“I’m a vizier, not a sorcerer,” Zafir told me placidly.
“If you’re casting spells, I say sorcerer. When can the charm be lifted?”
“Once we both agree that we don’t want to be bound together anymore,” Zafir said. “It’s a simple charm, but very powerful. A few minutes of questioning and you’re free to go. I wouldn’t have cast it if you hadn’t kept trying to run away and hurt me, so it’s your own fault you’re in this position.”
I tilted my head, considering. “What if you only lift the charm for yourself?”
“I can’t when we’re linked together like this. I had to make sure you couldn’t run away. But I assure you, it’s justfor the questioning, and you won’t be harmed in the process. I’ll be bound by the same rules as you will. So it’s just a few minutes of talking, and as long as we are in agreement at the end, we can disconnect and go our separate ways, never to see each other again.”
“And you said I can’t hurt you?”
“Nor I you,” Zafir explained, marching back toward his study. The chain went taut and I was forced to follow. “At least not without suffering the same pain ourselves. While bound, you cannot harm me or anyone else.”
I clenched my fists as I crossed the threshold. “And as long as we’re linked together, you can’t hurt me either?”
“Correct.”
“Will I be prevented fromplanningto harm others? Or merely acting on it?”
Zafir studied me closely. When he answered, each word was carefully measured. “You can still plan, but you cannotcarry outany plans.”
“Will I be prevented from trying, or are there consequences if I try?”
“Like I said, if you try to injure or harm anyone, you will cause yourself immediate, equal pain. That is meant to be a warning. But if you so much astryto kill anyone, you die immediately and cease to exist.”
“That seems extreme for a simple questioning.”
“Only if you try to kill someone. Were you planning on doing that within the next few minutes?”
“Apparently, I can plan as much as I want; I just can’t act on it. Ask away so we can get this over with quickly.”
Zafir wasted no time once the door was closed. “Where’s the genie you control?” he asked, his black eyes alive with eager anticipation.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He looked hungrily at the swirling mark encircling my wrist. “You’ve been marked by a genie. Unless I miss my guess, you made a wish and a genie granted it. Am I right?”
I screwed up my face, trying to remember exactly what had occurred right before the mark had appeared. I had been with Rahil, he stabbed me, and I wanted to get away, then I appeared in Pyren. “I think so. It’s hard to remember.”
“Describe exactly what happened that led up to your making a wish. Did you see a genie rise from a vessel? It would have been a personage or spirit of some form.”
“No.”
“Did you make a wish to the ring? Genies are often contained in rings but the one you had on your person didn’t contain a genie.”
“That was the only ring I had on,” I said clearly. “Rahil and I were in a room he tried to keep hidden from me, but it was just some paintings and a lamp on a pillar in there, and I wished, then I vanished.”
Zafir leaned forward, his eyes alive with greed. “A lamp? What did it look like? Was it old?”
“Yes. And it just looked like an old, golden oil lamp. It has some symbols engraved on the sides, but as I was stabbed soon after, I didn’t really take any time to examine it in depth. I was rather preoccupied with trying not to die, you see. Oh, and there were some jewels on the pillar around it. There was a diamond and a ruby and?—”
“I don’t care about gems. Tell me more about the lamp. Genies can use other vessels besides rings. You touched this lamp? You actually held it in your bare hands?” His tone had become reverent.
“Yeah, I picked it up.”
“Did you rub it?”
“I…I can’t remember. I know I held it.”
