His feet skidded to a stop near his weapon. He picked it up, then froze when the gates on the other side of the arena opened and at least thirty sahads—djinn of all races—each armed, their eyes glowing hot with the promise of retribution, filled the space. Sahads led by Malik.
Nasir stared, unable to believe what he was seeing. Before he could ask what the hell was going on, the Infrit picked up his weapon, lifted it over his head, and yelled, “For freedom!”
The pack charged right by Nasir, weapons and fists and bodies clashing with the guards in an echo that filled the arena and drowned out the screams of spectators still rushing out of the stands.
Malik met him in the center of the arena, lifted his sword, and took down a guard just before he reached Nasir.
“What the hell is happening?” Nasir yelled over the roar.
Malik kicked the guard to the ground and pulled his bloody sword from the guard’s belly. “Something that should have happened long ago. Find her. Get her the hell out of here before they send reinforcements.”
Nasir’s chest grew tight as things suddenly made sense. They’d done all this for him. Malik had cast an illusion spell to distract the crowd. Then he’d rallied the sahads—djinn who didn’t even know Nasir personally, who hated his race—and staged a revolt.
His head swam with the impact of what they were doing. Of what would happen to them all as a result.
Malik grasped his shoulder, dragging his attention back to his mu’allim’s face. “Find her and get the hell out of here. But when you’re free, make sure you tell the others…anyone who will listen, all the tribes…what’s happening here. I should have done that long ago, but I couldn’t. Be stronger than I was, Nasir.” His eyes hardened as the battle raged around them. “Then bring your army back and shut this fucking hellhole down.”
Wide-eyed, Nasir nodded.
Malik took a step back. Lifted his sword. Screamed, “Go!”
Then he whipped around and swung out at a guard only feet behind him.
Nasir’s adrenaline surged. And as the sounds of war erupted around him, he thought of Kavin. The need to find her squeezed his chest like a vise, pushing out all other needs. Grasping his weapon, he raced toward the stands and easily scaled the ten-foot wall. His thighs burned as he ran up the steps and out the archway he’d seen Kavin and her master disappear through, but he ignored the pain and focused only on her.
The hallway was filled with terror-filled highborns, both male and female, rushing every direction, trying to get out of the arena. Only slaves had their powers bound, which meant these djinn could teleport if they wanted. But not through solid stone walls. They had to be outside first.
Nasir searched the frightened faces, then zeroed in on a dark-haired male he’d seen sitting near Kavin and her master. He pushed through the crowd and grasped the jacket of the male, jerking him around.
The male’s horror-filled eyes met Nasir’s. “Don’t…don’t…don’t hurt me.”
“Where did they go?”
“Wh-who?”
“The highborn who was struck and the jarriah he was with. Where the fuck did they go?”
The male’s eyes shifted, then he pointed to a corridor at his right. “Th-through there.”
Nasir shoved the male to the ground and sprinted for the archway. A stone stairwell disappeared into darkness. Nasir skipped steps, rounded the corner, then drew up short when he heard a scream.
“Let…go of me!”
Kavin…
His heart pounded against his ribs. He tightened his grip on the sword, clenched his jaw, and silently moved toward the sounds.
* * *
Pain rippled through Kavin’s scalp and raced down her spine. Zayd jerked her around by her hair and all but dragged her through the dark and empty tunnel that ran beneath the arena. The guards were all above them. There was no one to hear her call for help. No one to save her.
“You fucking bitch!” Zayd screamed. “Did you think you and your pathetic lover could win? That you could beat me? He’s dead now, no thanks to you and your asinine plan. And you…” He shoved his shoulder hard against the door that led to Nasir’s cell…the cell where they’d made love…then threw her into the room by her hair. “You’re about to get exactly what you deserve.”
Kavin yelped. Her shoulder and hip slammed into the stone floor. Pain ricocheted through her body, sent stars firing off behind her eyes. She grunted, tried to get up, but Zayd was right there, lifting her by the shoulders and slamming her back down against the floor. “Look at me, you bitch!”
