Epilogue
Iris & Sigurd
The sand is everywhere. It’s in my shoes and in the seams of my jeans. I suspect it’s found a permanent home in my hair. A year ago, if someone had told me I’d ever sit in the middle of the Rub’ al Khali desert at sunset, I probably would have asked them what they were smoking.
But here I am, with the billionaire djinn who changed my life.
The dunes stretch out in every direction like giant waves of gold and copper. Under the last light of the sun, the sky bleeds a fiery crimson. It’s beautiful, in a way that makes you feel very small.
A part of me misses the cramped streets of the city and the smell of exhaust and burnt milk. Another part could live here forever.
Rakan is sitting across from me, his long legs folded easily. He’s traded his thousand-dollar suits for a simple, loose black tunic and trousers that billow in the wind. Sirwal, like the ones Kasim wore to The Daily Grind. Except, when Rakan wears them, they fit just right.
The veins of fire in his arms are a soft amber, almost the exact color of the desert. He looks like he belongs here, like he grew out of the sand.
Between us, a small brass pot sits on a bed of glowing coals. The smell of Turkish coffee is thick in the air, bitter and sharp.
It’s not like all the coffees we’ve had since the fight at the shop. It’s not even like the one Kasim summoned. This one feels… ceremonial. It has weight.
“It’s almost sunset,” Rakan says. “Are you ready?”
I nod, pulling my knees up to my chest. I’m wearing one of his hoodies, which is big enough to be a tent. “That’s my line, Rakan. You’re the one who has to make this choice.”
Rakan falls silent. He reaches for the coffee pot, his hand steady as he pours the dark liquid into two small porcelain cups, and hands one to me.
His fingers brush against mine, and for a second, the internal hum of the desert seems to sync up with my own heartbeat.
I take a sip. It’s strong enough to strip paint, but it’s delicious.
“I already made my choice. And I think that here… he’ll find a home.”
“There you have it, then,” I say, my gaze drifting to the velvet bag sitting on the sand beside Rakan.
The atmosphere shifts instantly. The light, easy moment between us hardens into something more somber. Inside that bag is a lamp. And inside the lamp is Kasim.
Rakan’s brother has given no sign that he can still hear us. He hasn’t spoken. He hasn’t moved. He’s just… there. And, according to Rakan, he’s waiting.
Rakan sets his cup down. He picks up the bag and pulls out the lamp. In his hands, it’s completely inert, but the sight still sends a shiver down my spine. “Come on,” Rakan says, standing up. “We can find a good spot together.”
I follow him, and together, we make our way through the dunes. Rakan doesn’t seem to be heading in any particular direction. He’s just walking, and so am I. The wind picks up, whistling through the sand, kicking up tiny dust devils that dance around our ankles. It’s more peaceful than it should be.
Finally, Rakan finds a spot he’s happy with. He drops to his knees and begins to move the sand with his hands.
He doesn’t use magic for this. He digs like a man, sinking his fingers into the cooling earth and throwing handfuls of grit over his shoulder.
I join him, kneeling in the sand. It’s soft and surprisingly fine, like silk slipping through my fingers.
We work in silence, carving out a space in the side of the dune.
The physical act of it feels right. Like we’re earning this peace. My nails get dirty, and my palms get raw, but I don’t stop.
At last, the hole is deep enough. Rakan stops and looks at the lamp. He holds it in both hands, his thumbs tracing the script etched into the metal. Grief flickers in his gold eyes, a flash of the pain from three thousand years he spent loving a brother who eventually turned into a monster.
“Are you sure about this, Rakan?” I ask again. My voice feels thin against the vastness of the desert.
He doesn’t look up. “He cannot stay in the city, Iris. The city is full of noise and greed. It feeds the worst parts of him. It reminds him of why he hated humans in the first place. He needs the silence.”
“But out here…” I hesitate, looking at the endless waves of sand. “He’ll be alone. What if he’s trapped forever?”
Rakan finally glances at me. His lips twist into a tiny smile.
“He is a creature of the High Sand. This isn’t a prison for the lamp, not really.
It’s a return. The desert doesn’t judge.
It doesn’t ask for wishes. It just exists.
Here, his fire can find an anchor. The bitterness can settle into the earth.
It is the only place where he might actually find the sleep he’s been looking for.
“I wanted to bring him here originally, when I found the lamp. But back then, he was free. It was better to hide the lamp in the ocean. This time… This time the sands will keep it safe.”
I look at the lamp, thinking about the man, the creature, who tried to kill me.
I remember the blue ice in his eyes and the way he screamed about the greed of humans.
I should hate him. I should be glad he’s being buried in the middle of nowhere.
But all I feel is a strange, heavy pity.
He’s just a person who stayed in the dark for too long.
And in the end, he chose Rakan over everything else. Over his own freedom.
“It feels like we’re giving up on him,” I whisper.
“No,” Rakan says, his voice firm but gentle. “We’re giving him to the only thing big enough to hold his pain.”
He leans forward and places the lamp into the hole.
It looks so small against the earth. Rakan lingers for a moment, his hand resting on the gold.
