“I do not understand.”
“Choose—hatred or freedom.”
“Freedom.”
“Then, great marid, I promise as another genie to unbind you and grant your freedom with my third wish. But for my first, I wish that you would forget your long years of suffering, forget those who have hurt you, forget your desire for vengeance, and remember only the good that you did and those who were kind to you.”
The marid recoiled, rising like a wave. He looked around, stunned.
My breath caught. By wishing he would forget his suffering, Neve had placed his fate in his hands. The marid could twist the spell and cling to his rage, or choose a new life for himself. One free from the long years of suffering.
The marid closed his eyes, and a gentle rain began to fall.
His signature changed. The stench of the marine growth faded, replaced by the scent of fresh water. It no longer felt cold like the abyss, but soft, like heavy fog.
I was awed.
I could almost feel the rain wash away my pain and rage, though I knew those were my burdens to carry.
The marid looked down at Neve. “You have changed everything for me.”
Truth rang in his words. The pain and madness and vindictiveness were gone.
Neve shook her head. “You have changed everything for yourself. I just made the wish.”
He bowed low.
“Now, marid friend. For my second wish, I wish that you would seal this realm, so that no one may ever create a connection between it and the hells.”
The rain ceased and the marid rose like a tidal wave. He crashed into the gateway, shattering it, and washed the fragments over the edge of the island.
The waters swirled, and he rose from the whirlpool. He raised his hands to the sky, and it changed from purple to blue as a powerful wave of magic crashed over us.
His voice roared like a waterfall. “It is done. No connection to the hells is possible.”
“Thank you,” Neve said.
Matthias started shouting through the gag and struggling.
“What?” I growled.
He mumbled something. I assumed he wasn’t too keen on the marid getting free with the next wish—not after what Matthias had made him do.
To be honest, I was worried myself. Neve’s first wish had stripped him of his madness, but my experience with the djinn hung heavy on my mind.
There was nothing stopping the marid from betraying us. Or at least, seeking vengeance on Matthias.
I had to trust her.
But that, for all my fears, was the easiest thing in the world.
Neve’s voice boomed across the island. “Marid, I will set you free. Do you promise to seek no vengeance and to repair the damage you have done?”
He flowed to her. “I swear it. If you do this thing, my gratitude will be eternal.”
She nodded. Light blazed in her eyes. “Then, marid, with my third wish, I set you free of all your bonds.”
My breath left my lungs.
The marid rose on a spiraling column of water and spread his hands out. The gold bands around his wrists cracked and fell away, and the collar around his throat shattered into a thousand beads. The island shook.
His signature poured over us like the raging ocean. Never had it been so strong, even at the height of his fury.
“I am free!” His body crashed into the ground like a wave, and then he reformed like a god emerging from the primordial waters. He turned to Neve. “Thank you for this, my friend. I will always be grateful.”
The island shook again, and hairline cracks formed at my feet.
Matthias wrenched free of Nathaniel’s grasp and rammed his shoulder into my chest. I grabbed him and spun him around. “Do you want me to toss you over the edge? I’ll—”
He started shouting through the gag. Panic and pleading flashed in his eyes.
I yanked Neve’s shirt sleeve out of his mouth. “You’ve got ten seconds. What is it?”
Matthias gritted his teeth. “You idiots! The connection with the hells was the only thing keeping the realm from descending into utter chaos. We need to get out of here, now! Think Titanic.”
The panic in his voice raised the hairs on my neck. I’d known him for centuries. This was serious. I spun and shouted, “Time to go. This place is about to fall apart!”
As if to punctuate my words, the ice island suddenly groaned and cracked beneath our feet. A fragment broke off and began drifting into the sky.
Gods. Damned. Wishes.
The ice quaked.
The Searing Citadel shuddered on the island of ice.
The wolves.
I hurled Matthias into the arms of one of the angels. “Get him, Ethan, and Rhiannon back to Magic Side.”
“Where are you going?” he asked.
Ignoring him, I grabbed Neve by the arm. “Say goodbye to your new friend. Jaxson and his team are still in the tower. They’ve got transport charms, but we need to make sure they get out!”
Nathaniel scooped up Rhiannon in his arms, while another angel grabbed Ethan. A flurry of silver smoke filled the air, and Neve, the marid, and I were the only ones left on the island.
“Get out of here!” Neve yelled to the marid.
He scooped up a fragment of the bottle and tossed it into her hands. “If you ever need me, concentrate on that and ask. I will come if I can.”
With that, he formed into a wave and crashed down into mist.
Neve and I leapt into the air and soared toward the citadel. I reached out with my dragon sense. Jaxson was still here.
We landed on a balcony. Neve waved her hand, and the iron door blasted off its hinges. We raced down the halls.
The place was deserted. I followed my dragon sense back to the teleportation chamber. The wolves were assembled around the ring.
“What the hell took you guys so long?” Jaxson growled, “This place is falling apart!”
“Did you get the prisoners?” Neve asked, chest heaving.
He pointed at a huddled group of people. “And some extras. Order folks that Matthias kidnapped as well. We scoured the place. Demons are gone. We were just about to leave.”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “I owe you more than you could imagine. Time to go.”
