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Chapter Nineteen

M e? A diamond?

Adir looked like he’d seen a ghost, and the longer his words lilted through the air, the more I wondered if I had become one.

“ She glitters in the rough. She burns through the night... ” Adir repeated the lines from the poem he’d read earlier, like the phrases had been etched in his brain his entire life but only now made sense. “ She... All this time, it was right in front of me.”

I pulled back from Jet, my hands starting to tremble as if the burden of the truth was too heavy for my frail body to hold. Jet kept his attention fixated on his nephew, looking more like a guard than he ever had before.

“All this time, I’ve been trying to protect you from Adirion.”

Jet’s words spilled through my brain, doing little to calm my racing heart as I looked down at my shaking hands. I waited for Jet to say something, anything , to refute Adir’s claims, but his defensive stance only confirmed what I couldn’t possibly fathom.

“The diamond isn’t a stone,” Adir breathed, his head shaking slowly while the concept crammed itself inside his head. “It’s a woman. One born every ten thousand years in the unlikeliest of places. A diamond in the rough.”

“No...that’s, that’s not right...” I looked over at the pile of diamonds, focusing on the discarded ring that I had put all my trust into. “The ring granted my wishes. Every wish I made came from—”

That wasn’t true.

My wish to see Adir again got me arrested by the guard; my wish to find the diamond brought me to a ring that reflected my own eyes; and my wish to know where the real diamond was...was being granted right now.

My whole life. If I’d uttered a wish, it had come true in one way or another.

I pressed a hand to my forehead, the room spinning as the truth of my existence smothered all the air out of my lungs. The diamond ring was just that—a ring. It had never had any power to begin with. I was the one who had been granting wishes.

I’m the wishing diamond.

“How...?” I couldn’t breathe, my head pounding as I struggled to take a full breath.

“Kya, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” Jet’s grip on his sword loosened, his tone sobering as he tenderly reached toward me. “I always wanted to, but I wasn’t able.”

“You...you always knew?” I asked, my hand clawing at my heart.

That’s why he’s always watched over me...

“I dedicated my life to protecting the wishing diamond.” Jet lowered his sword, unguarding his heart so I could see it bleed. “Like Adirion, I’ve been hunting for you since I was a child, and when I finally found you in that cobbler shop, I swore I would spend the rest of my life protecting you.”

It was too much, but also, it was everything I’d ever questioned all being explained. It never made sense to me why a palace guard would befriend a lowly thief, or even save her in the first place.

“You befriended me out of a sense of duty?” I asked, my voice cracking as I tried to prevent tears from welling up in my eyes.

I looked up at the man who had seen me on my best and worst days. The one who had snuck me bread when I was hungry, listened to me when no one else would, and made me feel safe in the thick of dangerous endeavors .

“It was always my duty to protect you.” He stepped forward, his sword tip clinking on the ground as he met my gaze with those golden eyes that buried me in a rich longing that stole the rest of my dwindling air. “But it’s been my honor to care for you.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I could feel the blush rush to my cheeks. “C-care for me?”

He looked at me so seriously there was no room for doubt as he confirmed what my heart never realized it was longing for. “More than anything. Diamond or not, I wish to always be by your side, Kya.”

The sweetness of his words overwhelmed me, but they were quickly replaced by the careful phrasing of his words.

“J-Jet! You made another wish!” I clasped my hands over my lips, my blood racing as I wondered how the magic inside me would interpret his words.

“It’s all right, I wasn’t touching you,” Jet said calmly. “From what I’ve witnessed, you can make any wish you want and it will come true, but anyone else has to be directly touching you for the wish to be made.”

Was it really that simple?

I recalled the moments I had thought Adir was brushing my ring when he made his wishes. It wasn’t the ring he was touching that made his wishes come true; it was my hand .

“Fascinating...” Adir’s thoughtful voice cut in, his tone foreboding as he reached down to pick up his fallen blade.

The silent guard still left in the room stepped up behind him, acting as his burly shadow.

“Had it really been so obvious? I’d been holding the diamond in my grasp for days and never even realized the power I possessed. ”

“You never possessed me, Adir,” I snapped at him, his greedy eyes simmering my blood. “Nor will you ever. I don’t know much about this power, but I know that I’m not sharing it with someone like you.”

A reptilian smile rose up his lips, shredding my feigned confidence as his guard held his sword at the ready. Jet shifted in front of me, his eyes never leaving the enemy’s blade.

“Why not? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?

” He stepped forward, his movement too casual to be threatening, yet too threatening to be anything else.

“You’ve enjoyed your time here at the palace, haven’t you?

Royalty looks good on you, princess. Imagine if you could always live this way.

Imagine if you could become the next queen . ”

Queen?

The concept felt intangible as much as it did undesirable.

It was true that my royal lifestyle had been a dream come true.

My health had never been better, Kipu had been provided for, and I was no longer afraid that I would pass out on a rooftop.

But as wonderful as everything had been, I wouldn’t trade my life with Kipu and Jean for anything.

“I wish that I would never marry you,” I said clearly, my chin held high as his smile fell.

I could feel the magic whirling inside me now that I was aware of it.

It felt like a lock clicking into place, sealing a door between my heart and Adir’s and throwing away the key.

It was the same feeling as when I’d possessed the ring, but now I knew where it stemmed from.

It was warm, strong, and above all...it made me feel weak.

I braced myself on the nearest bookshelf, my body suddenly on the edge of collapsing as the wish drained the rest of my energy out of me.

“Kya!” Jet darted toward me, but before he could aid me, the guard jumped at him.

I looked up just in time to see Jet parry his blade. The clashing of swords made Kipu panic, causing him to fly toward me while repeatedly shouting, “ Guards! Guards!”

“L-leave him alone!” I shouted weakly toward the guard. “I-I wish you wou—”

“Kya, don’t!” Jet cut me off, his voice tight as he was locked in battle. “The more wishes you make, the more they hurt you!”

Hurt me ?

Even with my vision fuzzy, I felt the world come into focus. My head pounded as the magic sapped away my life. Did this mean that my unexplained illness had been a side effect of my magic all along?

“So, the diamond isn’t all-powerful, after all?

” Adir stepped around the fighting men like they were a couple of kittens tussling on the floor.

Jet tried to reach out to stop him, but the guard blocked him before he could come within an inch of the prince.

I tried to compose myself, but after so many repetitive wishes, my body was refusing to obey.

“I wonder if you have to be conscious for others to use your power?”

His words burrowed a pit in my stomach, and before I could think to use up another wish, he dashed forward and snatched me by the wrists.

“I wish for you to never leave my side.”