Curse of a Djinn

by Lichelle Slater

  I barely turned my head and met his lips. “I suppose that is satisfactory?”

  His lips curled into an o while his brows dipped in a feigned offended expression.

  I stepped away from the window, and Doren hoisted himself into my chambers. I kept my eyes locked on him as I continued backing up toward the bed. “Did you ensure the pharaoh is busy?” I reached my hand out for his.

  He accepted it. “He’s speaking with the guards. You know, we can’t keep meeting this way.”

  My legs hit the bed, and I draped my arms around his neck so I could run my tattooed fingers through his dark hair.

  Doren kissed my neck. His lips moved up to the tender spot behind my ear, and I moaned softly, just loud enough to beg him to keep kissing. “I need to confess something,” he whispered against my skin.

  “We can talk later.” I slid my hand up his muscled chest, grabbed the front of his shirt to hold him close, and kissed his lips.

  He guided me down into a seated position on the edge of the bed, and I realized his expression was no longer playful, but serious. “I am an assassin, Zenja.”

  I searched those bronze-flecked eyes. I let out a nervous laugh. “Oookay,”

  He knelt before me and placed his hands on my thighs. “I was paid to kill your husband,” he said bluntly. “And knowing what sort of man he is . . .” He slid his hand across the sheets to mine, eyes darting to the bruises on my arm. “I will feel no guilt ending his life.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I choked, pulling my hands away.

  His jaw flexed and he looked back up at my eyes. “Because you deserve to know the whole truth. When first we met, I knew you were the pharaoh’s sorceress. The first night I slipped into your room, I knew the pharaoh had his eyes set on you. I knew you were an opportunity.”

  My throat tightened, and it felt as though he’d driven his dagger into my chest. I knew he was something more than a man. His garb told me that much months before. The revelation he’d used me was too much to bear, especially since he knew how Taotin treated me.

  “You’re telling me you used me?” I didn’t know how I managed to speak. My throat felt tight, so tight as if Taotin’s hand choked me.

  Doren placed his hands on my knees again. “I thought it would be easy,” he said quickly. “I thought I could use you, get the information I needed, and go.” He shook his head. “But I couldn’t leave you. If I ended his life, it ended . . . us.” He let out a scoff. “I should have known I was in too deep.” He sank back on his ankles, still staring at me. “Now you know.”

  I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what to say.

  Doren had seen the bruises on my ribs and hips. He knew Taotin was rough with me. He wasn’t the only one who had seen either. I have caught guards and servants eying the bruises from a distance, and not one had stepped forward to help me.

  Doren could be my salvation. He could be my escape from this nightmare, I dared think.

  “How do you feel toward me?” I asked carefully.

  “Call me a fool . . . but I love you with every piece of my heart. You bring light to my dark world.” The sorrow in his copper-brown eyes told me he spoke the truth. Doren had shared many things with me, but in that one moment, he had opened up his vulnerable heart before me. He gave me that grin that melted my heart. “I don’t expect you to return the sentiment. I should have killed that monster months ago,” he added in a mumble. He stood. “I am truly sorry for playing with your heart.” He didn’t look at me.

  I rushed to stand. “Please don’t go.”

  He stopped, shoulders stiff.

  I drew a shuddered breath. “I don’t know that I could live without you.”

  Finally Doren looked at me.

  “It’s true,” I said as I realized it. “You bring tenderness in my life. You make me feel safe when no one else does. You soothe my wounds both physically and mentally. If you kill him and leave . . . I do believe I will die from heartbreak.” I took his callused hands. They were so different than Taotin’s soft hands that had never seen a day of work.

  Doren smiled at me and pulled me into his arms once more and planted kisses across my lips and down my neck.

  Safe.

  Doren was safe.

  Doren was love. What love should be.

  I couldn’t bear my life with Taotin any longer, and the hope I could be free from him made me cling even more to Doren. I was too distracted by the blood racing in my ears, the tingling of Doren’s touch against my skin, that I didn’t hear the door open.

