The Forbidden Wish (23 page)

“Then tell me why you did it.”

Bowing my head in submission, I draw a deep breath. “I had no choice. I didn't want to. When the king of the jinn learned how close Roshana and I had become, he came to punish us. We had broken the cardinal rule of Ambadya: that no jinni may love a human. There, on the summit of Mount Tissia, he commanded me to kill her—to strike down my dearest friend. I had no choice, for his power over me is absolute. I destroyed her, and then Nardukha sent his jinn to ravish the city of Neruby as a warning to all humans
that his laws must be obeyed. But make no mistake: I can offer no excuses for what happened that day, for it was at my hand that Roshana met her fate. My love was her destruction.”

Caspida stares at me, the lamp gripped tightly in her hands. It is then that I realize it's not Roshana's death she is trying to understand, but her mother's. I may not have killed her myself, but to Caspida, I may as well have.

“For five hundred years my sisterhood has passed down a sacred vow,” says Caspida coldly, “to destroy the one who destroyed our queen. You know this, and you speak these words only to deceive me as you deceived her. You would have me believe that you are capable of love.”

“Believe me when I say I wish that I were not!” Angrily I round on her. “I do not tell you this for myself! Aladdin will die any moment, and the only way to save him is if
you
make a wish! Please, Caspida—they will kill him at dawn!” I point at the horizon, where the sun is minutes away from rising. “Let me save him, I beg you!”

I drop to my knees before her, doing what I never thought I could: grovel before a human. My pride unravels into smoke, carried away on the wind. Always I have thought myself above these mortals—I, immortal, powerful, able to shift from this form to that. But I let all of that go now, and I beg as I have never begged before. “Do what you like with me after that, but just let me
save him
!” I dig my fingers into the earth, my eyes damp with tears. My voice falls to a cracked whisper. “Please.”

“Why?”

I raise my face, finding her gaze unyielding. “Because it was my idea. Him wishing to be made a prince. Courting you. Lying all these weeks. I manipulated him and used him, and now they will kill him for it.”

“Why would you lead him into the palace knowing that eventually the truth would come out and he would have to pay the price?”

“Because . . .” I grind my teeth together, wishing the earth would swallow me up. “Because I was trying to win my freedom. Your people had captured the prince of the jinn—Nardukha's own son. The Shaitan sent me to free him, and in turn, he would free me from my lamp. If I failed, he planned to sink your city into the sea. I had to get into the palace. Aladdin was my only way in.”

“So you don't deny that you're a monster. You used him for your own ends.”

I drop my head. “I know what I am. I know nothing can excuse what I did to Roshana, or to Aladdin, or to you. I've wronged so many, and there is so much I wish I could take back. I can't save Roshana. But please—I beg of you—let me save
him
.”

Caspida lowers to her knees and studies me. I meet her gaze, humbled utterly.

“You want me to believe that you love him,” she whispers.

“Yes.” The word is but a breath, a stir of air in my treacherous lungs. “We're running out of time. I cannot reverse death or the hours. Time is the strongest magic, and no jinni—not even the Shaitan—can rewrite the past. Once Aladdin is gone, he is gone. Let me save him, and I can help you win your city.”

She stares at me long and hard before shaking her head. “No,” she says at last. “If I must rely on the magic of the jinn to deliver my people to me, then I don't deserve to rule them. I will not be the latest fool you trick.”

She rises, her eyes hard, and I know nothing I can say will sway her. I plummet into despair, unable to move or think or breathe. This is it. Aladdin will die. I've killed him as surely I killed you, Habiba.

Caspida walks to the edge of the cliff, the lamp held in front of her. Her face is solemn, almost sorrowful, and I wonder if she has any regret for what she is about to do. I don't have the will or energy to stop her. I can only stare blankly at the grass as my spirit drains from me.

“Goodbye, Zahra,” says the princess, and she pulls her arm back, preparing to throw the lamp.

“Do it, Princess,” says a voice, “and I will tear your head from your shoulders.”

I
'M ON MY FEET IN A TRIC
E,
throwing an arm out protectively across the princess, who lowers the lamp and stares.

Zhian stands just feet away, deceptively calm and well disguised in a human form, tall and darkly handsome, dressed in brilliant red robes that fade to black at the hems. They swirl around him, likely more his own doing than the wind's. Zhian has always been fond of dramatic entrances.

“Who are you?” Caspida demands, and I can sense the effort she puts into making her voice remain strong.

Without taking my eyes from him, I whisper over my shoulder, “It's Zhian. The jinn prince.”

She inhales sharply, but doesn't flinch.

“Why are you here?” I ask Zhian.

He spreads his hands. “I bring good news, Zahra. I have been to Ambadya and back, and am here to tell you that my father is well pleased with you.”

Catching my breath, I feel Caspida's eyes on me, narrow with suspicion. This isn't helping my case, to have the King of the Jinn bestowing his favor on me in front of her.

“Well?” I ask softly.

Zhian's mouth splits into a draconian smile. “He has agreed to grant you your freedom.”

