Page 23 of A Fate in Flames

The crowd began to part, a wave of bodies moving aside to create a clear path.

A figure walked through the sea of reverent followers, each step sending tremors through the ground.His presence was magnetic—both terrifying and enthralling.They all bowed their heads as he passed.

He towered over them, a mountain of a man.His broad shoulders shifted with effortless strength, his bronze skin glowing beneath the sun.Each step unveiled the powerful ridges of muscle rippling across his back.

The sunlight danced across him, casting highlights over his sculpted form.His hair, dark as night, was braided down his back, adorned with golden clasps that glinted in the light.His powerful legs were wrapped in leather, and heavy bracers encircled his forearms, marking him as both warrior and ruler.

With a single motion, he raised his hand and fire erupted from it, swirling in an untamed display of fury and power.A roar erupted from the gathered masses, their cries of triumph almost deafening as the drums intensified.

With deadly precision, he pressed his burning palm against the wall.

It shattered.

Once again, darkness engulfed me.

I gasped, finding myself back in the clearing.

My knees almost gave out from the sheer magnitude of what I’d just witnessed.

“Those weren’t mortals,” I whispered in horror.

“No.”Zaheera affirmed, expression carved from stone “They are Jinn.”

“That was a vision of the past… right?Something that has already happened?”I asked, desperately hoping for reassurance.

Zaheera cocked her head, her feline gaze locked onto mine.“What you saw—what I showed you… has not happened.Not yet.”

“You can see the future?”

“I see all.”

Sickening dread coiled in my stomach.“But why show me this?What doIhave to do with any of it?”

Zaheera stepped closer.

“Because you will journey beyond the Veil, into the realm of the Jinn,” she stated, each word a command sealed by fate.“To prevent this war, you must end his life.You must bind his immortal soul within the stone.”

“Wh—whose life?”

Zaheera’s lips curled into a knowing smile.“The king of the Jinn.”

“You wantmeto kill a Jinn?And not just anyregularJinn, but the king?!”I let out a humourless laugh.“That’s impossible!”

“The impossible has already begun,” she stated, watching with eerie patience.

I began to pace, grasping at rationality that no longer existed.“You can’t evenkilla Jinn!That’s not how it works!”

When I had imagined the endless possibilities of what this bargain might entail,thiswas not what I had in mind.

She reached out and clutched my shoulders, her nails biting into my flesh, forcing me to be still.

“You can.”Her voice was a lethal whisper.“And you will.”

Absolutely not.

“I can’t.And I won’t.”I objected.

Her smirk returned.“The bargain cannot be undone, girl.If you refuse—” her grip tightened.“Your mother will suffer consequences that will make death seem merciful.”