Tales of the Djinn: The Guardian (40 page)

Arcadius didn’t do hugs while he was working,
apparently, but he patted a lot of shoulders and shook a lot of
hands. In the process, he also got people organized to restore
order. Some he asked to make lists of who in their section had
woken up. Others he assigned to finding places to safely store the
remaining cursed statues.

She guessed nobody wanted to keep tripping
over them.

“Keep records,” he emphasized. “People will
want to know where their loved ones are.”

Joseph set down all the instructions Arcadius
issued on a magical scroll he’d nabbed somewhere. Elyse peered
curiously at the thick parchment. Words seemed to fly straight from
his fingertips onto it.

“These scrolls are similar to computers,” he
explained. “If we want, we can network sets of them at great
distances.”

“Cool,” she said, which made him grin at
her.

Elyse turned out to be a curiosity herself.
For one, she still wore the boy’s robes Zayd had given her. For
two, she was human and unveiled. The djinn who weren’t overwhelmed
by their immediate concerns didn’t fail to notice that. They
weren’t shocked exactly but they were wary. To anyone who stared,
Arcadius introduced her as “Miss Solomon, my valued associate.”

That amused her. She really was part of his
team now.

A breathless messenger brought word that the
portion of Luna’s troops who’d recovered were retreating. “Shall we
let them go, Commander? Our men are prepared to pursue.”

Arcadius thought quickly. “The 5th Battalion
should escort them to the port. Make sure they take passage on
whatever freighter will carry them. For the time being, we’ll store
the rest of her men under guard. Before we release them, I want to
see who replaces Luna as the ruler of the City of Endless Night.
Depending on who does, we might need a bargaining chip.”

“Wait,” Joseph said before the messenger
changed form and flew off again. He tore a strip from his scroll,
shot the appropriate instructions onto it, and handed it to the
grateful man.

With so many urgent matters to address, they
progressed haltingly. Finally, they exited the main palace into a
sunny palm-filled courtyard. Arcadius pointed out a colonnaded
white structure on the opposite side. “My rooms are in that
building. We can catch our breath and hopefully grab a meal before
going on with this.”

“Arcadius,” Joseph said, touching his
master’s arm.

A tall man in a hooded blue and tan striped
djellaba sat on the rim of a round fountain. He rose as they
approached, watching all of them with such intense focus that he
was impossible to overlook.

Arcadius jolted to a halt. “Oh,” he said as
the man dropped his hood.

Elyse sucked in a startled breath. The man
was Arcadius—his original, she guessed. He had the same stern face
she’d looked into from her brownstone steps, the same penetrating
blue gray gaze, the same great height and formidable physical
presence.

He didn’t smile as they stopped a few feet
from him. Instead, one of his dark eyebrows arched upward. His gaze
swung to Elyse for single heartbeat, after which he seemed to
dismiss her.

“It’s about time you came back,” he said to
Arcadius. “The starlings were beginning to roost on me.”

“Sir,” Joseph burst out. The servant appeared
not to know who to stand beside.

“Joseph,” the original Arcadius acknowledged.
Perceiving Joseph’s dilemma, humor curved his mouth slightly. His
amusement faded as his attention returned to Arcadius. “We’d best
get this over with. The city needs us to be our strongest
self.”

Her Arcadius nodded. Elyse had clutched his
hand without thinking. He turned to her, squeezed her fingers, then
let go to cup her face. He didn’t say he loved her, but she could
tell he was thinking it.

Elyse wanted to say something. She simply
didn’t know what was appropriate.
I love you too? Everything
will be all right?

“Go ahead,” she finally settled on. “I know
this is important.”

The other Arcadius’s brows twitched higher.
He must not have thought her Arcadius needed permission.

Her Arcadius went to him. The copies looked
at each other, both frowning a little until it seemed they really
were reflecting in a mirror, despite their different clothes. Her
Arcadius put his hands on the original’s shoulders.

Nothing happened.

The original’s scowl deepened. “Do we need to
say an incantation?” he asked Joseph.

“No, sir. As long as you’re touching, you
ought to join up automatically.”

“But we’re not.”

“No, sir,” Joseph agreed.

“Don’t look at me,” her Arcadius said when
his original glowered. “I’m not doing anything to prevent us from
combining.”

The original’s eyes narrowed. “You’d like to,
though, wouldn’t you? You let yourself change too much. Damn it,
this is unacceptable!”

Arcadius dropped his arms. The original
crossed his.

“Joseph,” the original said as if struggling
hard not to lose his temper. “I realize a lot is going on, but
please look into why this is happening at your earliest
convenience.”

“Yes, sir.” Joseph scratched his jaw with the
edge of the magic scroll. “Um. Might I ask what happened to the
other me?”

Arcadius’s irritation drained away. “Forgive
me. I should have told you immediately. Your statue didn’t waken. I
covered it with a cloth and locked it in the portal room.”

“I . . . see,” Joseph said. His expression
was very strange. As if he wanted to hide it, he looked down at his
slippers.

“I’m sure we’ll straighten this out,” the
original said. “You won’t be separated from yourself much
longer.”

Kindness made him sound more like the
Arcadius she knew. “Maybe we should eat,” she found the nerve to
suggest. “I don’t know about you, but we skipped breakfast.
Whatever’s wrong, we’ll think more clearly after we’ve had a
meal.”

“Who
are
you?” the original asked.

His manner was a hair short of rude. Her
Arcadius opened his mouth, likely about to spout his
valued
associate
line.

