Chapter 28

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

Ezra’s hands were shaking as she pulled out a fresh piece of paper. She tried not to look at Zahir because she would get scared and panicked again. She couldn’t believe he had gotten himself caught in the wards. Where was Stella? She was meant to stop him from doing anything stupid.

"How has your day been, sparrow?" Zahir asked. He was sitting cross-legged in the center of the wards and was looking bored.

"Really? You want to chat?" she said irritably.

"There is nothing else to do. You aren’t really going to give this clown the power to animate these golems, are you?" he replied. He kept his tone light, but his dark eyes were intense.

"I don’t really have a choice now, do I?" Ezra looked over the workshop to where Vladek was sitting in a battered armchair.

Vladek had a blank smile on his face. "No, you don’t. Not unless you want to end up like him." He had left the heron shifter on the floor in his own blood. Vladek didn’t seem to be worried about the warning Zahir had tried to give to him. Ezra wondered what made him so confident in his abilities to get away from the Republic unscathed.

Zahir’s expression was merciless. "You know there is no way you’re going to walk away from here alive. It would be better if you let me and Ezra go. It might make me feel less inclined to tear your skin off, piece by piece."

"You are in no position to be making threats, djinn. You will be my slave before the night is out. If Ezra doesn’t hurry up, I will make you do horrible things to her once you are under my control," Vladek replied with a soft chuckle.

He can’t have Judah’s sigil, can he? Ezra fought to keep the panic off her face. She thought she felt a slight tingle of Zahir’s magic reaching for her. Maybe if she tried to hold out…

Zahir writhed as the surrounding wards triggered. Vladek smiled as he watched him fight to stop from screaming.

"Please, stop. I’m working on them as fast as I can!" Ezra shouted.

"You are fucking about, trying to waste my time, and I can’t have it. Make this golem work, or I’ll fucking kill your lover," Vladek snarled back. The wards went silent, and Zahir told him to go fuck a pig in Italian.

Ezra shut them out and started to sketch the first shem. She didn’t have time to create another fake, so she modified the one that she had first given to Zachariah. She drew another and another until she had one for each of the clay figures. They just had to move long enough for Stella to arrive.

Ezra rolled up the tiny scroll and approached the first golem. She touched her fingers to its cold clay lips and sent a spark of her magic through it. The golem opened its mouth, and Ezra placed the scroll inside of it. Magic danced over its clay body, and it shuddered to life, its eyes glowing bright as they became alert.

Vladek came to inspect the creature. He asked, "How does it know to obey me?"

"Place your fingers on his lips and send the essence of your magic through it," Ezra replied.

Vladek did as she instructed, and the golem rumbled, "Master."

"Stand on one leg," the mage demanded, and the golem did so. He laughed and pointed. "Now, do the others, girl."

"Ezra, please stop this," Zahir begged.

"I can’t. I won’t be responsible for your death. I can’t lose anyone else I care about," she said, blinking back her tears. She sent up another prayer to any god that would listen that Stella would hurry the hell up. She moved through each golem until they were all alive and staring patiently at Vladek.

"It’s done. Please, I did what you asked," Ezra said to Vladek.

"Hold her," he commanded. Ezra tried to run, but the golem grabbed her by the back of her shirt and lifted her off her feet. Zahir went crazy, bashing against the warding and shouting for her.

"You didn’t really think I would honor the Cabal’s promise to you? I serve my master, just like you will. A mage that creates wonders can’t be used to make such things for the Republic," Vladek said.

"You fucking bastard," Ezra snarled and kicked. Her hand started to sketch an attack sigil in the air.

"Oh, no, none of that," Vladek said, grabbing her hands. Cold power froze her, and Ezra screamed as her fingers broke. Blackness and shock dragged her under, and the last thing she heard was Zahir screaming for her.

* * *

Ezra didn’t knowhow long she was out, but when she came back around, it was to the realization that she was hanging from something. She opened her eyes and tried to stand. Her feet were just touching the dirty floor. She was hanging from the roof, her hands broken and numb.

No, no, no. Her vision had come true when she had done everything she could to prevent it.

Vladek’s pale face appeared in front of her. "Ezra? You will want to be awake for this," he said and tapped her face. Ezra kicked out at him, narrowly missing and making the horrible mage laugh. He held up a golden ring with an oval face. Carved in dark lines on the face was Judah’s sigil.

"Does this look familiar? Your papa made it. He said that it would be powerful enough to trap a djinn. What do you think?" he asked her.

