“No, I won’t release you. I refuse to break the charm.”
“Zafir! I—” I broke off. I wanted to rage and scream but also break down and sob all at once, and my voice came back choked. “We failed. I failed.” My shoulders sagged. “There’s no way we can get back to Brisden.”
“You can’t give up. We’ll find a way.”
“How? I haven’t had any success in charming Julian, and we knew that was a weak plan at best. We don’t have tens of thousands of dinars to hire a dragon to fly us to Brisden. At that meeting tonight, they’ll find me guilty because I am. I’m stuck here unless I stow away on a ship. I’ll sell my wedding ring or try to bribe my way on board. You don’t even need to take me to the docks. I’ll find my own way.”
“No. We need to analyze the situation and determine the best?—”
“Stop.” I couldn’t bear to see him so calm.
He looked at me, confused. The sight of his cool, calculated gaze was like a dagger to my heart. “What’s wrong? We can still work this out.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “Don’t take the Stillheart again. Please.”
Emotions battled back and forth within his dark eyes.
“Please,” I begged again, even more quietly. “I want you to feel.”
“That’s why I take it. I feel too much.” His long fingers grazed my arms. “Last night… I knew the plan was for you to seduce Julian. I knew that. I just don’t…I don’t want that to be the plan anymore. I couldn’t let it happen.”
“But now we have no plan. You need to let me go.”
His eyes fell. “I can’t. I need to bring you to the meeting tonight, and I know you’ll leave if I release you.”
The air suddenly turned cold. I’d hoped that Zafir was developing genuine feelings for me, but it wasn’t enough. I had wanted so badly for him to love me, but he would rather see me imprisoned than free.
My initial feelings had been correct all along. Love didn’t exist.
CHAPTER 26
Irefused to speak to Zafir for the rest of the day and when he went to bathe, I stole several more vials of various potions, from the leftover infatuation elixir to scorchwing venom. No matter what situation arose, I would be prepared. I should have known from the beginning that I could only count on myself.
Just as he was preparing to leave, I considered simply throwing myself on the floor and refusing to move, but Zafir would be able to call for guards or else carry me himself, and I didn’t want him to touch me. I had trusted him. I had even believed I was starting to fall in love with him, and he was planning to sell me out without hesitation.
Neither of us spoke as we walked over just as the sun was starting to set. The air was still warm as it swirled around me and I wished the temperature would decrease—my nerves were already about to cook me from the inside out. The meeting was being held in a large room on the fringe of Parliament’s council chamber so outsiders would be able to pass by and look in but not hear anything. I glanced through the large glass window beside the door tosee a long table crowded with Parliament members, as well as the tzar and his wife seated at the head of the table.
“You’re to wait outside,” Zafir told me, gesturing toward a hard-backed wooden chair just outside the chamber. A small table set with a few light refreshments was laid out next to the chair. “But you’re welcome to watch through the window.”
I sat without complaint, still refusing to look at Zafir. Were a few pastries and bits of dragon fruit supposed to lighten the blow of hearing my sentence?
“We won’t take long,” Zafir said softly. “We can still figure this out. I promise.”
I refused to look at him, mostly so I wouldn’t burst into tears, and after a moment of waiting, he went inside and the door thudded closed. It felt humiliating to be seated outside like a child waiting to be punished while all the adults talked about how to handle my misbehavior. I watched the meeting from the other side of the glass, wishing I could hear what they were saying.
The tzar was younger than I’d expected, perhaps in his late twenties or early thirties, with straight, charcoal-black hair and almond-shaped eyes that continually shifted from person to person. Zafir had told me he was a phoenix shifter, and I kept sneaking looks at him through the window, wondering if he would burst into flame or transform into a giant, fiery bird like the one I’d seen at the Emberlight Revelry.
But as intimidating as the tzar was, his wife looked several times more menacing. She wasn’t a large woman, but she wasn’t thin or fragile either. Cords of tight muscle ran down her exposed arms and she had a hardened, shrewd expression on her face that made me devoutly thankful I wasn’t in the same room with her.
My eyes slid over to where Zafir was sitting. His chair was close to the window and across from Julian’s father, Rogan. Zafir had angled his position so he could still see me through the window. His dark gaze met mine and I hurriedly looked away. Who knew what he was about to say to them about me?
I fingered the vials in my pocket and pulled out the scorchwing venom, the highly illegal poison that would immediately blind anyone and could kill a man if left untreated. I kept it concealed in my palm and looked at it, trying hard to remember its properties. Would it be acidic enough to burn through the chain?
I doubted it. The chain was magical, not truly metal, so it was more likely that I would accidentally spill it on myself and cause irreparable damage. No, that wouldn’t do. I pulled out the infatuation elixir next, the tiny vial cold against my sweaty palm. I hadn’t brought it to the Emberlight Revelry; I’d been too distracted by Zafir kissing me and after seeing what had happened when he took it. Now, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t have the chance to use the elixir on Julian before I was put into prison. No amount of money could save me now.
“Alia!”
I swung around to see…Julian, with his pet lemur on his shoulder. For a moment, I wondered if I had somehow wished Julian’s presence into existence. Had the genie somehow granted a wish, or was it coincidence?
