Page 21 of Bound by Wishes (Enchanted Deceptions #1)

R azoul emerged from the shadows, his face twisted into a wicked grin. My head spun with confusion. What were they talking about? Were they implying that I was a direct descendant of King Thalorian? That was absurd. To my knowledge, my father had never been to Jalam or any of the surrounding regions. Dread crept through me, turning my blood to ice water. But I never knew my mother. Ranen’s arm snaked protectively around my waist, drawing me behind him.

Razoul prowled closer until he was just on the other side of the tomb. “I must say, brother, I am disappointed to see that you escaped your lamp.”

“I bet you are,” Ranen growled, and I felt his anger seep into the room. Dark tendrils of smoke began to pour in, twisting and writhing through the air as if alive, curling around the edges of the room.

Razoul’s grin widened. “You know your pathetic genie powers have no effect on me,” he taunted, his voice dripping with disdain. “So you might as well recall your magic before you embarrass yourself in front of the pretty little princess.” His gaze shifted to me, a predatory glint in his eyes. “You are full of surprises, my little bride. Who would’ve thought I’d find not only the key to opening this tomb but also a wife all in one person?”

Razoul reached for me, but Ranen intervened. He grabbed Razoul’s arm and shoved him back with such force that it left both me and Razoul stunned. The shock on Razoul's face mirrored my own.

“If you touch her”—Ranen warned in a voice that sent shivers all the way down to my toes—“I will kill you.”

Razoul straightened up, quickly masking his surprise. “So my big, scary brother finally reveals a weakness,” he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “How intriguing.” His eyes narrowed on me, clearly savoring the shift in power. “I’ll make you a little deal, brother.” He laughed. Tendrils of dark mist began to coil around his hands, and flashes of light danced through the air in shades of deep crimson. “I’m going to kill you either way, but I’ll take it easy on the princess if you convince her to open the tomb.”

I gripped Ranen’s arm, his muscles coiled tight with tension. My gaze rose to meet Razoul’s. “I don’t know how to open the tomb, and even if I did, I wouldn’t,” I spat.

“Oh, I think you will.” Razoul smiled wickedly and unleashed his powers.

Ranen moved with his genie speed, but he wasn’t fast enough to counter the evil wafting off of Razoul. The dark mist coiled around Ranen’s throat, lifting him off the ground. He fought and kicked, his voice strangled as it squeezed without mercy, the magic tightening its grip with each passing second.

“Stop it!” I cried out, flinging myself toward Razoul.

His dark power wrapped around my body and hurled me into the wall. Air whooshed from my lungs as my head collided with the stone. An explosion of pain radiated through my skull. The room spun as I struggled to pick myself up off the cold ground. I heard Ranen’s raspy voice threatening Razoul, but the words were lost in the dizzying blur of my senses.

Razoul stepped toward me, his voice low and menacing. “I’ll put him out of his misery quickly, princess. If…you open up the tomb,” he added, a dark smile tugging at his lips as he loomed over me.

I stood on wobbly legs, my vision swimming as I focused on Ranen, who clawed desperately at his throat, struggling for air. My heart pounded in my chest, but I forced myself to turn toward the sarcophagus. I walked over, scanning its surface for any clues, any hidden mechanism that might open it. No matter the cost or the horrors within this tomb, I would unlock it if it meant saving him.

“Don’t,” Ranen growled, his face twisting in pain and anger.

I swallowed the emotion that swelled in my throat. “I don’t have a choice,” I whispered.

Razoul’s body language screamed of impatience. “Open it now,” he demanded.

“I don’t know how,” I hissed through clenched teeth, frustration lacing my words. “There’s nothing written in the stone except the warning not to open it.” My gaze shifted to his. “And I don’t care what you say, I’m not a direct descendant of King Thalorian.”

Razoul stepped around the coffin, stopping a few inches in front of me, but I refused to back down. “No one can read the language carved in this tomb except a direct descendant,” he said, his gaze locking onto mine.

“I hate to break it to you, but I am not a princess,” I snapped. “I’m an archaeologist. Of course I can read it.”

Razoul ran his hand almost lovingly across the stone. “These symbols cannot be taught or learned,” he murmured with dark admiration. “They are laced with an ancient curse, bound only to his bloodline.”