My spirit leaps. I take a half step forward, hardly believing the words. There may be a chance to save Aladdin yet.

“You're to come with me,” Zhian continues. “Back to Ambadya. You'll receive your freedom before Nardukha's throne.”

“No. It has to be here. It has to be
now
.” I look to the horizon, where a brilliant line of gold burns ever brighter. We have minutes left, maybe seconds, before Aladdin's sentence is carried out.

“Don't be ungrateful,” he growls. “Or you might inspire the Shaitan to have a change of heart.”

“He has no heart,” I spit. “Zhian,
you
must do it, this moment.”

“You know I can't. You're being invited
home
, to freedom and to me!” He scowls, his eyes darkening.

I am pulled in two directions, my soul quailing in the face of the choice in front of me. How long have I waited for this moment, these words? Freedom is mine for the taking—but if I take it, I will lose Aladdin forever.

“I—I can't go yet. I have business to finish here.”

His gaze flickers to the princess. “With
her
?”

I know then that he didn't overhear our conversation and that he still doesn't know about Aladdin. I turn slightly to whisper to Caspida, “Princess, I know you don't trust me, but you
must
believe me when I tell you this jinni will kill you. You have to make a wish. It's the only way I can protect you. Take us back to the palace before—”

“What's wrong with you?” interrupts Zhian, baring his teeth. He steps closer. “Zahra, this is the moment you've been waiting for. If you won't come willingly, I'll
make
you come. Give me the lamp, human!”

He makes a move toward Caspida, and the princess sucks in a breath and steps back, drawing her small blade. This only makes Zhian grin.

“And what will you do with that?” he says. “Prick me? I will crunch your bones and cast you to the ghuls for their sport.”

“No,” I murmur, stepping between them. “You won't touch her, or the lamp.”

Zhian stiffens, his eyes flashing angrily. He looks from me to the princess, calculating, until at last a dark fury descends on his features.

“The boy,” he murmurs. “The boy who had the lamp, the boy you argued with the night you found me in that jar.”

He rushes forward suddenly and grabs my wrist, twisting my arm savagely. I grit my teeth and hiss at him but don't cry out. “Didn't you learn your lesson? Or will my father have to make you kill this one too?”

He wraps a hand around my jaw, lowering his face until his breath is hot on my cheeks. “You little fool. You could have been free, you could have been with me, but instead you betray your own nature for another human. How many of them will you destroy with these whims of yours? How many cities must burn? I recall the last human you thought to call friend, and I recall how my father had you strike her down.” I feel Caspida gasp beside me as Zhian continues. “Yet you would commit the same crime
again
?”

I shift to smoke, and his hand closes on nothing, as I swirl around him and take shape again when I am out of reach. He turns
away from Caspida. She still holds the lamp, and I throw her a pleading look.
Come on, Caspida. You must make a wish!

“Do you realize what you'll lose,” Zhian says, “if you do this?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

Zhian holds out a hand, suddenly quiet. “Forget this boy, Zahra, and come with me. All will be made right. This doesn't have to end like last time.”

Swallowing, I shut my eyes, my skin clammy. A part of me yearns to take his hand, to give in to him, to finally,
finally
seize my freedom. I can almost picture it, the greatest prize, the deepest desire of my phantom heart. It tempts me more than anything ever could.

I think of all the places I could go, the things I could do, with no one to command me. No one to shut me up in my lamp. What it would feel like to finally be in control of my own power.

To grant my
own
wishes.

“Would you really trade an eternity of freedom,” Zhian says, and I open my eyes to meet his, “for a moment with this boy?”

If I choose Aladdin, the consequences will be disastrous. I've been down this road before. I haunted the ruins of your city, Habiba, for five hundred years, with the ghosts of those I condemned to die—all because I was stupid enough, arrogant enough, to believe I could love. Perhaps it would be better to go with Zhian now, for the sake of everyone in Parthenia.

The horizon burns like molten gold, and somewhere, Aladdin is being dragged from a cell. What must he be thinking? That I have abandoned him? And suddenly I realize: I never told him I love him. He must have said it to me a dozen times, but I was always too afraid to speak the words. I feared the consequences, wanted to postpone the inevitable—but now the moment has come, and I
must choose.
Love or freedom?
A month ago I would have laughed to think I would feel such agony at the choice. But that was before Aladdin. That was before I knew the kind of freedom I felt just being with him.

“If you're not free to love,” I whisper, “you're not free at all.”

And suddenly I know.

I've known for days. Since I kissed Aladdin. Since we danced, our breaths held and our eyes locked. Since we lay in the grass, laughing in the sunlight at my miserable attempts at thievery. Every glance, every touch, every whisper between us has been a pebble added to the scales, tipping me toward a new direction. I don't know the exact moment I fell in love with Aladdin, but I know I am still falling.

And I never want to stop.

“I'm not going to Ambadya with you, Zhian,” I say. “I'm staying here.”