He closes his eyes, and for a second, the air around us shimmers with a soft light.
He’s saying goodbye. Not to the murderer in the shop, but to the brother he used to hunt with across these very dunes when the world was young.
Then, he begins to push the sand back over it.
I help him. We cover the gold, inch by inch, until the glint of metal is gone.
We smooth the sand over the top until the surface is indistinguishable from the rest of the dune.
Within an hour, the wind will change, and the tracks we made will vanish.
The spot will be lost to the shifting landscape, a secret buried under a billion tons of heat.
Rakan stands up, brushing the sand from his knees. He looks out over the horizon. The sun is gone now, leaving only a thin line of red at the edge of the world. The stars are starting to come out, bright and sharp, close enough to touch.
“He will rest now,” Rakan says. It sounds like a prayer.
Golden dust motes dance around us, blending almost perfectly with the sand. They settle on the ground, glowing and beautiful. A ward, one meant to guarantee no one ever disturbs Kasim, or uses him again.
Turning toward me, Rakan reaches out, his large hand cupping my face.
His thumb brushes over my cheekbone, wiping away a smudge of dirt.
“I’m not going to make a wish now, Iris.
Djinn wishes are dangerous. But if I wanted to…
I’d wish someone would find my brother. And I’d wish for the person who finds him to be someone like you. ”
I lean into his touch, almost hypnotized by his golden eyes. “What, someone unimpressed by him?”
“Someone who’d see the person behind the power,” Rakan corrects me. “Someone who wouldn’t want to use him, but to know him. Someone who’d understand that even a monster needs a cup of coffee and a moment of peace.”
He leans down, his forehead resting against mine. “You changed me, Iris. You broke a cycle that had been spinning for three millennia. If you could do that for me, then there’s hope for anything.”
The sands buzz under our feet. Underneath the wards, Kasim is resting. It almost feels like he agrees with Rakan.
I close my eyes and lean forward. When my mouth meets Rakan’s, there are no doubts or fears left in my heart.
“I still believe this is outrageous. I know they’re in love and all, but really, Sigurd… they could have gone on their honeymoon after they actually got married.”
Camille takes a sip of expensive wine, pursing her lips in displeasure. “Now here we are, left to organize their wedding for them. This is ridiculous.”
She’s whispering, but something about Camille Thorn is so impossibly loud that the whole restaurant is staring at us anyway.
Oh, they do it discreetly. The people at The Labyrinth are used to loud people, I suppose.
After all, the whole franchise is owned by the Stavros minotaurs.
But still, a headache pulses at the back of my skull.
Is it too late to hide at the bottom of the ocean? The mer I recently spoke with said the Mariana Trench is nice this time of year.
“I can’t say I disagree,” I tell Camille, “but what else are we supposed to do?”
Camille shoots me a disapproving glance, making her skepticism obvious. “You know, when I told Iris a few months ago to get out more, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I’m really worried about her. Sigurd, I—”
“I know what you’re going to say, and you’re not wrong to be concerned.” I cut her off. “But Rakan worships the ground she walks on. Your friend is safe and happy. That I can assure you.”
Camille still doesn’t seem completely convinced.
No doubt, she’s guessed Iris has been keeping something from her.
But Iris has decided there’s no reason Camille should ever know about the situation with Kasim.
“Camille would feel horrible if she knew what happened and that she wasn’t there for me,” she said.
“Please, Sigurd. Just make sure she never finds out.”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult, what with the wedding and all,” Rakan pointed out, completely unhelpfully. My friend has become more irritating than ever, since he has a human lover to indulge. But I agreed to help them anyway.
I take a sip of my own drink, a particular blend made out of algae that only monster restaurants provide. “In any case, Rakan and Iris trust you to arrange everything according to their preferences. But this will probably be the wedding of the century, so the guest list will be…”
“Terrifying. Yes, I know. But I like challenges, and this is for Iris.”
I open my mouth to answer, but my phone rings. It’s a particular ringtone, the only one in the world that makes me flinch.
My tentacles twitch so hard the table rattles. Camille shoots me a concerned look. “Is anything wrong?”
The phone keeps ringing, and somehow it keeps getting louder. Camille’s gaze turns knowing. “I assume you’re going to answer that.”
I nod, resigned to the unavoidable. “Give me a moment. I need to step outside for this.”
Camille waits at our table as I make my way out of the restaurant. My phone has stopped ringing. It doesn’t mean I’m off the hook. On the contrary, it means the situation is even more dire than I thought.
I can already anticipate how this will go, and it won’t be pleasant. But I knew that this was coming when I agreed to fish Kasim’s lamp out of the water. I did it anyway, and I’ll just have to deal with the consequences.
I look at the missed call, brace myself, and call back. “Yes, Mother? What can I do for you?”
While Rakan and Iris get ready to tie the knot, Sigurd is in over his head. To fend off his mother and his ex at the upcoming wedding, the ruthless kraken CEO needs a shield.
He finds the perfect candidate in a fiery, unimpressed librarian who just wants to protect her small town. It's supposed to be a simple, fake-dating transaction... but there is nothing simple about falling for a monster of the deep.