The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) (35 page)

Kitra spots them, just as Taj’s collar falls from his neck. She
hides behind my back, whispering, “Protect me.”

It wasn’t necessary, though. Because, with the flick of his wrist,
Sophie disappears, followed immediately by Taj. Something inside of my chest
squeezes. 

He’s
gone.

At
least he took Sophie with him. At least she is safe.

Kitra
relaxes at my shoulder, then shoves me forward, causing me to stumble into the
wall and down the remaining steps. “You obviously can’t depend on friends,
Leela. They always leave you one way or another. So, tell me, was it worth your
sacrifice?” She does not pause for a response. “Wait here while I wake Cephas.”
Her body and voice both shake with barely controlled fury.

I
stand obediently at the bottom of the stairs as she helps the giant to his
feet. The hate burning in his eyes should send a chill down my spine the same
as it did minutes ago. But what does the pain matter when Gabe is dead because
he wanted to help me? It is good Taj left me. I don’t want him to die for me
too.

“You
will pay,” Cephas says, stalking toward me. “I will see your skin peeled from
your body.”

“No
killing, Cephas,” Kitra says. “But all else is fair game. She’s cost me two
Djinn.”

Kitra’s
words free something inside of me. Let them do what they want with my body, I
decide. I’ve succeeded in saving both Taj and Mira. I am absolved. I am
untouchable.

Cephas
reaches out a hand for the back of my neck and throws me forward toward the
cell. I crash down on my knees just short of the lead. He raises a foot to kick
me forward, and I turn instinctively away, when Kitra shrieks.

Both
Cephas and I look over to find her and Jered struggling at the base of the
stairs. She was wrong. Not everyone leaves. Jered hasn’t. He has his hands on
her arm, and I can see golden light swirling around her wrist. She repels him
back with a burst of her own power. As he flies to the floor, her bracelet
breaks, and I stare in disbelief as a gleaming emerald skids to a stop directly
between myself and Cephas. But Kitra isn’t done. She has pulled out another
dagger, aiming it at Jered’s heart.

Time
slows. I can reach the stone before Cephas, but if I do, I will be unable to
help Jered. Again, memories flitter before my eyes. They are new memories,
though. Different pictures that have wiped away some of the old.

I
watch Jered gather me to him as I cry. Feel the touch of his lips on mine as we
float in the night sky. See him laughing with Gabe. See the light in his eyes
and the flush of his cheek as he thinks of new ways to help the unfortunate in
the world. See him glowing gold as he watches his sister play.

The
choice is made before I have time to blink. Kitra’s dagger comes crashing down
on my force field, and she is thrown backward, striking her head on the hard
stone wall. Jered stops, one hand reaching toward me as Cephas retrieves the
stone.

“Go,”
I tell him, my voice thick with emotion.

The
wounded look on his face is more than I can take, and I cry. He collapses
backward, clutching his head. Fighting internally with Achan no doubt. I wait,
crouched on the floor for Cephas’s command. But it is not his voice that speaks
next.

“Well,
well, well. If it isn’t my old Master. Has anyone ever told you that you have a
nasty habit of trying to take things that don’t belong to you?”

Taj
stands, arms folded, breathing down Cephas’s neck. I laugh through the tears,
and Taj throws me a smile. Cephas turns, the veins in his massive throat
strained and pulsing. Taj plucks the stone from his hand and tosses it to me.

“What
do you want?” Cephas asks.

“I
want you to die,” Taj says.

Cephas
tries to throw a punch, but Taj simply catches his fist in mid-air and
squeezes, bringing him to his knees with a scream.

“You
see, I owe you,” says Taj, circling Cephas’s crouching figure. “This is for
me.” He strangles the air in front of him, and Cephas claws at his own neck as
he turns blue.

“And
this is for Lee.”

Cephas
chokes out a sound somewhere between a gurgle and a cry, and falls to the
floor, eyes open but blind.

I
feel the sharp cold emerald in my fist as it disintegrates into glitter, but my
eyes are cemented on Taj. He came back too. For me. My heart swells.

I
am about to speak when behind him Jered reaches up toward the air with a deadly
smile, pulling a long lead rod from nothing. I try to call out, but it is
over before I can. As soon as he raises the weapon to strike, it vanishes, and
Mira appears at his back.

“Oh
no you don’t, Achan,” she says, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“I
didn’t mean–” he begins.

“Oh
shut up,” she says, pushing him aside, so that he lands next to Kitra, who has
come to and cowers silently on the ground.

Mira
helps me to my feet. When our eyes meet, she smiles.

