“Listen to me, Jezebel,” he continued as he stalked me along the water’s edge. “I swear on the dragons themselves that I will make sure the covenant is completed for you by placing a ring on your finger eventually. It will only be a few years at most. I’ll protect you the entire time.”

  “What an offer,” I snapped. “You’ll only betray me temporarily.”

  He had the good sense to look ashamed, but it didn’t stop his progression toward me.

  I’d never wished for my Gifts more than I did right then. If I could’ve, I’d have traveled away to the mountains and out of reach. Or maybe shifted into a Lacklore and attacked him. Could I do that? It seemed more like a dream when I thought about it.

  Glaring at him, I shook my head.

  How could I have ever trusted him?

  As he prowled closer, I spun on my heel and ran through the meadow. Behind me, long grass crunched under our heels as Koda gave chase. The steep slope of rocks at the base of the mountain rose up on all sides, quickly blocking my path.

  Koda was driving me into a corner.

  His betrayal became secondary to finding a way out of this. It was either him or me. He was making all kinds of promises, but I knew better now. I was the only one I could trust.

  Hands held out in a gesture of peace, Koda cornered me as I backed up against the rock wall. “I don’t want to hurt you, Jezebel.”

  “Too late,” I said bitterly, clutching the rings against my stomach. “You should’ve thought of that sooner.”

  He pounced.

  Swiping at him clumsily with my knife, I aimed to skewer him, but instead I only managed to slash a shallow cut along his arm.

  When he hissed in pain and fell back, staring at the wound with a surprised expression, I ducked around him, trying to run back through the meadow.

  He crashed into me from behind.

  His weight knocked me to the ground with a painful thump as the knife tore out of my hand and soared through the air, landing far out of reach.

  We wrestled wildly. The rings went flying, disappearing into the tall grass along with the knife.

  Grunting, Koda grew less gentle in his frustration, yanking my arms down and pinning them to my sides as he used the weight of his body to hold me down.

  I squirmed, refusing to give up.

  “You shouldn’t have thrown the rings,” he grumbled, searching for some sight of them in the long grass that rose above our heads. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”

  “Are you saying you’d force me to put the ring on your finger?” I asked, breathless from the struggle but also from his heavy weight on my chest, hampering my lungs. “Because that’s the only way it will happen.”

  Though his brows drew down unhappily and he wouldn’t meet my eyes, Koda nodded. “I will if I have to.”

  That decided it then.

  As he leaned to one side, feeling around with one hand through the grass while still pinning me to the ground, he unwittingly freed one of my arms. My bag was slightly under my hip, but I managed to wriggle it out and slip my fingers inside, gripping the wooden cork at the top and easing it off.

  There was a tiny bit of paste left.

  I scooped it out on one finger.

  The shallow cut on his arm oozed blood, dripping down onto my dress and shoulder. It was the perfect opportunity.

  Still, even after everything Koda had done, I hesitated.

  This wasn’t the same as what I’d done to Asher, my first crush, or to Shem when I chose to marry Koda. If I did what I was imagining, it would affect an entire race.

  But that’s what the Vaade had planned to do to us.

  “Found it,” Koda declared triumphantly.

  I made my decision.

  This wasn’t just Koda’s plan, it was... another Vaade whose name escaped me. It was what all of them had wanted. If it was backfiring on them, then that was their fault too. They had only themselves to blame.

  I struggled again, straining under his weight and grabbing his arm as part of my feigned attempt to break free.

  Koda held me down easily.

  The paste smeared across his wound.

  He was too busy grappling with my other hand to notice anything strange, trying to force me to hold his ring and place it on his finger.

  I made a fist. Tightening my fingers against his attempts, I gasped as he wrenched them open one by one. Though I tried to fight back, he was overpowering me.

  Just a few more seconds!

  I didn’t know if I could hold out much longer.

  He’d pressed the ring between my stubborn fingers, and his own finger was poised to put it on, when his grip began to loosen.

  Gasping, I ripped my hand free.

  His body started to sag as the paralytic took effect.

  Finally.

  I rolled him off me.

  That was the Vaade weakness: they didn’t think they had any.

  “What did you do?” he gasped, just like his sister had, whatever her name was.

  The dragon ring fell to the ground as he lost his ability to hold it.

  I left it there.

  As he lay gasping in the long grass, I stood, ignoring his continued stream of complaints and demands as I searched for the other ring. Koda tried to sit up and follow, but his body continued to weaken and betray him.

  The Jinni ring took forever to find.

  “Please, Jezebel,” Koda begged as he fell back in the grass, unable to hold himself up any longer. “Please.”

  I refused to respond until I found the ring, struggling to focus as different gaps in my memories continued popping up, confusing me—I couldn’t think straight with this second spell clouding my mind.

  There.

  It’d landed near my knife, which I made sure to pick up as well. Then I lifted the thin white-gold ring with its diamond and ruby from where it’d been half buried in the dirt.

  Wordlessly, I drew a deep breath and faced Koda. Since he’d tried to force me to put the Vaade ring on his finger to complete the spell, I’d do the same with my own ring.