Hair fell into her face. Kavin tried to look up at him, but her vision swam, the pain in her skull and back so strong, it was all she could feel. And Nasir…
Her breath caught on a sob. She hadn’t intended for any of that to happen. She’d only wanted Malik to stop the fight. To keep Nasir from doing something stupid in his attempt to save her. And now he was…
Her chest squeezed so tight she could barely breathe. The memory of all that blood spilling from the wound in his belly overwhelmed her.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah…
Zayd’s open palm connected with her cheek. Her head spun around, hit the stone floor. But she only minutely registered the blow. All she felt was the wretched, blinding pain near her heart at what had happened to Nasir. Of the thought of him bleeding to death up there on the sands of the arena right this minute.
“Look at me!” Zayd roared again. “I want you to see my eyes when I show you just what you really are.”
“Take your hands off her.”
Zayd stilled. Kavin’s eyes popped open at the sound of the voice. Nasir’s voice.
Slowly, Zayd shifted to look back to the door, and Kavin lifted her head, then peered through watery vision toward the archway. Toward Nasir, standing in the opening, gripping his sword in two hands. His eyes blazed; his body was covered in dust and sweat and only the faint stains of blood. But there was no gaping wound. No blood spilling from his belly. No sign of death as she’d seen in the arena.
Relief and confusion swam inside Kavin’s heart and mind as Zayd spun in front of her. Muttering words in the Ghul language that Kavin had never heard, he gripped the sword that magically appeared in his hand. “You think you can take me, slave? I was a warrior before I came to Jahannam. And my magic isn’t bound like yours. You’re fucked. And so is this slut.”
“I think you’re a coward,” Nasir said, stepping fully into the room. Without taking his eyes off Zayd, he said, “Get up, rouhi.”
Kavin swallowed hard and scrambled back against the wall. And noticed, for the first time, the blood welling from the wound in Zayd’s shoulder. Things had happened so fast in the arena she hadn’t realized he’d been hit.
Zayd moved in front of her. “I’m going to enjoy gutting you. But I’m not going to kill you quickly. No, I think I’ll keep you alive long enough to watch what I do to this whore.”
Nasir’s jaw clenched. “Then get on with it, Ghul.”
The way he snarled the last word wasn’t lost on Kavin. And fear gripped her chest when she watched Zayd’s shoulders tighten, when she heard him mutter words in the old language again, when she saw the second sword appeared in his other hand.
Zayd swung the swords like a pro, took a step to his right. Kavin’s breath caught as she pulled her legs in close and watched. Waited. Prayed.
Zayd swung out with his right hand, then his left. Kavin gasped as Nasir barely missed being decapitated, then lifted his own sword, stopping the downward slice of Zayd’s.
Muscles in his arms and legs flexed as he pushed hard against Zayd. Zayd was as big as Nasir, and as muscular. And he had the power of magic on his side. Fear burned a hole straight to her stomach as the two struggled for control. Just when she was sure Zayd was going to win, Nasir lifted his foot and shoved his sandal into Zayd’s gut, knocking the highborn back two feet.
Zayd stumbled, tried to right himself, but his feet slipped on the edge of the bath and then his body f
ell into the water with a splash. A sword flew from one hand, clanked against the stone wall.
Nasir was right there, charging through the bath, water spraying up and around his legs as he grasped Zayd by the shirtfront and jammed the hilt of his sword in Zayd’s face.
Zayd’s head whipped around; blood spurted from his mouth. Nasir’s eyes were wide with retribution and rage as he slammed the end of the sword into Zayd’s face again and again.
Kavin pushed to her feet, her heart pounding hard as she watched. She’d never seen Nasir like this. Not just enraged, but the bringer of death, in all its gruesome forms.
No. Her breath stuttered as she remembered back. She had seen him this way. Once. In the arena. That last fight. Just before Zayd had taken her to his cell and turned her over to him. She’d watched—in horror—as he’d decimated that Shaitan as if he were nothing.
“You were right, I hate the fighting. More than anything about this place. But I’ll do it for you. I’d do anything for you.”
