“You,” he murmured. “What do you think you’re doing? You don’t belong out here.”
As I had expected, he began dragging me back toward the main door.
“Wait,” I said, speaking with all the strength that I could manage. He ignored me and continued hauling me along the tunnel. “I know that you’re in trouble,” I hissed.
This made him halt and whirl around on me, his eyes fiery. “What?” he snapped.
“I know you’re in trouble. You and all your people. You made a pact with these ghouls and are unable to fulfill it.”
Sherus faltered, confusion marring his perfectly symmetrical face. “What—Wh-Who are you to address me like this?”
“Just an attentive observer.” I considered mentioning his interaction I’d witnessed with his sister but, given his foul mood at the time and his rising impatience now, I didn’t think that was the best incident to call upon to make my point. “Whatever pact you made with them, and whatever the quotient is that you’re struggling to meet… I can help you with it. I can help you with all of it.”
Sherus blinked in disbelief, then narrowed his eyes on me. “Who are you?”
“If you must know, my name is Benjamin Novak, Prince of The Shade.”
I paused, watching the flicker of recognition in his eyes. “The Shade,” he murmured. His expression toned down.
“I command the loyalty of a number of witches,” I went on. “If you let me free, I would bring a small army of them here to free you from whatever bond you have formed with these creatures.”
My heart sank as he shook his head. “Witches won’t be strong enough to help us in this,” he whispered.
His answer took me by surprise—not only that the witches wouldn’t be strong enough to overcome the ghouls’ power, but that Sherus was actually admitting his inadequacy. I’d thought that perhaps his pride would rear up and that he’d assert again that they would indeed make the deadline as he had done with his sister, and that he didn’t need anyone’s help, least of all the help of a ghost. Perhaps his sister’s words had gotten through to him and he’d realized that maybe she was right. Maybe they would not be able to fulfill their end of the deal. I had no idea what that would mean for them or what the consequences would be, but from all that his sister had said, it would be something terrible.
“Are you certain witches couldn’t help?” I asked, desperately hoping that he didn’t know what he was talking about. “Perhaps you’re not aware that it is not an uncommon practice in The Sanctuary for witches to keep ghouls as slaves.”
Before he could answer, several of his companions approached, giving Sherus questioning glares. Sherus nodded toward the exit. “One of you stay with me. The rest of you should leave.”
They eyed me curiously, no doubt wondering what on earth could be so interesting about me for Sherus to want to stay behind and give me the time of day. A fae with long, dusty blond hair and turquoise eyes stayed behind while the rest left.
Sherus set his eyes back on me. “No, I told you. Witches cannot help.”
“What about dragons?” I asked, trying with all that I had to keep the desperation out of my voice.
Sherus scowled. “Ghouls make food out of dragons. But even if the dragons scorched this place to ashes, they would still be of no use. Our pact with the ghouls is far more subtle than that.”
I was dying to ask what this pact was exactly, but I did not want to pry too much… at least, not yet. I racked my brain as to what else I could suggest. Then I blurted, barely even thinking, “Jinn. I also have an army of jinn.”
Yeah, right. If the Nasiris would be willing to help me out of this mess—which I was sure that they would, given their queen’s attachment to me—according to Aisha, they had probably been taken by the Drizans. God knew where they were now; perhaps they were locked up in the Drizans’ lair somewhere. I doubted they would still be in The Oasis. But I couldn’t think of how I was going to fulfill this promise now. I just had to say whatever I could to bring me closer to freedom, even if it meant lying through my teeth.
I saw immediately from the look in Sherus’ eyes that I had made the right move in mentioning the jinn.
“An army of jinn, you say,” he whispered. “You really command the loyalty of jinn?”
“Yes,” I said, speaking with confidence I did not possess. “An entire clan of them. All of them have pledged their allegiance to me and I assure you that they would be willing to use their powers to help you.”
“And in exchange,” Sherus continued, “I imagine that you want me to let you free, correct?”
“Not just me. Five others, also.”
“Six?” He raised a brow. I feared that I had taken a misstep.
I actually wanted to ask that he free a whole lot more, but it would be pushing my luck too much. Besides, the ghouls could not notice the fae smuggling their ornaments out, or the fae would be in trouble. And the ghouls’ trust in the fae was something that we needed to keep up as long as possible.
“Six is rather a lot,” Sherus said. “But I suppose we can squash you all into two boxes.” He paused, his eyes boring into mine. “But how can I trust that you are who you say you are? How can I trust that you are the prince of The Shade, and that you really have command over an army of jinn?”
I didn’t waver in my gaze. “It would be rather pointless of me to lie, wouldn’t it? I’m sure that you could track me down easily enough if I tried to escape without honoring my word.”