Melt Page 4

  And when she did…Briska had thrown the spell so hastily she'd been responsible for breaking three beds before she realised the lust in Melitta the mindreader's mind was from someone else's thoughts, every time. She'd almost gotten them killed once, when the lust had belonged to a giant. But lust came in many forms, and a man maddened by battle lust became a liability.

  So she'd followed their journey, day after day, hoping to find that tiny spark in the girl's mind she could fan into a flame.

  If the dragon didn't burn everything into ash first. Disgusting, destructive beast. His lust for killing hung like a black cloud over its head, almost obscuring it from sight. A cunning creature, but if she could bespell him so that his battle lust outweighed his reason…her pair might have a chance…

  She watched in horror as the battle raged, fire and smoke obscuring all, until a scream rose up that could only have come from Melitta.

  Briska hunted desperately for the girl, but even the mirror could not find her among the flames. George had disappeared, too. If the dragon had killed him…or both of them…Briska had failed.

  She slumped against the wall. She'd never hold Maram in her arms again.

  The mirror had gone awfully quiet, aside from the crackle of flames. Too quiet for a battle.

  "Marry me."

  Briska jumped to her feet, hardly daring to breathe. Had she heard correctly?

  When George kissed Melitta, Briska pumped her fist and cheered so loud icicles fell from the ceiling, but she didn't care. Her couple were alive and kissing and…she bit her lip, shooting a spell their way. Alive and kissing and Melitta had every intention of dragging George to bed with her that very night. If she didn't throw him down into the ashes and tear his clothes off then and there…

  "Another happy couple, and a dead dragon to boot. There's nothing feeble about that, Mistress," Briska said.

  For the first time in she couldn't remember how long, she felt a grim sense of satisfaction. It was gone before she could grasp it, but it was there, nonetheless.

  Perhaps she could win her freedom. After beating a dragon…anything was possible.

  Eighteen

  If anything was possible, then she could make the mirror show him, Briska told herself for the dozenth time. No, surely the hundredth. But this time was different. This time she reached out to touch the mirror as she breathed on the glass. And wished, more than anything, to see Amani.

  The mirror fogged, like always, and Briska held her breath, not daring to take her eyes from it. Her heart pattered in her chest, almost as fast as her footsteps would sound as she ran to Amani, if she could see him again. Touch him again.

  The fog cleared, but the picture was blurred. Blurred by her own tears at the thought of seeing him again. Tears of joy, Briska told herself, blinking them away before they froze.

  Somewhere…blue. The rush of water, like when she'd ducked her head under the surface in the bathhouse while her servants were filling the bath. The slight tink of metal hitting stone, like one of them had bumped the bucket against the side of the bath. But not the hollow ring of an empty bucket – whatever the metal thing was, it was full of water.

  Her heart leaped. If he was in a bath, he certainly couldn't be dead. As soon as the mirror cleared, she would see his fine form, and…

  The mirror surface shimmered, and Briska closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before she dared look.

  At what turned out to be her own, disappointing reflection.

  No Amani. No bath. Just her own pale face, in front of the palace wall of blue ice.

  Had she just witnessed his death? Had they drowned him?

  Her legs refused to hold her any more. She fell to her knees and wept, not caring if her tears froze this time, for each tiny crystal drop would only reflect the ice silencing her heart.

  Nineteen

  Days passed, each the same as the last. She would spend weeks making a match, and only then would she permit herself another glimpse of Maram. Most days, she managed to resist temptation, but the very darkest days were made darker still by her failed attempts to see Amani in the mirror.

  She told herself every story she could think of – he was a powerful enchanter, unlike herself, and he could easily shield himself from spies, even those with magic mirrors at their disposal. He could have any one of a number of reasons for remaining hidden. But in her heart she knew the truth, for Mistress Kun had already told her: the mirror could only find the living, not the dead.

  If Amani did not appear in the mirror, then his heart no longer beat for her, for the Sultan had surely silenced it forever.