Ezra shook her head, trying to think straight through the pain. "Don’t count on it. He gave the Cabal fake shem designs after all."

"Let’s try it out. I have time to kill while I wait for my ride, and I would love an enslaved djinn to take home to Kyiv," Vladek replied.

"No, leave him alone. Please, I’ll willingly go with you, but leave him be," Ezra begged. She pulled at the chains holding her upright. She couldn’t handle the thought of her djinn being enslaved again, trapped and bound to some psychopath.

Zahir didn’t look afraid. He looked tired, like he had seen a hundred overambitious, power-hungry bastards like the one in front of him. "Believe me, boy, you don’t want to go down this road. It won’t end well for you. It never does."

"Be quiet, slave. I’m not interested in your warnings," Vladek snapped. He had drawn complex runes around Zahir in a circle, joined to a smaller circle in a twisting line. He placed the ring in it and stepped back. He started to chant, and the runes lit up one at a time. Zahir’s calm demeanor shifted, and he went wild, shifting out of his human form to flame and shadow as he fought against the magic tying him down.

Ezra sobbed and tried to move her fingers to create some spark of magic to disrupt Vladek’s spell, but they refused to work.

When you can do nothing else, you dance, her father’s voice whispered to her. Dance.

Ezra took a centering breath and summoned her magic. Instead of directing it to her hands, she forced it to her feet. She knew from her studies that in some cultures, magic spells were channeled through the sacred steps of a dance. She had to try something. She couldn’t let Zahir be a slave again.

Ezra shut her eyes and focused on the wild violin music Judah had loved. She let the memory overtake her, and her feet began to move of their own accord. Tears tracked down her cheeks as she danced her sigil, pouring all of her magic and feelings for her impossible Djinn King into it. She danced the day they first met on the boat, the way he’d kissed her on the dance floor and made her laugh in the rooftop garden. She danced their laughter in the darkness and the feel of his magic against hers, the way he made her feel safe enough to fall asleep in his arms.

Ezra gasped as hot sizzling power scorched her veins, and her entire body blazed with magic. It filled her up, building and building, until she could barely contain it. She fixed her eyes on the golem closest to her, and the magic shot out of her with a thought. It struck the golem in its chest before the power jumped, pouring into the other creatures, igniting them one at a time and burning away the traces of Vladek’s cold magic in them.

Vladek had his back to her and was lost in his own magic, drawn deep in the binding spell. Zahir was staring at her, his shadow and flame body doing nothing to hide his awe. He was elemental and beautiful. She could feel his magic trying to reach out for her. It was a power she knew that was written on her bones and made just for her.

"Mine," she said, her voice deep and distant.

Zahir placed his hands on the wards and mouthed. "Yes."

Ezra swung to face the golem closest to her. "Stop the mage, but don’t kill him," she commanded.

The golem swung out at an unsuspecting Vladek, its clay palm coming down hard on his outstretched forearm. He screeched as it broke, his cold magic dispersing in a cloud. The golem kicked, breaking Vladek’s leg and sending him toppling to the ground.

"Hold him," Ezra said, and the golem pinned the sobbing, swearing mage to the floor, his clay hand holding him by the back of his neck.

The door to the workshop blew open and a furious Arkon charged in, magic crackling and ready to unleash. He looked at Zahir, a still glowing Ezra, and the crying Varangian mage.

"Too late again, asshole," Zahir said.

"Caught by a mage’s web. You’re a fool of a djinn," the sorcerer replied and tore the wards to shreds. Zahir stumbled back into his human form before hurrying to Ezra.

"I have you, sparrow," he said, his magic dissolving the chains that held her up. He caught her as she fell forward.

"You have to get the ring," she whispered, her hands throbbing. Arkon was already poking around the mage on the floor like he was an interesting bug the sorcerer was contemplating pinning to a board.

"You have to be healed first," Zahir replied softly. He sent his power through her, mending the bones of her fingers. Ezra smothered her cries into his shoulder until the pain vanished.

"Y-You have to get the ring," she repeated.

Zahir set her down. "I can’t touch it. You can though."

Ezra stumbled over to the smaller circle, disabled the surrounding runes, and picked up the heavy golden ring. It thrummed with power. Magic flared, and she felt the spell tethered to Zahir. The ring burned before sliding itself onto her index finger and sticking there like glue.

"What the fuck?" She whirled around to ask Zahir what had just happened, but the words died in her throat. The Djinn King smiled mysteriously and slowly lifted a finger to his lips.

The spell had worked, and he was now bound…to her.