Chapter 16
The sprawling landscape stretched before us like woven tapestry, dotted with tiny figures moving in purposeful chaos. Wooden tables scraped across uneven ground, leaving gouged trails in the earth as hands worked to drag them into position for the evening’s feast.
We spotted Mira among the bustling crowd, her face lighting up as she caught sight of us.
Her arm shot skyward in an enthusiastic wave, bouncing on her toes.
We mirrored her movement, my own hand lifting despite the heaviness in my limbs.
The warm atmosphere wrapped around my shoulders, seeping into the cracks of my fractured purpose.
I needed to speak to them. To confess what had been eating me alive from the inside out.
I swallowed hard, gathering the fragments of courage scattered through my chest.
“I know what I’m about to say is crazy, but…” I paused, my throat tightening. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to leave. I…”
Each word tore something loose inside me.
Tavrik’s hand landed on my shoulder, his eyes distant with something that looked like grief.
“I know, Elira. I feel the same way.” His grip tightened. “But I don’t think we have a choice.”
I whipped my head to Theo, searching his face for any sign of disagreement. His lips pressed together until they turned white, his nostrils flaring.
“I feel the same,” he admitted. “I never thought I’d want to stay here… but I do.” He chewed on his lower lip. “They’re just so alive. So free.”
I nodded, understanding exactly what he meant.
“I don’t believe they want to break the Veil. I’ve seen no proof of them even trying.”
My voice rose with each word. I gestured with my hands, reaching toward them as if I could physically make them see what I saw.
But then the memory hit me—Dalkhan’s face, cold and commanding on the ceremonial ground. His words echoing. ‘It must be completed’.
The robed figures bowing. Promising, ‘Soon’.
That was all I had. No armies forming. No grand meetings. No declaration of war.
Just… soon.
The distant murmur of voices drifted toward us.
I shot my arms out to either side, palms connecting with Tavrik and Theo. They flinched backward, eyes wide.
I pressed a finger to my lips, then jerked my head toward the sound.
We moved as one shadow, feet finding the softest patches of earth. Bodies low as we slipped behind the massive trunk of an ancient tree. We were close enough to see the slight movement of figures through the gaps in the leaves, but far enough to remain hidden.
Then I heard his voice, and my chest exploded with warmth—a cruel mockery of affection that lasted exactly one heartbeat before his words destroyed everything.
“I will not wait any longer!”
“My king, we are working tirelessly.” The whisper cracked under the weight of his presence.
“SILENCE!”
Birds stopped mid-song. The wind died as if strangled. Even my own breathing seemed too loud. Too dangerous.
“You dare offer me excuses? You dare waste my time with your pathetic attempts?”
Someone hit the ground, their knees striking earth in submission.
“My king, please—”
“Please?” Power exploded from him like a shockwave. “I have waited long enough. Now you grovel before me with empty promises and trembling hands?”
A suffocating silence followed.
“I am done with your failures,” he snapped. “I am done with delays. I am done with you. Find a way to break it, or I will find someone else who can. And when I do, your deaths will be the first celebration of my victory.”
The realisation crashed into me like a landslide, burying every hope I’d dared to nurture. My knees buckled—tree bark scraping against my cheek as I sagged against it, vision blurring at the edges.
We retreated like ghosts, hearts pounding in our throats. Every twig that cracked beneath our feet echoed. Every breath too loud.
How could I even think about searching for the stone when my entire world had just crumbled to ash?
Only when we’d put enough distance between us and that terrible conversation did I dare turn toward Tavrik. My eyes pleaded with him. Begged him to tell me I’d misheard. That there was some other hidden truth in those words.
Each line of his face was etched with sorrow—the answer was written in the slump of his shoulders. In the way his hands hung limp at his sides.
“I’m sorry, Elira. I think the message was clear.”
I nodded, my neck straining as though it might snap. My heart wasn’t just broken, it was a gaping chasm. A void that threatened to swallow me whole.
Theo’s expression reflected my own devastation.
If this had to end soon, then I would steal every moment I could, even if each one would only become a blade twisted into my heart later. It would destroy me in the end, but part of me still believed in something beautiful. In something worth fighting for. I wasn’t ready to let go.
Not yet.
