Page 78 of MidKnight
You’re sure?
I’m sure.
You trust him?
Yes.
I stared at Quinn a long moment, but his eyes didn’t waver. He meant it.
“Quinn says you can trust him,” I told Cerena.
I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t think the old man meant any harm. He was powerful. But at the same time … he’d just turned my tower into a flower pot. And then set himself on fire. I didn’t think he was incredibly reliable. But Quinn was my knight. And he and Connor had powers I didn’t.
And what was love if not trust? I trusted them.
Cerena thought differently. She shook her head and rolled her eyes but marched back up the stairs, grumbling the whole way.
Donaloo followed and Quinn held out his arm to escort me up.
Where is she going?I asked Quinn.
I had her seal the djinni in the container we captured him in. Then she hid it in her tower. Hopefully Donaloo knows how to extract more information from him.
The stairs underneath our feet suddenly become covered in bright green clover. A deer appeared out of nowhere and bounded down the steps, forcing Quinn and I to push apart and hug the wall so we wouldn’t be trampled.
This might be a bad idea. He’s turning the palace into a woodland forest.
First off, the animals showed up before he came. You can’t say that’s on him. That Raj’s fault. And secondly … he fixed me,Quinn’s mental voice was tight, tense.He’s incredibly powerful.
I don’t doubt that. I mean, feel this.I ran my hand over the flowers. They felt completely real. Until I touched a purple one and the petals suddenly shuddered. The petals moved and rearranged themselves and a tiny pixie popped up, fluttering purple flower petal wings. She reached back and unsheathed a sword that had looked like a yellow stamen on her back. “Do not touch!” she growled.
I held up my hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
She narrowed her eyes but sheathed the sword and returned to her place on the vine, her wings settling back again until she looked like nothing more than a flower again.
I widened my eyes and shared a look with Quinn.
He just raised an eyebrow.Built in tower defense,he thought, smugly, defending his hero.
Built in tower insanity, I thought, but tried hard not to project that thought to him.
I simply kept walking up the stairs, all my knights following behind.
We entered Cerena’s chamber, me doubting the sanity of one of the magicians. Walking into her room only made me begin to doubt them both.
Donaloo stood to the side of the room, unconcerned. Cerena was throwing things, pulling her room apart at the seams. “It was here!” she shouted. “I had it!” She threw aside a large chameleon skin, an animal paw, and a bronze contraption that looked suspiciously like a penis.
Cerena whirled around, limped toward me, her eyes livid. “He’s gone!”
She held up an empty beer stein.
“The slave defies his master only to find a new one. Rebellions require obedience and expedience, ingredients for deviance.”
I didn’t even listen to Donaloo’s drivel. The sight of the empty stein was a lance to my gut. The djinn, fake Abbas, whoever he was, had escaped.
I met Quinn’s eyes. His were blazing.
There’s no sarding way he got out of that himself! Declan and I checked the spells and watch her seal him in.