Zhian lets out a long, slow breath, his pupils dilating until his eyes are entirely black. His form changes, growing and sharpening, horns sprouting from his head and his feet hardening into hooves. His skin takes on a reddish tint, and smoke gathers around him. He is part man, part bull, part smoke.

Caspida gasps, and the sound catches Zhian's ear. He turns toward her, his eyes settling on the lamp.

“If you won't come by choice, sister,” he growls, “then you will be dragged to the Shaitan's feet!”

“No!” I shout, springing and shifting all at once. With my abilities limited by the lamp, I can't take a shape to match his in strength, but I have to do something. I take tiger form, bounding across the grass and leaping to intercept him before he can strike Caspida. The princess bravely holds up her blade, ready to meet
him, but it will hardly save her. Zhian is twice her size now and much, much deadlier.

I strike him in the chest, just enough to throw him off balance and block his blow.

“Caspida!” I growl. “I can't hold him off much longer!”

Zhian clouts me hard in the ribs, and I fly through the air and land hard on the grass, digging in my claws to spring back at him. Dirt flies everywhere as I bound toward the jinni, a snarl baring my fangs. He's ready when I spring, and he steps aside, batting me hard into the earth. I roll wildly toward the cliff's edge, barely saving myself from toppling over it. Zhian holds out a hand, a flame flickering to life above his palm. In moments, the flame swells into a writhing knot of fire.

This he hurls at me, and I throw myself wide as the flames explode where I'd been standing.

“
Caspida!
” I cry, shifting again, back into my human form. This time, I'm dressed in leather leggings and a cropped bandeau, my hands each gripping a long, curved sword. I run toward Zhian, and when he swings at me, I drop to my knees, skidding across the grass as I slice at his legs. He roars when one of the blades cuts his thigh. Smoke pours from the wound, which closes immediately.

He manifests a sword of his own, and I stagger in the attempt to block his strike. I parry once, twice, thrice, before his superior strength knocks both my swords from my hands and they dissolve into smoke. He lets his own evaporate, and he lunges for me, wrapping a massive hand around my throat and lifting me high, my feet dangling.

“All those years ago,” he growls, “when my father was purging the Shaitan, eliminating all his rivals, I begged for your life. You would have been killed like all the others, but I told him you were different. I saved you, and this is how you repay me?”

I can't reply. He's crushing my throat. I start to shift, but he shakes me hard, making my head ring until I can't even think what to shift to. My vision turns dark, and I realize he isn't going to stop. He intends to kill me here and now.

But then a sudden prickle of energy races across my skin, and words penetrate the raging pain in my head, like soft feathers drifting through a storm.

“I wish for my Watchmaidens to be brought safely to me.”

Caspida has made a wish. Not the wish I'd wanted to hear, but it's enough to grant me a thousand and one times more strength than I have on my own. I burst into smoke, swelling in a plume above Zhian's head. He snarls and whirls to Caspida, but she is not alone. Raz, Ensi, Nessa, and Khavar all stand around her, staggering a bit, their eyes wide with confusion and horror at the sight of the jinn prince. I pour onto the grass, back into human shape, and run to Caspida.

“What's going on?” cries Ensi, her hands in her powder pouches. “What by Imohel is
that
?”

Zhian draws himself up, his dark gaze fixed on me. “You know what happens next.”

I nod.

“I will tell Nardukha of your treachery, and he will come. He will rouse from the depths of Ambadya and bring with him all his jinn, and we will destroy you, this boy,
and
this entire city.”

“Go, then,” says Caspida suddenly, stepping forward. She spits at the jinn prince. “Damn you, and damn all your kind. I am Queen Caspida of the Amulens, and I do not fear you. Bring your worst, because I will be waiting.”

I touch her arm. “Princess, you don't have to—”

She shrugs me away and raises her sword toward Zhian. “This
war between our people has gone on far too long. Let it end today. Aladdin and Zahra are
my
citizens, and I will defend them to my last breath.”

He snarls, tensing as if to spring at us, but Caspida whirls and cries, “Now, Nessa!”

As Zhian lunges, the jinn charmer pulls out her flute and begins to play, the music stopping him dead. I conjure a thick turban for myself, covering my ears and blocking the sound. Her music holds Zhian enthralled, his mouth slack and his eyes dull. Her hands tremble, but she doesn't miss a note.

“Caspida, dawn will break at any moment,” I say.

She tears her eyes from Zhian and stares at me as if she hasn't heard.

“They'll kill Aladdin.
Please
—”

“All right,” she mouths, her words muffled through my turban. “I believe you, Zahra. You aren't responsible for Roshana's death. The Shaitan is. And you truly love the thief. You would even surrender your freedom for his sake.”

“Don't let it be in vain,” I plead.

She nods and looks around at her girls, who still look shocked at their sudden change in circumstances. But they meet her gaze solemnly, staunchly loyal.

Turning back to me, Caspida reaches out and grasps my hand, as if the monstrous son of the Shaitan were not looming over us, his mind enchanted by the notes coiling around us. The princess's eyes catch and hold the fires of dawn as she speaks.

“I wish to save Aladdin's life.”