By the time we returned, the tables had been transformed into an opulent feast—silver platters overflowing with roasted meats that glistened under torchlight, delicate pastries dusted with fine sugar, and wine that shimmered like liquid rubies.
The rich aromas were intoxicating, thick enough to taste.
The last molten threads of sunlight bled across the horizon before surrendering to velvet darkness. Every Jinn stood motionless, taut with anticipation and eyes fixed on the empty space where their king would appear.
I slipped between Jasila and Mira, excitement crackling off their skin. Tavrik stood on the other side of Jasila, his fingers ghosting over the delicate curve of her wrist while she arched into his touch.
I was going to tease them, but the words died as drums exploded through the night.
Then he materialised.
Dalkhan strode forward, the torches shuddering in his wake. Bonfires roared to life at the mere flick of his wrist, their flames writhing under his command.
Every head dropped in submission, backs bending, but his gaze never wavered, slicing through the crowd until it found me.
He moved through the sea of bowed figures, bodies parting before him, creating a path that led directly to me.
He slid his fingers under my chin, lifting my face up.
Our eyes locked, and everything else—the crowd, the feast, the very world—crumbled away like ash in the wind.
He leaned down, claiming my mouth in a kiss that shattered every coherent thought in my mind. It wasn’t gentle or sweet—it was a declaration of ownership that left no room for doubt. His lips moved against mine possessively, his hand tangling in my hair. Holding me exactly where he wanted me.
I whimpered into his mouth.
When he finally pulled back, my lips were swollen and aching, my entire body humming with want. His thumb traced the dampness he’d left behind, drinking in every detail of my ruined state like it was a masterpiece he’d painted.
“You will sit with me tonight.”
I managed to nod, my voice trapped somewhere between my racing heart and the inferno in my veins. I wanted to pull him closer, to let him unravel me beneath the stars and firelight, audience be damned.
Satisfaction flashed across his features, as if he could read every ravenous thought racing through my mind like an open book.
He wrapped his fingers around my wrist and tugged me forward, pulling me to his side like I was meant to be there. Like I was a missing piece, finally sliding into place.
His throne-like chair loomed behind him, ornate and imposing. He appeared even more otherworldly when he sank into it. Instead of releasing me, he grabbed my waist, lifting me effortlessly onto his lap.
As I settled against him, I felt exactly how much that kiss had affected him. A slow burn spread across my skin as he adjusted me, every inch of his desire pressing against me.
His arms locked around me, creating a cage of warm muscle that was impossible to escape—not that I wanted to. One hand splayed possessively across my hip, burning through the thin fabric of my dress, while the other found my thigh, sliding higher with excruciating slowness.
As his thumb traced patterns against my skin, I bit down hard on my bottom lip to keep from whimpering.
His voice dropped to a dangerous purr. “Do you feel that?” He shifted his hips, holding me firmly against him. “How hard you make me?”
He scraped his teeth against my neck. “Everyone here knows I’m going to fuck you senseless the moment we’re alone.”
The steady rhythm of his heartbeat matched the wild pounding of my own, both of us burning with the same consuming hunger.
The feast roared to life around us. Laughter and conversation flowed like wine, but it was nothing more than a distant hum.
His fingers continued their exquisite torture, tracing slow, idle patterns along my waist. Dipping lower, only to retreat, burning me alive with the promise of something more. Each touch was calculated, designed to drive me to the very edge of sanity. To keep me teetering there, eager and wanting.
A slow, haunting melody built gradually into a fevered tempo. The beat slithered into the air like smoke, curling around my limbs, pulling at something deep and wild inside me. I yearned to sway with the hypnotic rhythm, but I fought against it, pressing further into Dalkhan’s hold.
His chest shook with silent laughter.
I looked back, catching the amusement bright on his face. “What’s so funny?”
“The music pulls even the strongest Jinn under its spell,” he mused, his fingers trailing down my collarbone. “Watching you try to fight it is… entertaining.”
The crowd had surrendered to the music’s seductive call.
Their bodies swayed and twirled in a feverish display of sensual movement, limbs tangling together in wordless conversation of pleasure.
Even Theo and Tavrik had joined in. Theo moving effortlessly against Mira, his hands guiding her hips in slow, grinding circles, while Jasila and Tavrik moved in perfect synchrony, his lips at her neck.
Their eyes were filled with something deep and unspoken.