Descendants of Kings

Chapter 6

"I missed you so much," the djinn girl exclaimed, practically rubbing Sinbad's face to her breasts.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat.

She turned to me in surprise. "Who's this? Did you find a boyfriend?"

Sinbad chuckled. "Something like that. Medela, this is Arash."

"Aww!" Now she closed in on me instead. "Isn't he the cutest thing ever."

I may not have turned eighteen quite yet, but "cute" was not among the things I wanted to be called.

"Don't mind her," Sinbad told me. "She labeled me cute when we first met too."

Not minding her would have been considerably easier if she hadn't latched herself on my back, a very full and bouncy part of her pressing against my shoulders.

Sinbad turned somber all of a sudden. "I guess this is it then..."

Right. My wish was fulfilled. That only left paying the price. We could try to postpone it to the very last day, but that wouldn't really change anything.

"What? What is it?" Medela asked, still not letting go of me.

"A djinn called Rakshi gave Arash his power to save you, and-"

"Rakshi? I bet he wanted his life in exchange."

"Uh...yes."

She squeezed me harder. "Let me handle this! I'm not going to let him take your boyfriend."

"Hold on, what are you-"

Sinbad didn't get to finish that sentence as suddenly we all were back in the chamber where I had been given the ring and the magic to go with it.

"Rakshi! Come on out!" Medela yelled loudly enough to make her voice bounce off the walls.

Another djinn, this one at least four times her size, appeared out of thin air in front of her. He had red-hued skin, graying topknot in his otherwise bald head and long goatee. "Medela. So they succeeded. That only leaves-"

She flew up to his face and promptly twined his beard around her arm. "You old goat! Are you still collecting handsome adventurers?"

"Um..." He might have actually blushed. It was hard to tell since he was already red.

"Sorry, but you can't have this one," she continued. "He's Sinbad's."

"But..."

"Come on, lover boy. For the old times' sake?"

I had to turn to Sinbad to hide a snicker. I had realized she was pushy the moment I met her, but this was priceless.

Rakshi ran his fingers through his topknot. "Alright, alright. Just this once."

Medela squealed in delight and kissed his cheek.

Rakshi abruptly shrunk closer to her size and pushed her an arm's length away. "That's enough, woman."

I was sure he was blushing.

"So what's the story between you two?" Sinbad asked curiously.

"Nothing," Rakshi deadpanned.

"Oh, we go way back. But then this idiot had to go and-"

"Medela! Not everything needs to be blabbered about to mortals," Rakshi grumbled.

"Anyway, Xerxes the Wise sealed him here," she continued. "Since he couldn't be sure who he'd side with."

Now it made sense. I looked at the ring I wore. Flames. The domain of the efreet. "He's not a djinn, is he?" I asked.