Throne of the Phoenix Read online

  A blank look came over his eyes. One I knew only too well. How long would it be before I lost him completely too?

  I looked down at his wrists. The cuffs were still there. Not only was he losing his memory, I’d soon lose him to the lamp. The lamp that had been hidden for eighteen years since my father threw it out into the desert.

  “May I interrupt?”

  I turned to find Jamal behind me. His face was set in stone.

  “I thought you were with my mother?”

  He raised his eyebrows and pointed to the other side of the room. My mother was helping serve the food to the long line of people. She looked so normal, so happy in her role. I missed her so much that seeing her in these lucid moments made it all the worse.

  “When I explained the situation, she demanded that she be down here to help. I couldn’t stop her without using force.”

  “You did a good job. Thank you, Jamal.”

  I ran to her, pulling her into a hug.

  “Gaia! Where have you been, my darling?”

  Tears streamed down my face. Jamal was wrong. She wasn’t completely lost. There was a part of her in there somewhere still. She stroked my hair as I silently sobbed into her shoulder. I could have stayed by her side all day, but a thought popped into my head. If she remembered me, surely she’d remember my father. I left her side and ran past the line of people snaking through, past Jamal, who was now helping along with Freya, and past Genie, who had stayed at his position near the door where people were leaving. I ran down the corridor, running past people with food in their mouths, in their hands, in their pockets, and goodness only knew where else they had stuffed it. Out through the staff entrance and through the grounds to the street. The person I was looking for was gone, having taken his fill. If I’d have known my mother was going to come to help, I’d have kept my father in the palace. I barely got to speak to him, and now he was gone.

  I walked back slowly into the palace. The hall was filling up quickly as more people were coming in than going out.

  The staff was valiantly trying to keep up with the demands of the people, bringing up platter after platter of food. My mother took platters from the staff, finding space on the long tables. Freya and Jamal did the same. Guards stood at the main doors to the palace, the doors to the hall, and at the gates to the palace grounds, ensuring order was kept.

  A surge of hope flooded me. We were coping. People were doing exactly what they were supposed to. Sure, some were taking more than their share, but it was going much better than I expected it to.

  My eyes sought out Genie. He stood in his position at the door, smiling at all the people leaving. To an outsider, they would see him as a guard, but he didn’t care if people were taking too much food. He knew as well as I did that people had families to feed as well as themselves. He didn’t stop a single person leaving, no matter how full their pockets. When he finally did look my way, I offered him a smile. He returned it, making my heart jump. It was bittersweet. Yeah, he remembered me now, but for how long? The only people I could count on remembering me in all this were Jamal and Freya, and currently, Jamal was mad with me. At least, he was doing a good impression of it, purposely keeping out of my way and casting his eyes in the opposite direction when I did glance his way.

  Three hours later, and my feet were almost ready to drop off. I’d run up and down from the kitchen so many times; it felt like I’d climbed a mountain. Dropping of the dirty silver platters in the washing up area, I turned to grab some more full ones, only to find the giant kitchen table empty.

  “Where’s the food?” I asked one of the nearby kitchen staff, a young girl with pink cheeks and a messy bun with strands of hair falling out.

  “It’s gone.”

  “All of it?” I asked, running to the cold room. I flung open the door to find all the shelves emptied. There was nothing left at all.

  Back upstairs, I ran to the front doors of the palace. The line of people stretched down Kisbu’s mains street as far as the eye could see. So many of them. We’d fed a fraction of them. Dashing back inside, I saw the insanity of my decision. I’d not rationed the food. We’d always had enough when we’d put on our parties before. I’d naively thought we’d be fine, that the kitchen’s capacity for making food would be enough, if only for this one day. I was wrong. By a long shot.

  “Stop!” I shouted, bustling into the main hall. “Just take enough food for you. Don’t put food in your pockets.”

  Jamal strode over to me. “What’s going on?”

  “The kitchen is out of food.”

  He sucked in a breath as he took in the scene before him. So far, everyone had shown decorum, but it would only last as long as the food did, and judging by the platters that were emptying fast, it wouldn’t be long.

  “We need to close the front gates,” Jamal asserted.

  “There’ll be a revolt!”

  “So what do you suggest we do, Gaia? Bring them in and serve them air? What do you think will happen then?”

  “I just wish we had more food. Enough to feed everyone.”

  Suddenly the room began to rumble. I held onto Jamal for fear of falling. My first thought was an earthquake, but when the tables began to fill with food piled high, I realized it was much worse than any earthquake.

  Jamal turned toward the mountains of food. “What the...?”

  My heart almost stopped when I realized what had happened. “I just did something stupid!” Pulling away from Jamal I ran past the people grabbing for the food and over to Genie. He was slumped on the floor, his face ashen.

  “Did you do this?” I asked him.

  With a shaky voice, he answered. “Did you wish it?”

  “I said I wish, but it was a figure of speech. I didn’t mean it.”

  “But you said the words. You said I wish?”

  I nodded. “But I said it to you before, and you asked me if I was sure. I told you it was a figure of speech. Why didn’t you ask me this time?”