  Doren did, however, and pulled me behind him.

  Taotin stood in the doorway, his eyes and mouth opened in shock. And then his face contorted in anger, and he screamed for the guards.

  Doren spat a curse, and I knew he had little time.

  “Go!” I urged Doren, pushing him away.

  Doren didn’t do what I thought he would. No, he didn’t run at Taotin. He sprinted for and leapt out the window.

  I stared in shock. I had told him to run, but I hoped he would at least fight for me. I had no choice than to turn and face my husband.

  The guards appeared at Taotin’s side. He snarled for them to hunt down “my wife’s whore” and faced me. “I will take care of you personally.” His lips curled like an angry jackal.

  I gulped and backed up, holding my hands up toward him. “Taotin, please. It was nothing.”

  “Nothing? How long have you shared my bed with him?”

  I shook my head. I should have lied and blurted that we hadn’t made love, that I had only met Doren to feel his kisses.

  Taotin laughed, pulling the belt from his linen skirt. “Do I look a fool to you?”

  My back pressed against the wall, and every part of me trembled under his angry eyes. Doren had left me alone to deal with Taotin’s wrath. “I made a mistake, my pharaoh,” I pleaded. “I had a lapse in judgment.”

  He scoffed. “A lapse?” He seized my jaw, gripping tightly enough I winced. “You will need to make up for all of the times you had a lapse. You’re lucky he didn’t impregnate you. The child would die for your lapse.”

  I put my hand on his wrist. “Y-You’re hurting me.”

  “Oh, this is nothing compared to how I can hurt you, my wife.” He loosened his grip, only to slide his hand back to my neck and grasp it. He dragged me to the bed and forced me down.

  Tears filled my eyes as he raised the belt, and I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face away, waiting for the pain. I had once been the mighty sorceress, afraid of nothing and no one. But if I raised a finger against the pharaoh, he would take my head or feed me to the crocodiles.

  I heard a grunt, and my eyes flew open.

  Doren stood behind Taotin, whose body was rigid. Doren’s expression was furious. “How dare you lay your hand on her!” He threw Taotin to the floor, and only then did I see the wound on his back.

  I trembled but scrambled off the bed. I jumped into Doren’s arms. “I thought . . .”

  “I would never leave you,” he replied quickly. “I had to catch him by surprise.” He looked up at me to stroke my face. “I will never leave you. I love you, Zenja, and will as long as I have a heart.”

  I crushed my lips to his and pushed my body as close to him as I could.

  A hand grabbed my hair, yanked my head back, and I screamed when cold metal bit into my skin.

  Doren’s summer eyes widened in horror. His face paled. His lips opened in a scream. Blood splattered Doren’s garments. My blood. He clung to my body, tears already streaming down his face, and I saw the bloody dagger in Taotin’s hand.

  “No!” Doren’s voice echoed in my head. “Zenja, no!”

  Chapter 26

  Doren

  The hieroglyphics on the wall came into focus. I didn’t know what spell Taotin was using to keep me bound to the mortal realm, but I hated it.

  I groaned and tried to raise my head, but explosions of pain c
oursing through my body forced me to settle my forehead down on the cool cement once more. The viper’s poison still coursed through me, and more vomit rose at the back of my throat. No matter of self-control helped me keep it back, and I vomited yet again.

  “I wonder if you would leak venom if we opened your skin.”

  I turned my eyes to the cocky djinn leaning against the wall to my right.

  Adomal smirked at me. “You’re not so big and strong when you’re magically restrained, are you?”

  I sucked in a breath, unable to feel my feet or legs. “The three of you combined your magic,” I said. “And you changed Taotin. He’s not human anymore, is he?”

  “You’re smarter than he gives you credit for.” Adomal shrugged off the wall and a wicked-looking whip appeared in his hand. “Tell me. When Taotin found his wife in your arms, dead, did he peel the flesh from your body himself?”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “Or did he watch while someone else got their hands dirty?”

