Wish For Me (The Djinn Order #1) (20 page)

“They speak of your beauty, Glory,” Irving said, watching me watch the guards who were speaking the Djinn kind’s language.

I blushed. “Yeah right. All these gorgeous Djinn women in Shrinelyn and they’re looking at
me
? I doubt it.”

“You should never doubt your appeal, my love. You are radiant and there isn’t a soul alive that would deny it.”

I wasn’t in denial that I was pretty, but it was still hard for me to believe that I held
that
kind of allure.

The palace armory was not as tightly guarded as the royal vault with a door that needed blood to open. It used a simple key, though it wasn’t one that could be duplicated or stolen. There was a small tattoo on the inside of Irving’s wrist that I’d never noticed before. I really needed to work on my skills of perception because I wasn’t sure how I could have missed the
key
that was inked into his skin.

A hypnotic chanting animated the key and Irving was able to lift it from his skin and unlock the door to the armory. I was stupefied and wondered if I could wish for a tat like that. The hunters would never get their hands on Irving’s Chronolier without the key if it was inked into my skin instead of hanging around my neck. It didn’t break any of the rules, so it was a valid wish, but I just knew Irving would probably try to find some way to keep me from wishing for it.

The armory had tons of weapons I didn’t even know existed, but there wasn’t much time to explore them. Irving led me over to the swords and sabers and helped me choose two that I could wield without accidentally stabbing myself. Then we were leaving the palace and hopping onto his raptor, caps and goggles in place to venture to a realm where it was likely Rasputin and his steel army would be waiting for us. What had Irving and the Sultan been thinking when they had concocted this shitty plan? I was a human and the only magic I could brandish was a crappy glamour. What good would that be on this expedition?

Before we took off, Irving checked his stopwatch and I felt a nagging notion that we were about to go through a portal. And I was right. Returning the way we had come, through the forest with all of the steel creatures, the portal appeared just as it had before. A time warp that made the air ripple. The only indication that this type of travel was even possible.

The experience of going through the portal was similar to the time before, but when we came out on the other side, it wasn’t warm and beautiful. It was cold and dark and I immediately knew that we had fucked up coming there.

“Where are we?” I asked as I climbed off of the raptor and removed my goggles. My teeth chattered from the chilling wind blowing.

“If it becomes too cold for you, glamour yourself. That will offer some relief though it won’t fully protect you from the elements.”

I nodded and turned in a circle on the mountain ledge we stood on. “Again, where are we?”

“The Hindu Kush.”

I’d never heard of such a place. “Where is the Hindu Kush?”

Irving stood on the edge of ledge and peered over it. “In your realm. What you call the middle east.”

“What the hell are we doing here?” I joined him on the edge of death. “You think Rasputin is here?”

He nodded. “He has hidden the Army here.”

“In my realm? Why?”

“That is what we need to discover.”

I nodded and gripped the hilt of one of my sabers. “Then let’s go find the fucker.”

“I need to ask you something first.”

I stared at him, sensing an awkward moment ahead. “What’s up?”

Irving hesitated, like he was cursing himself for opening his mouth. But after a minute, he said what was on his mind. “I was wondering, after your third wish is made and you are no longer my master, if you would stay with me.”

Oh shit.
My heart beat took the fuck off. “You mean in Shrinelyn?”

“Yes.” By the look in his eye, I could tell that for him it was all so simple. Irving loved me and wanted me to stay with him. But for me, it was not simple at all and true to my nature, I fucking panicked.

“I can’t.”

Irving’s smile vanished. “What?”

“I’m human, Irving, and you’re a Djinn. It won’t work, you know?”

He frowned. “What won’t work?”

“Us. You and me. We’re so…different. We were born to two different worlds. I don’t belong in yours and you certainly don’t belong in mine.” I cringed, because that last bit had sounded a lot harsher than I had intended it to.

His frown deepened. “How could you think that, Glory? After all that we have shared—”

“It was just sex,” I said. “It didn’t mean anything, right? I mean, it was just two people who barely know each other acting on a physical attraction. Nothing more.”

