Harley Merlin 12 by Bella Forrest (story books to read TXT) 📗

If we do this, you get to keep your life, I get to keep mine, and she gets to keep hers. Everyone wins. Think of her. Erebus doesn’t care if she lives or dies, but we do. We love her. If we don’t do this, then we let her down in the worst possible way. Look at her and tell me you don’t see the hope in her eyes.

I peered through his vision at Santana. Sure enough, her eyes swam with bittersweet tears. The liquid result of human frailty. A physical cue of a mortal in distress. That should’ve been kicked out of human genes centuries ago, but they’d clung to it for some unknown reason. It did nothing to pique my sympathy… not much, anyway. Maybe a spasm of it, in a very distant corner of my mind. Djinn didn’t need that sort of thing. Perhaps I’d been in this body too long; perhaps I had allowed it to weaken me.

That doesn’t mean I agree to this insanity, I said at last, the silent words passing to Raffe. This conversation had taken place rapidly, over the span of no more than a moment or two. The other djinn hadn’t noticed. They were too busy wallowing in distress and lapping up every word the old crone had to say, while Safiya stared at Raffe with a dose of fake pity. Anything to win him over.

Abdhi settled down. Arrogant worm. I would’ve torn him to shreds, given half a second longer in my full form. I’d have ripped that meddlesome hag a new one, too, if I’d been ready for her attack. The taking-me-by-surprise trick would only work once. I wouldn’t be fooled again.

Safiya took a deep breath. “Separating ourselves from Erebus may be our only choice, going forward. We cannot afford to wait for his restoration, for we will surely fade away in the lengthy interim it will take him to reach Atlantis. This is the only way to ensure our survival.”

I thought about that for a moment. Fading away didn’t sound good, and it didn’t sound like the traitor was lying. Listening to her, a small spark of something like possibility ignited.

What if we really could pull this off? Erebus had created me, sure, but I wasn’t old enough to be connected to the djinn mainframe. I didn’t feel the full weight of his power. Not yet. Would it make much difference, when it boiled down to it? Plus, I loved Santana. I wasn’t ashamed to admit it. She’d lit a fire under this djinn. And Raffe was right: I didn’t want her light sputtering out because Raffe couldn’t keep his mitts to himself.

She could live, and never worry… I forgot to block my thoughts from Raffe.

That’s right, she could. Isn’t that worth trying? he replied.

I cursed and recoiled from our shared mental transmission. He made an annoyingly valid point. I was loyal to Erebus, but I didn’t love him the way I loved Santana. I wouldn’t have run the gauntlet of every hell for him. Santana had only to ask. Sure, I’d put up a token resistance, but I’d still do it. The nights we’d spent with her arms around me—actually me, not Raffe—talking me through my pain and holding me when the tremors came… she was worth the risk. She’d crept in and entrapped me. Losing her would be worse than losing Raffe.

When had I become such a sad sack? Likely, the moment she showed she cared for me and Raffe. The beast as well as the host. If Safiya could really rally the troops and do this, maybe a window of opportunity would open. One that hadn’t been there before. The chance to steal Santana away from Raffe. I could have her all to myself, at last, and have her arms around me every night.

Yes, I’d say that is worth risking everything for. This time, I wanted Raffe to hear.

Twenty-Three

Raffe

“We must discuss this amongst ourselves, Safiya,” a wizened djinn stated from her place at the helm of an equally shriveled group. They hadn’t aged nearly as well as the Storyteller, and I guessed them to be the elders.

“Of course, Mahmoud.” Safiya bowed her head as the elders left together. They walked past the glowing water into the darkness of the desert, where they stooped and muttered, their wildly gesticulating hands the telltale sign that they weren’t in total agreement.

The rest of the djinn dispersed to have conversations of their own, leaving Safiya by the fireside with only myself, Santana, and Abdhi for company. Safiya had resumed her position after sending Kadar away. Santana retreated into herself, wrapping the blanket tight around her body as she stared into the flickering flames. No doubt she feared Kadar might appear again. I thought about taking some Lullaby Weeds to ensure he couldn’t, but I didn’t want to be knocked out, too. Not just yet. This momentary peace presented the ideal opportunity to broach our third reason for being here—Finch’s request.

“Safiya?” I said.

She lifted her solemn gaze to me, white flames sparking. “Yes?”

“We’ve actually got another question for you.” I shuffled forward.

“Oh? What might that be?” She tilted her head, her features thoughtful.

“What do you know about the connection between servants of Erebus and the djinn?” I pulled the stolen book from my bag and pushed it toward her. “I’ve scanned the index of this thing, but there doesn’t seem to be a section about it. Maybe I’m reading the wrong part, I don’t know. But I figured you’d know more about that kind of thing than a book. Kadar said you might.”

Safiya narrowed her eyes. “He did, did he?”

“In one of his less aggressive moments,” I replied sheepishly.

“And what specifics are you most interested in? The lore of Erebus’s servants could take me hours to work through.” She waited patiently, her intense gaze never leaving my face.

Santana answered, a second before me. “Do any of the servants survive their service with Erebus? We’ve