The wardrobe had obeyed me.
I couldn’t hide the smile spreading across my face. The red outfit had disappeared but there were many more options, including a striking strapless dark-blue gown stitched with silver thread. “Here we are,” I said, pulling it out. “This looks like a duchess dress. The wardrobe is very clever to give me something that won’t get caught on our chain. Well done,” I said, patting it. “You’re very intelligent.”
Zafir pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s a piece of furniture. It doesn’t have feelings.”
“Apparently it does. Probably more feelings than you.”
“I—” Zafir broke off and stomped into the washroom. “Fine. Wear whatever you and that hunk of wood cook up. I don’t care.”
I got dressed. At least in this outfit, I wouldn’t worry about getting overheated. With a quick glance at the washroom door, I scanned the potions Zafir had lined up on his shelves, all of which had been labeled neatly. How fortunate for me.
I collected just a few potions and tonics, barely enough to help me so Zafir wouldn’t notice them missing. I gathered one each of essence of lockjaw, phoenix tears, an Ironblood Tonic, and a truth serum, but hesitated after that. He didn’t have any scorpion sand, my preferred weapon of choice, and I’d used my last vial on him. He also had several other potions labeled I didn’t know the uses for and didn’t trust myself to experiment with.
“I’m done getting ready,” I announced when Zafir finally emerged again, then gave a spin to show off the outfit. “What do you think?”
Zafir’s head rose so he could cast a critical eye over my outfit. “I think the only way Julian wouldn’t notice you is if he were blind.”
“Good.” I sat on the three-legged stool in front of the mirror and tried to pull my hair back into the same style I’d worn at my wedding. I had to keep Zafir’s attention off his shelves. Was he the sort of man who would notice a few things missing? “Can you do my makeup again? I liked how you did it yesterday.”
“The only thing I can do right—women’s makeup,” he said grouchily, but still came over. “Don’t say anything while I work.”
“If you’re going to stare at me and I’m not allowed to speak, the least you can do is talk to me,” I informed him.
“About what?”
“Tell me about genies.”
“No. You need to start duchess lessons. And stop moving.”
“Tell me about genies first, and then I’ll be perfectly compliant during duchess lessons.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Genies are magical beings bound to an object—typically to a ring but they can use a variety of vessels like the lamp you described. Whoever possesses that object becomes the genie’s master and can harness its magic to grant wishes. Unimaginable wealth, long life, fame, power… I would imagine that if worded cleverly, a wish would be able to grant immunity from the law, say, in the event you were to murder someone like you said your husband tried to do. He could easily get away with it.”
I shuddered.
“Genies are more powerful than phoenixes, and sea serpents and even dragons. They’re rare, too. I’ve searched my entire life, and you’re the first person I’ve met who I know has had first-hand experience with one.” His gaze flicked down to the mark of the genie tattooed on my wrist.
“What do genies look like? Do they come out of the object, or are they trapped inside? Are they big or small?”
“They are said to be some kind of spirit, but records about size vary wildly. A juvenile spirit will appear only as vapor or smoke, but a more powerful genie can briefly hold form to imitate a person or animal when the master calls upon them. But however they look, each is bound to some physical object until released by whoever owns the object and touches it. A genie couldn’t emerge unless the master summoned them or made a wish.”
“So when I touched the lamp and made a wish, that summoned the genie?”
“I assume so. I expect if you’d stayed longer, the genie would have finished emerging to greet you. You claimed that your husband’s house was enchanted by a dragon, but I believe he lied to you to conceal that he possesses a genie to do his bidding. A dragon isn’t powerful enough to create what you described, but a genie is. Close your eyes. I need to do shading on your eyelids.”
I closed my eyes and felt the heat of Zafir’s hands on my face as he applied my makeup. “So whoever is touching the object the genie is bound to can control the genie inside?”
“Right. It’s no wonder he kept it locked and forbidden.”
I ground my teeth together. “So I could’ve wished for it to kill Rahil, but no, I stupidly wished to be on the other side of the world.”
“And your wish was granted. Though I’m surprised thelamp didn’t transport with you. I assume you were holding the lamp when you wished?”
I thought back. “No,” I answered slowly. “Rahil stabbed me and I fell back, but I was only touching it, not holding it.”
Zafir sighed heavily. “Then it wouldn’t have come with you. The lamp would be back there, with your ex-husband.”
My blood ran cold. “So he could make a wish to bring me back… or wish to find another wife to kill.” I had already tried to contact Nadia again with the mirror earlier that morning, but there had still been no answer. If only I could push away all the unpleasant thoughts about what could be happening to Nadia at that very moment if she had gone to Rahil, expecting to find me there.