  On those dark nights, she would weep until she fell asleep, only to wake with her face a glittering mask of ice crystals from her tears.

  Once the queen of a desert kingdom, now she was only the queen of snow and ice.

  And her subjects…the latest couple were a stubborn pair whose affection for one another was clear, but who let duty and family get in the way. She longed to slap some sense into both of them, but she dared not leave her palace.

  He was a warrior, a general who had killed more men than she could count. Prince Rudolf, whose luck in battle was legendary. Luck. Huh. It was all her, turning aside weapons at the last moment or bespelling his opponents. She could not match him with Portia if he died in battle.

  And Portia…oh, she was as stubborn as he was. An uncrowned queen from the same islands as Hansel and Gretel, surrounded by a bodyguard of young men who would have turned any normal girl's head.

  If she could get the two in a room together, it would be easy – she'd have them in each other's arms within the hour. But they were miles from one another, separated by not one but two armies, and an unforgiving ocean.

  It might be years before they met again, and Briska could match them properly.

  So she cheated. Every night, after making sure the pair lived through another day apart, she spent an hour watching Maram.

  Maram slept near Naheed and her daughter Anahita, and the two girls were never far apart. When Naheed died, it was Maram who comforted her sister, and took care of the other girl, for the lowly daughter of a concubine was beneath the wives' notice.

  Every night Briska watched her, she'd strengthened the spells on Maram until the girl's own magical ability surfaced, stronger than Briska's own. Maram was no enchantress, but her seduction spells were more powerful than even those cast by Mistress Kun.

  No woman in the harem was immune to her charms, and nor was the girl's father. It placed her in a unique position. On the one hand, she was easily her father's favourite, but on the other, she was his daughter, and she would never be a rival for her father's nightly attentions with the wives and concubines. Thus, the women trusted her. She knew every secret they dared confide in no one else, and more than once she'd shared them with her father without ever betraying her source. Oh, not everything – just matters that might affect the wider court, and not mere harem matters. She'd inherited her father's talent for politics, something Briska didn't understand.

  All in all, Briska was proud of her daughter. The girl was growing up into a most satisfactory princess.

  Then Rudolf crossed the ocean, and went to war in Portia's territory. It was a good thing Briska did not need to eat or sleep, because keeping that pair alive while she waited for them to get close enough for love to spark took every moment of her days and nights. If it wasn't one, it was the other.

  She wanted to scream at Portia that queens did not need to take up a bow in their own defence – that was what she had guards for! – but the chief of her guards was that horrible Hansel who'd almost been the death of her, so Briska didn't dare make her presence known. If Portia was anything like Gretel, who had also taken up the fight beside Rudolf…a barbaric people, arming their women, instead of keeping them safe.

  Once she was done with these two, she vowed wearily, she would ask Mistress Kun for a simpler match to make. Love between a pair who fate had thrown together, or turning enemies into love
rs, perhaps.

  Finally, a night came where both Portia and Rudolf found a safe place to sleep, and Briska dared to direct the mirror's surface away from them to something other than those cursed Southern Isles.

  For a moment, she considered searching for Amani, but decided against it. She wanted to see her daughter, for she hadn't seen the girl in weeks.

  She took a deep breath, exhaling on the glass, then waited for Maram's face to appear.

  Briska found Maram in tears, crying quietly into her pillow. Where was Anahita? Normally the other girl would be comforting her, but Maram was alone.

  Briska cast a quick seduction spell over Maram, as she did every time she saw the girl, then breathed on the mirror again, willing it to show her Anahita. The girl hadn't looked ill the last time she saw her, but accidents could happen anywhere.

  Come to think of it, she hadn't seen the two together for some time. If the girl was dead…

  The fog on the mirror faded, and Briska held her breath as she peered into the picture it showed.

  Briska's mouth dropped open, and wouldn't close. She wanted to look away, but her own horror transfixed her.