“Stop!” Kavin took a step forward. “Nasir, stop!”
Nasir’s arm stilled on the upswing. He turned his head to face her. Zayd’s blood was splattered all over his face and bare chest, and there was such fury in his eyes. Fury she didn’t want to see there, not because of her.
“Please, stop,” she whispered, stepping toward him, wanting the Marid back she’d fallen in love with. Not this killer. Not this person he didn’t want to be. “Just…stop.”
Nasir’s eyes were as black as she’d ever seen them, and a shiver of fear ran through her as she reached out, as she touched his arm, because he looked like the monster she’d encountered in his cell that first day. But they’d come so far; she’d learned so much. And she believed deep in her heart he’d never hurt her.
“Please,” she whispered. “Please, just…let go. He can’t hurt us anymore. He’s nothing.”
Nasir glanced down at her hand on his arm, seemed to be in some sort of rage-induced haze as he slowly shifted his gaze to her eyes as if he didn’t recognize her, then looked to Zayd’s bloody and bruised face.
Kavin held her breath. Waited. Was so afraid if Nasir killed him this way, it would cross a line they couldn’t come back from. She needed to know the djinni she’d fallen in love with was inside him somewhere. That he could pull himself back from the brink if he needed to.
Then Nasir released his hold on Zayd’s shirtfront. Zayd hit the water with a splash, sending droplets all over the stone floor. Nasir’s sword fell from his hand, clanked against the ground. And then his arms were around her, pulling her close, his face sliding into the hollow between her shoulder and neck to breathe warm against her throat.
“Rouhi…”
Relief pulsed through every inch of her body, swept her up in a tidal wave of emotion that poured through her. She slid her arms around his shoulders, held him tight. Closed her eyes and just breathed.
He’d done it. He’d saved her. And himself.
“I’m here,” she whispered. “I’m right here.”
He eased back, looked down at her. Blood and dirt stained his handsome face, but the rage was gone. In its place were the soft, sweet, gentle eyes she’d come to love. “Thank you,” he rasped.
Tears burned her eyes. She was just about to tell him he had no reason to thank her, when she caught sight of movement behind him.
Zayd lurched to his feet in the bath. Blood ran like rivulets down his face. He gripped the sword in his hands and lifted it over his head.
Things happened so fast, Kavin barely tracked them. She screamed Nasir’s name, pushed him away from her, then reached down for his sword, which he’d dropped at their feet.
She thrust out before Zayd could. The tip stabbed into his chest, his forward momentum forcing it deep. Zayd’s eyes went wide. He stumbled back. Kavin gasped and let go of the blade. Then his body fell into the bath again with a splash that sent half the water spilling over the sides and onto the stone floor.
Silence descended. Then Nasir looked her way. “Holy shit.”
Kavin’s own eyes were wide with shock. She hadn’t thought. She’d reacted. Her pulse shot up; her adrenaline peaked, then plummeted. She stumbled back a step, but Nasir was right there to catch her.
“Breathe, rouhi.”
She gripped his arms, focused on the draw and pull of her lungs, was relieved when Nasir stepped in front of her so she couldn’t see what she’d done.
“That’s it.” He rubbed a hand down her back. “Allah, you’ve got more fight in you than I ever expected. Remind me not to piss you off.”
A laugh slipped from her lips. One she didn’t expect. One that pushed aside the horror and brought her around to what mattered most. Hands resting against his strong chest, she looked up into his eyes and tried not to be gripped by fear all over again. “How are we going to get out of here? The guards are busy in the arena, but the city walls—”
“I’ll show you.”
They both looked toward the door, where Hana stood with her hands at her sides, bitter victory on her face as she stared at Zayd’s dead body in the bath.
Seconds passed in silence, then she finally met their eyes. “So long as you take me with you.”
Kavin sagged against Nasir as she looked up at him. “Take me away from here. Away from death and dying and slaves and highborns. Please. I don’t care where we go, I just need…”
Her chest tightened with the weight of everything that had happened, cutting off her words. Of what could have happened.