He nodded. The wolves each grabbed one of the ex-prisoners, and transport charms exploded around us in silver plumes of magic.
I scanned the room. We were the last ones.
It was over.
I grabbed Neve’s arms. She looked up and raised her eyebrows. “Nothing like escaping a collapsing tower to put a cherry on the day. Why don’t we ever go anywhere relaxing?”
I smiled and brushed her hair from her face. “Let’s go home. I’ve got some things in mind.”
She closed her eyes, and the cosmos roared around us.
28
Neve
The ether spat us out in the square fronting the Hall of Inquiry. Damian had managed to heal my wounds during our planes-walk, and the pain from earlier was gone.
The angels gracefully alighted around us as shifters appeared in puffs of silver smoke.
Jaxson immediately crouched down by one of the wounded shifters, and Ethan rushed to the prisoners, checking them for wounds. Everyone looked bruised and battered.
A cocktail of adrenaline and shock were still coursing through my body, and I knew as soon as I relaxed, every part of me was going to feel raw.
Rhia was still in Nathaniel’s arms, and she gazed up at him longingly. “After planes-walking with you guys for three weeks, I can conclusively say that I’d much rather travel with Nathaniel.”
My jaw hung open. Never, ever, in a thousand years would I have imagined Rhia letting someone carry her like that.
Nathaniel cast her a seductive look and lowered her to her feet. “You fought bravely today.”
I laughed as she swayed—probably from shock but also because angels had that kind of effect.
“Where will you take him?” I asked Nath
aniel, gesturing to Matthias who was slouched between two angels, his hands now bound behind his back with magicuffs.
I still couldn’t believe we’d finally brought the bastard down. Half my heart expected him to vanish in a puff of smoke at any second, to trick us one last time.
“He will stand trial before the Assembly, and after he atones for his crimes, he will be placed in the Pillars of Penitence,” Nathaniel said, dipping his head to the two angels holding Matthias.
They lifted him to his feet, and Matthias’s face tightened in panic. “Will you tell Zara?”
I met his gaze. “I’ll tell her everything. She deserves to know what a monster you are.”
His expression hardened, and he nodded. Despite all he’d done, I knew he loved Zara. I’d heard it in his voice when he’d warned her to stay away from Damian the last time we’d met in his house.
It felt like months ago.
I couldn’t help but feel a little pity for him. “She loves you, despite everything.”
Matthias hung his head.
The hum of bells rose around us, and suddenly, Matthias and the angels at his side disappeared in a flash of light.
Just like that, it was over.
Truly over.
I was free.
Nathaniel handed Damian a small black box that was oddly familiar. “Farewell brother. Perhaps you will visit us again.”
Damian took the box, and I recognized it as the one he’d pocketed right before we planes-walked to Armenia. He opened it a crack, and gold flashed in the light.
He shook his head and gripped arms with the angel, pulling him close. “Even if my life depended on it, I wouldn’t return to the Order of Angels. But you know where to find me. Visit anytime.”
Nathaniel chuckled and glanced at Rhiannon, who had sidled up next to me. “Perhaps I will.”
“Sweet heavens, yes,” Rhia whispered, her cheeks flushed.
I choked back a laugh and cleared my throat as Nathaniel bowed his head to me. “Until we meet again, Nevaeh.”
He’d finally addressed me by my name and not child.
Perhaps he wasn’t so bad. He’d helped us close the gateway after all, and I’d seen how he’d protected Rhiannon when the battle had gotten rough—though he may have had his own motivations for doing so.
I dipped my head. “Thanks, Nathaniel. Hope to see you around.”
The hum of bells rose in the air, and Nathaniel vanished in a brilliant flash of light.
“That man is intense, but holy mother of angels,” Rhia said with a smirk on her face.
“I thought shifters were your thing.”
“They are so last week. But…” She tracked Jaxson as he approached Damian. “Who is that beast?”
“Jaxson? He’s the son of the dockside alpha.” If the angels were beautiful, Jaxson was another kind of gorgeous. Built like a firetruck with broad shoulders and a muscular build, his dark, wavy hair that matched his eyes and the six o’clock shadow on his jaw were all kinds of right. In other words, one hundred percent man hunk. Nathaniel had nothing on him, and Rhia was speechless.
Damian shook Jaxson’s hand. “Thanks. I owe you and the pack. Let me know what you need.”
“I’d say we’re square, but there might be some future business dealings we could use your insights on. We’ll be in touch.” Jaxson nodded at me and Rhia, and he and his shifters crossed to several trucks that had pulled up beside the park.
“I was mistaken. Shifters are so in,” Rhia whispered, watching Jaxson climb into the truck and drive off.
I shook my head and smiled at Damian, who was my kind of gorgeous and one hundred percent mine.
“Well, we did it, and we didn’t die,” Rhia said. “I’d say that calls for a celebration. Early happy hour at the Hideout? First round’s on me.”
Thirty minutes later, we were on our second round of shots at the Hideout.
“Cheers!” Ethan, Rhia, Gretchen, and Damian and I clinked our shot glasses together.