  I approached carefully, making sure he’d lost all feeling in his arms and wouldn’t fight me further. “Please, Jezebel,” he repeated in a whisper now, as if he couldn’t find anything better to say. “I care about you more than I’d like to admit. I wasn’t just marrying you for the covenant.”

  I lifted his limp hand in mine. My fingers pinched his together so that he held the ring, and though he groaned, he couldn’t move as I used his own hand to slip the ring on my ring finger.

  Where it should’ve been all along.

  I feared it wouldn’t work without the vow, but we had both said them. The rings should be the very last step...

  The cool metal circled my finger like an embrace.

  Instantly, my missing memories began flooding back, making me feel like I was waking from a deep sleep. Were my abilities returned as well? I tested them out by traveling from one side of the meadow and back in the span of two heartbeats.

  Covering my face, I let out a huge breath of relief, shoulders relaxing.

  “Finish the covenant,” Koda’s voice rasped. The paralytic was working fast, but he fought it. “Your prince doesn’t want you anymore,” he growled, going for the jugular. I winced, remembering exactly who he was talking about now. “This is your only option.”

  Was it? I stared down at him, mourning everything I’d thought we had.

  The return of my memories made it hurt more.

  I shook my head. “It stopped being an option the moment you betrayed me.”

  “Please,” he used his last bit of strength to beg. His whole body strained toward the ring that lay beside him, but he couldn’t even lift his arm to pick it up. “I swear I would’ve reversed the curse.”

  I knelt next to him.

  Reaching down, I gently lifted the ring, staring at it. “I don’t believe you.” But part of me still wanted to. It brought tears to my eyes against my will. I could use my manipulation Gift to get honesty from him, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the truth. Instead, I forced the tears back with a ripping sensation, burying them deep.

  I put the ring in my pocket.

  “You can’t do this!” Panic mixed with anger flashed across his face. “If you don’t finish the covenant, you’ll condemn us to live like humans... without any memories of who we really are,” he managed to say, as his eyes started to drift shut. “We’ll never end...” he trailed off.

  “If you could do it, then so can I.”

  He blinked rapidly, forcing his eyes open. “We were only going to... use the weakness temporarily. It’s completely... different.”

  “I disagree,” I murmured.

  “We keep written records,” Koda slurred, fighting a losing battle. “You can’t make us forget forever...” As he lost consciousness, his eyes fluttered closed and didn’t open again.

  “Thank you for letting me know,” I said quietly, though he couldn’t hear me anymore. “I’ll make sure to send someone to destroy them.”

  Leaning down, I lowered my head and let my lips brush across his one last time. “I could’ve loved you more than anyone,” I whispered, allowing the tears to fall. They dripped onto his cheeks before trailing into the grass. “If you hadn’t broken my trust, I would’ve been yours forever.”

  29

  I STOOD.

  The cheerful setting of the prairie grass in front of the lake and majestic mountains hadn’t changed much—except for the places where we’d trampled the grass—but I felt darker.

  “I imagine you’ll forget what happened today,” I told him softly, hoping he could hear me though he slept. “And the story of the covenant will no doubt get twisted and erased over time. But just know...” I paused, throat tightening. “I won’t forget you.”

  Now he had nothing, and I had even less.

  No home.

  No one to trust.

  As much as I’d grown to like the Vaade, I’d never again be allowed to sit at their fire. That dream was over.

  Could I somehow go back to the castle?

  The Jinni prince had rejected me, while Koda, the prince of the dragons, had betrayed me, leaving me without a place on either side.

  Your prince doesn’t want you anymore.

  Koda’s words played over and over on a loop in my mind.

  Doesn’t want you.

  Wallowing in the loss, I looked down at Koda and thought darkly. At least I still have my Gifts.

  I sucked in a breath. My Gifts of travel, shifting, and... manipulation.

  I could make Shem want me.

  Unlike Koda, whose strong mind had been immune to my Gifts, Shem’s wasn’t. Before I’d grown aware of my newest ability, I’d accidentally used it on him more than once.

  That would solve everything.

  If I forced him to take me back, I would have a home, a husband, and a future.

  If I did this, I’d be queen.

  I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to look at Koda, clutching the ring as I searched for any of the old guilt over using my Gift of manipulation on others.

  I couldn’t find it.

  Instead, my resolve only hardened. Shem had been manipulating me by making me think he truly loved me, that he would fight for me, when in reality, he’d thrown me aside as easily as Koda had when the opportunity came.

  When I imagined using my Gift on him to manipulate him into marrying me—the way he’d promised to already—I had no reservations.

  Shem had already proved he would’ve overrun my own desires just as easily.

  What did I have to lose?

  The answer came to me as soon as I asked the question: nothing.

  I stood and left Koda lying in the grass without a backward glance.

  Traveling to the camp used very little energy and cut the time down from an hour to a few short minutes. The camp was oddly quiet. As if most of the Vaade were gone.

  Probably looking for the rings, I thought, creeping closer.

  Four large Vaade men stood near the tent arguing with each other. One of them was Ahriman, the Vaade who’d attacked me. He sported a bruised and swollen eye.

  Jaw clenching, I lifted my chin.

  Too easy.