Then his mouth was on hers. Claiming hers in a swift, fierce kiss she felt everywhere. Banishing the fear, telling her this—the two of them together—was all that mattered. And when he eased back, the smile that curled one side of his mouth was so damn handsome, it softened everything inside her. “Your wish is my command, rouhi. And just your luck, I know the perfect place for us to go.”
Chapter Sixteen
As they stood on a bluff overlooking Gannah, the salty breeze whipping the hair back from their faces, Nasir wondered what Kavin was thinking.
The tall spires of a city he’d loved since he was a child sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight. Palms waved in the air, mountains rose to the north, and the sea filled the horizon beyond. Below them, past the city walls, his people—his tribe—milled about the streets, shopping, working, living as they did every day.
He saw home. He saw safety. He saw people removed from war and suffering who had no idea just what kind of horrors were being unleashed in Jahannam. But he’d made Malik a promise. He’d tell them. He’d make sure they all knew it wasn’t just those from his tribe who were being imprisoned. It was djinn from all tribes, from all races, from every part of their world. And it was time it stopped.
Kavin leaned against his side. “What if they don’t let us in?”
He glanced over her head toward Hana, and read the same worry in the young girl’s face that he heard in Kavin’s voice. They were both Ghul, about to enter a city they feared would despise them on sight. But Nasir knew differently.
He tightened his arm around her. “You brought their prince home. I don’t think they’re going to care if you’re Ghul or Shaitan or even human.”
She looked up at him, and, as the sun warmed her features, he remembered how scared he’d been as they’d fled the arena. Getting out of the tunnels had been easier than he’d expected. But out in the open, he’d been so afraid they’d be recognized. That he’d lose her so close to freedom. But Hana had known a secret passageway under the city walls, and with the guards distracted by the revolt, they’d slipped away quickly and easily.
It had taken three days to reach Gannah. Though his powers had returned once they’d been free of the confines of Jahannam and he could have teleported home, both Kavin and Hana had been imprisoned so quickly after reaching adulthood, they’d yet to develop their gifts. But that would soon change.
“You sound so certain.”
“I know my people, rouhi. You’re free. No one wil
l hurt you here.”
Uncertainty filled her eyes as she ran her fingers over the opal at his throat. “Freedom means nothing to me unless you’re here to share it. What about this?”
He’d thought the same thing more than once. Wherever the sorceress was, she could call him back at any moment. He had no idea if his brothers were alive or dead, if she was using them and biding her time with him. But he was done living his life under the control of others.
He turned her, wrapped both arms around her back, reveling in the warmth of her body, the feel of her skin, her love that had reminded him who he was—who he wanted to be. “We’ll worry about that if it happens.”
“But—”
He pressed his finger against her lips. “She hasn’t contacted me in months. I don’t know what happened to her, but I’m not going to live my life in fear. I want to spend it with you. However long that may be. Nothing in life is certain, Kavin. All I know is that I love you. Right now, that and what we do to stop the torture in Jahannam is all that matters.”
Her eyes softened, and she lifted her mouth to his when he lowered to kiss her, curled her arms around his neck, and held him so tight he felt her everywhere. And though he knew the battle with Zoraida wasn’t over, for now he didn’t care.
He was back. He’d found his heart and soul and a reason to live in a Ghul. In the most amazing, beautiful, gentle creature he’d ever met. And because of her, he was alive. He wasn’t about to waste a moment of the time he’d been given all because of her.
“Come, rouhi,” he said, easing back, smiling down at her with all the love she’d given him, even when he hadn’t deserved it. “I want to introduce you to my parents.”
She gripped his hand in hers as he stepped back, pressed the other against her belly, and shot him a nervous look. One that was so damn sexy, he itched to kiss it from her face. “The king and queen? In this?” She glanced down at the ripped purple gown she was still wearing. “Maybe you could take me somewhere to freshen up first?”
He chuckled, waved his hand, and muttered magical words in his language. Her dress transformed into a simple but elegant pale blue gown that hit at her calves and showcased her slim arms and waist.
Slave To Passion (Firebrand Series) Page 15