Irving’s jaw clenched so tight I thought it would snap. His expression glazed over with anger, but in the backdrop of his beautiful eyes, I saw the hurt. I instantly felt like shit. I couldn’t understand why I stood there and lied to his face. The time we’d spent together had meant so much more than nothing, and here I was, throwing it all away because I was a chicken shit.

With an abrupt turn, Irving started down the mountainside. I had no choice but to follow.

We walked for miles in dead silence, and with every step I took, a part of me died. Irving remained a gentleman, helping me over the jagged rocks and lowering me down from steep ledges whenever it was necessary, but as soon as the task was complete, he would let me go. He didn’t want to touch me. He didn’t want me touching him. He walked ahead of me whenever possible and never once looked me in the eyes. Half the time I couldn’t see where I was going because my stupid fucking peepers were filled with tears. I was surprised the coat, hat and gloves glamour that I’d conjured up even held because all I could think about was Irving and that fact that I had made a terrible mistake.

My tears had some nerve showing their face. I’d brought it all down on myself, and now I wanted to act like my feelings were hurt? What about Irving’s feelings? I hadn’t considered them at all. He’d basically told me he was in love with me and wanted to be with me forever, and I’d thrown it all back in his face as though none of that meant anything to me.

I was so damn stupid.
Lies are for cowards.
That’s exactly what I was. A damn stupid coward. How in the hell was I ever going to fix this?

It was at least four hours before Irving stopped to let me have a rest and it was only because I simply couldn’t go on. I had to take a break before I keeled over, though I was sure Irving wouldn’t have minded that.

“What’s the destination?” I asked on a breath just to hear his voice. I sat down on a jut of rock and tried to calm my racing heart. I let my glamour fade because I just couldn’t hold onto it any longer.

“The Amu Darya,” he replied in a flat tone. He conjured up a waterskin and handed it to me. I eagerly accepted it and drained it in under sixty seconds. Immediately, I felt my energy return and realized the water must have been charmed somehow. I wanted to sing Irving’s praises. Maybe he didn’t want me to die after all.

“What’s the Amu Darya?” I asked, standing again. I concentrated and put my glamour back in place because despite the renewal of energy, I was still freezing. I buried my face in my glamoured scarf.

“The valley at the base of the mountain,” Irving replied. “I believe the Army is there.”

I appreciated that Irving was talking to me again, but dammit, he wouldn’t look at me and I had been trying to catch his eye since we’d stopped. But he refused to make eye contact and I couldn’t blame anyone but myself.

“I’m sorry, Irving,” I said, my voice unaffected by the scarf. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just don’t—”

He cut me off. “You do not owe me an explanation. I am the fool here. I allowed myself to see something in you that was not really there. I swore your heart swelled with the same emotions as mine. I was wrong, but I will not make that mistake again.”

“Irving—”

“This way.” He turned to walk off before I could say another word.

“Take another step and I will skewer you, parasite,” a female voice snarled from behind us. Her voice sounded muffled, like she wore a mask, but the feminine tone could not be denied. I froze in place, all thoughts of pulling my sabers vanquished when I saw the crossbow aimed at Irving’s head. Where had this woman come from and how in the
hell
had she managed to sneak up on a freaking Djinn?

The assailant circled us, followed by another woman. There was
two
of them and I was right. They had on black wool pants tucked into knee-high black boots, short black wool coats fashioned in a military style, leather gloves and
masks
. They were black leather: gold-plated on one side and a glass monocle on the other. Their faces were completely covered, but I recognized their
hair.
How, I didn’t know. But I did. One was ash-blonde; the other, a dark brunette.

My glamour faded and I revealed my true self. The two women froze in apparent shock, and then the masks came off. In that one moment, my entire world took one right up the ass.

“Mom? Elena?” I just couldn’t believe my fucking eyes. “What are you doing here?”

A creepy smile appeared on my mom’s face. She was less surprised than I would have expected her to be. In fact, she seemed satisfied. “You told me Glory had the Chronolier, Elena,” she said, her French accent clear even though the wind was making it hard to hear. “After the attack at her school, you suspected her and I should have listened to you. About Maman as well.” My aunt nodded but didn’t say anything. Her eyes were still as wide with surprise as mine were.

