He hadn’t answered my question. I noted that fact but didn’t press. I had a feeling that the answer was not a happy one.
“My father, Knight Lewart, embraced negotiation. Lots of it. Eventually, Queen Gela agreed.”
“Negotiation. I’ve heard of this concept. I believe my father calls it losing.”
His sarcasm wrung an unwilling laugh out of me.
He looked pleased with himself, allowing his free hand to come and stroke my hand, where it was tucked into the crook of his arm.
Declan cleared his throat behind us, but Abbas didn’t seem to notice. Or else, didn’t seem to care. I was too interested in what Abbas might say to yank my hand away. A tiny concession to this prince, a tiny hand stroke to let him think he had me enthralled, was worth it to get him to open up regarding his intentions.
“What do you see as valuable enough to consider an alliance with me, Bloss?”
I noted Abbas’ informal use of my given name and it took everything within me not to stiffen. “Your brother’s magic. Your wishes. Your people have a wide range of gifts. The djinn are quite lucky.”
“Ah, yes. But, with magic comes arrogance. What happens to those who are not as gifted? Or not gifted at all?”
“We all do the best we can with what we are given.” I patted his hand and gave him a pitying look.
“I don’t speak of myself.”
“Don’t you?”
“Imagine being born with a certain gift and then one day you found, it was gone? What if gifts could be wished away?” Abbas’ tone was smooth, smiling, rich as chocolate. But his words were sharp enough to cut me to the bone.
I stopped and turned to face him. I studied his eyes, his perfectly pleasant expression. He gave me nothing, no clue as to his true intentions.
Shite. I wish Connor was here. Or Quinn had put a bead in Abbas’ hair, I thought.
Did the Prince of Cheryn just threaten me? Or offer to solve the problem of my power?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Once I escaped the uncomfortable tension of Abbas’ company, I went to check on Avia. I made Declan call Quinn and pull the next room over trick for the distance spell. I wanted to tend to my sister.
Avia turned toward me from where she lay nestled under the covers. She looked rather green. And her hair clung to her face.
“Oh no,” I shooed away her handmaid and grabbed the wet rag the woman had been using. I placed it on Avia’s forehead, dragging my fingers along her warm cheek.
“Squack, what happened?”
“Something I ate, I think.”
“Think you’ll be better for the ball tomorrow night?”
“I’d better be,” her lips drew into a thin, determined line. “It’s nearly my seventeenth birthday and I was going to pretend it was my celebration.”
I chuckled. “Goose, it is your celebration.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s for Abbas. All this fanfare is because he’s part djinn.”
“Or because he’s seeking to marry you?”
Avia rolled her eyes. “If one of the non-magical princes of Rasle came here, would we show them this much care?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never lived through a true foreign suitor visit. Mother just chose for me.”
“Bullshite!” Avia said, then clutched her stomach. “Ugh. Don’t get me upset.”
“I’m not trying to get you upset,” I leaned my elbows on the bed and propped up my head. “It’s true.”
“You didn’t need a ball. And mother didn’t choose for you. Not really. You had a crush on Ryan the moment you saw him,” Avia countered. “You loved Connor your entire life.”
“But Declan and I used to get into debates during our classes. We were always arguing. We never got along.”
“First of all, that’s because you’re both always so arrogantly certain you’re right. You through instinct, he through endless research. He’s a perfect match for you. Besides, don’t you remember the cakes incident?”
“You mean fiasco?”
“He multiplied chocolate cakes for you. By the hundreds.”
I rolled my eyes. “He just didn’t have good control over his power. He didn’t know how to go small.”
“Bloss, he was sarding in love with you. Everyone else saw it. You were too blinded by the other two to notice. And too immature to even manage a thank you at the time, remember?”
My face heated up and a little part of my chest constricted. “He was not.”
I would have known. Wouldn’t I? I thought back. But my memory was hazy.
“He always stared after you when you’d walk down the hall. Always.”
“Stop. Now you’re making things up.”
