A Hero of Realms(5)

I paused, trying to turn my mind to other thoughts.

“So they left with every single one of our dragons?” I said.

“That was what Jeriad wanted. And all the witches stayed behind.”

“Of course,” I murmured.

I certainly didn’t feel comfortable about them facing those devious, magical creatures without a single witch by their side, but I supposed that at least they had the horde of dragons—whatever good they were against the jinn.

My mind wandered back to Ben. I looked at Ibrahim. “I think Derek and Sofia should be the first on this island to know about what happened to Ben. It just wouldn’t feel right to tell anyone else before they returned. So for now, let’s just keep this between you and me. I’ll tell River the same thing… though I can’t imagine her wanting to talk about this topic with anyone.”

“I agree,” Ibrahim replied. “It’s only right that they should know first.”

I leaned back in the sofa and looked around the distressed living room. Now, I didn’t know what else we could do but wait for their return. Although I certainly had no intention of sitting here idle. Once I’d whipped our home back into a state of sanity, I was going to sit in my library and scour every single one of my hundreds of books that could possibly contain information about the Elders.

Although if I was being honest with myself, I knew that such an exercise would be just that—an exercise, to pass the time. To make me feel like I was doing something. To make me feel like I wasn’t helpless.

Because deep down, I knew. Not a single one of the hundreds of books I possessed would contain the solution for Benjamin.





Chapter 4: Ben





I stared at the jinni hovering in front of me. As the hunger continued to rise in my stomach, at least for now, there was only one thing that I could think to ask for.

“I need you to contain me in this apartment,” I said. “Lock the doors from the outside and reinforce them so that I can’t get out, no matter how hard I slam against the doors or walls.”

Nuriya looked perturbed. “But that can’t be the answer, Benjamin,” she said. “You can’t just solve the problem by locking yourself up.”

“I know,” I said, grimacing. “I know. But I need some time to gather my thoughts. I can’t afford to risk spiraling out of control again and breaking into the human prison upstairs.”

“All right,” she said, still looking uncertain. “It will be done. Nobody will disturb you, and you will not be able to get out.”

With that, after clutching me to her once again, she disappeared from the room.

Of course, even the jinn locking me in here wasn’t a foolproof plan—especially now I no longer had River to help keep my thirst in check. When in the deepest throes of my bloodlust, I lost control over my actions. I had navigated a submarine from adrift in the ocean all the way up to a beach, where I’d murdered several people. I’d only realized what I’d done once I’d returned. Once it took hold of me again, all I had to do was brush against my snake bracelet and ask the jinni to let me out. I didn’t see a way to prevent this—I wasn’t about to ask them to stop fulfilling my requests. I just had to hope that I could come up with my next step before I descended that far.

I moved back into my bedroom and resumed my seat on the edge of the bed. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.

If even the all-seeing oracle couldn’t offer me any advice as to what to do, I couldn’t imagine who else would be able to. If there was any way out of this, it was clear that I had only myself to rely on.

I played over my visit to the oracle’s cave in my mind, recalling every detail in case I had missed some crucial piece of information amid the shock I’d been in at the time.

My brain focused on what the oracle had said the repercussions could be if—or when—the Elder’s plan came about. She’d said that if he managed to use me to nurse his soul back to full health, it would be easy for him to bring the rest of his kind back to strength. Especially with my help. I preferred not to think about how exactly they’d use me, though I could guess.

But if he was successful in bringing the rest of his kind back to strength, what would this mean? From what I understood, the Hawks had been their only true adversaries, or at least the only ones to be reckoned with. But after the war that had taken place between the two species, the Hawks’ influence had been diminished to nothing. I didn’t know what would stop the Elders from rising to prominence once again. By now, I was sure that they must’ve become aware that not all the gates had been closed eighteen years ago, and some still remained today. If they managed to regain their former vitality, there would be nothing stopping them from reentering the human realm and wreaking havoc once again. Only this time I imagined it would be far, far worse because no Hawks would be there to hinder them.