Boone’s face fell. “And that begs the question, does he even want to use them? If he did, then why save me? Wouldn’t it have been in his best interest to let me die?”
I felt like someone had punched me in the chest. Every time I thought of how close Boone had come to death made me want to scream until my lungs burned.
Phlox nodded. “You would think that would be the case. We’re missing something. Finding a djinn isn’t easy, let alone two. Director Huxley wouldn’t have spent so much time covertly tracking them down if he didn’t want to use them for his own gain. I mean, if he wanted to find them to eradicate them or simply keep them from falling into the wrong hands, he would have involved the council in the search.”
“And I assume he didn’t do that,” I said.
“You assume correctly. I can guarantee you no one in the council has a clue about Huxley’s little collection.”
Leon had been relatively quiet. It was something I’d already grown accustomed to. I’d heard vampires could be like that. When he did speak, his words carried weight. “I believe you are all forgetting a very important complication where djinn are concerned.”
“Oh goody, more complications.” Boone flopped back on the couch, allowing the cushions to nearly swallow him whole.
“And what would that be?” Phlox asked.
“What eventually becomes of all djinn masters,” Leon icily responded.
I thought back to all the times Aurelia had crassly commented on the creative deaths of her masters. “They die.”
“They are murdered,” Leon corrected. “Their lifespans are shortened. Whatever they gained by releasing a djinn was fruitless in the end.” Leon’s obsidian gaze landed to my left, firmly on Boone. “What did a master ever have to hold over a djinn? More wishes? Making the djinn go back into their object of attachment? Forcing a djinn to perform duties they did not wish to do? All of these things are paltry when one considers the longevity of a djinn. The long years stretch before them until time becomes meaningless. There is no power on earth that can destroy them. No power before Necromancer Erasmus Boone was born.”
Boone’s body stilled, his chest barely breathing. My own limbs felt like leaden weights, and I longed to dislodge the elephant metaphorically sitting on my chest. Phlox’s eyes widened before narrowing, the weight of that gaze firmly settled on the man I loved beyond reason.
“Could that be it?” Boone asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “Does Tenzen want me as…what? A threat?”
“It’s plausible.” Phlox’s gaze finally shifted from Boone to Leon. “The director’s savvy enough to consider the consequences of releasing a djinn.” I could see Phlox’s throat work as he swallowed down several responses before finally settling on “if so, that’s disturbing.”
“At the very least,” Leon agreed. “Because if true, then Tenzen Huxley intends to use the djinn he has acquired, and I have never heard of someone desiring to wield a djinn for the betterment of the world.”
No longer still, Boone’s body quivered, its movement vibrating against my left side. Slipping an arm around him, I pulled Boone against my chest, tucking his head into my neck. The room was quiet, only the hum of electronics buzzing in the background. There were no words of comfort, no placating thoughts to drown out the fear coursing through all of us. Sometimes there was simply nothing to say.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Erasmus
“I should call Pops.” Typically, thoughts of Pops didn’t invade my head when I was lying in bed with Franklin, but this was far from atypicalevening.
“Do you want me to get your phone? It’s on my side of the bed.” I’m not sure how my phone wound up on the nightstand beside Franklin instead of me. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure how I’d gotten undressed and tucked under the covers. The past couple of hours were little more than a blur.
“No. I’m not even sure what to tell him or what he can do.” Growing up, I’d always thought Pops was invincible. I’m not sure if all children feel that way about their fathers. Pops being a warlock made my situation a little different. What wasn’t different was the crushing disappointment and fear when I realized how vulnerable my parents were.
Franklin’s fingers slipped through my hair, casually scraping across my scalp. “I don’t know what he can do either, but your pops is one of the most capable individuals I’ve ever met. He’s also one of the proudest and most loving fathers I’ve ever met. Regardless of what he can or can’t do, he’ll want to know.”
“But we’re not even sure Leon is right,” I weakly argued.
“True.” I could hear the hesitance in Franklin’s voice.
“But you think he’s right.”
“I think he could be right, and if he is…” Franklin sucked in a breath, his chest rising and lifting my body with it. When he exhaled, my body drifted down again. “It fits. All this time we’ve been asking ourselves why Huxley’s so interested in you. The obvious reasons just didn’t seem to gel, or at least we could poke a thousand holes in them. What Leon said plugs a lot of those holes.”
My fingers gripped the sheets, balling them tight. “Phlox feels terrible. He thinks this is his fault.”
“Hmm, I can see why he feels that way. But at the end of the day, he doesn’t control Huxley’s actions.”
“No, but Phlox is the one who informed the Magical Usage Council about what happened with Janus. Tenzen never would have known what I can do if it hadn’t been for that. Not that I blame him. Phlox trusted the council and thought they needed to know, especially since Aurelia is still out there and active. He did what he thought was right and what would protect everyone the most. I hate that he’s beating himself up over this.”
