“Don’t move,” the giant growled.
The crowd gasped, then went eerily silent.
Confused as to what was happening, Nasir looked down, and his eyes widened at the crimson blood spilling from his belly around the Infrit’s weapon sticking straight out of his gut.
How…? When…?
His gaze lifted. He didn’t feel as if he’d been skewered, but then maybe he was in shock. This was what was supposed to happen, but why all of a sudden didn’t it feel right?
“Don’t move, you asshole,” the Infrit growled again. “I’m trying to help you here.”
Help him? Did he know about the deal? Had Malik told him? Nasir’s head grew light, and he tilted his chin up so he could look into the crowd. Kavin was somewhere behind him. He wanted to see her face. Needed to look upon her one last time…
“Stay down,” the Infrit said in a low voice, his hand pressing harder into Nasir’s shoulders. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t move until we tell you to.”
We
?
Nasir stopped searching for Kavin and instead looked at the Infrit, pushing off him, dust and sand kicking up around his feet. The giant turned toward the crowd, held his arms out wide, and roared through his victory.
The crowd remained eerily silent.
The Infrit dropped his arms, turned and picked up Nasir’s sword, which was lying on the ground a foot from his hand. And as Nasir watched the giant lift it over his head, readying the killing blow, his instincts screamed
Get up
!
Defend yourself
! But then he thought of Kavin. Of everything she’d done for him. Of the fact that without her, he’d still be only a shell of the djinni he used to be.
He drew a deep breath. Readied himself.
The Infrit grinned. The fucker actually grinned. “Watch this.”
Then he turned toward the crowd, zeroed in on something above Nasir and hurled the sword as hard as he could.
Right toward the area where Kavin was standing.
Chapter Fifteen
“No!”
A red haze descended over Nasir’s vision. He lurched to his feet and threw his weight into the Infrit. The giant went down with a grunt, sand flying out all around his sweaty body. Nasir nailed him hard in the jaw with his fist, then scrambled to his feet, searching, looking…
Spectators screamed. A mass exodus was taking place in the stands. He couldn’t find Kavin. If the Infrit had hit her…
And then he saw her, being dragged by the hair up the steps toward the upper concourse, fighting against the hold her master had on her while frightened spectators rushed around in a frenzy.
She was alive. She hadn’t been hit. She…
The highborn paused at the top step and shot Nasir a brutal glare. Kavin screamed, but it was the blood welling from the highborn’s shoulder that stopped Nasir’s breath. Blood from the wound the Infrit had inflicted when he’d hit the piece of shit with Nasir’s sword.
Holy fuck
…
His muscles bunched. He looked down at his own body, and his eyes widened when he realized there was no gaping hole. No injury from the Infrit’s weapon other than a few scratches.
Shouts and the sounds of heavy footfalls drew his attention toward the main gate before he could figure out what was happening. At least twenty guards were spilling into the arena with weapons drawn.
Shit.
Shit
!
He searched the ground for his other sword. What the hell had the moron done? He’d tried to kill his own master in front of the entire city. They were both going to burn for this. It didn’t matter what had happened during their match or who’d thrown the blade into the crowd. If the guards didn’t kill them first, the highborns would execute them both simply for the fun of it. And Kavin…
He caught sight of his sword halfway across the arena just as the giant was pushing himself to his feet.
“Some gratitude you’ve got,” the Infrit growled.
“Gratitude? Fuck that.” He had to get to Kavin. He had to find her before…
His feet skidded to a stop near his weapon. He picked it up, then froze when the gates on the other side of the arena opened and at least thirty
sahad
s—djinn of all races—each armed, their eyes glowing hot with the promise of retribution, filled the space.
Sahads
led by Malik.
Nasir stared, unable to believe what he was seeing. Before he could ask what the hell was going on, the Infrit picked up his weapon, lifted it over his head, and yelled, “For freedom!”
The pack charged right by Nasir, weapons and fists and bodies clashing with the guards in an echo that filled the arena and drowned out the screams of spectators still rushing out of the stands.
Malik met him in the center of the arena, lifted his sword, and took down a guard just before he reached Nasir.
“What the hell is happening?” Nasir yelled over the roar.