  He shook his head sadly. “I don’t have control anymore. I did then.”

  He held his hands up. The cuffs on his wrists were chained together. He was becoming the slave to magic he once was...And I only had one wish left.

  2nd July

  The first night back in my own bed was fraught with nightmares. The kingdom was now fed, and, for the moment, the people seemed to be happy. But at what cost?

  The day, as lovely as it had turned out to be, meant that Genie was down to one wish, and we were once again without food. Not even Genie knew if my wish of food for everyone would cover just the palace and just for that day, or whether the extent of the magic would travel outside of the kingdom, to the people of Kisbu and maybe beyond. We’d postponed the problem, not gotten rid of it. At least, we still had plenty of food left at the palace after yesterday, so none of us would starve, but what would happen when that ran out?

  I didn’t know. No one did. My mother had had big ideas about speaking to the farmers once again and opening the gates to the city. There’d been so much talk of sustaining and building and doing the right thing by the citizens of Badalah while we were clearing up the platters, but I knew that it wouldn’t last. I didn’t dare go and visit her this morning. I wanted to keep hold of the wonderful memories we’d made the night before when I could almost believe that things had gone back to normal.

  I rolled over in the bed and saw the outline of Asher in the early morning sun. My nighttime rambles had become a thing of the past, but my affinity for my phoenix was unwavering. I walked over to him and gazed out over my terrace as I gave him a quick stroke of his feathers. Looking out over Kisbu, I saw the streets were calm, everything as it should be.

  A knock on my door took my attention away.

  “Gaia, it’s Freya.”

  She opened the door and stepped in like she had so many times. Helping me get dressed was not her job anymore. She’d been asked by my mother to find her replacement, but what with everything that had happened since then, it
had not happened. Not that I cared. I didn’t need help to dress anymore.

  “Is everything alright?”

  She nodded but didn’t speak. There was something wrong. “What is it, Freya?”

  “My mother came to the palace yesterday.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t see her. Is she okay?”

  Freya brought her hand up to her face and scratched her temple. “She’s fine, but she says the magic is strengthening.”

  I’d felt it myself; I just hadn’t wanted to admit it. I’d had to produce flames on my fingers more regularly just to stop from completely going up in an inferno. I’d hoped it was just me, but if Freya’s mother was feeling it, it meant others did too.

  “The Vizier is back,” I said, flopping down on the unmade bed. In all the chaos yesterday, I’d forgotten to tell Freya.

  Her hand moved from her temple to cover her mouth.

  “He can’t be back. He’s dead. I know you said that you thought he was back before. Are you sure?”

  “I saw him in Urbis. He told me that I defeated him all those years ago.”

  Freya furrowed her brows and cocked her head to the side. “He died when you were tiny...before you were born even.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and stood back up. “He disappeared around the time I was born. My birth had something to do with it, and it has something to do with all this magic that’s circling now. I just don’t know what.”

  “Didn’t you find anything out in Urbis? Did you find your brother?”

  “I didn’t. There was no birth certificate, no adoption certificate, nothing. It’s like we don’t exist. I’m not sure I only have a brother, either.”

  Freya’s eyes widened again. “What do you mean?”

  It was something The Vizier said to me. I didn’t really pick up on it at the time, but when he was telling me that I defeated him, he said it was me and my siblings, plural.

  “Huh. You have a huge family then?”

  I gave a wry smile. “I’m not sure of that, but there may be more like me. More people of magic with golden rings around their eyes. I just wish I knew where they were. I wish I’d have found my birth mother too. I have no idea who or where she is. I ran out of clues, and I ran out of time.”

  “What about the old lady you saw at your birth? Did you find out about her?”

  I nodded sadly. “I did. She was a midwife. She isn’t really part of my story apart from the very beginning of it. I found the house where I was born. It was nothing special at all. It was in the poorest area of Urbis, and it belonged to the midwife, not my mother. The next-door neighbor told me he thought she was murdered earlier this year.”

  Freya’s eyes widened. “Maybe The Vizier did it! If he was looking for you, it would make sense.”

  I shook my head. “He said it was a woman. He said she looked like a witch, but what does a witch really look like?”

  “Er, dark hair, long black robes, green skin, pointy hat.” She held her hands up to her head to mime the hat.

  I laughed. “I think you’ve been reading too many fairy tales.”

  I walked past her to the door. “I have to go, sorry. Can you check in on my mother this morning? Make sure she is alright?”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need to speak to Genie. I accidentally wished last night. That’s why we had so much food. The magic nearly killed him. Just don’t let my mother make any big decisions about Kisbu or Badalah. I know we need to open the city gates, but it needs to be done strategically. I don’t think my mother is in a fit state to make any decisions right now.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask Jamal to help me. He’s been spending time with her.”

  I walked through the palace in my pajamas and robe, not caring what the guards thought. This wasn’t normal times.

  I knocked on Genie’s suite door and opened it without waiting for him to answer.

  His office was the same as always, impeccably neat with the exception of a couple of books left out on his desk.

  A noise came from his private quarters. This time, I knocked and waited. It was one thing to walk into his office, quite another to invade his private space.

  “Genie, it’s me.”

