Chapter 26
Irefused to speak to Zafir for the rest of the day and when he went to bathe, I stole several more vials of various potions, from the leftover infatuation elixir to scorchwing venom.
No matter what situation arose, I would be prepared.
I should have known from the beginning that I could only count on myself.
Just as he was preparing to leave, I considered simply throwing myself on the floor and refusing to move, but Zafir would be able to call for guards or else carry me himself, and I didn’t want him to touch me.
I had trusted him. I had even believed I was starting to fall in love with him, and he was planning to sell me out without hesitation.
Neither of us spoke as we walked over just as the sun was starting to set.
The air was still warm as it swirled around me and I wished the temperature would decrease—my nerves were already about to cook me from the inside out.
The meeting was being held in a large room on the fringe of Parliament’s council chamber so outsiders would be able to pass by and look in but not hear anything.
I glanced through the large glass window beside the door to see a long table crowded with Parliament members, as well as the tzar and his wife seated at the head of the table.
“You’re to wait outside,” Zafir told me, gesturing toward a hard-backed wooden chair just outside the chamber. A small table set with a few light refreshments was laid out next to the chair. “But you’re welcome to watch through the window.”
I sat without complaint, still refusing to look at Zafir. Were a few pastries and bits of dragon fruit supposed to lighten the blow of hearing my sentence?
“We won’t take long,” Zafir said softly. “We can still figure this out. I promise.”
I refused to look at him, mostly so I wouldn’t burst into tears, and after a moment of waiting, he went inside and the door thudded closed.
It felt humiliating to be seated outside like a child waiting to be punished while all the adults talked about how to handle my misbehavior.
I watched the meeting from the other side of the glass, wishing I could hear what they were saying.
The tzar was younger than I’d expected, perhaps in his late twenties or early thirties, with straight, charcoal-black hair and almond-shaped eyes that continually shifted from person to person.
Zafir had told me he was a phoenix shifter, and I kept sneaking looks at him through the window, wondering if he would burst into flame or transform into a giant, fiery bird like the one I’d seen at the Emberlight Revelry.
But as intimidating as the tzar was, his wife looked several times more menacing.
She wasn’t a large woman, but she wasn’t thin or fragile either.
Cords of tight muscle ran down her exposed arms and she had a hardened, shrewd expression on her face that made me devoutly thankful I wasn’t in the same room with her.
My eyes slid over to where Zafir was sitting. His chair was close to the window and across from Julian’s father, Rogan. Zafir had angled his position so he could still see me through the window. His dark gaze met mine and I hurriedly looked away. Who knew what he was about to say to them about me?
I fingered the vials in my pocket and pulled out the scorchwing venom, the highly illegal poison that would immediately blind anyone and could kill a man if left untreated.
I kept it concealed in my palm and looked at it, trying hard to remember its properties.
Would it be acidic enough to burn through the chain?
I doubted it. The chain was magical, not truly metal, so it was more likely that I would accidentally spill it on myself and cause irreparable damage.
No, that wouldn’t do. I pulled out the infatuation elixir next, the tiny vial cold against my sweaty palm.
I hadn’t brought it to the Emberlight Revelry; I’d been too distracted by Zafir kissing me and after seeing what had happened when he took it.
Now, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t have the chance to use the elixir on Julian before I was put into prison. No amount of money could save me now.
“Alia!”
I swung around to see…Julian, with his pet lemur on his shoulder. For a moment, I wondered if I had somehow wished Julian’s presence into existence. Had the genie somehow granted a wish, or was it coincidence?
“J-Julian,” I said, clamping my hand even more firmly around the vial to conceal it. This was too good to be true. I’d been given another chance. “What are you doing here?”
“My father and I were going to go to a tournament tonight, but he said he had an emergency meeting. I figured I’d meet him right after and we can still catch the end.” Julian pulled the lemur off his shoulder. “Want to pet Jax?”
“Of course.” I let the lemur crawl up my arm to perch on my shoulder and dig through my hair.
“They’re still talking,” I said, peering in through the window.
As Julian looked through the glass, I discreetly uncorked the vial and slipped the entire elixir into the untouched drink on the table without bothering to measure it.
“I’ve never seen the tzar and his wife before. ”
“She’s a formidable woman,” Julian said.
