Keeping the Genie (Genie's Love, Book 3) (17 page)

After taking a few minutes to come up with a plan, we’re ready to attack the palace. Alaric and Hastus would like some more time to strategize, but the more time we waste, the closer Sebastian is to being tortured to death.

As we discussed everything, my head was a jumbled mess. As much as I tried to focus on what I need to do, I just couldn’t. All I could think about was my sweet, wonderful boyfriend locked up, tied up, getting the crap beat out of him. All because of me. Because I’m the daughter of the true king. Had he, as a genie, met an ordinary girl back on Earth, she would have absolved him of his crime and they would live happily ever after. But no. Because I’m the princess, Sebastian needed to bring me to Ortarus to battle the evil king. He wouldn’t have been poisoned and nearly died. He wouldn’t have been captured. Why couldn’t I be that ordinary girl? I was okay with my simple, boring life. I never asked for this. I don’t need this.

Someone places his hand on my shoulder. Alaric. He gives me a reassuring nod. We’re standing in the main room of the shack, and all the rebels are around me. I can practically feel their determination seep into me. It should give me confidence and hope, but all I feel is despair. How many of us will be lost today? How would I be able to bear their deaths?

“Lily,” my dad says, his voice soft. “I know this is hard, but we need to do this. We’ve been training for this day.”

A lump the size of a bowling ball clogs my throat. I try to swallow it, but all I manage is to cause my throat to burn. Tears threaten to pour down my cheeks, but I hold them in. As much as I want to curl into a ball and cry, I can’t be weak.

Renaya and her parents step closer to me and squeeze my arm. “I’m just so sorry for everything,” I say, my voice above a whisper. “I feel responsible for all of this.”

Merla shakes her head. “This isn’t your fault.”

“It’s mine,” Renaya says. “I didn’t return home on time, so he went searching for me.”

Candon says, “There’s no one to blame for what happened, other than King Sorenten. He’s responsible for this.” He turns to me. “Not you. Or you,” he says to Renaya.

She nods, but I still blame myself. Maybe that’s stupid. I don’t know. What I do know is had I not been the princess, Sebastian would be living on Earth right now. Hell, we’d both be living blissfully on Earth. I don’t blame my dad for coming to Earth and meeting my mom and having me. He fell in love. I guess I just wish things turned out differently.

Merla pulls me into her arms, hugging me tight. “We’ll free him. You have my word.”

“And mine,” Candon says. “We just got our son back and we’re not going to lose him again.”

Their words cause the tears to break free and spill down my cheeks. I’m being selfish only thinking about how much Sebastian means to me. He’s their son and they hadn’t seen him in years. I can’t imagine the pain they’re in.

I clasp both Candon and Merla’s hands and reach for Renaya, who places her hand on mine. “This will all be over soon,” I tell them. “Soon, Sebastian will be with us again.”

Tears flash in Merla’s eyes. Candon looks like he’s trying to keep a brave face, but it’s obvious he’s going to collapse into tears any second. Renaya has her usual hard expression, but her eyes are filled with grief.

I shut my eyes, pushing any negative thought out of my head. We’re
going
to free Sebastian and we’re
going
to take down that bastard of a king.

Alaric gives me an awkward hug and kisses my forehead. “You’re very brave, Lily.” He faces the others. “All of you. I want to thank everyone for the sacrifice you will make today. I know it’s not easy, but I know we will live freely again.”

Everyone claps. A few people cheer. I notice many seem nervous. A few are even trembling, but they’re ignoring their fears. I smile to each one, letting them know how much I appreciate everything they’re going to do today.

Alaric turns to me. “Are you ready?”

The bowling ball is still lodged in my throat. I’m far from ready, but I need to be. I can’t think of myself. I need to focus on Sebastian and the Ortarians. This is it. My chance to change their lives.

“I’m…” I shut my eyes once again and regulate my breathing. My heart is hammering against my ribcage and I swear my legs are barely able to support me. But I shove all that aside and open my eyes. “I’m—I’m ready.”

Alaric motions around. “Are we all ready?”

Everyone raises their weapons toward the ceiling. “Ready!”

I lift my hand for attention. “I know I’ve said this before, but I want to thank you all for what you’re doing. Seriously, I feel like I want to hug each one of you tight and just let you know how much each and every one of you means to me.” I pause as I scan around. “I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but I do know one thing: That bastard of a king is going down. Ortarus will once again be a wonderful place to live in. No longer will Ortarians live in fear or in pain.”

Everyone cheers.

I swallow, hoping I’m not giving everyone false hope. The truth is I have no clue if we’ll be successful in our task. For all I know, we’ll all die and Sorenten will turn into an even more evil king.

