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Gemma

“You can’t keep her here, you know.”

I knew that voice. It was part of this nightmare that wouldn’t end, but I couldn’t remember where I’d heard it before. It frightened me, though, and I had a brief image of cold, black eyes.

“If Hubler finds out you have her, he’ll make you hand her over,” the voice went on. “The demon prince would do the same.”

“She is our first window of opportunity in centuries.” That voice belonged to Darius. “We may not ever have another. Everyone wants her because she is the miracle worker. We must use this to gain our freedom.”

“It’s only a matter of time until word gets back to Hubler that Harker’s the one burning down the Alchemists’ organization,” the first voice argued. “When Hubler finds out why, and he will, he’ll summon you, and your window will slam shut in your face.”

They were right outside my door now.

“Darius, you must realize that any gambit you make is doomed before it begins. So long as you remain a slave, that will never change. Harker is your window, not this girl. Unlike me, he can act against Hubler in the open. Unlike you, he has no shackles to impede him.”

“Fine! But know this: Should he harm my brothers in such a way again, I shall teach him what pain truly is.”

Darius sounded furious, which I wasn’t used to. With me, he was pure Old World courtesy. I could understand his anger, though. What Kerry had done to his brothers was simply brutal.

“With this one, my friend,” the first voice said, “the way to hurt him isn’t to hurt him .”

Samuel Castle.

The realization stopped my breath.

At least I could sympathize with Darius. He had explained that he and his brothers had been enslaved since 900 B.C. or something crazy like that. He had also talked about some of their former masters and the cruel deeds they’d been forced to do.

Yes, I detested being held against my will, but I could understand where he was coming from. I didn’t like it, but I could understand it. He longed for his freedom as passionately as I did, and I couldn’t hold that against him.

But Samuel Castle? For what he did to Kerry, I wanted him dead .

There was a soft knock on my door.

“Gemma, we have a visitor,” Darius announced.

I remained silent, but stood as the door swung open. The djinni came in and stood to the right of the door, and Samuel Castle entered. I met his flat black eyes for a second, then shifted my gaze to Darius. His eyes were just as black, but they glittered like faceted onyx.

“You invited him here?” I hissed.

“No, unfortunately, he found us.”

“Darius, you told me that, as your guest, I had a right to your protection.” I lifted my chin. “Do you still stand by that?”

“I mean you no harm,” Castle assured me.

“Like I believe you ,” I retorted.

“But you trust the djinni who kidnapped you?”

“Yes. I know Darius has honor.”

The look on Darius’ face reminded me so much of Kerry’s when I complimented him, it pierced my heart.

“No harm will befall you while you remain in my custody,” he vowed.

The tight spool of fear in my chest relaxed a little.

He was no one’s ideal of a hero, but neither was Kerry. They both knew a kind of violence I couldn’t comprehend. They understood evil because it had lived inside them, yet I’d trust either of them with my life.

Unlike Samuel Castle, they were ashamed of the innocent blood on their hands.

“Thank you.” I gave him a nod, then turned to the real enemy. “What do you want, Mr. Castle?”

“I hope you know that you’re only a game piece on a chess board. You’re the last queen standing, and the next few moves end with you being sacrificed. Darius, however, wants to bargain with Harker first, which means you might survive this. The problem is—”

“Kerry will kill you the second he sees you,” I finished for him. “What’s in this for you?”

“At the moment, Harker and I share two common goals. Kill Hubler and thwart the demon prince. I need you, your friends, Darius, and his brothers for that to happen.”

“I understand why you need the miracle worker and the djinn, but why Kerry?”

“He’s powerful—more powerful than I am—and he can confront Fire and the others in the open while I can only do so in secret. I cannot risk Fire realizing I’m working against him yet. I need him to think I’m under his thumb for a little longer.”

“How many pawns do you have in this game?” I wished my thinker wasn’t so busted. I really wanted to understand what was going on here. “And are you playing the black or the white side?”

“Too many pawns. And I’m on my side, little girl. Always. But I’ll try to keep you and your friends alive if I can.”

I knew it was probably a waste of air and energy, but I asked him why he would do that.

“You saved Anne when I couldn’t. I told you, I pay my debts.”

“And who is she to you, that you would care so much?”

I’d wondered about that. He was way older than Monkey, so surely it wasn’t a love interest.

Because eew! Just eew!

The most logical explanation I could come up with was that they were related.

