The vizier was right. I was just a mere street rat, good for nothing butstealing.
The weight of my genies’ stares landed on me. Were they waiting for a command from me? I couldn’t think straight. My mind was a blur of thoughts, clashing against each other like warringswords.
Ali’s frightened face flashed in my mind. I pictured him crying as he kneeled at the vizier’s feet. Begging for his life. Pleading his innocence. Or frightened inside the lamp as the vizier threatenedhim.
It felt like a magic bomb had detonated in my chest. That’s when the tears came, hard and withoutmercy.
Dahvi pressed his lips to the side of my head. “Master,” he whispered to me. “We will get our brothersback.”
Despite the confidence welling in his voice, I didn’t agree. The genies hadn’t experienced the life-bleeding power of the dark flame the vizier had used to try to kill me. Whatever that thing was, it was powerful. Did my genies even stand a chance againstit?
“Ali is our family now,too.”
I was touched by Zand’s admission. I searched his heart for the meaning of his words. The genie did not just consider me his lover. We were bound, heart and soul. In genie tradition, Ali was regarded as family by extension of me. Zand would fight for Ali’s rescue as he would fight for Kaza’sfreedom.
But before I let either of my genies go magically blast their way into the sultan’s palace, I had to tell them about the vizier’s dark power. They had to know what we were up against. We had to make aplan.
“What about the vizier’s dark magic?” I spluttered. “He tried to kill me with it by draining my life force. I couldn’t breathe. My heart stopped beating. It turned my skin grey and cracked. If it wasn’t for the lamp’s magic, I’d bedead.”
Zand’s head snapped up. “I will kill him forthat.”
The promise in his roar frightened me, and I shrank into Dahvi’sarms.
“But you can’t kill anyone,” I remindedhim.
Zand’s shoulders and back curled forward. “There is always away.”
Flames burst to life on his mane of dark hair. Dahvi’s magic carpet appeared mid-air, and Zand jumped ontoit.
“Where are you going?” Iasked.
I wrestled Dahvi, and finally, he releasedme.
“To scout out the palace.” Zand’s voice told me he was not going to be convinced to dootherwise.
“You can’t leave us.” I seized his arm. “What if they catch you,too?”
I wanted to tell him I couldn’t lose him, too, but the words jammed in my throat. Along with myheart.
But Zand understood. I read it in his eyes. Felt him search myheart.
“I must,” hesaid.
He did not meet my eye as he yanked his arm from me. I knew if he did, his heart would tell him to stay by my side, and he wouldn't be able to argue against it. The pinch in his chest told me the pain it cost him to leave me and his brother. I felt it, too, deep in mybreast.
Wind blasted me back into Dahvi’s arms as Zand’s carpet shot into the air, above the bridge, and over a row of mud-brickbuildings.
My heart was heavy at him leaving. Gone without even giving me a kiss. At least Kaza would have blown me one or given me awink.
