19. James

19

JAMES

I didn't sleep a wink the rest of the night after parting from Adina. How could I possibly rest when the promise of freedom danced tantalizingly before me? For the first time in my life, I had something to look forward to beyond a future of suffocating duty.

I would have embraced it and even suffered being married to my deplorable fiancée if I could do any good for my people, but I would be just a figurehead like my father, while Jeffry was the one who was running things.

How had it come to this?

I didn't know.

I couldn't remember a time when my father was the real ruler of our people, before Jeffry had wrested control out of his hands. All the ministers answered to my father's conniving cousin, probably out of fear, or maybe greed, most likely both. They parroted every line Jeffry fed them and lied to my father.

To my great shame, I had been only dimly aware of it and lived under the illusion that everything was fine in Londabad and that my people lived in safety and prosperity behind its protective walls. But after my secret sojourns to the city and interacting with the people, I had realized that it wasn't true. People lived in fear, corruption was rampant, and the guardians were Jeffry's agents of control rather than keepers of the law.

Perhaps I could do more good on the outside than from the inside, where I would be under Jeffry and the other ministers' thumbs.

I'd gladly bid farewell to the luxury, the pristine ponds with their year-round blooming lotus flowers, the melodious birds in the greenhouse, the obsequious servants, and even my parents, to escape my manipulative second cousin and his equally unbearable daughter.

Our marriage would only cement Jeffry's control over the government of Londabad.

I would have to go into hiding. The guardians would scour the city for me, leaving no stone unturned.

With everyone wearing veils, hiding in plain sight was not difficult, but I would have to be meticulous about making sure that there was nothing on me that could identify me.

Even bringing more gold felt like a risk, but it couldn't be avoided. I needed means to support myself.

As afternoon descended upon the palace, I paced restlessly in the garden outside my suite. The lush greenery and meticulously manicured flowerbeds that had once been a source of solace now felt like the bars of a gilded cage.

"Your heart rate is elevated," Ravana's metallic voice cut through my brooding. "You are agitated."

I waved off his concern. "I'm fine."

"You are not." There was a hint of reproach in his tone, and I understood why. Ravana's sole purpose was to care for me, to shield me from harm and ensure I could protect myself when he couldn't.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I'm not sleeping well lately," I admitted.

It was the truth, just not the entire truth. Ravana would have detected an outright lie.

"You're drinking caf too late at night," he concluded.

A chuckle escaped my lips despite my inner turmoil. "No, that's not it. It's the dreams, Ravana. Too many dreams."

That was another half-truth. I dreamt, but not while sleeping. I dreamt while awake, imagining a different life for myself and my people.

The bot's tiger-like face remained impassive, but I sensed a shift in his demeanor. "Exertion will help," he declared, drawing his long, curving sword with a fluid motion. "Let us spar."

I smiled. It had been a while since I'd crossed blades with Ravana. "I'll go get my sword," I agreed, heading into my chambers.

As I approached the weapons rack by the door, my mind wandered to the impending escape and which weapons I could take with me. I couldn't take any of these exquisitely crafted blades, and I would miss them. The most I could get away with was one of the smaller knives.

"Prince James."

I whirled around, snatching up my sword and leveling it at the intruder. Jeffry emerged from the shadows by my bedroom door, his lips curled in a smirk that held all the warmth of a viper's smile.

"Just as vigilant as ever, I see," he drawled, his voice dripping with condescension.

My grip on the sword tightened. "While you're just as rude as ever," I shot back. "I didn't invite you into my personal suite. What are you doing, sneaking around in here?"

Jeffry's smirk widened. "Why, I'd think you'd be flattered that I'm using you for my training—working on my... sneaking, as you say."

A cold dread settled in the pit of my stomach. I struggled to maintain my composure, but something must have shown on my face because Jeffry's expression shifted, and the predatory gleam in his eyes told me that he was savoring whatever revelation he was about to unleash.

"How did you get past Ravana?" I demanded, knowing full well my bodyguard was too well-trained to allow such an intrusion.

Jeffry's gaze dropped to the ring adorning his finger, a large smoky crystal set in ornate gold. "It's amazing what you can do with the right technology," he mused, buffing the stone against his jacket.

My eyes widened in disbelief. "Is that..."

"A genie? Why, yes!" Jeffry's voice was thick with self-satisfaction.

A genie.

Supposedly, there were only five of them left, and they were locked away in the palace museum. They were priceless artifacts from long ago, and they belonged to the crown, but even my father refused to use them.

They had been outlawed many centuries ago by one of my predecessors.

These technological marvels could fulfill almost any request, altering appearances, calculating probabilities, even providing formulas for cutting-edge medicines. The larger the genie, the greater its capabilities. While not eternal, they held their charge for an impressively long time, even the smaller ones like Jeffry's, and they provided their wearer with unimaginable powers.

Now I understood how Jeffry had taken over the palace.

"Does my father know you have a charged genie?" I asked.

Jeffry's laughter was cold and mocking. "Know? Why, of course he knows, Prince James—he's the one who gave it to me to use years ago!"

The revelation hit me like a physical blow, and my sword hand trembled as the implications sank in.

"And he's glad he did," Jeffry continued, clearly relishing my discomfort. "He has been so worried about his soft-hearted son and his naive ideals that he charged me with monitoring you. It has been mostly a boring task because you were such an obedient and dutiful son, so I neglected that duty in favor of much more important ones until a recent event forced me to resume my surveillance."