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Chapter 9

Brothers IV

~ARRIK~

“God fucking damn it.” I release the longest breath I’ve ever held. Nothing like exiting your vessel to find your favorite master in your arms for all of two seconds before being ambushed by five gorgons in uniform.

Now we’re inconveniently locked inside a sphere-shaped senate holding cell—my brother and I surrounded by thick crystal bars.

I wipe the blood from my sliced lip onto my shoulder just as Velis snaps, “Argh! What did you do, Arrik?” with all the self-righteous conviction of someone who hasn’t spent the past week trapped in a bottle.

“Tch! What did I do? Which one of us has been stuck in his vessel all week, and which one’s been running around this realm, probably breaking laws? Better yet, this is a senate holding cell. Which one of us is in the senate ?”

Velis flicks his mother’s eyes around the shimmering cage. “How do you know?”

“Because I’ve been in two others. They all look the same—giant ornaments on velvet pedestals, full of magic wards. Now, light this for me.”

Velis eyes the cigarette between my extended fingers, keeping his magic hoarded to himself. “Did you come here voluntarily, Arrik?”

“Would I have stayed inside my bottle bobbing around in the goddamned ocean for a week if I had? That thing reeks like seasnake. You can have it back. And do you want to know my theory? I don’t think this has anything to do with us. I think this is between her and that vessel. Have we considered that witch doctor wasn’t kidding when he said she’s a magnesium or whatever the hell?”

“Do you mean Ardy, the hematologist we’ve had since we were children , you sociopath?” Velis has the nerve to scoff. “And what—that thing to lure djinn? She’s human. Evaris also confirmed it. And Mayree and Evaris confirmed I’m her soulmate.”

I truly don’t know how Master ever has an intellectual conversation with him.

“You really need to hone your critical thinking skills, Velis. Stop thinking in blacks and whites and start thinking in grays, and you won’t keep ending up in situations like this.”

“There’s at least a fifty-percent chance this is your situation you’ve pulled us into,” Velis says with the same amount of snot he’s had since ‘we were children.’

“And what exactly is your point?”

“My point is that maybe there are things that can mask themselves as humans. Maybe Father paid Mayree off. Think outside the motherfucking box .”

Velis isn’t smiling. “Did you really not choose to come here, Arrik?”

I lean my head against the bars of a jail cell shared with my idiot brother, who keeps roping me back into their drama and who I’m now dependent on for magic, because I can’t even spare this much after the wish I gave Master that night on the balcony.

I know when I’m in the danger zone. The amount of power I have should be reserved for teleportation and defenses. I need to find a new master, and soon, preferably one that isn’t tethered or married to any of my brothers.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Fuck.

I flick my unlit cigarette through the bars. “Do you think I wanted to come back into this mess? The answer is no. No , I did not voluntarily pursue you here. Whatever this is, it’s between you and her. Or her and that bottle. I have no idea what the hell is going on, and at this point, I’m really considering whether it might be worth it just to kill you, steal her, and jet off into the night.” I poke at my Ray to see if I can get in touch with Jeb, but service is spotty in this realm.

“I’m not stupid, Arrik. I realize there are alternate possibilities. But I don’t know everything you’ve stolen out of Dolly’s head. I’m just restating the facts. Obviously , something is going on. Life hasn’t been normal since the day we met her. Beckham has gone completely psycho. And is Jeb secretly courting a human? He brought his master to my coronation invisible, and then they stayed in his chambers together. Bellamy saw them. What in Makaya is going on?”

Well, that’s genuinely the first time I’ve ever considered Jeb might be courting his human. Because he isn’t. That’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard.

Arghhhh. I need to get out of here.

I’m surprised Velis hasn’t asked yet if she and I are bonded.

“Are you?” says the little shithead mind reader. “Bonded?”

“Are you ?” I counter, then lift an eyebrow. “Anymore?”

Velis folds his arms. “I assume if you were bonded to her, you would have summoned yourself to her side by now.”

“By that logic, the same could be said of you,” I counter.

Which really does beg the question: If they’re still tethered, why hasn’t Velis used their special bond to pull himself to her side?

Velis seems to realize the same thing I do. Dolly’s positioning hasn’t moved from their jungle dwelling. They’ve got us separated from her here for some reason—and that reason could very well be closing in on her as we waste time measuring appendages.

“I’m still tethered to her,” he says quickly. “But I can’t summon myself to her. I’ve already tried. And this is the second time tonight. The bars have been enchanted to be indestructible, but why can’t we teleport through them?” He’s been throwing various nymph and djinn spells at them with embarrassingly little success.

“It isn’t the bars,” I correct. “Teleportation is turned off in this room. But anyone in a wish-granting bond with Master should still be able to pull himself to her side.” I glance around the prison, a cage fit for royalty, and realize we’ve been left here without a guard. This isn’t an official arrest—just a small group abusing its power. “What did you do today?” I ask Velis. “Did you make an impression on anyone?”

“Well, I don’t know, Arrik,” he sasses back, with a frown. “She was the only human at the court gala we attended. So I’m sure she made an impression on multiple people.”

See? Now this I have a problem with. He shouldn’t be taking her to court galas alone. He, a half-blood laird who is the face of a political movement he doesn’t even fully understand.

I straighten from the bars. “You took her to a court gala? In another realm ? By yourselves?”

He takes a step backward. “Arrik, I’m a laird now. You realize I can’t just turn shit like that down. I masked her scent.”

