Traveling was much worse when you weren’t expecting it.
My thoughts must’ve caught her attention. She glanced up and our eyes met.
Staring at me, she pursed her lips, not saying anything.
I ripped my gaze away.
That’s when I saw Prince Dev.
Gideon stood unmoving in front of the prince, who was bent over on his hands and knees, eyes squeezed shut, groaning.
The others registered our surroundings with wide-eyes, gazing at Gideon with a new reverence. It only grew when Gideon began speaking to Prince Dev in the same harsh language that the pregnant woman had spoken.
I licked my lips, leaning forward on my toes.
Across the room, Naveed met my gaze. His eyes glowed with the same fervor as mine.
But Prince Dev ignored Gideon, standing with a groan as he frowned at us and the strange room. He fell onto the bed. “I have a wicked headache,” he mumbled. He leaned back as if to go to sleep, mumbling to himself, “This is a wild dream. I must’ve had too much to drink...”
Though Gideon kept a calm front, those cold eyes narrowed. His tone was so soft it was nearly a whisper, “Tie him to a chair.”
Every single one of us leapt to obey.
Ignoring Prince Dev’s protests, we dragged him off the bed and threw him onto the small wooden chair.
Daichi produced ropes from our bags.
We wrapped and knotted them around the prince’s arms and legs.
“Remember me?” I whispered in the prince’s ear, yanking the ropes tighter, pulling back so he could see my face. “Remember what you did to my family?”
Prince Dev paled. “What’re you doing?” he howled, fighting the restraints. “Release me at once!”
I stepped back to join the men and Gideon. I wanted to smile at the justice finally being meted out, but instead my blood boiled hotter.
It wasn’t enough.
“What right do you think you have to hold me here?” the prince demanded, as haughty as ever. “You’ll pay for this!”
“You have broken the Jinni code,” Gideon answered with that deceptive calm.
“I’ve done no such thing,” Prince Dev argued.
All of us watched Gideon. Though we knew the Jinn took their code seriously, none of us knew how they punished criminals who broke it.
“You were the only one who could speak Chimigi with that woman,” Gideon settled onto the edge of the bed across from the prince. “Or so you thought.”
Prince Dev blinked and swallowed, pulling at his restraints again as if he couldn’t help himself. His face glistened with sweat.
Gideon continued, “You used your Gift to keep the truth of that baby from everyone.” A drop of sweat rolled down the prince’s face as Gideon leaned forward. “Would you like to tell them the truth now?”
Prince Dev shook his head, and his curls stuck against his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But his shirt was drenched and his voice trembled.
“He is the child’s father,” Gideon announced.
How had I not guessed? No one said a word, including myself, until Gideon filled the silence. “You stand in judgment. How do you plead?”
The prince scoffed. “I don’t have to justify myself to any of you. Who do you think you are that you can just drag me from my castle and—” though his mouth moved, his words vanished.
