He glowers at me. “Your father worked for my father for decades. They increased the account tenfold. Then he was passed down to me, and we had a good few years, until he became sick. We knew his time as our genie was running out.”
I straighten. No one has ever told me why my father was replaced.
“He tried.” Karl sounds remorseful, but for all the wrong reasons. “His body was giving out, but he was excellent right up to the end. The only time he ever let us down was when he gave us you.”
I should be offended. I have done so many terrible things for Karl, and all he ever remembers are the failures. Yet I no longer care what he thinks. I might be bonded to him for life, but any loyalty I had has disappeared.
He continues. “I have my backup plan, though. I had to have one. Imagine my disappointment. So many great things we could be doing, but I always have to clean up your mess. Now you have the chance to live up to the men before you. Stop the Ballantynes once and for all.”
I glance at Syd.
Sydney Ballantyne.
I never knew her last name.
More threads tie together.
Karl smiles, and it's perverse but entirely sane. “You can end this.”
I clamp my jaw.
His smile twists into a smirk. “If you don't, the hum will tear you apart from the inside. Slow. Deliberate. Just do what is asked of you, and it will let you go. You know this, Dimitri. You have been terrified of the hum since the first time you tried to resist.
“Morals aren't for your kind to decide. The master tells you what you believe, and you follow the orders. We've been doing this for such a very long time.” He leans closer and whispers in my ear, “I will never retract the wish. You will give in, eventually. You will kill her. And I'll finally have a worthy jinn.”
His words are a sucker punch to the gut. Despite everything, I really am worthless to him. No wonder he never requested for me to carry on the bloodline. He has some big idea on how to replace me.
He steps back, then turns and heads for his throne.
He says louder, “No, Dimitri, I would rather let this run its course. Maybe you will find reprieve at the end. Maybe in days or weeks or months, maybe it will kill you.” He settles down in his throne again. “I am prepared to let that happen.”
Chaos erupts to my right. I turn as Syd swings her purse like a flail. It catches a guard upside the head. The other guards grapple for her, but she keeps swinging.
I lunge into their midst, dodging her weapon, and start throwing elbows into their stomachs. I grab a guard's head and introduce it to my knee. He slumps next to the guard Syd has on the ground. She's still whaling on him.
A guard goes for her, but I slug him in the face. I shove him down and plant my foot into his throat. He chokes on his final breath. I pull the gun from my pocket.
A succession of clicks issue behind me. I halt, my gun still raised.
A guard snaps, “Drop the weapon!”
I hesitate. There's nothing else to do. Nothing that won't risk hurting Syd. I place the gun on the floor next to one of the two guards I killed. Syd's guard might be alive, but he will have a headache from hell if he comes to.
A barrel nudges me in the side, urging me over to Karl. Syd is right beside me, captured by another guard.
Karl sizes me up, then her. He turns back to me.
The gun in my side jabs harder.
Karl's hand flicks up. Just for a second.
My eyes narrow.
He made the same motion the first time Syd wound up at gunpoint in the summoning chamber. He just ordered the guards not to shoot.
Of course. He's not ready to kill me yet, not until he can grow my replacement. And he's not going to let them kill Syd, either. He's too desperate to make me the savage jinn he has in mind to let that to happen.
The guards are bluffing. I think.
I throw my elbow into the guard behind me. He shoves back. I spin around and catch my fist into his temple. He swings, lands solid in my chest. I struggle for air as I dive after him. My fingers dig into his face. I will take down every one of these jerkwads before letting them near Syd. Another jolt hits. I channel the intensity into shoving him to the ground.
Clamoring picks up behind me. I don't dare look, but I know Syd is on the move again. She's a bad ass like that.
The guard thrusts his arm up and clenches my throat. I try to shake him off, try to pull away without losing my hold on him. He pushes into it, doesn't let up.
My chest seizes until my vision darkens. I continue to jerk and pull. His hold slips. I stumble a few steps, then crash side first into the floor. My teeth jar together. A searing tear rips through my shoulder.
I scramble to my feet, hunching over and choking on my burning throat. My eyes lock on the guard as he clamors upright. He swings wide. I put up my arm to block him and duck in the same motion.
“I did it,” Silvia says from behind me. “Dimitri! I did it!”
I shove the guard back as I turn, the bottom of my jacket thudding against my legs.
Silvia is standing on the stage. She's gripping a knife, blade and fingers covered in red.
Karl is slumped over in his seat, his lap filling with the blood running from his throat.