  No one deserved such a fate.

  Twenty

  Amani squirmed, trying to find a comfortable position in the cramped lamp, but it was no use. Whatever magic held him prisoner in the piece of worthless metal wouldn't let him move. Not until someone rubbed the tarnished brass, when he would once again be sucked out the spout to do something stupid.

  Like create a lake in the desert, where one shouldn't be.

  He cursed his master silently, for such were the terms of his enslavement that he could not say the words aloud. Even if the Prince of Tasnim was all of the things he couldn't say.

  It wasn't Amani's fault the idiot had ordered him to make that lake. Princes didn't care if whole underground rivers had to be shifted to grant their wishes. Bedrock cracked…the desert would be forever changed by what he'd done. So when the prince had whined that he wanted everything changed back, Amani had taken great pleasure in informing the idiot that it was impossible. Not even the most powerful sorcerer in the world could force the river to flow backward.

  Which was probably why he was stuck in the lamp again, with no way out until someone summoned him. He'd lost track of the days, he'd been in here so long. How did you count days when everything was dark, anyway? He had not eaten or drunk a thing, and sleep eluded him, yet these things no longer seemed to matter.

  Djinn had no need of sustenance or sleep. They served, and they waited, until they served again. Slavery. On an immortal timescale.

  And the longer he sat in this lamp, the more he longed for freedom. Even servitude would be a release from this lamp.

  But he'd probably need a new master to do that. That new enchantress hadn't liked Prince Philemon much. Whatever curse she'd cast on him, he hoped it made the prince as uncomfortable as Amani himself. And unable to wish for any more stupid things.

  Amani sighed. The next man who released him from his prison, he'd make the man the master of untold riches.

  As long as he wasn't some puffed-up prince like Philemon.

  Twenty-One

  "Do you know what you have done?" Mistress Kun demanded, her eyes flashing even through the mirror.

  Briska lifted her head from the cradle of her arms. "I cast too strong a lust spell on him. I know. I was trying to fix it or reverse it or something when he…when he…" Raped the poor girl. Briska couldn't say the words, knowing she was responsible for the brutal violation of the young enchantress. She buried her head in her hands. "The match is doomed now."

  "Worse than that. You cast your spell on the wrong brother!" Kun snapped.

  "What?"

  "You cast the spell on Thorn, the older brother, when Zuleika is destined for Vardan, the younger one!"

  "There's two brothers?" Briska didn't believe it. "Two identical brothers? But there is only the one in the palace…"

  Kun made an impatient noise in her throat. "Of course there are. And they are not identical, just similar in appearance. The other is the new Master of Beacon Isle, a powerful post his fool brother let him have without realising the consequences. Now that he does, he'd planned to send your enchantress to carry a curse to his younger brother, but your misplaced spell made him change his mind and decide to keep her instead!"

  "Perhaps I can reverse the spell. If he becomes indifferent to her, he might change his mind once more and send her anyway…" Briska ventured.

  "It's too late for that. Your bird has flown far from Thorn and his kingdom. That enchantress might be young and just coming into her powers, but she can cast portals like she's been working magic all her life." Kun sniffed. "Unlike some people I could name. And why weren't you watching? You should have seen her leave and done something to stop her!"

  Briska gritted her teeth. "I could not watch the king rape that poor girl. Not when I couldn't stop him. She's the same age as my own daughter…and what if her father decides to marry her to someone like that? She is a princess, and a suitable wife for a king…" She trailed off before she revealed her secret – that she watched Maram through the mirror most nights. "As long as I am distracted with worrying about my daughter's future, I will likely continue to make similar mistakes to the one I have with Zuleika and…what was the boy's name? Vardan?" Briska's breath caught in her throat. "What if Zuleika comes after me, blaming me for what Thorn did to her?"

  "How many seduction spells have you cast?" Kun asked, but she didn't give Briska time to answer before she continued, "And how many of the men you have cast them on turned into beasts like that one and forced the girl?"

