“Wait – miss –”
“But –”
“What will you say –?”
Alizeh picked up her skirts and ran through the courtyard, which wrapped partly around the side of the central building. She searched for the balcony, encountering it so suddenly she gasped just as someone screamed, drawing back a step as the sheer size of the crowd overwhelmed her. Alizeh had never seen so many people in one place in all her life, and the idea that they’d come for her – that they were all there to see her –
It filled her with feeling so severe she could hardly breathe.
Jinn of every race and age and station – Scores of men and women with children in arm or else on their backs; young ones napping in the grass; crowds of youth tightly gathered in shock, the elderly struggling to their feet to get a better look.
The mass seemed to stretch on endlessly.
There were more sharp screams, fingers pointing in her direction,but it was a moment before the crowd truly saw her, before their cries quieted to a silence so complete it was frightening. They turned to her as one, the breathless focus aimed in her direction driving home, for the first time, the magnitude of her responsibility. Alizeh had never seen Jinn gathered like this, never known with certainty whether anyone would even accept her as a leader.
She took a steadying breath, trying to find her voice, and as she drew closer to the balustrade, the silence broke. People began shouting –
“My queen!”
“Is it really her?”
“Your Majesty!”
“She’s here!”
Only then, as she parted her lips to speak, did she realize the enormity of her error.
She was not yet a crowned queen.
She had no throne, no kingdom, no authority, no real magic. Even her clothes were borrowed. The last time she’d stood before her people she’d had good reason to delay answering their questions. But now –
“When will you take the throne, Your Majesty?”
“Will you marry King Cyrus?”
“Will we go to war?”
“Wewillgo to war!”
Another roar from the people, their fists rising in the air.
Her heart pounding madly in her chest, Alizeh’s mind was a swarm of tangled thought. She wanted to answer them, wanted to –
She saw the dagger before she fully understood what it was, the gleam of silver in the distance appearing like a glimmering bird before it focused into a blade, aimed directly at her throat.
Alizeh froze.
Perhaps if her head hadn’t been so splintered – if her heart hadn’t been afflicted with myriad pains – if she hadn’t been so recently astonished by her own shortcomings as a leader –
Perhaps if she’d been in better possession of herself, she might’ve gathered her wits about her, harnessed her supernatural strengths, and simply moved out of the way. Instead, she fell back on old instincts, doing what came naturally to her when attacked:
She fought back.
Alizeh threw out her arm with unthinkable speed, adrenaline heightening her focus as she watched the dagger, as if in slow motion, spin with exceptional aim toward her throat. She caught the weapon at an unnatural angle, the hilt hitting her palm with a hardthwack, so forceful the impact she was swung off her axis before being slammed cruelly against the wall. The breath knocked from her lungs, she made a soft sound of pain as she heard the crowd scream, their frenzied voices clamoring. They were already turning on each other, searching for the perpetrator, and even in the midst of her own trials Alizeh knew she needed to calm them – knew that if she did not, violence might soon erupt – but she couldn’t seem to pry herself from the wall. She knew without a doubt that the weapon had been enchanted, for the dagger continued to shudder in her hand, its unnatural power more than matching her own.Even as she fought it, the shaft twisted her fist inch by inch, the blade soon pointing again at her throat.
Alizeh closed her eyes, called upon her strength, and with a violent cry managed to shift away from the wall, using gathered momentum to pivot – and bury the blade in the stone behind her. It lodged, to her great relief, with a terrible sound.
Alizeh staggered back around, facing the crowd in a daze, her tired arms trembling, her heart racing. She couldn’t seem to focus her eyes as she listened to their raucous cries; she was busy trying to catch her breath when – There,again–
