“Why can’t we just kill him?” Rani asked, andfinally,someone said what I was thinking.
Eryn side-eyed her best friend, perhaps shocked that the idea came from someone who until a few days ago hadn’t had the guts to hurt another living being. “Girl, you can’t justkilla faction leader.”
I snorted. Sure, you could. They bled just the same as anyone else. Lost their limbs the same way, too.
“Then, why don’t you do your little mind voodoo thing like you did to Kol, and we call it a day?”
Kai glared at Rani’s suggestion, and I glared right back at him. I swore to the gods I would leap over the greasy pizza boxes and break his nose if his tone was even a smidge hostile toward my bond. She didn’t know what she was asking; it was an honest question.
“Besides the very real toll that would take on Eryn,” Kai explained, his tone under control. “Trapping him within his mind won’t work; we barely got away with it last time. Eryn or her parents would surely take the blame.”
“We can’t kill him, and we can’t turn his brain into goo… Whatcanwe do?”
And there was the problem Kai and I had spent the entire summer trying to figure out. We’d partnered with the siren and vampire heirs, but they were back-door deals. No outright alliances had been made because it would be seen as an act of war to divide the tribunal. It didn’t matter that the djinn were blackmailing and threatening whoever they wanted to get support for their demands.
So, how did one replace a faction leader? There were three ways this usually happened; old age, where they stepped aside and allowed their heir to take over; voted out, which was thesame thing but less voluntary; and death, which, if achieved by murder, held serious consequences from the tribunal. Unless it was by a member of the same faction.
Unless it was by a member of the same faction.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, the corners of my mouth curling. “Holy fucking shit.”
The conversation came to a halt as three pairs of eyes turned and fixed on me. I met Kai’s inquisitive stare with a wild grin, nearly hopping where I sat from the excitement. I was a godsdamned fucking genius.
“We can’t kill Soloman.”
Kai tilted his head and looked at me like I’d gone insane. “Well aware of that, Ez.”
“Wecan’t kill Soloman.”
Eryn sighed, her excitement fading with each second she didn’t understand. “Does he think repeating the same words in the same order will—”
“Weeee—”
“Ezra!” Kai interrupted. “Use a different combination of consonants and vowels, please.”
Rani snorted, and I sent her a wink, that wild grin still plastered across my face. I couldn’t believe they didn’t see it. I basically spelled it out for them already.
“Wecan’t kill Soloman, but—” I hurried to finish before my cousin strangled me with his shadows “—another djinncan.”
I wasn’t expecting the silence. Shouts of enthusiasm, clapping, maybe even a parade would have been appropriate. They were letting me down. Rani rubbed a hand on my back in apology, but she let me put a plug in her ass last night so I couldn’t be mad at her. I leaned into her touch and patiently waited for their less-endowed brains to catch up.
I lasted two minutes. They took far too long.
“Inner faction squabbles are dealt with in-house, sooo…” I left it open-ended, if they couldn’t catch on now, there was no hope.
“So if another djinn killed Soloman, the tribunal wouldn’t interfere?” Rani asked, her cute nose crinkling in thought.
“Exactly!” I cheered, then swooped down to plant a sloppy kiss on her lips. “You’re a genius too, I knew it!”
I felt more than saw my cousin roll his eyes, but I didn’t care. Theyhadto see it now. Our solution was right there. We get a djinn to murder their faction leader, and thenpoof, our problems were solved. Why weren’t they excited? Frowny faces were not an appropriate response to my genius. Wait, did they still not get it? Gods, did I have to do everything?
“Who would murder Soloman?” Eryn asked before I could once again repeat my amazing plan.
“Plenty of people,” I explained. Lifting my fingers I ticked off our options; they were honestly limitless—that guy was a real douche—but I kept it to the top three types of candidates. “Another of his victims, someone living in fear of him, or any of the above who also doesn’t care about power.”
See, so many options.
“Yeah, but does adjinnlike that even exist?” Eryn argued. “Sure, there’s plenty who are terrified of him, and an endless amount of victims, but a djinn who doesn't crave power? Impossible. Right, Kai?”
