Chapter 14
Brothers
Iris
The next day
“Are you still sure you want to take the night shift? You don’t usually like it.”
Still leaning against the counter at The Daily Grind, Sasha gives me a skeptical look. My boss has been eyeing me like this ever since my brief disappearance. I’ve never missed a day of work in my life, and I’m not the greatest liar.
But today, I’ve come prepared. I mentally apologize to Sasha for my true agenda and force a smile. “Usually, I’m swamped with schoolwork. I just finished an important paper. I can afford a few sleepless nights.”
It’s not even a lie, although education isn’t exactly my main concern right now. “Besides, I want to make it up to you,” I finish.
If things go the way I expect them to, The Daily Grind may not even be standing by the end of the day. But buildings are just that—bricks and mortar. It would cost Rakan merely a thought to fix one. Our real problem is far more complicated.
Sasha lets out a deep sigh. “Taking another shift isn’t the best way to reassure me. We were really worried about you when you missed work. You sure nothing’s going on?”
“Perfectly sure,” I reply. It’s true enough. After all, she can’t help me with what’s actually going on.
If Camille were here, she’d be pushing me further. My cellphone is already full of missed calls and frantic messages. But I’ll just have to worry about reassuring my friend once the ifrit who’s hunting me down is no longer an issue.
Fortunately, Sasha isn’t as insistent as Camille. Maybe she’s relieved at having a free evening to herself. “All right, Iris. Have it your way. Take care and good night.”
It’s a quarter to nine when she leaves, and the night crowd hasn’t really started coming in.
At this hour, the daylight customers are usually retiring to their homes, and the night creatures aren’t yet in the mood for a bite.
Sasha hasn’t made any reservations for vampire bachelor parties. Thank God for that.
I stand behind the counter and wait. My hands itch for something to do, a book to read, an order I can prepare. But I know there’s no point in even bothering.
I’m not here to do my job. I’m here to lay a trap.
It takes less than a minute for the bell to chime.
Kasim al-Rashid walks into The Daily Grind, like any other customer, like his brother once did.
He’s not wearing Casey’s guise today. Instead, he’s come as himself, dressed in a pair of ancient Arabian pants.
Sirwal, they’re called, if I remember correctly.
Kasim eyes me from head to toe and shakes his head. “So… You made a wish, Iris Beckett. And one that concerned me, no less. And here I thought you were more intelligent than most humans. How disappointing.”
I meet his cold gaze and wonder what Rakan will see when he’s finally face to face with his brother. No doubt, not a murderer. Or at least, not just that.
My knees go weak, and I lean against the counter so I won’t fall over. I’m not in any danger. Rakan will never let any harm come to me. He’s made me a promise, and I believe in him. But it’s still hard to face Kasim, this twisted version of what my lover could have been.
I swallow past the sudden knot in my throat and force myself to speak. “Well, you seemed so convinced I’d want to enslave Rakan. I figured… How could I possibly resist?”
Kasim bares his teeth at me. The temperature in the cafe drops, frost blooming over the counters and displays. But it’s a testament to his ancient wisdom that he doesn’t lash out. Not immediately. “What have you done, human? Where’s Rakan?”
I reach underneath the counter and grip the lamp. It’s a beautiful piece, engraved with ancient Arabic script. But at the same time, there’s something solemn and quiet about it. Suitable for Rakan’s soul.
The moment he sees Rakan’s lamp, Kasim’s breath catches. “You… You didn’t. You couldn’t have.”
“He trusted me,” I tell him. “He placed his soul in my hands. And I made a wish he could never fulfill.”
Kasim’s eyes flash, and just like that, all the composure he’s displayed so far shatters. He lets out a loud roar, and cold fire explodes around him in an uncontrollable wave.
Even after seeing all of Rakan’s displays of power, I find this humbling. But I don’t run. I don’t have to.
The lamp in my hand turns hot, and all of a sudden, Rakan is standing there, right in front of me. Kasim’s cold fire crashes against him and dies.
“That’s enough, brother,” Rakan tells him. “You’ve done enough. You need to stop.”