I pulled mine back, clenching my teeth as the tequila burned my throat. Being a full djinn meant that the alcohol didn’t affect me as much, which was a good thing because I was also nursing my second G&T.
Slamming my shot glass on the bar top, I wheeled around on my tall barstool. It was happy hour from four to six, and folks were beginning to pack in. Rhia was cracking a joke at Ethan, and Gretchen was chatting up the bartender, Diana. Warmth flooded my chest. I was home and everything was right in the world.
On our way over, I’d told Gretchen that I’d be taking a few months off from work. I needed to make up for the time that I’d missed with my parents and figure out the whole being-a-crazy-powerful-genie thing.
Rather than asking for a resignation letter, she’d squeezed my shoulder and promoted me to detective. On a contractual basis. It was more than I could have hoped for, and I’d nearly cried in front of the L.T.
I cringed at the thought.
Of course, I hadn’t told Gretchen the primary reason I needed some time off. My eyes locked onto Damian. He broke off his conversation with a patron, and I swayed back and forth on the barstool as he slowly closed the distance between us.
Clutching the front of his shirt, I gently pulled him close so he was positioned right between my legs. “What was inside the box that Nathaniel gave you?”
He smiled and drew the box from his pocket, handing it to me. It was black and velvety, and inside was a golden necklace with a round pendant. I raised my eyebrow at him. “What is it?”
“The insignia of the angels. I kept it after my fall.”
“But why did you give it to Nathaniel?”
Damian’s eyes glinted. “My atonement was forfeiting my angel. I didn’t need the reminder of what I’d lost.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I gave up my angelic magic.”
My stomach churned as the implications set in. Rage trickled through my veins.
“You fool!” I hissed. “Are you serious? You gave up your magic, like your ability to heal?”
He nodded. “It was the only option.”
I grabbed his lapel and yanked him close. “And. You. Didn’t. Tell. Me.”
Guilt flickered in his eyes. “Never again.”
I wanted to hold onto my anger, but it slipped through my fingers. Damian had given up a part of himself to strike a deal with the angels. To save us. The weight of that pressed down on me, and guilt and sadness pooled in my chest.
“You should have told me, Damian,” I whispered.
He took my hands in his and pressed a kiss on them. “You had enough on your shoulders as it was.”
“But you had flaming wings. You flew. How?”
He shook his head. “It turns out, what the djinn told me was true. You can’t change what you are. You can only change what you choose to do with the powers you’re given.”
My heart skipped about five beats. “You still have your angelic magic then?”
A smile graced his lips, and my heartbeat thundered against my chest. “That’s right,
but it’s nothing compared to what you did today. You were extraordinary.”
* * *
“It wasn’t me. It was all of us.” I looked around the bar, filled with my friends. A sense of relief and joy flooded through me.
Damian lifted my chin. “It was you. Magic like I never imagined. And you did the right thing with the marid.”
I frowned. “You would have done the same for him. It’s what you did with the djinn.”
Damian shook his head. “No. It’s not. I freed the djinn without considering the consequences or what he might have gone through—and that nearly cost you your best friend. You took away the marid’s suffering and gave him a new life. You have a special heart.”
I bit my lip. “I just couldn’t shake the thought of what would have happened to me if Matthias had caught me. I think I would have gone mad.”
Damian brushed my hair back and smiled. “But you got away. How did
you break Matthias’s spell, anyway? One moment, he was draining your power, and the next he was at your mercy.”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I figured my only chance was to bind myself, to cast the spell before him. But my words came out as something more than just a spell. It felt like I was waking up from a dream, and I realized something that I should have learned a long time ago. That I was my own master—of my emotions, of my wishes, and of my fate. Maybe that’s something every djinn has to learn. Something Queen Mavia couldn’t just put into words.”
Pride crossed his face, and he slid his hands over my knees. “So, Miss Cross, does this mean you are a queen now? Do you plan to retire to a floating frost palace and tend to a garden of ice sculptures?”
I laughed. “Oh, hell no.”
But what to do next was a good question. Life ahead of me was an open book.
I could have it all.
I licked my lips. “Well, I wouldn’t mind a palace really… but not one of ice, and definitely no mazes. And rather than an ice garden, I want to create something that gives back.”
He grinned, and I traced the curve of his lips. “And what might that be?”
A temple for what I cherished most—knowledge.
“A library in the sky. We know so little about the planes—so maybe I’ll build an archive dedicated to unexplored worlds. A place open and accessible to all Magica who wish to visit it. And I insist, it will be organized by imps.”
Damian tilted his head back and laughed, a deep rumble erupting from his chest. Gods he was gorgeous. “I should have known. In that case, I’ll be your first patron.”
He drew the Atlas of the Planes from the ether and handed it to me. “My gift to you, Nevaeh. May it guide you to the furthest reaches of the realms in search of your books.”
My heart swelled and something lodged in my throat. “This is perfect. Thank you. But it will guide us. I expect you by my side.”
He gently cupped my face with his hand, tracing his thumb over my cheekbone. “Of course, Nevaeh. I will always be at your side, through thick or thin. You are my treasure, and I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Broken Skies (Dragon's Gift: The Storm Book 4) Page 18