Malik kicked the guard to the ground and pulled his bloody sword from the guard’s belly. “Something that should have happened long ago. Find her. Get her the hell out of here before they send reinforcements.”
Nasir’s chest grew tight as things suddenly made sense. They’d done all this for him. Malik had cast an illusion spell to distract the crowd. Then he’d rallied the
sahad
s—djinn who didn’t even know Nasir personally, who hated his race—and staged a revolt.
His head swam with the impact of what they were doing. Of what would happen to them all as a result.
Malik grasped his shoulder, dragging his attention back to his
mu’allim
’s face. “Find her and get the hell out of here. But when you’re free, make sure you tell the others…anyone who will listen, all the tribes…what’s happening here. I should have done that long ago, but I couldn’t. Be stronger than I was, Nasir.” His eyes hardened as the battle raged around them. “Then bring your army back and shut this fucking hellhole down.”
Wide-eyed, Nasir nodded.
Malik took a step back. Lifted his sword. Screamed, “Go!”
Then he whipped around and swung out at a guard only feet behind him.
Nasir’s adrenaline surged. And as the sounds of war erupted around him, he thought of Kavin. The need to find her squeezed his chest like a vise, pushing out all other needs. Grasping his weapon, he raced toward the stands and easily scaled the ten-foot wall. His thighs burned as he ran up the steps and out the archway he’d seen Kavin and her master disappear through, but he ignored the pain and focused only on her.
The hallway was filled with terror-filled highborns, both male and female, rushing every direction, trying to get out of the arena. Only slaves had their powers bound, which meant these djinn could teleport if they wanted. But not through solid stone walls. They had to be outside first.
Nasir searched the frightened faces, then zeroed in on a dark-haired male he’d seen sitting near Kavin and her master. He pushed through the crowd and grasped the jacket of the male, jerking him around.
The male’s horror-filled eyes met Nasir’s. “Don’t…don’t…don’t hurt me.”
“Where did they go?”
“Wh-who?”
“The highborn who was struck and the
jarriah
he was with. Where the fuck did they go?”
The male’s eyes shifted, then he pointed to a corridor at his right. “Th-through there.”
Nasir shoved the male to the ground and sprinted for the archway. A stone stairwell disappeared into darkness. Nasir skipped steps, rounded the corner, then drew up short when he heard a scream.
“Let…
go
of me!”
Kavin
…
His heart pounded against his ribs. He tightened his grip on the sword, clenched his jaw, and silently moved toward the sounds.
* * *
Pain rippled through Kavin’s scalp and raced down her spine. Zayd jerked her around by her hair and all but dragged her through the dark and empty tunnel that ran beneath the arena. The guards were all above them. There was no one to hear her call for help. No one to save her.
“You fucking bitch!” Zayd screamed. “Did you think you and your pathetic lover could win? That you could beat me? He’s dead now, no thanks to you and your asinine plan. And you…” He shoved his shoulder hard against the door that led to Nasir’s cell…the cell where they’d made love…then threw her into the room by her hair. “You’re about to get exactly what you deserve.”
Kavin yelped. Her shoulder and hip slammed into the stone floor. Pain ricocheted through her body, sent stars firing off behind her eyes. She grunted, tried to get up, but Zayd was right there, lifting her by the shoulders and slamming her back down against the floor. “Look at me, you bitch!”
Hair fell into her face. Kavin tried to look up at him, but her vision swam, the pain in her skull and back so strong, it was all she could feel. And Nasir…
Her breath caught on a sob. She hadn’t intended for any of that to happen. She’d only wanted Malik to stop the fight. To keep Nasir from doing something stupid in his attempt to save her. And now he was…
Her chest squeezed so tight she could barely breathe. The memory of all that blood spilling from the wound in his belly overwhelmed her.
Oh, Allah.
Oh, Allah
…
Zayd’s open palm connected with her cheek. Her head spun around, hit the stone floor. But she only minutely registered the blow. All she felt was the wretched, blinding pain near her heart at what had happened to Nasir. Of the thought of him bleeding to death up there on the sands of the arena right this minute.
“Look at me!” Zayd roared again. “I want you to see my eyes when I show you just what you really are.”
“Take your hands off her.”