No. I need to be positive. I need to keep telling myself that we’re going to do this and we’re going to triumph.

***

Sneaking out of our hiding spot when there are countless guards around isn’t easy. But luckily we have the night and the tall grass as cover. I don’t know what time it is, but I assume somewhere around two or three in the morning.

The palace is a good distance from the shack, but no one seems to mind as we weave through the grass. Sebastian’s loving face doesn’t leave my head, and that pumps me up. It pushes my fears aside. If he were with me now, he’d take my hand, bring it to his lips, and tell me I can do this. That he believes in me. He’d tell me how brave I am, how I inspire him.

Sebastian
, I say in my head. I haven’t been able to reach him telepathically, and I don’t know if he can hear this. Even so, I tell him to hang on just a little bit longer. That we’re on our way.

A warm feeling enters my heart, and I’m pretty sure it’s from him, letting me know that he got my messages and he’ll try to be strong and hold on as much as he can.

“I love you,” I whisper.

We trudge on for a few more minutes before Alaric gestures for everyone to stop. A group of five soldiers is standing outside a cave. We sink into the grass so they can’t see us.

“We can’t get by undetected,” Alaric whispers.

“Let’s attack,” Renaya says, lifting her sword.

Alaric gently lowers it. “We can’t. Remember, Lily needs to get into the palace before we can attack. Sorenten needs to be caught off guard.”

She presses her lips together.

I rest my hand on her arm. “I can’t stand the sight of them, either, and I want every single one of them to pay for what happened to Sebastian. But Alaric is right. If we ambush them, it’ll screw up our strategy.”

She reluctantly nods.

Alaric says, “Since we can’t go on, Lily you’ll have to get to the palace without us.”

“Okay.” We planned it so I would enter the palace while the others remain hidden, I just didn’t expect it to be so soon. I’ll have to make the long trip on my own. “Are you sure you guys are going to be okay here?”

“Don’t worry about us,” Hastus says. “You just do what you need to do.”

I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans. My heart is pounding so hard I feel it in my fingertips. Once I leave the group, I’ll be on my own. I’ll be one step closer to killing the king. God, am I ready for this? I don’t think any amount of training could have prepared me for this. But I can’t think this way. The Ortarians and Sebastian are counting on me.

Merla wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Good luck, Lily.” She kisses my cheek.

“Kick ass everyone,” I say.

They give me confused faces.

Despite what a mess I am, I laugh. “Beat the living hell out of those guards.”

They nod and silently cheer.

Alaric takes me in his arms. He doesn’t say a word as his head rests against my shoulder, but I can feel exactly what’s going on in his brain and in his heart. He’s worried about me, but he knows he needs to let me do this.

When we draw back from one another, his eyes are glassy. He opens his mouth, but no words come out.

“It’s okay, Dad,” I tell him. “You don’t have to worry so much. I’ll be fine.”

He kisses my forehead. “I know you will be. You’re the strongest, bravest person in all Ortarus.”

“I doubt that’s true.” I wave my hand toward everyone. “Just look at all of us.”

Alaric’s smile is strained. “Like you said, kick ass, Lily.”

My hands are shaking so badly I bet they can feel it back on Earth. I force a smile onto my face. “I will.”

I look back. My fellow rebels are so far from me that they look like small ants. I’ve been walking for only a few minutes, but it feels like hours. Before I left them, Merla and Candon hugged me one last time, promising to get Sebastian back. Alaric held me for a little while, muttering things under his breath. His nerves aren’t helping me. They’re making me feel more anxious than I already am. I know it’s normal for me to be this nervous, but I can’t let my nerves get in the way of what I need to do.

There are many more guards around, since I’m closer to the palace. I’m crawling in the grass, making sure to keep myself hidden. The plan is that I’m going to turn myself invisible and enter the palace. Then I’ll find Sorenten’s bedroom—where he’ll hopefully be sleeping, since it’s late at night—hide and kill him once the others raid the palace. Hastus put a tracking spell on me so the rest of the rebels will know when I’ve entered the palace and when it’s safe for them to attack.

I would make myself invisible now, but I need to conserve my energy. If I’m detected in the palace, I’m as good as dead.

I keep myself on the ground as I watch the activity around me. A few guards are laughing amongst themselves. Some are fighting one another, most likely practicing. Two are guarding. Just seeing them causes bile to enter my mouth. Here they are, laughing and having a good time, while so many Ortarians are suffering. How many lives have they taken? Are any of them responsible for Sebastian’s capture? I’m seriously going to wring their necks. Okay, I can’t do that. But my hands are itching to. I want them to feel what they’ve done—carrying out Sorenten’s evil decrees. How could anyone obey that bastard’s wishes?

