Even though I couldn’t see most of the group while I focused on our lamp, their combined thoughts hoping I was making the right decision felt oppressive.
The auctioneer’s words flew by, as people kept bidding. “This beautiful item is going fast, if you don’t bid now you’ll lose it, bid now, do I have a bid? You there, sir? Ma’am?”
I bit my lip, confused, had I lost it? I raised my leaf high again.
“Young lady, you already have the highest bid.”
I blushed as he continued to rally the crowd.
“Do I have anyone who dares to risk the young lady’s ire and take it off her hands? Bid now, or forever go without.”
Listening closer, I paid more attention to the other bidders. I began to worry the cost was too extreme. Kadin hadn’t given me permission to bid this high.
His frown deepened, but he didn’t try to stop me.
Then, just as I was about to back out, I felt it.
A sense I’d only ever felt around a few others. One in particular: King Amir. I’d assumed it was just because the king made me uncomfortable. It was always so small and insignificant, less noticeable than goosebumps, almost like a breeze. This time it was magnified one-hundred-fold, yet the breeze didn’t touch the leaf in my hand or the clothing around me.
I lifted my hand to stay in the running and raised up onto my tiptoes to see who might bid next.
The internal breeze didn’t have any sense of direction and I worried it was my imagination, until I saw a pale hand rise in the crowd, adding his bid to the rest.
I glanced over at Kadin.
Worry lines creased his brow, but he nodded for me to continue.
So, I did.
It rose even higher.
Between the crew’s lavish clothing and their humble living space, I couldn’t honestly predict what they had to spend, but one by one, the other bidders backed out, until between the auctioneer’s calls, the only hands that rose were mine and a Jinni’s.
I waved my makeshift fan in the air once more, bidding slightly higher, wondering if even my crown cost this much. Could they afford such a ridiculous sum?
When the auctioneer urged the crowd to beat my latest bid, there was only stillness.
Was the Jinni still there? Had he given up?
The auctioneer proclaimed the final price, naming me the winner.
The lamp was mine.
As the auctioneer moved to the next item, I wove through the crowd and stepped to the side where the employee wrote down my information. I signed a promise of purchase note. We had until the end of the week to pick it up and pay for it.
Now what?
I heard his thought as if it were a shout amongst whispers:Why does she want my lamp?It was so crystal clear, as if he’d spoken to me from mere inches away.
I whirled around, looking over both my shoulders, expecting to find him right there behind me.
But I was alone.
It was definitely a Jinni.
Goosebumps broke out along my skin as I scanned the crowd, searching for him. I’d never heard a Jinni’s thoughts before, but now I knew without a sliver of doubt. We’d found him.
Hello, Daughter of the Jinn,he spoke directly to my thoughts again, and this time he added a direction to it, making it come from my left, in a way no one had ever done before.