“Personally, I think she would’ve been a better fit for Zafir rather than Tarquin.
They both remind me of vipers. But she came with Termarth’s peace treaty, so the tzar married her for political reasons.
They seem happy, though.” He squinted at the woman.
“At least as happy as she can be. She always looks a little scary.”
“You’re welcome to sit and wait with me,” I told him, gesturing to the chair. “I wasn’t invited into the meeting.”
“Join the club.” Julian sat.
“You and Jax are welcome to the food and drink,” I told him carelessly, leaning against the wall. “I’m not hungry right now.”
“If you insist,” Julian said cheerfully, picking up a few grapes and handing them to Jax, who greedily snatched them up. “How have you been?”
I swallowed. “Not well, actually.” How much did I dare tell him? I chanced a glance through the window, where Zafir was still watching me closely.
“What’s wrong?” Julian probed. He picked up a pastry but not the drink.
“I…I really want to get back to Brisden. My sister is there and I worry that she’s in trouble.”
Julian’s lips twitched to the side in sympathy. “That must be very difficult for you to be here, knowing that and unable to get back.”
“If you could take me—” I began, but Julian cut me off.
“I can’t do that, Alia. I know you want to go, but I simply can’t justify it. It wouldn’t make sense.”
My throat clogged. It felt like dead ends everywhere. “I thought that if you liked me…”
Julian sighed and held out his hand for Jax, who cheerfully hopped back over to his master. “We’re friends,” he finally said.
“Not anything more than friends?” I asked.
Julian gave me a long look before finally saying, “I know when I’m being used for my money.”
I didn’t think I could feel any lower than I already did, but even more shame managed to slither in.
“We had fun teasing Zafir, but that was all,” Julian went on. He spoke kindly, but also very firmly. “Like I said, I’m happy to have you as a friend, but I won’t finance a private voyage to Brisden. Even teasing Zafir isn’t enough temptation for that.”
“Julian…” I began, but he held up a hand.
“It’s fine. You weren’t the first and you won’t be the last. I never got the impression that you were wildly in love with me either.”
I couldn’t give up that easily. If I wasn’t incentive enough, surely a genie would be. “If you could wish for anything…anything at all in the entire world, would you do it?”
Julian picked up the goblet and swirled the drink inside. “I already have everything I want.”
“There’s a genie in Brisden,” I told him in a rush, throwing caution to the wind. “That’s the truth about how I got here. The genie will grant any wish you want—wealth, power, fame, eternal life… but I have to get back there. Please, Julian. You could make a wish too.”
He continued to shake his head, still swirling the liquid inside the goblet, but didn’t drink. “I won’t risk everything for a myth.”
“It’s real, though.” I showed him the genie’s mark on my wrist. “I made a wish and it came true. The genie branded me. If you just take me back…”
“I applaud your creativity, but my answer is still no. I hope you find a way to get back home, and I do wish you the best, but I can’t help. Besides, it technically isn’t even my money. My father gives me a spending allowance each month. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t finance that sort of voyage.”
I was falling into the vast chasm of space, with nothing to ground me. Everything I had tried had failed.
The door opened and Zafir poked his head out. “Julian, may I have a word?” he asked.
I took a step forward, but Zafir threw out a hand to hold me back. “Only him, please.”
Julian followed Zafir, draining the goblet in his hand as he did so, and the door shut once more. Zafir stood with his back to the window, so I wasn’t able to see anything but more importantly, Julian wouldn’t be able to see me. How long did I have before the elixir took effect?
I tried to look in the window over Zafir’s shoulder, but still couldn’t get a good glimpse of Julian, even though the window stretched almost ceiling to floor.
Should I barge into the room uninvited? I tried to jiggle the handle, but it wouldn’t turn.
Curse Zafir. He was entirely too good at closing loopholes.
Julian was going to be head over heels in love with the table or something. Then my heart stopped. There were other women in there—Chairwoman Palla and the tzar’s wife—and the potion would make him become obsessed with whichever woman he saw first. I bit my lip and sweat broke out on my forehead.
“Oh no,” I whispered. “Oh no, oh no.”
It felt like an eternity before the door finally opened again, but it wasn’t Julian who came out.
It was Zafir.