“Thank
you,” I say.

“What
should we do with the skank?” Taj asks, eyeing Kitra’s cringing figure.

“Mira,”
I say. “Her fate is yours to decide.”

Mira
stares hard into her old master’s face, raises her hands, and Kitra flies into
the lead-lined cell. The door swings shut behind her, and her screams are
drowned out as the gaps at the edges fuse to the surrounding metal, sparks
flying like fireworks.

“The
walls and door are magically sealed,” Mira says. “Let her die alone, thinking
about her crime. If she’s taught me anything, it’s that slow and painful is
always better.”

We
all turn toward Jered. Taj moves to strike, but I hold out a hand. “He is still
in there. We have to find a way to get Achan out.”

The Beginning

itra’s
mood is good. She has sent both Taj and Mira to retrieve a new Djinni for her
from the visitors’ homeland. So I entertain the guests alone. They eye me
eagerly as I dance, and my heart beats faster.

When
all of the humans have drunk themselves to staggering, Kitra announces that
they will retire for the night. Reluctantly, the strangers allow the servants
to lead them toward their rooms.

Achan
stops Kitra with a hand on her arm. She turns toward him, and he pulls her into
his arms, kissing her fiercely. I find it impossible to look away as she runs
her hands through his hair and he lifts her into his arms.

“What
about your pet?” she asks.

“Let
Cephas have her for the night,” Achan says. Kitra is delighted by this turn of
events and continues to kiss him as he carries her to his room.

I
feel Cephas at my shoulder. “You heard him. You’re mine tonight,” he says.
“Come.”

I
follow obediently as he leads me through the stark gray halls to his room,
barely waiting for me to get through the door before groping me like a hungry
lion. I pull at his clothing, desperate to find the stone. He grins, pleased
that I seem interested.

“Take
yours off first,” he commands. “No magic.”

I
fumble with shaky hands to remove my dancing outfit. But when I move toward him
again, he stops me with his arm thrown out.

“Dance,”
he says.

I
want to cry in frustration. But I dance about the room for him, my hair
swinging loose around me. After a few minutes, he removes his own clothing, and
I scan his body for the treasure. I need not have panicked. It hangs around his
neck on a piece of black cord. I know what I have to do.

“Stop,”
he says. “Now come here.”

He
pulls me into his arms, kissing me. I try not to gag and offer him a goblet
filled with wine when he pulls away. My eyes remain on the stone the entire
time. I continue to conjure more spirits throughout the night, practically
pouring them down his throat. Finally, he passes out. I wait to make sure he
will not wake, and then I take the stone.

I
wonder how something so small and lovely can be so foul. I am about to destroy
it when I hear a sound behind me. I turn to find the female stranger, who
throws one of Cephas’s own heavy lead chains on me before I can react.

“I
have to have your power,” she says, pulling out the dagger from her belt.

“You
will get no more power that way,” I say, desperate. “They tried. But it did not
work. That is why they enslaved us.”

“How
do I know you tell the truth?” she asks, jamming her knee into my stomach and
leaning down over my head. “Your kind twists truth to trick humans.”

“No!”
I cry. “Why else would they keep us? Why would Kitra not have taken such power
for herself?”

She
considers me, holds the knife to my throat. “How do they enslave you?” she
asks.

“It
is the stone,” I say, “In our collars. They have matching stones that we are
tied to. We must obey the owner.”

“What
are you holding?” she asks.

I
clamp my mouth shut.

“Give
it to me,” she says, pressing the lead into my skin. She pries the stone easily
from my hand and examines it. “I command you to kneel before me,” she says.

“It
is not mine,” I wail.

But
before I can try to explain, Taj appears on his knees at her feet. He looks as
surprised as I feel. Slowly the stranger smiles and releases her pressure on
the chains.

“Kitra
will kill you,” I say, desperate to protect Taj. To fix it.

“Then
we will have to leave tonight,” she says. “Come, slave.” Taj follows helplessly
as she leaves the room.

I
remain trapped beneath the chains on Cephas’s bed. I am certain that when he awakens,
he will kill me for losing his Djinni.

Worse,
he may force Achan to give him my stone so he may reap his revenge the more
painful way.

Freedom's Price

am going back,” Mira says.

“What?”
I ask. “But you came–”

“Taj
asked me to. He convinced me I owed you for freeing me. So I’m here. I helped
you, but I owe the human nothing. Now we are even, and I am leaving. I will not
stay for another minute in a place crawling with these evil creatures. Always
looking over my shoulder.”