I glanced at the symbols again, and uncertainty began to creep in. I searched my memory, trying to recall anything about these strange markings, but nothing came to mind. I couldn’t name them, nor did I remember ever learning about them in school or from my father. They were entirely foreign, yet something about them felt eerily familiar, like a forgotten dream hovering just out of reach.

“I tire of this,” Razoul seethed. He grabbed my wrist and yanked me toward the tomb. “The blood of King Thalorian sealed this tomb, so I will use the blood of his descendant to open it.” His gaze darkened as he leaned in closer, a twisted smile playing on his lips. “The only question is, how much will be needed?”

I watched in growing horror as Razoul drew a dagger from beneath his tunic, its steely blade catching the light with a menacing wink. Panic seized me, cold and unrelenting, and I struggled desperately against his iron grip.

Ranen roared with anger, sounding more like a beast than a man. “If you so much as scratch her,” Ranen growled, his voice a low, dangerous rumble, “death will be a mercy compared to what I will do to you. It may take me an eternity, but I will end you, brother or not.”

Razoul ignored Ranen’s threat, leaning in closer to me. “Go ahead and struggle,” Razoul whispered in my ear, the dagger hovering just above my skin. “But make no mistake—I only need your blood, not your life. Try me, and I might just decide to take both.”

I froze, my body going rigid as survival mode kicked in. Panic clawed at the edges of my mind, but I forced it down, knowing I couldn’t help Ranen if I was dead. Razoul's knife hovered at my throat, the sharp edge grazing my skin with a featherlight touch. I held my breath, every muscle locked in place, afraid that even the slightest movement might provoke him. His cold eyes flicked toward Ranen, who was still fighting against Razoul’s magic.

With agonizing slowness, Razoul withdrew the blade from my throat, allowing me a shaky breath. But before I could fully exhale, he seized my wrist, twisting it painfully until my palm was forced upward. The cold steel kissed my skin as the sharp sting of the knife bit into my flesh. He slowly dragged the blade across my palm. The searing pain intensified with each agonizing second. Blood welled up in my hand, pooling in the shallow wound. Ranen’s furious roar echoed in the room, a sound full of helpless rage.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Razoul taunted me with a cruel sneer, his words like venom in my ears, before yanking me toward the coffin. He slammed my hand onto the stone, the rough surface biting into the wound and amplifying the searing pain.

Blood oozed from beneath my palm, and I watched in horror as the porous stone greedily drank it in, the crimson streaks disappearing into the ancient rock. A menacing hiss escaped from the seam of the tomb, as if the coffin itself was awakening from a long, cursed slumber. Razoul finally released me, and I yanked my hand back with such force that I lost my balance, tumbling backward onto the cold stone ground.

I stared in disbelief as my blood opened the tomb, just as Razoul said it would. There was no other explanation. I was a part of this cursed bloodline and a direct descendant of King Thalorian.

Razoul cackled wickedly as he pried open the sarcophagus, the sound echoing off the stone walls. I scrambled to my feet, heart pounding, as I edged closer to Ranen, who had gone deathly still. His dark gaze was locked on the tomb, filled with an intensity that sent a shiver down my spine. With one final shove, Razoul sent the stone lid of the tomb crashing to the ground. It split in two with a loud crack as it struck the floor.

My heart fluttered in my chest as a skeletal hand shot out of the tomb, its bony fingers curling around the edge. It was covered in sickly pale-gray skin. Razoul stepped back, allowing the creature room to emerge. The unnerving sound of bones creaking and grinding against each other filled the room as the thing in the coffin began to rise.

“Ranen,” I gasped, staring in disbelief at the creature who was crawling out of the sarcophagus. “Please tell me this is another one of my nightmares.” I tugged on his pants legs. “You can wake me up now.”

“This nightmare is real,” he rasped.

Razoul extended a hand, helping the Nightshade creature out of the tomb. His familiarity with the thing made my skin crawl, almost as if he adored it. The creature emerged fully into the dim light. The height and the delicate shape of its pelvic bone unmistakably revealed it as a female. The purple gown she wore was tattered and frayed with age, clinging to her skeletal frame like a haunting echo of her former glory.

