My father stood by the enormous work table in the back. Papers were strewn across the stained wood, lit by sunbeams. Usually I’d find him muttering to himself as he sorted through them, forehead wrinkled. Today, he stood by, letting King Amir review Hodafez’s materials and goods for himself. I frowned at the audacity. Standing in the shadows of the pillars, I couldn’t seem to will my feet forward. Maybe I could hide in my rooms and claim to be ill.
“Your kingdom is so small,” Amir tutted as he leafed through the papers. “And the castle too. If my fortress were this size, it’d be indefensible.” My father didn’t say a word. Odd. “You’re fortunate, you know,” Amir continued, rounding the table. “The way Hodafez rests on a cliff, surrounded by mountains or sea on all sides; it’s impregnable. Otherwise, I’d have taken it by force years ago. You’ll forget I said that, of course.”
“Of course,” my father finally spoke.
And that—his immediate agreement and the fact that he truly meant it—that was the reason I hesitated to enter. Amir’s Gift was powerful.
The memory of his voice the first day I’d met him still gave me shivers. “Give me the bracelet, Arie,” he’d murmured in that deadly monotone.
As a six-year-old, the thought of losing my jeweled bracelet had made my eyes well up with tears. But as I’d begun to wail, he’d whispered, “Hush.”
And I had.
Even as a child, I’d fought the compulsion to obey, but in the end, he’d left the castle with my jewels and the command not to tell anyone. It’d taken me years to break free of that order.
What he’d done was forbidden. It broke the Jinni code. But I had no proof; it was a woman’s word against a king’s.
His Gift might be weak compared to a full-blooded Jinni, but I stared at him now the way I would eye a cobra. He was deadly. Unpredictable.
Though my father and Amir were around the same age, my father’s hair had turned white instead of gray, and he had permanent laugh lines around the corners of his eyes. I expected them to notice and greet me, but if my father saw me, he didn’t say a word, and Amir ignored me as well.
“You called for me, Baba?” I forced myself to walk up to them. My footsteps echoed in the quiet room.
“Arie.” My father held his arms out to me, but tucked them absently back into his belt before I reached him.
“Hello, princess. We’ve been waiting for you. Your father has news. You’ll be very excited.” Amir’s deep syrupy voice flowed over me, and I found myself feeling oddly eager. My father just smiled.
“Oh that’s right, it was our little secret,” Amir clapped a hand on my father’s shoulder, smirking. “You may speak of it now. I’m sure your daughter would like to hear the news from you.”
“Yes, yes,” my father said, coming to life. “I have good news for you, Arie.”
“That’s what Amir tells me,” I replied, wary. Amir scowled at the way I left off his title. He always was a stickler for formalities, despite the fact that we were both royals.
“Mmm, yes.” My father smiled at my forehead instead of my eyes. “We have finally found you a husband!”
I blinked. First at ‘finally,’ and then at ‘husband,’ but he wasn’t done. “You are to be married within the week. A wedding! If your mother was still alive, she’d be so happy.” And indeed, he had actual tears of joy in his eyes as he finished.
Amir and my father studied my face for a reaction, but I felt nothing. This was ridiculous. “Married towhom?”
“To myself, of course,” King Amir said, stepping forward to take my hand. His fingers felt cold. “When I knelt down on one knee, you were in shock, but you’ve come to admire me and look forward to our marriage. I can see you’re very pleased.”
Though not one word was true, I responded to his influence, smiling back at him.
“I remember.” A small voice in the back of my mind yelled that it’d never happened, even though I saw the mental image of Amir on one knee, holding a ring. I glanced down at my bare finger, feeling confused and thrilled with my engagement all at once. My father hugged me and repeated his excitement. Amir simply smiled and nodded.
“I’m sure we will make each other truly happy,” he said, as he bent over my hand and kissed it. Only his thoughts jarred me back to reality.Your kingdom will finally be mine.
I froze. Amir had turned back to the papers on the table and missed my reaction.
He couldn’t know I’d heard him. I might wonder what my father’s reaction would be to my Gift, but if Amir ever found out, I knew exactly what he would do.
“Another Gifted woman? Shameful,” Amir said as he slapped a paper onto the table. My muscles tensed, certain he’d heard my thoughts, even though that was my Gift, not his. He shook his head, gesturing toward the paper. “I’ve half a mind to just hang her.” My heart stopped. But he meant the girl from yesterday—the one who could turn things to metal.
The way Amir’s face twisted in disgust before he moved on reminded me of a day, years ago, in the Court of Kings. When the idea of a Severance had shifted from a rarity so uncommon that a famine was more likely, to a frequent custom that was widely accepted.
Amir’s hair had been dark then, his form more muscled, but he’d been just as convincing. He’d stood in the middle court, among reigning kings seated around him, and a wider audience of royal families and nobility in the surrounding balconies. “A Gifted woman is dangerous. You’ve all seen the results.”
Back then my mind hadn’t enough strength to fight his influence, and I’d nodded along with everyone else. We’d just witnessed the aftermath of another Gifted woman—a kingdom burned to a crisp. Or so I’d believed. Now, I wondered if it’d been set up to convince the kingdoms to remove women with Gifts once and for all.
