Page 24 of A Fate in Flames

“No—” I swallowed the bitter taste of hopelessness.“Please, don’t hurt her.She’s all I have.”

“Then you know what you must do.”

“I’ll do it,” I whispered, defeated.

“Good girl.”Her words felt more like a chain locking around my throat than praise.Satisfied, she released me and took a step back.

“Why?”I asked.“Why would you do this?Don’t you gain more if the Veil falls?”

Zaheera’s expression darkened with something deep.Something grieving.

“The Jinn are relentless.The do not forget and they do not forgive.If the Veil crumbles, their wrath will show no mercy.Men, women, and children.None will be spared.These lands will drown in fire and blood.”

Her gaze softened, something akin to longing in her eyes.

“I have lived among the mortals for centuries.Watched them love, build, and thrive.I have seen their children take their first breaths, then watched them grow and begin the cycle anew.”

A shadow of sadness lingered in her tone.“The Jinn cannot create life in our own image.We are as we were forged in the beginning, and as we shall remain until the end.But mortals… you are different.What you possess is a gift.Fragile, fleeting, and yet profoundlybeautiful.I do not wish to see it come to ruin.”

Her words were unsettling.

“How can you cross the Veil?”I asked.“No Jinn should be able to.”

“When the war began, I projected myself into a mortal, possessing her soul.When the Veil sealed, I became bound to both realms.I can enter and leave as I please.”

A terrible thought gripped me.“Then why not kill the Jinn king yourself?Why me?”

“Because I do not know where the stone is.The Veilbinders cast an enchantment upon it, concealing it from all beings.No Jinn, no creature, no mortal can sense it.”She paused, her eyes gleaming.“Except for one.”

My pulse pounded in my ears.

“You.”

“I found the perfect opportunity when your mother came to me all those years ago,” Zaheera said.“Before the Veil was woven, I had listened in the shadows as the Veilbinders spoke of an enchantment placed upon a stone.A stone forged to steal the immortality of a Jinn.They had believed themselves alone, unaware that I lurked just beyond their sight, memorising their words.Branding them into my very essence.I knew then that the knowledge must never be forgotten.”

She paused, lost in centuries past.“After the Veil was sealed, I thought a stone that holds that kind of power would never be needed.But then the vision came to me.The vision of war.”

A shudder crept down my spine.The image she had shown me felt as real as the ground beneath my feet.

“I tried to cast the words onto myself,” she said, her features darkening in frustration.“But the magic rejected me.I forced the enchantment upon another Jinn, then watched it dissolve into nothing.

Even when I found a mortal who had begged for power, offering their very soul, the magic withered before it could take root.”

She traced a finger through the air, leaving a trail of golden sparks that quickly faded.“It was then I understood the truth.The enchantment would only accept a vessel of pure essence.”

Zaheera reached for my hand, her touch burning, like hot iron pressing into my skin.

“When your mother came to me, I granted what she most desired,” she murmured.“But in doing so, I whispered the sacred words into her womb, binding them to you before your first breath.For there is nothing purer than a life not yet lived.”

I stepped back.“So, you’re saying… I—” I gestured wildly at myself, “am the only one who can find thismythicalstone?”The revelation made my stomach twist.

She nodded.

“And then what?”I demanded, my voice rising with panic.“Won’t they just kill me the moment I step foot into their realm?You said it yourself, the Jinnhatemortals.How am I supposed to survive long enough to do…whateverit is you expect me to do?”

“I will guide you,” she said.The words seemed to come from everywhere at once.“Unseen but heard.But understand this: what lies ahead cannot be rushed.”

She began to circle me.