Zayd stilled. Kavin’s eyes popped open at the sound of the voice. Nasir’s voice.
Slowly, Zayd shifted to look back to the door, and Kavin lifted her head, then peered through watery vision toward the archway. Toward Nasir, standing in the opening, gripping his sword in two hands. His eyes blazed; his body was covered in dust and sweat and only the faint stains of blood. But there was no gaping wound. No blood spilling from his belly. No sign of death as she’d seen in the arena.
Relief and confusion swam inside Kavin’s heart and mind as Zayd spun in front of her. Muttering words in the Ghul language that Kavin had never heard, he gripped the sword that magically appeared in his hand. “You think you can take me, slave? I was a warrior before I came to Jahannam. And my magic isn’t bound like yours. You’re fucked. And so is this slut.”
“I think you’re a coward,” Nasir said, stepping fully into the room. Without taking his eyes off Zayd, he said, “Get up,
rouhi
.”
Kavin swallowed hard and scrambled back against the wall. And noticed, for the first time, the blood welling from the wound in Zayd’s shoulder. Things had happened so fast in the arena she hadn’t realized he’d been hit.
Zayd moved in front of her. “I’m going to enjoy gutting you. But I’m not going to kill you quickly. No, I think I’ll keep you alive long enough to watch what I do to this whore.”
Nasir’s jaw clenched. “Then get on with it, Ghul.”
The way he snarled the last word wasn’t lost on Kavin. And fear gripped her chest when she watched Zayd’s shoulders tighten, when she heard him mutter words in the old language again, when she saw the second sword appeared in his other hand.
Zayd swung the swords like a pro, took a step to his right. Kavin’s breath caught as she pulled her legs in close and watched. Waited. Prayed.
Zayd swung out with his right hand, then his left. Kavin gasped as Nasir barely missed being decapitated, then lifted his own sword, stopping the downward slice of Zayd’s.
Muscles in his arms and legs flexed as he pushed hard against Zayd. Zayd was as big as Nasir, and as muscular. And he had the power of magic on his side. Fear burned a hole straight to her stomach as the two struggled for control. Just when she was sure Zayd was going to win, Nasir lifted his foot and shoved his sandal into Zayd’s gut, knocking the highborn back two feet.
Zayd stumbled, tried to right himself, but his feet slipped on the edge of the bath and then his body fell into the water with a splash. A sword flew from one hand, clanked against the stone wall.
Nasir was right there, charging through the bath, water spraying up and around his legs as he grasped Zayd by the shirtfront and jammed the hilt of his sword in Zayd’s face.
Zayd’s head whipped around; blood spurted from his mouth. Nasir’s eyes were wide with retribution and rage as he slammed the end of the sword into Zayd’s face again and again.
Kavin pushed to her feet, her heart pounding hard as she watched. She’d never seen Nasir like this. Not just enraged, but the bringer of death, in all its gruesome forms.
No
. Her breath stuttered as she remembered back. She had seen him this way. Once. In the arena. That last fight. Just before Zayd had taken her to his cell and turned her over to him. She’d watched—in horror—as he’d decimated that Shaitan as if he were nothing.
“
You were right, I hate the fighting. More than anything about this place. But I’ll do it for you. I’d do anything for you
.”
“Stop!” Kavin took a step forward. “Nasir, stop!”
Nasir’s arm stilled on the upswing. He turned his head to face her. Zayd’s blood was splattered all over his face and bare chest, and there was such fury in his eyes. Fury she didn’t want to see there, not because of her.
“Please, stop,” she whispered, stepping toward him, wanting the Marid back she’d fallen in love with. Not this killer. Not this person he didn’t want to be. “Just…stop.”
Nasir’s eyes were as black as she’d ever seen them, and a shiver of fear ran through her as she reached out, as she touched his arm, because he looked like the monster she’d encountered in his cell that first day. But they’d come so far; she’d learned so much. And she believed deep in her heart he’d never hurt her.
“Please,” she whispered. “Please, just…let go. He can’t hurt us anymore. He’s nothing.”
Nasir glanced down at her hand on his arm, seemed to be in some sort of rage-induced haze as he slowly shifted his gaze to her eyes as if he didn’t recognize her, then looked to Zayd’s bloody and bruised face.