  Though they were no match for me now, with the curse weakening them more with each passing minute, I was spoiling for a fight.

  I strode out into the clearing directly toward them. “Where is everyone?” I mocked them. “Did those ‘feeble’ Jinn somehow get the best of you?”

  “Jinn?” Ahriman squinted at me, then his eyes widened in fear. “You’re a Jinni!” To the others he added, “I told you I could smell something off!”

  They’d forgotten so much already, Ahriman didn’t even know who I was anymore. It was oddly disappointing. “Are you the only ones here?”

  They had the good sense to raise their weapons.

  “No,” Ahriman scoffed. But I didn’t really need an answer. If there had been other Vaade here, they’d have appeared by now. The Dragon must’ve sent all the Vaade to hunt us down when he first felt the covenant begin.

  Nodding as I reached them, I simply said, “Good. That should give me a little time.”

  I clapped my hands on the shoulders of Ahriman and the Vaade closest to him.

  We traveled.

  I chose the farthest place I could think of, besides the lake where I’d left Koda: the place where the Dragon had first held negotiations.

  When we reappeared, I let go.

  And traveled again.

  “Filthy Jinni sna—” another Vaade was saying as I flashed into the camp directly behind him.

  Beside him, the other Vaade whirled with his fist out.

  But I was prepared, and he was not.

  Without his extra senses, the second Vaade didn’t realize I was crouching by his feet instead of standing, and he missed, setting him off-balance.

  I grabbed both guard’s ankles and traveled again.

  We landed on the other side of the clearing this time, across from their fellow guards who were snarling and tearing through the woods toward us as soon as we appeared.

  I caught Ahriman eyes.

  Giving him a dark smile, I traveled back to the tents once more, leaving them there.

  It was probably only an hour or two from camp, but with the memory loss they were experiencing, they might never find their way back. I didn’t care.

  I hesitated at the entrance to the tent.

  Throwing the flap open, I froze on the threshold.

  Shem and every single member of his retinue sat tied up on the floor. Only Milcah was free.

  Did they not realize their Gifts were back yet?

  Wide-eyed, they all stared at me. Milcah had been bent over Shem’s ropes behind his back, painstakingly sawing at them with a small pocketknife. She lifted a finger to her lips.

  I scowled. “Don’t shush me, Milcah,” I said loudly, enjoying the way they all flinched as they waited for the Vaade to storm in and find me. “Did you not notice that I used the front entrance?” I mocked her, enjoying this more than I should’ve. “The guards are gone.”

  She straightened, looking at the other Jinn. “The king and queen must’ve sent—”

  The audacity.

  “I took care of them,” I interrupted, striding up to her and yanking the knife from my bag. With one sharp cut, Shem’s ropes dropped to the floor.

  Shem brought his hands around in front of him, rubbing his wrists. He, at least, looked happy to see me. “Someone stole the rings,” he told me, as I made my way around the room slashing ropes, freeing the rest of the council members and the guards. “And started the covenant on their own—”

  “Again, that was me,” I muttered.

  Captain Uriel tensed, eyeing me more closely.

  Gritting my teeth, I threw up my hands. “I had to. They added a curse to the covenant, and when I tried to warn you, you didn’t give me a chance.” That wasn’t the full truth, but they didn’t need to know that. “I’m sure you felt it? After your Gifts began to weaken, when your memories began to disappear?”

  “That was part of the covenant?”

  “No,” I repeated. “It was a secret curse the Vaade added to the covenant.”

  Shem ran a hand through his hair. “How did you stop it?”

  The thought of telling Shem about Koda was too painful. “I’ll explain later. The Vaade could come back at any time,” I said, grateful that it was true, as I cut the last rope for the remaining guard. “We need to go. Now.”

  “Maybe this is our opportunity to get the better of them,” Shem said to Captain Uriel instead, as if already forgetting me. “If they’re still weak, we could call for more members of the Guard—”

  “The Vaade threat is over,” I interrupted, blood boiling. “I took care of it. They won’t be bothering us anymore.”

  “You don’t know that, Jezebel,” Shem said with a sigh. Had he always been this condescending?

  “I do know,” I insisted through clenched teeth. “It’s time to go home.”

  “I completely understand your desire to go home.” Shem patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. “I’ll have Milcah take you to the daleth on the way to call for more guards.”

  “Where is the portal?” I said flatly.

  “Just a mile or so to the east—”

  “Good.” I took his hand and traveled, knowing the others would follow.

  “What’re you doing?” Shem protested when we reappeared.

  Looking him in the eyes, I used the full force of my Gift of manipulation. “We’re going home. Right now. You’re taking me to your parents.”

  As expected, the rest of Shem’s retinue quickly followed my trail, arriving in a chaotic shouting mass.

  “Join hands,” I shouted back at Captain Uriel as he seized my arm.

  Under the influence of my Gift, his eyes grew blank, and he obeyed.

  “Now,” I snapped at the others.

  Though I wasn’t touching the rest of them, they looked from Shem to the captain, both of whom calmly held onto me, and grudgingly followed suit.

  Without my previous reservations about my Gifts, I was fueled by my fury, feeling all of them expand in ways I hadn’t thought possible before.

 

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