Jinni laid a hand on Paz’s shoulder and squeezed gently, but his deep brown eyes were full of so much heavy remorse that Nixie knew all hope was lost.
Babak inhaled deeply, glancing right and then left at the other two genies before quietly saying, “We are not without heart. I can assure you of that. But our laws are strict and when they are broken”—his glance drilled into her father’s face—“the penalty is swift and severe. I promise you that this directive is far preferable to the alternative.”
Paz swiped at her cheeks. Nixie wished she could feel a tenth of the emotion her parents did. But her insides still felt cold and numb, her brain sluggish to comprehend that she’d been cursed for something she’d had no say in.
Simply being born.
“I won’t accept that. Danika!” Paz shrilled. “Come, fairy godmother.”
A brilliant surge of blue light pulsed like a wave through the room.
Babak’s lips thinned, but again his voice sounded more than patient. Almost sad, really. Which made Nixie wonder if he even wanted to do this at all.
“Your godmother cannot enter here. We mean your daughter no harm. In fact, our terms are more than generous—”
Paz snorted, glaring hotly at the three stone-faced council members. “Generous.” She spat the word, her hands balled into fists, and she practically vibrated with her anger as she said, “You call fifty years of servitude generous? Her uncles will be dead then. Her friends dead and long gone. That is not generous, that is cruel.”
Rivet, the youngest of the council with brilliant yellow eyes, nodded his head. “We understand your pain—”
“You couldn’t,” Paz snapped, taking a step forward, as though meaning to rush them. But Father wrapped his arms around her shoulders and dragged her into his side.
Rivet nodded. “Believe us when we say we do not do this out of malice. But should your daughter deny her birthright, she would be cursed as Jinni was, and this time, there will be no coming back from it.”
Apparently the council had been none too happy when Danika had figured out a loophole to ensure her father’s survival from the vanishing curse. A new rule had been penned into the Book of Genies afterward, forever banning the use of golem bodies as a substitute for the unsustainability of their own.
Nixie clenched her molars, finally feeling the stupor of shock beginning to fade, giving way to the certainty that no matter how much her parents pleaded her case, by the end of the day she’d be a slave as surely as her father had once been.
“You cannot deny that our terms are more than fair for a half-breed child. Normal servitude lasts a hundred years; we’ve cut the time in half. What more could you ask?” Cyrus—the third head of council—asked. With his long gray beard that trailed past his kneecaps and the brilliant sapphire of his eyes, there could be no mistaking the man for any other.
Jinni glanced at Nixie and inside them she read something different this time. There was still the unbearable sadness, but there was also a fine thread of determination lancing through it.
“Then may we haggle terms?”
“Jinni?” Paz glanced up at her husband, a frown marring her beautiful face. Sounding distressed by her belief that Jinni could give up so easily.
Kissing her temple, he nodded. “My starflower, you know as well as I that our Nixie must do this. She cannot be made to endure the torment I did. We can do fifty years when the alternative is death.”
“Mom.” Nixie stepped into the circle of her family’s arms, coming to the very same conclusion her father had. “You know it’s true. We can’t fight this.”
Paz’s lips wobbled as she framed her daughter’s face with her calloused palm. “Oh, my heart, you know we would never want this for you. Your friends, your family, your life. I’m so sorry, Nix, we didn’t know. I swear to you, we didn’t know.”
And though Nixie’s heart trembled with fear, she was strong in the face of it. Determined not to let on to her family how devastating this blow was. Eric, her boyfriend, would never know why she’d left. Her parents would probably make up some excuse, but really, anything they said would hurt him. Being gone fifty years, they’d likely tell him she’d died, which, in essence, would be the truth.
Her mortal life was gone and once her term as genie ended, any desire to go back to Earth would be gone with it. Eric was forever lost to her now.
Only her uncles would learn the truth of her circumstances, but even they would never see her again. Choking down the tears, she gave her mother a tremulous smile.
“I’m strong, Mom. And you’re immortal. Fifty years for us is nothing. And now we can all live in Kingdom when my time has ended. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
A single tear tracked down the corner of Paz’s left eye. “Not like this, love. Never like this.”