Her face resembled a mask of death, her hollow eye sockets surrounded by shadows and set with unnaturally glowing eyes that pierced through the darkness. Her nose had almost completely decayed, leaving only a deep depression, while her mouth hung open slightly, exposing cracked and crumbling teeth. Strands of black hair, streaked with silver, framed her withered face.

The Nightshade turned toward Razoul. She reached up, running her bony fingers gently across his face in a gesture that seemed intimate. The way they interacted made me wonder if he had just resurrected his long-lost lover. I stepped back, the movement drawing her attention away from Razoul and to me. She let out a screech so piercing it felt like it might shatter my eardrums. But as soon as her gaze fell upon Ranen, she froze. Time seemed to warp into slow-motion as an unsettling stillness overtook her.

With sluggish movements that betrayed how long she had been trapped within the coffin, she made her way toward us. Each step was labored, her body creaking and groaning as if protesting any movement. She stopped in front of Ranen, her hallowed stare running up and down the length of his body. Something within me wanted to shove her aside and step protectively in front of him, but what chance would I have against the Nightshade ?

Razoul eased forward, stopping beside the creature. “I wanted to let you see him one last time before I killed him,” he spoke softly to the Nightshade.

Panic swelled in my chest. Ranen’s desperate, haunting eyes turned to me, drawing the creature’s attention. I braced myself as the Nightshade raised her skeletal hand to strike me.

Razoul intervened, stepping in front of her. “We will need her again,” he reasoned. “Her blood will open King Thalorian’s mines.”

My head swam with confusion. Why would they want me to open his mines?

She paused and reluctantly lowered her bony arm back to her side. “Get on with it,” she rasped, her voice harsh and ragged, as though her throat were lined with shards of glass.

The sick pleasure on Razoul’s face twisted my stomach as his magic coiled around his own brother. Ranen writhed in agony as his body began to disintegrate, his flesh crumbling into ash before falling to the ground in piles of black sand.

I reached for him, desperate to save him, but the magic surged between us, creating a barrier that was too strong for me to break through. My fingers hovered just inches away. Helpless tears streamed down my face as I watched the light in his eyes dim. I couldn’t lose him—not like this, not when I was starting to care for him more than I’d ever dared admit. But all I could do was watch as he was torn away from me.

I scanned the room in for anything that I could use to stop Razoul. My frantic gaze snared on the cuffs around Ranen’s wrists. A small glimmer of hope rose within me. Ranen was still my genie, and I had two wishes left. Could that magic override Razoul’s? I had to try.

“Ranen,” I said, my voice trembling as I glanced up at him. His dark, pain-filled eyes met mine. “I wish you safely back into the lamp in the cave where I found you.”

Everything in the room seemed to freeze as Ranen’s dark, smoky magic began to seep into the room, swirling around us. Razoul's frustrated roar pierced the silence, but it was useless against my wish. A wave of relief washed over me as I watched Ranen’s magic weave his body back together, mending him back to his former masculine glory.

“As you wish, sayyida.” Ranen’s deep voice, the one that made my toes curl within my slippers, returned with a commanding presence. In a puff of smoke, he vanished before my eyes, hopefully returning to the safety of the cave where I had found him.

Putting him back in his lamp may not have been the smartest move, but it was all I could think of to save him. Razoul stalked toward me with a murderous expression etched across his face. I immediately regretted not wishing us both into the lamp. But someone had to be able to release him, and I prayed that someone would be me, assuming I survived this.

“Well done.” Razoul snarled, his breath hot against my face as he yanked me forward. I planted my hands against his chest, stopping myself from crashing into him. “You may have temporarily delayed my plans for Ranen, but make no mistake, he will die. All you’ve done is delay the inevitable.”

He roughly tossed me aside, and I stumbled, barely managing to stay upright. Razoul waved his hand, signaling for the Nightshade to precede him out of the room. She cast one final glance in my direction before lifting her pert partially decomposed nose in air and striding out the door.

“I’ll let you rot down here for a few days before I come back to collect you.” Razoul sneered, his teeth bared in a threatening grimace before he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Well done, Caleena,” I muttered to myself. “In just a matter of minutes, you managed to trap Ranen in his lamp and unleash the Nightshade upon the world. Truly well done.”