Jasim shook his head. After a few more minutes, it became obvious they were really gone. He lowered his blade but didn’t sheathe it as he turned to me. “We should…” His words trailed off as his eyes shifted behind me and widened.
I didn’t even have time to question him before I felt something jab at my back. Jasim caught me as I stumbled. When I looked behind me, the breath caught in my throat.
Something grew out of the stone wall. Something long and protruding, stretching out above our heads. A curve swept up from the protrusion. Full lips emerged beneath it, and I realized the long protrusion was a nose. Two closed eyes pressed out until a whole face had materialized. Huge, taking up the entire wall, dwarfing us. It had pointed ears. And when the eyes opened, they were twin flames. No irises or pupils. Fire for eyes.
Though I had never seen one before—had never heard of one trapped in a rock—I knew what it was instantly.
A jinni.
FORTY-SIXAMUNET
Speak,” the jinni commanded in a voice loud enough to make my teeth rattle.
I swallowed past the dryness of my throat. Jinn were minions of Shaya, created by the last embers of his soul, possessors of great power. And judging by this one’s size, it was ancient.
Jasim grabbed my arms and moved as if to push me behind him. But I shook him off. He gave me a wide-eyed, incredulous look as I stepped forward. “What are you doing?”
“It’s ajinni, Jasim.” A creature capable of speaking directly to Shaya. Tears of relief threatened to well up, but I choked them back as I turned to the stony face again. “Great jinni,” I greeted. “It is a sincere honor to meet you. My name is Amunet Khada.”
“Khada.” The jinni’s flaming eyes considered me. “I am only able to grant one request for you, Amunet Khada. What is it that you want?”
Only one request. I knew jinn sometimes used their great power to help mortals—usually with another shoe ready to drop at the most inconvenient time. But I was in Dead Man’s Forest, fleeing for my life. How much worse could it get?
Let me speak to Shaya.
Return me to Khada Palace.
Either one of those would have been helpful. Yet they seemedtoo… small. The jinni must have been sent by Shaya directly, that was why it had saved us from the nasnas. But I didn’t think my father would waste a jinni on moving me somewhere else, when he could have just deposited me there himself. Especially not one so ancient. No, Shaya brought me to this jinni so I could ask for something specific.
There was only one thing Shaya cared about.
“I want to feel my power.”
“What?” Jasim grabbed my elbow. “Amunet, no, ask it to take us home.”
The jinni’s blazing eyes flared until I saw their light on the backs of my lids with every blink. “The power that awaits the Gods-Chosen at the Igniting,” he repeated. “This is what you want?”
“No.” Jasim stepped in front of me, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You’ll get your power in a few days. Shaya is giving us a way out of here. We have to take it.”
I hesitated. This was what Shaya wanted of me. I knew it on an instinctual level. And the anticipation rising within me… It was what I wanted, too. After all the taunting from Zaid’s voice in my head—voicing my own doubts—and nearly a month without a single word from my father, I needed this reassurance. I needed to know he hadn’t sent me into Dead Man’s Forest to throw me away. I needed to know the god still chose me. And after being locked up, after being chased by creatures with half a face, I needed to stop feeling weak.
But the imploring look Jasim was giving me…
We were meant to be a team now. His opinion mattered to me. I’d never felt so conflicted, weighing his want against Shaya’s. The scales tipped back and forth in my mind. Goodness against loyalty. Goodness against strength. Goodness againstme.
The jinni’s eyes blazed over Jasim’s head. “Is this your one request, Khada?”
Jasim murmured, “Amunet…”
I tore my gaze from his. “Yes,” I breathed. “This is my request.”
The jinni’s eyes flared, a flame so bright I had to shield my eyes.
It was instantaneous. A heat settled on my skin like a blanket, seeped in, melted into me. I gasped as it skittered through my chest, calcified my heart, my lungs. A fire that warmed me from within, filled me with Shaya’s spirit, brimming with his strength. Nothing like the chill on Zaid’s balcony all those years ago. There was no darkness, only fire. Burning and powerful and bright. My fingertips tingled as if any second flames would burst from them. It was everywhere, raw and overwhelming and oh so delicious.
This. Thiswas what was waiting for me. Access tothiswonderful, crackling power.
A tear leaked from my eye as I looked back up at the jinni. “Thank—”
