you?”
He nodded.
“Which is why I have the power to manipulate fire?”
“Correct.”
One way or another, fire seems to run in my family…
“Please, continue,” I urged.
“My father ruled our fiery realm as emperor, but he wasn’t as qualified as my grandfather— although even in his time we’d never gotten on well with the water fae.” So Sherus is royalty. Interesting. My father, lacking tact and intelligence, ended up sparking a feud between our realm and theirs. It spiraled into an all-out war, and we desperately needed assistance in battle if we were to ever overcome them. But my father—as proud as he was foolish— refused to seek the help of others. So I did what any man of my lineage would do. For the sake of our people, I led a rebellion and overturned my father. Once he was beheaded, all eyes were on me—the late king’s only son—for a solution.” He crossed his arms over his chest, memories whirling in his eyes as he stared at his realm. “My sister and I searched far and wide for allies, but fae are not the most, shall we say, liked of creatures. Certainly none of our other elemental brothers would come to our aide. In the end, the only option we had was to accept the help of ghouls… and in the process we formed a pact with them.”
“What pact exactly?” It was Nuriya who posed this question, her voice still uneven from the trauma of last night.
“A pact that was overseen by the oracle twins. In exchange for their manpower in battle, we would agree to serve the ghouls by supplying them with ten thousand ghosts within the span of fifty Earth years.”
I grimaced. I didn’t have to wonder much why fae were so disliked.
“If we failed to meet the quota, we would become servants of the ghouls for a hundred years more. Still, our end of the deal seemed comparatively light, compared to the valuable service the ghouls were providing us,” Sherus continued. “But I should’ve given more thought to it. At the time, I was desperate. All along, the ghouls knew that they were tricking us. They knew such a number would be nigh impossible to achieve.” He glanced at me. “Procuring ghosts is harder than one would think.”
Oh, how sorry I feel for you.
“Most do pass to the other side, and those who remain behind are not so easy to catch. So we found ourselves, and still find ourselves, in a mess. I tried to keep the morale up among my council, but even I have accepted that no matter how hard we work, we will never meet the ghouls’ demands.” He ran a hand over his face. Then he set his eyes back on the jinn. “So this is where you come in… We need you to annul our pact.”
I wondered why a witch—or a group of witches—couldn’t have helped him with that. It would have saved me a hell of a lot of trouble… but then, I guessed, I ought to have saved the Nasiris from the Drizans regardless. “And you couldn’t use witches because…”
“No witch would be strong enough. The oracles, being freaks of nature, have their own brand of magic. One best suited to a jinni’s capabilities. Though even jinn can’t break the pact.”
I frowned. “What?”
“The oracles created the pact between us and the ghouls to be unbreakable… even by themselves. Otherwise what meaning would the pact have? It would be worthless, both to us and the ghouls, if it could be broken. However, since the oracles were overseers of the pact, there is another way the jinn could free us from it.”
“What?” I asked, weary of where he was going with all this.
“Kill the oracle sisters.”
The jinn surrounding me gasped. Then a deathly silence enshrouded us. It felt like Sherus had just walloped my skull with a brick.
Kill Pythia? Kill Hortencia?
I couldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t.
“They can see the future,” I said to Sherus, exasperated. “How could the jinn possibly murder them?” Assuming we were even willing to try. “They would have seen them coming already, God knows how many
He nodded.
“Which is why I have the power to manipulate fire?”
“Correct.”
One way or another, fire seems to run in my family…
“Please, continue,” I urged.
“My father ruled our fiery realm as emperor, but he wasn’t as qualified as my grandfather— although even in his time we’d never gotten on well with the water fae.” So Sherus is royalty. Interesting. My father, lacking tact and intelligence, ended up sparking a feud between our realm and theirs. It spiraled into an all-out war, and we desperately needed assistance in battle if we were to ever overcome them. But my father—as proud as he was foolish— refused to seek the help of others. So I did what any man of my lineage would do. For the sake of our people, I led a rebellion and overturned my father. Once he was beheaded, all eyes were on me—the late king’s only son—for a solution.” He crossed his arms over his chest, memories whirling in his eyes as he stared at his realm. “My sister and I searched far and wide for allies, but fae are not the most, shall we say, liked of creatures. Certainly none of our other elemental brothers would come to our aide. In the end, the only option we had was to accept the help of ghouls… and in the process we formed a pact with them.”
“What pact exactly?” It was Nuriya who posed this question, her voice still uneven from the trauma of last night.
“A pact that was overseen by the oracle twins. In exchange for their manpower in battle, we would agree to serve the ghouls by supplying them with ten thousand ghosts within the span of fifty Earth years.”
I grimaced. I didn’t have to wonder much why fae were so disliked.
“If we failed to meet the quota, we would become servants of the ghouls for a hundred years more. Still, our end of the deal seemed comparatively light, compared to the valuable service the ghouls were providing us,” Sherus continued. “But I should’ve given more thought to it. At the time, I was desperate. All along, the ghouls knew that they were tricking us. They knew such a number would be nigh impossible to achieve.” He glanced at me. “Procuring ghosts is harder than one would think.”
Oh, how sorry I feel for you.
“Most do pass to the other side, and those who remain behind are not so easy to catch. So we found ourselves, and still find ourselves, in a mess. I tried to keep the morale up among my council, but even I have accepted that no matter how hard we work, we will never meet the ghouls’ demands.” He ran a hand over his face. Then he set his eyes back on the jinn. “So this is where you come in… We need you to annul our pact.”
I wondered why a witch—or a group of witches—couldn’t have helped him with that. It would have saved me a hell of a lot of trouble… but then, I guessed, I ought to have saved the Nasiris from the Drizans regardless. “And you couldn’t use witches because…”
“No witch would be strong enough. The oracles, being freaks of nature, have their own brand of magic. One best suited to a jinni’s capabilities. Though even jinn can’t break the pact.”
I frowned. “What?”
“The oracles created the pact between us and the ghouls to be unbreakable… even by themselves. Otherwise what meaning would the pact have? It would be worthless, both to us and the ghouls, if it could be broken. However, since the oracles were overseers of the pact, there is another way the jinn could free us from it.”
“What?” I asked, weary of where he was going with all this.
“Kill the oracle sisters.”
The jinn surrounding me gasped. Then a deathly silence enshrouded us. It felt like Sherus had just walloped my skull with a brick.
Kill Pythia? Kill Hortencia?
I couldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t.
“They can see the future,” I said to Sherus, exasperated. “How could the jinn possibly murder them?” Assuming we were even willing to try. “They would have seen them coming already, God knows how many
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