  I flexed my jaw and stretched my fingers. I couldn’t gather any energy to me. I couldn’t break from the chains with my meager strength. I’d tried when Koltic brought in the vipers, but it was worthless. I had no energy left.

  Adomal waved his hand to make the vomit disappear. “That’s better. It reeked.”

  He slammed the whip across my back three times. It bit into my back and arms, but I managed to resist any noise of pain.

  “I do believe I asked you a question,” he said coldly. He crouched in front of me, then placed the whip under my chin and forced my head up.

  “Yes, he tortured me,” I replied.

  “Tsk. I want details, Doren. Details!” Adomal stood and walked to my left side. He pressed the whip into one of the fresh wounds, making me grimace and turn my face away. “What did he do to punish you for killing his wife?”

  I had buried those memories long ago. Reliving the pain night after night for thousands of years would do nothing for me, and I knew it. So I locked it up behind a door I would never pass through again.

  Again, the whip tore into my flesh. I couldn’t hold back a few screams of pain and knew Adomal was leaving behind thick gaps in my back and arms.

  Finally, he stopped. “I asked because no inch of your body has a scar. How is that possible?”

  I heard the whip drag across the ground and looked from the corner of my eye to see him smearing my blood on the floor.

  He put his boot under my chin and again lifted my head.

  “All of it disappeared when I was made a djinn,” I answered. “Same as you.”

  “Hm. Makes sense, I suppose.”

  “And what innocent did you kill to end up as a djinn?” I asked.

  Adomal inclined his head. “What does she like about you?” he asked, his voice low. “You’re pathetic. You’re the eldest of the djinn. You should be the strongest of us. And yet, a simple spell holds you bound.”

  “I used all of my magical energy. Seeing how Taotin is my new master and doesn’t seem too eager to make a wish of me, I can’t restore that magic.”

  “Avashal was right about you.” A smirk appeared on his face. “You really should have embraced being a djinn. He knew things you didn’t, yet you somehow managed to kill him with his own dagger.” He dropped my face so fast I almost slammed it against the floor.

  I didn’t care how long they kept me here, how much they tortured me. I needed to know Gwen was safe. But I also had to defeat Taotin once and for all. The djinn had either changed him or used their energy to give him some kind of abnormal life. I focused on these thoughts while Adomal focused on tearing me apart with his whip until I could no longer keep my head up.

  “Adomal, stop.”

  I couldn’t lift my head. My breathing was labored and quick.

  Koltic’s shoes came into view. “You’ll kill him if you hit him anymore.”

  “I can’t kill him. He’s djinn,” Adomal sassed.

  “No, but if you kill him in this realm, it will transport him back to the djinn realm regardless of what spells we’ve used.” His feet shuffled around. “Damn. I’m shocked he’s not dead. Does he have any skin left?”

  “Can’t tell,” Adomal snickered.

  I closed my eyes, focusing of my breathing.

  “I think he’s out,” Adomal said.

  Koltic finally replied. “I think I’ll talk to Taotin tonight. He owes us.”

  “You really think he’ll uphold his end of the bargain?”

  “We have the contract.”

  “Man. It’s been so long, I don’t remember how to be human.”

  “Well, I never was, so . . .” Koltic snickered.

  Taotin had made a bargain with them. Freedom, by the sound of it. Taotin would wish them free, grant them life as mortals to live out the rest of their lives without being locked in slavery until the end of time. Something I’d once longed for, I now feared. If I was free before I could get Gwen out of Taotin’s claws . . . I’d still fight just as hard, I’d just have to be a lot more careful.

  “Think Zenja will comply with what the master wants?” Adomal said, his voice distant.

  I forced myself to remain present with the mention of Gwen’s name.

  “She’ll do it without realizing what she’s done. He calls us.”

