“No – no –NO,” he shouted, falling off the bed. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real – wake up, you fucking idiot – wake up,wake up,WAKE UP–”
FIFTEEN
“MILLIONS,” HAZAN SAID AGAIN, HIMSELFthunderstruck.
Kamran processed this revelation as if from afar, both awed and horrified. His grandfather might not have been right about Alizeh – not precisely – but he’d not been altogether wrong, either.
Like a cold wind, he felt the rush of Zaal’s voice, words from the man’s final days coming to life inside his mind –
If you do not think there are others searching for her right now, you are not paying close enough attention. Pockets of unrest in the Jinn communities continue to disturb our empire. There are many among them deluded enough to think the resurrection of an old world is the only way to move forward.
Kamran swallowed.
All this time, he’d thought of her royal title as symbolic; he never thought she’d be truly recognized as a queen. But now – now that thousands of people had stormed the castle to see her, and millions more might soon swear their allegiance to her –
He realized, with a shock, that he didn’t know Alizeh at all. He’d fallen for a mirage of a girl. A version of her that had never truly existed.
Sarra was stunned into speechlessness, and Kamran felt much the same.
“How many millions?” Deen asked, blinking.
“I don’t know,” Hazan said quietly. “This is merely an estimate. There are very few empires that live in peace with my people. Many Jinn live and die undocumented, forced to live out their lives in prison camps. Others continue to live in hiding. We are a people with no nation, expelled from our own land, the earth under our feet stolen by Clay kings. For so long we’ve been waiting for the heir to our empire, the one who will protect and unify our people. I have no way of knowing for certain how many will come” – he shook his head – “but you may trust that those who can, will. By foot, by caravan, by ship or dragon. If they have to drag themselves, inch by inch across the earth to get to her, they will.”
Sarra made a frantic sound, her skin now bloodless with fear. She was muttering half words and nonsense, something about how the city wasn’t meant to hold so many people at once, that there weren’t enough bathrooms, “and where will theysleep?”
Omid started crying.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” he choked out. “Honest, I never would’ve killed her – I was just – I was so hungry I couldn’t think clear –”
Huda shifted her chair closer to the boy and pulled him against her, smoothing his hair and making shushing sounds as he wept. “It’s all right, dear,” she whispered. “She forgave you already, didn’t she?”
“She showed me mercy, miss” – he lifted his head, eyes bloodshot as he sniffled – “when I didn’t deserve –”
“Pull yourself together,” Deen hissed, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“That’s a bit harsh –”
Kamran watched this strange scene from a cold distance; he felt frozen in his seat, astonished by his own fear, his pulse racing as he was struck by another blow of memory.
His grandfather had tried to warn him.
If the girl were to claim her place as the queen of her people, it is possible, even with the brace of the Fire Accords, that an entire race would pledge their allegiance to her on the basis of an ancient loyalty alone… The Jinn of Ardunia would form an army; the remaining civilians would riot. An uprising would wreak havoc across the land. Peace and security would be demolished for months – years, even – in the pursuit of an impossible dream –
Hells, he’d been so naive.
When he first met Alizeh she’d been but a humble snoda, scrubbing floors in his aunt’s grand house, taking beatings from a vile housekeeper. She’d been so vulnerable and small; Kamran had been unable to imagine her beyond the powerless servant girl she first appeared to be. He’d discovered, later – when she’d dispatched the assailants his own grandfather had sent to kill her – that she was perfectly able to defend herself. Still, she possessed no connections, no wealth, no obvious interest in recognition. She lived in the shadows.
That someone in her position had said no to his power, his wealth, his crown – that she’dcontinuedto refuse him even after they’d made a clear physical connection, the embers of which still burned within him –
It had made no sense.
There exists no bridge between our lives, she’d said.No path that connects our worlds.
He’d been a fool.
In a matter of days she’d found a kingdom to crown her, the people to support her. Already her ascent had inspired the demise of his grandfather, had devastated his life. She’d strengthened as he’d been shattered, and now she would shake the foundations of his empire, too.
What would happen to his kingdom – to his armies – if the Ardunian Jinn swore their allegiance to a foreign sovereign?