I stared at my mother’s arrow. The one she had set in her crossbow, ready to let fly into the Djinn I was pretending I didn’t care about. “You’re the hunter who shot Irving,” I stated, recognizing the steel shaft and barbed arrowhead. “Why?”

My mom raised an eyebrow. “That is your first question?”

“No. My first question was, what are you doing here?” Maybe I should have asked what the fuck they were doing in the Hindu Kush. How long she and Elena had been hunters. How long they had known Djinn existed. What my grandmother had to do with this. Why they had been
lying
to me all my life. But I couldn’t. I didn’t want to know.

“You wished for magic, I see,” Mom said with a smile. “It’s exactly what I would have wished for. I could not be more proud.”

“Tell me why you shot Irving!” I shouted. Elena’s eyes widened further as did my own. I’d never yelled at my mother in my life.

“I thought he had finally come for you, Glory,” my mom said, calm as ever. Her crossbow was still raised high and she didn’t seem to care that I’d shouted at her. “And as it turned out, he had. Just not in the way I suspected.”

“What did you suspect?”

“That he had come to kill you, of course.”

“Why would Irving want to kill me?”

“Isn’t the more important question, why
didn’t
I kill
him
?”

“I know why you didn’t kill Irving,” I growled.

“
Magnifique.
Then we can skip right to the thank you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Mom eyed the sling pack I’d brought with me. The pack that held Irving’s Chronolier. “You have an Amir in your possession, the only Amir able to grant wishes. The League has been searching for him for centuries, but it appears the search is over now.” She smiled without an ounce of humor. “So, thank you, Glory.”

To hear what I already knew confirmed by my own mother terrified me. But not enough to make me back down.

I raised my chin. “Well, just so we’re clear.
I
am Irving’s master and I will not be giving him up anytime soon. Not to you
or
the League.” I glanced up at Irving to let him know that I was on his side, but I found him staring at me in a strange, unnerving way. “What is it?”

At first, he didn’t answer.

“
What is it?
” I repeated.

He looked at my mom, then back at me. “You are the daughter of Madeleine Delvaux,” he said, his violet eyes glittering with something I couldn’t name.

“Madeleine Delvaux? No, my mom’s name is Kittrin St. Pierre.”

“No. It is Madeleine Delvaux.”

I huffed with impatience. “How the hell are you going to tell me—”

I made the mistake of glancing at my mother. The look on her face stopped me cold. She wasn’t denying it, and if anything, she was
confirming
his statement with her silence and frigid stare. I swallowed hard, hoping I was wrong. I didn’t want to think about what this might mean.

“You changed your name to hide Glory from the Sultan,” Irving said. He wasn’t speaking to me. He spoke to my mother. The truth hit me hard.
Irving and Mom knew each other.

“No, actually,” she replied in a low, dangerous tone. “I was trying to hide her from Ada Amir.”

The princess?
“What does Ada have to do with this?” I questioned. Why did the princess’ name keep popping up in every conversation?

“So you’ve met her,” my mother replied with a smirk. “She doesn’t know you are my daughter. She would have killed you on the spot if she had.”

“
Why?
”

“Because Ada Amir is dangerous. And because I am Madeleine Delvaux, the deadliest hunter the League of the Black Cloud has ever unleashed into the world.”

Okay. That confirmed one fear, but conjured up a million others. Ada had made it known that she’d done some shady things for the Sultan, but actually how dangerous was the princess? How dangerous was my own
mother
?

“Peter St. Pierre is not your father,” Irving said. It was like he was informing me, not asking.

“He is in all the ways that count,” I replied, feeling sort of dizzy all of a sudden. “He’s been my father since I was two.”

“But he is not your blood.” Again, he was informing me like I didn’t already know this shit.

“No. My real dad died before I was born.” I looked between Irving and Kit and my stomach filled with dread. “Is that a lie too? Did he even exist?” I thought of all the pictures my mom had shown me of my birth father and became nauseated at the thought that they weren’t real.