He’s deteriorated so much since I last saw him.Kai’s shock wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Crazy didn’t mean easy to manipulate. It meant unpredictable. The enemy we dealt with now wasn’t a familiar one, so we were operating in the dark when it came to assuming his reactions.
We stick with the plan, I urged.
We didn’t have time to come up with something new. Half the djinn on the boat were under my control. A little distraction, a slip of the wrist on the driver, and I could have the boat on solid ground in time for Ezra to come save the day. I felt him chomping at the bit out there, not used to being on the sidelines when his cousin was in danger.
“Finally,” Kol preened, ignoring the way the boat fought with everything it had not to capsize. “We’ve come full circle.”
The pit bull I once thought was cute and fluffy sat on its haunches beside its master, dry as a bone. The dreary mist went right through it like the illusion wasn’t as strong as usual. Like its manipulator wasn't at full strength. Strange.
Those teeth will shred through you, half-strength or not. Don’t touch.
I fought a glare. I wasn’t stupid. No touchy the doggy. Kinda common sense when said doggy was nothing more than a mental representation of its psychotic owner.
“I’ve waited a long time for this,” Kol continued, oblivious to our internal banter.“Youare particularly hard to get a hold of for a breed that’s almost…extinct.”
Kai lunged but didn’t get far. I gave the guards free rein to react as normal, choosing to conserve my magick for when the fight really began. That meant keeping up appearances. Thedjinn landed a solid fist to Kai’s gut, and I winced as the phantom pain shot down the bond.
Sorry.
Kai coughed and straightened in their hold. I readied myself to flip that mental switch if they so much as hinted at striking him again, but Kol waved them away. Free to stand on our own, we kept a wary eye open.
“Why are you doing this?” Kai asked. “You could start a war.”
Kol laughed like the idea was preposterous. “Not if I kill you before anyone finds out.”
What? That didn’t even make sense. Did it? My heart began to race as fear sank its claws into me for the first time since I set foot on this boat. It was one thing to have my life threatened multiple times. It was another thing entirely to find out the guy trying to kill me was actually after my bonded. I guess I was just the consolation prize. My magick pulsed.
Breathe, princess. Nothing is going to happen to me. You’ve got a plan, remember?
Damn right, I had a plan. With a mental nudge, I directed one of the djinn under my thrall to climb up to the steering platform. We had to get to shore if we had any hope of making it out of this alive. Besides the ocean actively trying to kill us, I didn’t think Kol had much restraint left in him.
“I find it hard to believe your father is very supportive of this plot of yours,” Kai replied, cool as a cucumber on the outside. He casually leaned on the cabin door behind him, the best distraction.“He’s worked hard for the power your faction now holds. Why throw it all away?”
Another deranged laugh from Kol. “Our people won’t have that power for much longer if myfatherhas anything to say about it. He wanted me to let it go, you know? He wanted to let the heir of our rival faction bond a fucking nightmare and become more powerful than me. Disgusting.”
“Tell us how you really feel,” I grumbled, and Kol shot me a glare.
“You,” he sneered. “If it weren’t for you, the djinn wouldn’t be at risk of losing everything!”
His pit bull snarled, teeth bared and drooling thick saliva. The boat tilted steeply, tossing me and Kai to the side along with everyone else not holding on to something. There was a sharp scream, and the driver fell from above to land in a heap in front of me. He groaned, and I reached out to touch him—having his mind under my control was crucial, whether or not he’d be able to get up—but the boat slanted in the opposite direction and the djinn slid away.
“What are you doing?” Kol shouted up at the djinn now driving the boat in a straight shot for the shore.
I laughed. No amount of cursing his lineage was going to make him stop, not when it was my magick that fueled his every move. Kai dove to the side, avoiding one of the guards not under my thrall. Shadows burst free when he found himself suddenly surrounded by six more. An illusion, but which one was real?
Stop worrying about me and get your ass to safety!Kai shouted, then disappeared behind a cloud of black.
His disappearance jolted me from my staring in time to avoid a mouthful of teeth inches away from my face. Across the deck, Kol smirked with glee as he set his pit bull after me. I scrambled backward, slipping over the wet surface. There were no weapons within reach to save me, not that anything physical would stop the attack from coming.
I rolled when the dog lunged, and then rolled again when the boat crested a large wave and landed back down harshly enough to knock the air from my lungs. Kai threw something, a fucking flashlight, at Kol and it was enough of a distraction for me to put some distance between me and the viscous illusion.
I climbed the metal ladder in front of me, one slick bar afteranother, until I crouched on the swaying platform with my enthralled djinn. Reaching with my magick, I tugged on the other connection I made, stopping the other guard in his tracks as he snuck up behind Kai. He switched directions, immediately coming to stand at the bottom of the ladder.
“Ok, let's see how good your illusion holds up against his,” I said to myself.
It wasn’t much of a stretch to control the djinn’s magick, not when I was in his head like I was. It’s not like I was casting the illusion, just controlling the part ofhisbrain that was capable of doing it. The pit bull prowled closer; eyes locked on the guard like he recognized him as the enemy now. With a strong push, I made the djinn conjure a large python.