  The door opened. He stood there, looking wretched. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was pale. The chains clanked around his wrists.

  “Can I come in?” I whispered.

  He opened the door wider so I could slip past him.

  “I’m sorry I made that wish yesterday. I didn’t mean it. I did it without thinking.”

  Genie walked across the room and sat on one of the couches.

  “Don’t apologize for what you did, Gaia. Don’t ever apologize. You used your wish to help others. I’ve only ever seen one other person do that before you. Your father.”

  “You remember him?” I asked, surprised.

  He nodded. “There are moments I remember who I am. When I remember who you are. I cling to them, but it’s like holding on to sand slipping through my fingers. I can only cherish the moments I do have before they are gone forever.”

  I sat next to him on the sofa.

  “I’ll always be here,” I whispered.

  He held his hand up to my cheek, and I felt the cool metal of the chains upon my chin.

  “Sorry,” he said, pulling away as I flinched against the cold.

  “The chains made me jump,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “I can’t live with you like this. I won’t.”

  Genie smiled sadly, almost breaking my heart in the process. “What choice do we have?”

  “Genie,” I said with a firm voice. “I wish for you to be fr...”

  I couldn’t get the last word out. He’d clamped his hand down on my mouth. I looked into his eyes that were filling with tears.

  “Don’t do it, Gaia. Don’t give up your final wish for me. I’m not worth it.”

  He slowly lifted his hand away from my mouth.

  “If I don’t do it, you’ll end up becoming enslaved to someone else. Either I never wish for anything again, or I wish for your freedom. There is no alternative.”

  “I’ve been a genie for a long time. So long that I don’t even remember my real name. I have come to accept my status in life.”

  “No! I don’t accept it. You let my father free you. Why won’t you let me?”

  “His circumstances were different then. He’d already got what he wanted. He’d won the heart of your mother and we’d defeated The Vizier... You could use your last wish to defeat The Vizier now.”

  I shook my head. The Vizier had told me himself that Genie hadn’t been powerful enough to stop him. It had been my magic or my birth that had done it. I didn’t know why and perhaps I never would.

  I looked into Genie’s eyes. He was so heartbreakingly beautiful, even as haunted as he was with his past.

  I took a deep breath and spoke slowly. “I wish for you to...”

  This time it wasn’t his hand on my mouth. He pushed his lips against mine, crushing them, taking away thoughts of wishes and Viziers. I leaned into him, kissing him back. I parted my lips, tasting him, and like an addict, I couldn’t stop, not that I wanted to. I wrapped my arms around him, bringing him closer still until I felt his body against mine through my silk pajama top. The chains jangled between us until I was so close the sound stopped. His lips were demanding, setting my soul on fire, but the heat I was feeling had nothing to do with the magic inside me. It was all from the burning need for this to continue. I kept expecting him to pull away, to tell me he was too old or that it was wrong, but he didn’t. I had to pull back to breathe, to make my heart pump again, to see if this was real or if I’d accidentally wished for it, and it was only magic taking over the pair of us. But Genie couldn’t make people fall in love. He’d told me once. The hungry look in his eyes was real, not a figment of my imagination or a wish. His eyes were almost imploring as I sucked in air, just inches from his face, one of my hands in his flowing hair, the other between his manac
led wrists. It was the mark of a slave, but now, the only slave was me. I was a slave to him, and I knew I’d do anything he wanted because I wanted it too.

  He gave me a small smile, barely a curling up of his lips at the edges, but I caught it. We’d done the unthinkable, crossed the line. He’d kissed me, and I’d kissed back.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but this time, it was I that stopped him.

  “Don’t say it,” I whispered.

  “Don’t say what?”

  “Don’t tell me that this is a mistake.” I couldn’t bear it.

  “If it’s a mistake, it’s the most beautiful mistake I’ve ever made.” He leaned in again, and this time, I closed my eyes to receive his lips upon mine, but they never came. Instead, his hands rounded my body and tipped it before he pulled me upwards. I opened my eyes to the sounds of the chains clanging beneath me and found that I was in his arms, being carried from the sofa of his living room to the bedroom.

  Laying me on the bed was easy, extricating his hands from beneath me less so. The cuffs and the chain tying them together pulled on my pajamas and dug into my skin, so I had to arch my back to let him pull them out. I lay down, staring up at him expectantly, waiting while my burning magic swirled within me, fueled by desire.

  He made no move, leaving me confused, unable to interpret what was going on. Then I realized what it was. Any move toward me would have his chains resting on me. I sat up, put my hand on his chest, and pushed slowly until he was lying on his back. He pulled his hands above his head, with the chains going with them. I leaned over and kissed him again, and this time, I let myself fall into what I’d been waiting so long for.

  I woke later, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to my naked skin and the warmth of Genie’s body against mine. Hours had passed since I’d first come to his room, and the first flush of desire had long since been sated. The only light to touch us was the burning of a torch outside of the room on Genie’s terrace, haloing his head, making his hair appear as if it were on fire.

  I looked up to find Genie staring down at me. His eyes were warm, alive. I saw something in them I’d not seen for weeks. I saw hope.