Arie
KING AMIR LOST HIShold on the room seconds after Kadin and his men burst in. More specifically, the moment the violet-eyed Jinni faced the doors and froze.
Thoughts shifted from calm to chaos, relaxed to riotous, open to outraged. And as the villagers spilled into the room, my mind stretched and bucked against the vast number of thoughts filling it.
I fell to the ground, head pounding. Instead of imagining a glass jar and managing each individual thought, I envisioned a glass bowl settling over me, like a shield, sheltering me from them.
The relief was instant.
As the pressure eased, I opened my eyes.
Amir struggled to maintain order and the violet-eyed Jinni ignored his demands for help.
“Guards,” I shouted at my father’s soldiers, testing the change in the air. “Seize King Amir!”
They moved toward him.
“Be still,” he snapped and their arms fell loosely to their sides like puppets. “Don’t let her go.” They grasped my arms again. “We have a wedding to finish.”
“There’s no way in this Jinni-forsaken land I’llevermarry you!” I screamed, losing control. “Tell your men to bring my father out of the dungeonsright now!”
Voices rose with my cries. Some of the guests stood, as if ready to support me.
“Everyone be calm!” Amir shrieked.
Some sat back down, while others stayed standing; confusion trickled into their faces through frowns and open mouths, waiting for words that’d gotten lost. His hold was tenuous at best.
He continued to order peace between yelling at the violet-eyed Jinni behind him, “Enoch! Stop staring at nothing and help me!”
Enoch ignored him.
In the back of the room, Kadin’s form raced past and caught my eye.
I yelled for help, but he couldn’t hear me over the noise.
I blinked when he hurled fruit in Gideon’s face. My mouth fell open when Gideon didn’t respond. His eyes were locked with Enoch’s in some mysterious, silent confrontation. I lost sight of Kadin in the chaos.
“Listen,” I shouted over the noise, focusing on those further away, who seemed less influenced by the Persuasion. “This wedding is a sham. King Amir is trying to steal my father’s kingdom.”
“False!” He called on the heels of my words. “These are false accusations, pay her no mind.”
I met the eyes of the villagers as they flowed into the room from the back, more curious than helpful. My gaze drifted to the nobles and royals who’d traveled to be here today. “If he succeeds, nothing will stop him from trying to steal your kingdoms as well! He’s controlling your minds, you have to fight back—”
“Silence her!” King Amir shouted over my words to the guards.
Even as I screamed, a filthy hand covered my mouth and I couldn’t move.
Amir continued his cries for peace, and without my voice to stir them up, the crowd grew more and more docile.
I thrashed harder, refusing to back down.
A blur of movement smashed into Enoch before I recognized his attacker: Kadin. Through brute force and surprise, he’d knocked the other Jinni to the floor, upsetting the strange duel between him and Gideon.
Between one blink and the next, Enoch was there beneath Kadin, grunting in surprise as he took a punch to the gut, and then he was gone, and Kadin’s fist punched the marble floor instead, making him wince. He leapt to his feet, searching the room.
The strange Jinni had vanished.
The guards still held me, but at Enoch’s disappearance, King Amir stopped ranting.