Kasim’s lips twist into a crazed grin. “So… You are here, Rakan. Good. You’ll get to watch while I destroy this—”
“I won’t let you hurt her.” Rakan cuts him off. “Or anyone else. Ever again.”
Kasim shakes his head, like a parent disappointed in a naive child. “Don’t make me laugh. You can’t fight me, Rakan. I’ve always been stronger than you are.”
He’s not wrong. Rakan has admitted to this himself, to me, in private. But Kasim doesn’t need to know that, not when Rakan’s true strength lies outside his djinn ancestry.
Rakan leans against the counter, looking as relaxed as a merman in deep water. “You’re not quite as strong anymore. Face it, Kasim. You’ve lost your touch. And I’m not the boy you knew.”
It’s the same arrogant facade I’ve seen in him so many times. Once, it infuriated me, and I ended up lashing out at him, in my own quiet way. But Kasim doesn’t know his brother anymore. Or perhaps he doesn’t care, too focused on the threat to see Rakan for who he really is.
“No. You’re a slave to the human. But that will be remedied soon enough.”
Kasim lunges forward, and chaos erupts in the cafe. I duck under the counter, still holding the lamp close. The second lamp is hidden right next to my foot.
Rakan made me promise to reach for it now. To trap his brother again, like only a human could. But I hesitate anyway.
Kasim is a murderer who wears the face of my lover. It should mean nothing. It’s not Rakan’s face I fell in love with. But their lamps… They are so similar. And maybe… Maybe it’s not too late. For any of us.
Beyond the counter, Kasim roars at Rakan. Rakan snarls back, and something explodes in the cafe. From my small bubble of safety, I can’t see them. But I can feel the tension rising, the hatred crackling on my skin like static.
“Let me pass, Rakan!” Kasim bellows. “Let me free you! I can do it!”
Rakan retaliates, and glass shatters as the entire front of the cafe explodes. I can feel the echoes of the blast curling around the edges of Rakan’s ward.
“Iris!” Rakan calls out to me. “Do it now!”
I don’t touch Kasim’s lamp. Instead, I get up again.
Everywhere I look, there is only smoke, Kasim’s cold fire warring with Rakan’s hotter one.
But Rakan’s and Kasim’s straining forms are still visible, glowing like two beacons in the dark.
They aren’t even bothering to throw magic at each other anymore.
Without warning, Kasim punches Rakan in the face.
Rakan recoils, then tackles his brother to the ground and grabs one of his horns.
His hand steams on the obsidian. Kasim writhes under him. It looks painful for both of them. And at that moment, I make my decision.
“Kasim, I wished for him to get his brother back!” I shout. “He can’t fulfill that wish, not if you fight him. If I force you into the lamp, he can’t fulfill it either. He’ll be bound to the lamp forever.”
Back in the penthouse, when Rakan held me so close, I knew this wish was what Rakan wanted. I also knew what it would cost, that it could very easily trap Rakan’s soul in the lamp forever.
But Rakan trusted me to do the right thing, and I couldn’t fail him. Maybe this means I’m breaking my promise. But he’ll just have to forgive me for making this final attempt.
“You know what you are,” I tell Kasim. “You know that the creature you’ve become is not right. Is that what you want for Rakan?”
Kasim goes very still. It’s not the stillness from before, the one that signaled righteous anger. It’s something different, almost broken. “You’d go so far?” he whispers.
He isn’t talking to me. Why would he? To him, I’m likely less than a worm. But Rakan is right there, and still holding on to him. “As far as I need to, for her,” he answers.
For the longest time, Kasim doesn’t reply. He turns his head toward me, and his gaze burns into me, filled with hatred. And maybe… Something else? Understanding? Relief?
“You don’t need to make any wishes for what’s already real,” he says at last. “Rakan never lost his brother.”
It’s not true. He knows it. Rakan knows it, and so do I. But for a single, simple moment, it feels like it is.
Kasim’s figure flickers, the fire in his veins burning red again, no longer blue. The lamp in my arms heats up as the wish registers as fulfilled. And a brilliant blaze erupts around Rakan’s hands, so bright it’s almost blinding.