An older-looking guard walks over to the ones laughing. He says something to them and I need to strain my ears to overhear. I manage to catch bits and pieces. Something about an old couple claiming they know where the rebels are camping out. The other guards—who look no more than twenty years old—ignore him and continue talking.

The older guard grabs one of the guys by the back of his neck and lifts him in the air. The younger one thrashes around as he tries to break free. “Your commanding officer has given you an order,” the older guard snarls.

The younger one thrashes some more. “There are many who claim to know where the rebels are and when we check it out, we find nothing. I’m getting sick of it.”

The older guard’s eyes widen with rage. “You’re getting sick of it?” he bellows.

The younger guard whimpers. “I just—”

With a flick of his hand, the older guard slams the younger one to the ground. I hear the sound of bones being cracked.

The older guard addresses the others. “Does anyone else feel the same way?” he sneers.

They falter back, shaking their heads vehemently. The commanding guard eyes each one of them. “Good,” he says. “Now go check it out!”

They nod and rush off. The older guard sits down on a chair and crosses one leg over the other.

I know the rebels have left the shack, but I can’t help feeling worried about them. I hope they’re okay. I wish I could return to the spot I left them and see for myself, but I can’t deviate from the plan. Little things could screw everything up. The others are waiting for me to get into the palace. Then they’ll come and take on the guards. I’ll only put them in jeopardy by going to check on them.

Taking a deep breath, I focus on turning myself invisible. There’s no way I can sneak by undetected, especially by that older guard. He seems like he’s seen it all. He’d spot the snake in the grass.

Peering down at myself, I see that it worked. I’m invisible. I’ve practiced it a few times, but I’m not sure how long I can hold. Hopefully long enough to get past the guards and hide in Sorenten’s room.

I have to be careful not to rustle the grass. I lift myself off the ground a bit and float toward the palace. It’s far, but close enough that I can see it. The palace is black, just a plain coat of black. It looks like something from a horror movie. I’m pretty sure it didn’t look like that when Alaric’s parents ruled. Just staring at it causes goose bumps to pop up all over my skin. If the castle is encased in evil, I can’t imagine
just
how wicked Sorenten is. Seeing him face to face…there’s no way for me to picture what that will be like. Because it’ll be ten times worse than I can ever imagine.

As I float, I look to my right and left and at myself to make sure I’m still invisible. My thoughts are on Sebastian and my fellow rebels. Will we succeed today? Will Ortarus finally be the place it’s meant to be?

Will I see Sebastian again? Mom? Will I live?

The closer I get to the palace, the more guards I see around. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I pass through them, careful not to make any noise, including breathing.

“Hey,” a female guard says. She and a few others are practicing their magic on the trees surrounding them. There are hundreds, and the guards don’t seem to care that they’re frying them with fire. “Did you hear something?” the female guard asks the guy standing near her.

Crap. Did I make noise? I back away from them.

The male guard looks around. “No.”

She narrows her eyes as she scans the place. “I could have sworn I heard something.” She nods toward my direction. “Over there.”

My heart pounds against my ribcage as I scoot farther and farther away. I must have been breathing too loudly or maybe my foot accidentally touched some of the tall grass.

The female guard heads over to me. She’s staring right at me. Can she see me? Her eyes are intense as she gazes at me some more. A second later, a smile breaks out on her face as she waves her hand around.

Looking down, I see an animal—one that resembles a cat but also quite doesn’t. It has six legs instead of four. It crawls out from beneath me. It must have been hiding in the grass. It rubs its nose against her hand.

“So? What is it?” the male guard asks.

“Just a baby puckry.” The female guard giggles as the puckry continues to nuzzle its nose in her hand. The male guard rolls his eyes and tells her not to busy herself with nonsense. They need to train if they want to squash the rebellion.

Just hearing him say those words lights something inside me. Here these guards are ready to kill us all, but I’m not going to let that happen. No,
we’re
not going to let that happen. They could think they’ll squash us, but we’ll squash them. We’ll
own
them.

I continue on my journey toward the palace. As I close in on it, I notice that the wind has gotten chilly and the sky darker. I didn’t think it was possible for the sky to get darker, but it has. I can hardly see anything around me. Luckily, I can use magic to give me night vision.

The guards are in masses as they loiter outside the palace. Many are standing straight as they keep guard, but some of the younger ones seem bored and restless. I wonder how many of them are being forced to work for the king. It wouldn’t be fair to kill them, but how can I know who’s loyal and who isn’t? I’ll have to kill those who come after me.

