The Secret Gift (The Queen's Rise Series Book 1) by Bethany Atazadeh

Author:Bethany Atazadeh [Atazadeh, Bethany]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fairy tale, Royalty, jinn, Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Grace House Press
Published: 2022-12-04T23:00:00+00:00

13

WHEN A FIST POUNDED on the door a few hours later, I somehow expected it. Only two Jinni I knew behaved like that.

And my father had no reason to knock.

Asher burst in as soon as I turned the lock. “What have you done?” he screamed. His red eyes burned like a hot fire, and his face was flushed.

Though I tried not to react, when he slammed the door behind him, I instinctively stepped back.

When my father got like this, I hid. As long as I was out of sight, he left me alone.

Asher wasn’t going to let me out of his sight.

He grabbed my wrist, twisting painfully. “You used my face!” he shouted. “You knew they’d come after me as soon as they found out—if I had been home, I’d have been caught! You have to fix this!”

Swallowing hard, I tried to pull my arm away, but he only gripped tighter. “I thought you’d get the message,” I tried to snap back at him, but my voice shook. “You can’t control me.”

“No,” Asher growled, yanking me forward and grabbing my other arm, putting pressure on them until I stopped struggling. “Unless you want everyone to know your precious secret, you will fix this. Now!”

Panic caused my skin to flush hot and then icy cold.

An image flashed through my mind, unbidden, of Asher as a little lizard.

Powerless... Tiny...

I acted without thinking.

My arms were already pressed so tightly against him. It only took a small, excruciating twist of my wrist to touch his hand.

When my fingers touched his skin, his eyes widened in understanding.

“No—” he gasped, trying to let go and back away, but now I grabbed him and held on, shifting him as fast as my ability would allow.

In seconds, he shrunk down to just a few fingers tall.

Turned green and leathery.

And grew a tail.

I’d never know how he’d wanted me to fix it his way, but this was mine.

In his new lizard form, he scurried across the floor, trying to escape, but I caught him between my hands, trapping him.

When I picked up his tiny body, he struggled frantically, scratching my hands deep enough to draw blood. I ran to the kitchen. Dumping a glass jar of flour into the sink, I tossed him into the now empty jar and slammed the lid on top.

The lid didn’t have any air holes.

Biting my lip, I tried to think. There was a matching glass lid on the sugar jar. Taking it off, I put my hand on it and attempted to use my Gift. Unlike my clothing, which was essentially a part of me, this object felt completely foreign.

Pressing it into my body, I tried harder, managing to shift the glass just enough that a tiny hole formed beneath my finger. The moment I let go, it disappeared.

This Gift was useless!

Shifting the spare lid again, this time I tried putting a knife in the hole before I let go. Then, once the glass had closed back in around the knife, I yanked until the knife came out.

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