“And?”

“We stayed undetected for most of the night. At first, we thought Amoira or Beckham was messing with us, but it turned out to be you making Dolly hallucinate and your bottle showing up in random places. And then there was another presence—something I only picked up on through her—that seems interested in you or that bottle. I don’t think she realizes it’s in her head... I didn’t want to freak her out.”

I fold my arms. “ And ?”

“Listen until I finish. The prince was in attendance. One of his cousins caught wind that a human would be there, so they introduced themselves. The prince wanted Dolly to help him make a travel plan for his Earthen pilgrimage.” Velis stalls, his jaw steeling. “They offered to buy her.”

“Those are the exact details I meant when I asked if you’d made an impression on anyone!” I grab a fistful of his shirt. “And you thought any of this was a good idea why? How long did I leave you two alone for?”

He shoves me off with a burst of magical nymph wind. “Fuck off, Arrik! What do you want me to say? You want me to leave her behind on this one chance to attend a gala at the Palace of the Central Isles? I was anxious about bringing her, especially in light of recent events, but I couldn’t let her miss this. I’m not going to keep her locked away. She should get to experience shit.”

Yes, she should get to experience shit. He was right when he chose her the first time before Father fucked it up by offering him the lairdship. If he’d have just given it to Beckham as everyone planned, none of this would have happened.

“I don’t think you fully grasp the situation you’re in here, Velis. You don’t get to have it all. You don’t get to be laird and attend royal parties AND publicly wave your delicious-smelling human around spoiled socialites who have never been told NO before. This is the path you’ve chosen. Be smarter about it.”

“So we’re just going to ignore the fact that the second YOU appeared is the same one we were ambushed?!” He stalks toward me with djinn-blue flames rising behind him. “This could still be your fuckup, Arrik!”

“Of course it is, Velis. Of course it’s my fuckup because I’m the one who’s been STUCK INSIDE MY VESSEL THE WHOLE TIME. Take some responsibility for once in your life.”

I expect my youngest brother to escalate.

But instead, he pulls a Velis—Adelle Evangeline’s determination radiating through him—as he steps up to me and shoves a hand into my chest.

The shove is harder than necessary, but I take the lighter he drops into my palm as he says, “You’re right. I have no real reason to suspect you caused this, and if you did, it doesn’t seem like it was intentional. It’s possible I caused it.”

His eyes turn distant in a way that makes me uncomfortable. Vulnerability isn’t an emotion I’ve experienced often—especially not through him.

“I’ve always wondered if this had something to do with me being part nymph. Like, I fucking broke that vessel, and it snapped the moment it hooked Dolly. Earlier tonight, when she was about to seal your bond, I couldn’t get to her either. The voice said it was fate. How do you fight fate?”

Fate seems to have particularly rigid parameters for those in Dolly Jones’s circle.

“I’d argue the answer is chaos—a force that can’t be controlled. If you’re still tethered to her, you should be able to summon yourself, regardless of material, realm, or time constraints,” I point out. “Fate might be the only thing that could interfere with your rights as her djinn. But I can’t see why destiny would want Dolly stolen by a foreign prince, so let’s assume that’s not it.”

“Are you suggesting someone could be using fate as a tool?”

“It’s possible. Seems like a lot of coincidences otherwise. Celestials know a good deal about djinn. We’re the predators occupying their land. I assume high-born Celestials would know how to trap a djinn—even a bonded one. Did it feel like he wanted her?”

“The last human he met was in his youth. He’s planning his first trip to Earth. We exchanged information. I homed in on him and felt his desire follow her afterward. Not enough to cause alarm.” Velis shrugs. “He was drunk. I didn’t want to start shit. And Dolly was having a good time.”

“How did you even get her in? You aren’t documented mates. Her title isn’t official. I thought only foreigners who were titled were allowed in senate spaces.”

“Dolly’s is a temporary permit we were granted. ”

Fuck.

A temporary permit isn’t a title. Unaccompanied by Velis, Dolly is as good as a stray human in this realm. I don’t know what the Celestials could want with her, but I can guess they’re detaining us in here while trying to register ownership.

“I highly suggest investing in a collar, Velis.”

“What?”

“Shut up and listen.” I loop an arm around his neck. “You’ve helped me form a theory. If any of this is connected, and they’re using fate as a weapon, it’s possible they’ve set it up so that the instant you summon yourself to her side, she’ll be killed. Summoning may be your magical right, but fate wouldn’t let her die as a direct result because it goes against your master’s interests. They’ve created a paradox.”

“So how do we get around that?” he asks, relieved and looking to me for guidance. “I could try summoning myself to her in the past? A few minutes before they attacked?”

Except, summoning your present self to a past version of your master, where a past version of you also exists, sounds like all kinds of broken time rules. Plus, he’s not connected to the special vessel right now, which is what’s allowed us to interact with her in the past. And unauthorized time travel on foreign soil? For a half-blooded laird already under scrutiny, it wouldn’t exactly help his political image.

“Anything less risky?” I press. With a flick of my fingers, I call the discarded cigarette back through the bars. “And preferably something I can afford.”

“Why are you asking me? Doesn’t it all depend on what you’re capable of right now? So—” Velis’s stare holds me like ice. “Tell me, Arrik. If you didn’t come here voluntarily, and you didn’t manipulate the vessel... did anything happen when she kissed it? Are you bonded to her too?”