Avia held up two fingers. “Swear it.” She paused and bit her lip. “Confession, I may have noticed because I may or may not have had a childhood crush on Declan.”
My jaw dropped. “What?” And, despite myself, despite knowing that Declan was grown, that it was a childhood crush, that my sister would never do anything to hurt me, that Declan foolishly was thinking about marrying me … I felt jealousy rise up inside of me. Some part of me claimed Declan as mine.
Shite. She’s right, I reeled from the revelation.
Some part of me claimed all of them.
“What about Quinn?”
“Please. He’s a walking orgasm.”
That’s true.
This is a private conversation. Get out.
All right. But only after you admit it’s true.
You may be slightly attractive.
I’ll take it.
Shitehead.
Sard me. I’m in love with them. All of them. I couldn’t deny the truth of that thought.
Tears filled my eyes. “We need a new topic.” Because even if I wanted to claim them, I couldn’t.
“Don’t Bloss,” Avia reached out and grabbed my hand.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t run again. You’ll kill them.”
“No. I’ll kill them if I stay. War is brewing.”
She squeezed my hand hard. “Forget that. You love them. Admit it.”
“Of course, I love them! That’s why I need to sarding get out of here.”
Avia sighed and leaned back against her pillows. “You need to solve the problem with them, if you love them.”
“Not necessarily,” I said. “Abbas said something interesting today … something about taking away gifts.”
Avia sat straight up in bed then, even though it made her wince. “There’s something off about him.”
“You don’t think he’s handsome?”
“I’m not blind. But I’m also not an idiot.”
“Why do you think he’s here?”
“I’m not sure. But it’s not for me, I can tell you that. He couldn’t be more disinterested if he tried.”
I stared at her. “That can’t be. He definitely spoke about alliances with me.”
“I definitely think he wants to ally with you. Emphasis on the lie part.”
“Do you mean lay or lie?” I laughed.
“Probably both,” she winked.
We giggled at her joke, letting the light-hearted moment break up our serious conversation, until Avia held her stomach and I helped her lie back down.
“I’m never eating cold pheasant again,” Avia swore.
“Yes, I’ll hold you to that until tomorrow,” I grinned. My sister’s appetite would never allow such a thing.
We smiled at one another for a moment. But soon my thoughts grew pensive again. I confessed to Avia, “Abbas might be able to help me.”
Avia grabbed my hands and squeezed them. The look on her face was grave. “I already told you, don’t trust him, Blossie. Something’s off with him.”
“But he’s part djinn. Djinn have the power to grant wishes,” I pulled away and crossed my arms.
“Wishes always go wrong,” Avia shook her head. “You wish to end a war, you get a dictator. You wish for safety, you end up in locked safely in a prison cell. Even if he has the best of intentions, which I doubt, we can’t trust him. Besides, don’t half-djinn only get to grant a few wishes anyway?”
“Three. In their semi-immortal lifespans, they only get three.” I leaned my head back against the chair and stared at the ceiling. “Shite, Avia. I just don’t want a dragon to …” I couldn’t say it.
“I know. It won’t. We’ll come up with a plan. It won’t.”
That night I slept curled up next to my little sister.
In the morning, Avia was better. And I thought the ray of sunshine peeking through the window signaled a good day.
But then Ryan entered with news that a large black shape had been spotted flying over the Cerulean Forest during the night. The forest where Cerena’s cottage was located. That was only a few hours away from the palace.
My need to run intensified.
I had a dancing refresher course with Connor the morning of the ball. It didn’t matter that a dragon had been spotted. My mother had ordered the refresher. So, I was not allowed to skip it.
“Calm down and focus,” Connor admonished, after I’d stepped on his toes a third time.
“I shouldn’t be here. I should be out there. I should be chasing that thing,” I gripped his shoulder harder than needed. As if that would somehow convince him to let me go with Ryan and his team, who’d set out to investigate at first light. I’d barely had time to kiss Ryan goodbye before he’d been out the door, heading to a gargoyle to mount up and search the forest and the skies for signs of the beast.