“You don’t need to know that,” Castle growled. “It’s enough for you to know Fire lost his hold on me when Anne escaped.”

“Stop calling him Fire. I know his real name is Reginald Hubler. And I think I can puzzle it out. She’s obviously a close relative. I’m going to go with daughter.”

Castle blurred , he moved so fast. His dead eyes were suddenly centimeters from mine. I gasped and pulled back.

“In this game, too much knowledge will get you killed, little girl,” he whispered.

Darius wrapped one muscled arm around Castle’s neck and yanked him away. I sucked in air and tried to hide my fear.

“Control yourself!” the djinni barked.

Castle growled, jerked away from Darius, and straightened his shirt.

“You’re overpaying me for the little I did,” I told him once my heart settled down and he looked more stable. “I only asked Mira to make sure she was rescued with the others.”

“You gave her comfort. Talked to her. Sang for her. Encouraged that young man to befriend her,” he said gruffly.

“How do you know all that?”

“The room was bugged, of course. No cameras. Just listening devices. We didn’t need to see what you were doing, but one of you might have said something important.”

I made a disgusted face.

“Anyway,” he continued, “she was so weak and close to giving up, if you and that boy hadn’t helped her, she probably would have died within a day or so.”

I nodded. What he said was true. A muse was almost allergic to the Diabolical. Having been there for so long, Monkey’s defenses had worn away to almost nothing. Most likely, her hope had, too, and hope was the heart and soul of being a muse.

“Now,” Castle said, “as I told Darius earlier, I bought us some time by telling Hubler that it would take a fortnight for the djinn to restore themselves within the ring. That’s how long we have.”

“Mr. Hubler believed you? Just like that?” I scrutinized his face, hoping I looked suspicious, but knew I probably came across as squinty.

“Darius is the only one not in the ring healing, but Hubler doesn’t know that. I secretly drew a circle of power around him as I challenged him to summon one of them if he didn’t believe me. The circle prevented him from summoning Darius, and none of the other djinn were capable of responding.”

“I can attest that, for the last few weeks, Mr. Castle has been experimenting with creating circles of power around Hubler without his knowledge.” Darius gave me a grave nod.

“What if Hubler tries to use the ring to test you?” I asked.

“Not a problem unless he calls for me specifically,” Darius replied. “Mr. Castle spoke the truth when he said it would take time for my brothers to regenerate bodies.”

I took a deep breath and prayed I was doing the right thing.

“Castle, you can’t contact Kerry. You’ll need to use a mediator, like Darius said. Someone neutral so Kerry knows it’s on the up and up. If he even suspects you’re trapping or tricking him, he’ll kill you.” I shrugged.

“We’d need bone fide evidence that you are alive and well.” Darius’ eyes held my gaze.

“I have an idea about that. There’s only one problem. Kerry will want me back before he does anything for you.”

“You know I can’t release you while Hubler lives. That would take away my only leverage.” Darius shook his head.

“I understand. The meeting is Plan A. If you can negotiate a deal with him, we’re all good. If you can’t, we’ll move on to Plan B.”

“What’s Plan B?” Castle glowered down at me.

I’d been thinking about this for a while and had come up with an idea that could reunite me with Kerry and take care of Hubler at the same time. The only problem was, I’d be taking a huge risk, and I knew my boy wouldn’t forgive me for putting myself in danger like that.

“I’ll tell you if we need it, but let’s hope we won’t,” was all I said.

“I know who we can use to arrange the meeting,” Darius told us.

“My cousin Mingo works with the wardens at the Sanctuary all the time. If he’s not available, then maybe my aunt Parvenah.

She’s the queen of the peris. Your Kerry would have no reason to suspect either of them, and they are not capable of betraying a trust.”

I had no idea what a peri was, but I’d ask him that later.

“Good.” I turned to Castle. “Your job is to keep Hubler busy and distracted while Darius handles the meeting. You’re not invited to it, by the way. If and when you’re ever introduced to Kerry, I need to be there so no one dies.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Look, Mr. Castle, I’m cooperating with you for Kerry’s sake, not because I believe anything you say or do. I don’t trust you for a second. ”

“You have a lot of mouth for someone who’s an isolated, vulnerable piece in a game that’s been in play for two centuries.”

“May I remind you that, even standing alone, the queen is the most powerful piece on the board.” I smile sweetly at him. “And she always protects her king.”