“Make a wish, Iris Beckett!” Kasim yells, and this time, I obey.
I grab his lamp and open my mouth. Nothing comes out. There’s nothing he can give me that I want—nothing except this, at least. A final kindness, for Rakan.
But I can’t make that wish again, so instead, I say, “I wish for a cup of black coffee. To share with Rakan.”
Kasim takes a deep breath, and a simple, perfect cup of coffee appears in front of me on the counter. And then, Rakan’s fire strikes.
I remember how the harpy screamed when Kasim’s fire consumed her flesh. But Kasim doesn’t make a noise. As Rakan’s powers devour him, he just closes his eyes, as if resigned to his fate.
He doesn’t burn away, not like she did. His horns snap in Rakan’s hold, and he starts to glow. The fire grows ever brighter, and suddenly, he simply… dissolves.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he ran or escaped. But Kasim doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to flee from battles. The smoke curls around Rakan, almost as if embracing him. Then, it rushes away from the street, back into the ruined cafe, back toward me.
The detritus of broken tables and displays screams in protest. The ground shakes. But I don’t move, looking at him—at what is left of my lover’s brother.
The smoke doesn’t touch me. It goes straight into the lamp I’m holding. Instantly, I feel the power invading the metal and already recoiling from my touch.
It takes everything in me to not drop the lamp to the floor. Kasim is a murderer, and his transformation into an ifrit completely shattered his sanity. Through the metal, I can feel his fraying mind, his lingering anger and grief. It burns me like a brand.
But this is still a soul and still deserves respect. I set the lamp on the counter with far more care than Kasim would have ever shown me.
And just like that, it’s over. After everything that’s happened, it feels strangely anticlimactic. But Rakan’s brother is gone, and I’m safe. The reality is almost too much to comprehend.
In the distance, sirens have already started to wail, alerted to the destruction. Rakan grimaces and brings a hand to his forehead. He flicks his fingers, and all the damage disappears.
It’s like a miracle, like watching time rewind before my very eyes. The tables re-form, identical to what they were before—down to every stain and chipped edge. The glass comes back together in a dazzling display that’s almost like art. The Daily Grind has never been more beautiful, more alive.
But I only have eyes for the man standing outside the cafe.
When it’s all over, the fire and smoke disappear, and the wards around me finally fall. I rush away from the counter, through the still-open door and toward Rakan. I throw myself at him and wrap my arms around his chest. “Rakan… Is Kasim…?”
“Dead?” Rakan shakes his head against my temple. “No. It’s impossible to kill a djinn. But for now, he’s been reduced to a spirit. And I hope, maybe… He’s at peace.”
That’s probably a little too much to ask. Judging by his tone, Rakan is well aware of that. But it’s better than the alternative, better than my lover selling his soul. Or his brother potentially losing his.
“I’m sorry, Rakan. I know this isn’t what we spoke about, but—”
“This is exactly what we spoke about. You just understood it better than I did.”
I pull away from Rakan’s embrace. Together, we look back toward the cafe.
Kasim’s lamp is still on the counter, right where I left it. And next to it is the cup of coffee Kasim summoned.
Hand in hand, we walk into The Daily Grind, up to the counter. Rakan takes the coffee cup in his hand. He doesn’t drink. Instead, he stares at the dark liquid, as if it holds the answers to the universe.
“I miss him. I think I probably always will. But for a few moments… It really did feel like he was back.”
He presses a kiss to my temple, and I lean in closer to him. “Will you be all right?” I ask.
Rakan only smiles, and it’s such a gentle expression. “Better than all right. After all, I got my wish too.”
He flicks his wrist, and the cup disappears from his hand. He pulls me even closer, and smoke starts to pool around us. “Come on, Iris. We’re done here. How about we have that coffee at my place?”
This time, it’s an invitation. A proper one, born out of desire, not necessity. The smoke doesn’t scare me, and there’s only one way I can answer.
“It’d be my absolute pleasure, Mr. al-Rashid.”