After a few more minutes of walking and squeezing through guards, I come face to face with the palace door. I hadn’t thought about how I would get in, since I was too preoccupied with getting here undetected. Scanning around, I figure I can use magic to flatten myself and slide under the door. But there’s no room, even if I make myself thinner than paper. That may cause me to lose my invisibility.

I circle the palace a few times, trying to look for some sort of opening or crack, maybe an open window, but I find nothing. I’m just standing there for a few minutes, my head spinning as I contemplate what to do, when a heavyset guard opens the door, carrying a plateful of food. This is it. My chance to get in. I rush past him and into the palace, just as the doors close. I can hear the guards surrounding the palace wondering where the gust of wind came from. They don’t check it out, though, and I sigh in relief.

I gape at the inside of the castle. The walls seem to be made of stone, the floors marble. Large chandeliers hang from the ceiling and the walls are covered in pictures of the royal family—Sorenten’s family, that is. Portraits of Sorenten, his late queen and son are plastered all around.

I tear my gaze away because looking at them is starting to piss me off. I turn to my right, and then my left, remembering what Alaric told me about the blueprints of the palace. Sorenten’s bedroom should be on the third floor.

My breathing grows labored and I’m starting to lose feeling in my limbs, but I need to push through. Yes, I’m nervous, but I need to think about everyone else.

Sebastian.

He’s somewhere in the palace, most likely in the dungeon. I bite my lip and rake my hand through my hair. Should I save him? I could quickly do so, then battle the king. But what about Sebastian? Who will protect him? No, I need to stick to the plan and focus on the king. Candon and Merla are going to free their son.

I pass by the guards, careful not to accidentally brush against them. When I reach the stairs, I make sure I’m still invisible and float up to the third floor. I hope my fellow rebels are okay, that they’re close to the palace. Alaric told me if things go badly, I need to kill Sorenten immediately. But I’m worried. What if Sorenten orders Sebastian to be killed? Maybe I
should
go save him. I shake my head. If the others aren’t here soon, I’m abandoning my task and freeing my boyfriend. I hope it won’t come to that.

When I reach the third floor, I peer around. About ten guards are walking up and down the hall, and I notice three more outside a room. Definitely the king’s. They’re protecting him as he sleeps.

I slip by and make my way toward his room. The door is huge, practically four doors fused together. I can just imagine how big his room is. It’s safe to say the door is locked. I glance around. The three guards right beside me seem to be on alert while the others are marching lazily, as though they haven’t gotten much sleep.

Hmm…how do I get into his room? I inspect the door, trying to find something—anything—that would give me a clue. That’s when I see it, a slight space underneath the door. It’s not big enough for an animal, let alone a person, to go through, but if I flatten myself, I should be able to get by, all the while keeping myself invisible.

Shutting my eyes, I focus on remaining invisible. When I’m certain my magic is still strong, I channel my energy into compressing myself. Once I’m small enough, I slide underneath the door, not sure what to expect on the other side. More guards, probably. I should have looked through the door to the other side. I guess there’s still a lot I need to get used to with this whole magic thing.

I push my rambling thoughts aside and stretch myself to my normal, human size form. I’m still invisible.

I’m shocked to discover there are no guards inside the bedroom. Sorenten must like his privacy when he sleeps. Good, I can use this to my advantage.

He’s sleeping soundly in his large bed. It’s triple the size of a king-sized back on Earth, and is bathed in silky sheets and blankets. His pajamas seem just as silky. He really
is
sleeping like royalty.

He’s a big guy, and I can see his muscles bulging out from beneath his blanket. His hair is long and golden, like the color of the sun—which seems strange, since he’s such an evil person. He’s got a weird expression on his face, a sinister smile, as though he’s planning his next decree that will cause his subjects to suffer even more.

He seems to be in a deep sleep. He’s snoring loudly. I swallow and examine the room. There are three closets and a few dressers and an inner room, which is probably the bathroom.

Watching his lip curl into an even wider smile, I’m so tempted to just kill him in his sleep. But that wouldn’t be smart. Alaric told me that Sorenten sleeps in a magic bubble and it would sense me the second I move closer to him. It’s important for me to keep my distance. He’d wake up and call for the guards and they’d attack me before I have a chance to kill him. No. He needs to be awake, no longer in his magic bubble, and caught off guard. That’s when I’ll pounce.

Inhaling another deep breath, I look around once more before slipping behind one of the closets. It’s larger than I thought and hides me well. Hell, it’s bigger than my bathroom on Earth. Good thing, because it looks like I’m going to be behind here for a while. I have a few good hours until the king wakes up. Hopefully the others will get here soon.