  At the silence, I peeled my eyes open and found the two gone. I drew a shuddered breath and turned my face, the cement gritting against my cheek. I needed to talk to Gwen. I needed to help her. I tried to move my arms against the chains, only to gasp as the darkness of pain washed over me.

  Chapter 27

  Gwen

  I stared at the Ankh around my neck. Doren was the one who had loved me and kept me safe, and all these years, Doren believed he was the one who had taken my life.

  I heard the knock on my door, but it was the second one that brought me out of my stunned, angry silence. I tucked my necklace under my shirt and walked to the door to open it.

  Taotin smiled down at me. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  I forced a smile. “Almost. I need to speak with Doren.”

  His lips tightened.

  “Don’t worry,” I assured, forcing myself to pat his chest and only aware of how awkward that was until I’d already done it. “Just a couple of questions. You don’t need to be there. He can’t do anything anyway, he’s all chained up.” I winked and stepped past him.

  “I don’t want you talking to him alone.”

  I stopped and faced him, brows raised, and put my hands on my hips. “We aren’t going to have a repeat of my previous life.”

  His brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  That look in his eyes . . . either he didn’t remember how hard he’d been on me, or he truly hadn’t believed anything was wrong with it.

  “I just mean, I’m a big girl. I’m a sorceress. He’s a pathetic djinn chained in a cell.” I shrugged.

  He smiled and shook his head. “All right. But if you need anything, yell for help.”

  I blew him a kiss—maybe a bit too much—and walked down the hall, aware of his eyes riding my butt. I made it down to the basement, but the instant the door opened, my breath caught.

  Doren was unconscious on the floor, a heap of flesh and blood.

  I put my hand over my mouth, the smell and taste of iron heavy in the air. “What the hell happened?” I yelled at the guard to my left.

  “Taotin gave Adomal and Koltic permission to do as they pleased with him,” he answered simply.

  “They could have at least cleaned up,” I said, making sure it sounded like I wasn’t about to throw up.

  “I still can.”

  I raised my hand. “I got it.” I stepped into the room and closed the door.

  Even though it was only Doren and me in the cell, I felt as if eyes were focused on me. I stacked my fingers on my left hand and spread my fingers on my right. I crossed the hands in front of each othe
r, and then in a circle. The blood gathered and compressed together, disappearing in the air.

  That only allowed me to see the full extent of the damage to Doren’s back. I frowned in disgust, and my gut wrenched. I wanted to heal him. I wanted to restore his strength and power. I wanted to save him. But with the unseen eyes boring into me, I knelt beside Doren and stroked his cheek.

  His eyes darted behind the lids and slowly pulled open, still rolling.

  “Hey there,” I whispered.

  His lavender eyes finally settled on me, and he drew a rough breath.

  I smiled at him, stroking his cheek gently. “I looked up that spell.”

  His gaze darted around my face, trying to read my expression.

  “I understand.” I raised my eyebrows, hinting to him that I knew the entire truth. I leaned down and put my lips to his ears, my hair cascading from my shoulder to shield our faces. “I know the entire truth. And I need you to trust me. I’m going to save you, Doren. My love.”

  He turned his face, and I caught his lips in a kiss.

  It was over too soon. I sat up and tapped his nose before rising to my feet. Those stupid djinn were watching us—I just knew it—and I couldn’t risk getting caught making out with Doren at a time like this.

  “Where does a djinn get its power?” I asked, not really to Doren, but if he could help me answer, we might be able to figure out how to take out Taotin.

  “I told you. A djinn gets its power from the master making a wish.” His voice was gravely and it tore even more at my heart. They’d put him through hell.

  I tapped my chin. “That doesn’t make sense.” I looked at him, staying in his line of sight so he wouldn’t have to move. “You’re a magical being reliant on sucking the life force of a master, who forces you to use magic to make that wish come true.”

  “It’s like filling a bottle of water and drinking it, then refilling it from the same tap,” he explained.

  “But the water comes from somewhere,” I countered.

  His brows shifted, and I realized I got the wheels in his head turning.