  "Just him," Briska said, "but that doesn't absolve me. That girl suffered because – "

  "Because you cast a lust spell on a complete arsehole," Kun finished for her. "The girl suffered, true, but she will have her revenge. A fitting one, for he will lose his throne to his greatest fear – his brother, or his brother's heirs. She was clever, too – she managed to curse him without committing treason, because he activated the curse. She will not become a djinn."

  "But what if she comes here? She is far more powerful than I will ever be. And it's still my fault!" Briska said.

  Kun waved away her worries. "She does not know of your involvement, and she is on the other side of the world now, helping some warrior woman with her magic shoes. She has put the matter out of her mind, and so should you. Even if she did not, she would not find you through the shields here. As long as you continue to make the matches I command, you shall be safe. What about that couple in the Southern Isles?"

  "Blissfully in love with one another," Briska said bitterly. "No spell required. After all those years of trouble, keeping them alive, I'm not sure even magic would have stopped those two once they were reunited."

  "Really?" Kun looked delighted. "Even I didn't think you could manage to make that match. Well done. Such good service begs a reward. What would you ask of me?"

  "Let me visit my daughter, and speak to her father about what marriage he has in mind for her," Briska said. And persuade him not to let her marry at all. Better for Maram to be celibate than suffer the same fate as Anahita.

  Kun shook her head. "I cannot. He does not wish to see you ever again."

  "Then ask for her to be your apprentice," Briska said. "If she is a courtesan, she will never marry, and if you train her, she will still be able to make alliances for him. Just not marriage alliances."

  "You would sentence your daughter to a life without love?" Kun asked.

  "There is little love in a political marriage, either, without a spell to bring the pair together," Briska countered. "Better that she becomes a courtesan, allowed to take the lovers she chooses, than to be forced into a marriage she does not want, where to love a man – any man – would be treason. That is a life without love. I would not wish my fate on her."

  Kun inclined her head. "Very well. Princess Maram shall be a courtesan. If she has inherited your gift fo
r seduction magic, she could well become the best the world has ever seen."

  "My daughter has no magic. Mine is so weak, and her father…if her father had been an enchanter, perhaps it would be different." If her father had been Amani…but that could never be. Briska swallowed, then dared to ask, "Is there anyone this mirror cannot show? Can I see my daughter? Or…anyone else?" She didn't trust her voice to stay steady if she said his name. The pain was too raw still.

  "The mirror will show you anyone living. If you wish, once your work is done, you may use it to see your daughter."

  Briska let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "Thank you, Mistress. It would be wonderful to see her again." Then Kun's other words sank in. "By living, you mean…if the mirror will not show someone, then they must be…"

  "Dead," Kun finished for her. "Dead and buried, where no magic can touch them. Any other questions?"

  "No. I…thank you for taking such care of my daughter. I will watch you eagerly," Briska said.

  "And while I am training her…"

  "I will fix the mess I made with Zuleika."

  "No, not yet. Give the girl some time to recover from her ordeal or she will reject the brother. Instead…how about a pair of starcrossed lovers, childhood friends whose families are feuding? Jael and Halvard could do with some magical assistance." Kun waved her hand, and her reflection was replaced by a picture of a pair Briska had not seen before.

  "As you command, Mistress," Briska said, bowing. "And thank you," she added softly.

  As long as Kun kept Maram safe from having a husband like Anahita's, or that horrible King Thorn, Briska would do whatever her mistress asked.

  Twenty-Two

  "She's a girl!" Briska wanted to scream at the conceited prince. Anyone with eyes could see Mai was no man. She moved with a dancer's grace, the slight swing of her hips betraying her on every step, but the illusion spell that made her look like a man blinded them all, especially the stupid prince. Too busy looking for his next opponent in the sparring ring, he'd barely spared a glance for the girl who Kun and her cursed mirror had declared were the man's perfect match.