“I’m Elyse Solomon,” she said, forestalling
him. “I met Arcadius on the human plane. The nexus he used to come
here was in the basement of my building.”

“And you came too?” the original asked
disbelievingly.

“I wanted to help,” she responded.

She saw what Arcadius meant about his former
self maybe not being so impressed with her. He shook his handsome
autocratic head, obviously dissatisfied with her brief answer. She
suspected her Arcadius knew what the other him was thinking.

“This isn’t Elyse’s fault,” he protested.

“It’s someone’s,” his original said
darkly.

~

Arcadius decided they were lucky there was
enough work to keep both of them occupied. If there hadn’t been, he
might have punched his original in the nose. Inevitably, his dining
room became an impromptu command center, where they snatched bites
of food between interruptions. Every time someone came to the door
and said “Commander,” his double had to answer first—as if he were
the one with the lion’s share of their spirit, rather than a mere
ten percent.

At least their judgment was in sync. Arcadius
would have issued the same instructions as his original, though he
hoped he wouldn’t have done it so coolly.

“Asshat,” he muttered when the other him told
a weeping cabinet minister to pull himself together.

“I don’t know what that is,” his original
said after the minister left, “but I’m sure you’ll agree we don’t
have time for tears right now.”

“You didn’t have to be an icicle about it.
Every member of his family is stone but him.”

“All the more reason for him to concentrate!
But, by all means, you pat everyone’s hands while I do our
job.”

Elyse didn’t quite muffle her snicker. His
original shifted his frigid gaze to her. Arcadius was pleased to
observe that she met his frost with a pleasant, unruffled
smile.

“Perhaps you could see what’s holding up the
coffee,” the other him suggested.

“She’s not your servant,” Arcadius said.

“
He
is.” His original nodded at
Joseph. “And there he sits by your side, scribbling notes for
you.”

“Stop it,” Elyse scolded with a firmness that
took them both aback. “There’s plenty for everyone to do. Maybe you
should split up if it’s that difficult for you to be in the same
room.”

“I’m not leaving him to make decisions on his
own!”

“Why not?” Elyse said. “Decisions seem to be
the one thing you agree on. I’m sure Joseph could find you another
assistant. Don’t forget lots of folks in this situation would
consider having two of them a blessing.”

Arcadius’s original gaped at her.

“Fine.” She pushed back from the dining
table, getting up from the floor cushion a little awkwardly. “I’ll
see about the coffee. You think about what I said.”

Joseph probably made things worse by shooting
her a grin.

“Why are you with that female?” his original
demanded, once she was out of earshot. “You could at least have
found her a veil. A face like that doesn’t need showing off. She’s
barely even pretty.”

“She’s brave,” Arcadius said. “And loyal and
clever and to my eyes utterly beautiful. I’d say you don’t deserve
a woman as good as her, but I’d be insulting me.”

His original muttered something along the
lines of Elyse being good in bed.

“That too,” Arcadius said smugly.

His original slitted his eyes at him. “I
haven’t lost my sense of humor,” he retorted, which, eerily enough,
was exactly what Arcadius was thinking. “You’re simply not
funny.”

“Oh, boy,” Joseph said from the seat next to
him. “This is gonna be a long day.”

~

The day was long but eventually it ended.
Awkwardly, Arcadius and his double headed for the main bedroom at
the same time.

“I am not sleeping in the guest room,” the
other him announced.

Arcadius rolled his eyes.

“Maybe you and Elyse should occupy Iksander’s
chambers,” Joseph said, trying to play peacemaker per usual. “No
one’s been there all day. I’m sure his staff would appreciate a
steadying presence.”

“Those are the sultan’s rooms!” the other him
objected. “I hardly think that’s appropriate, especially
considering who you’re with. You have to be aware that woman
doesn’t belong here.”

Arcadius wanted to wallop him. Elyse was
standing two feet away! In the end, he decided against it. She’d
watched him lose his temper with himself enough times today. Taking
it to blows would be too much.

“I swear, you make me ashamed of myself,” he
said. “You, or rather
we
of all people know Iksander
wouldn’t mind. He cared about us, and his staff, and he never was a
snob about humans. Humans interested him.”

His original frowned with great energy.

“I can stay with you,” Joseph offered, “if
that would make it easier.”

“I’m not two years old,” his original
snapped. “I don’t need company!” He seemed to realize how churlish
that sounded. Certainly, Arcadius did. “Forgive me. Of course you
are correct about Iksander not minding.” He turned to address Elyse
stiffly. “I apologize for my insults. I was ungracious. Clearly,
you are a friend to our people.”

Elyse never let Arcadius down, though
sometimes she surprised him. Now she beamed like the sun coming
out. “I’m honored to be your friend. And I’m really glad things are
starting to turn around for your city.”

The other him blinked, knocked back by her
sincerity. Arcadius wasn’t sure how he felt about that reaction. If
it turned out he and his original couldn’t be recombined, having
the other him fall for her could get trickier than who had the
right to sleep in which bedroom.

THE sultan’s rooms were ten times the size of
Elyse’s apartment . . . and that was just counting the footprint.
The painted ceilings were so high the huge double doors—all of
which bristled with carvings and jewels and gold—only went halfway
up the walls. The djinn were lucky Cortés hadn’t heard of them. The
conquistador would have forgotten all about the Aztecs.

She goggled as Arcadius led her through a
reception room, an office, a display room for about a zillion gifts
from other rulers, a billiards room, a dining salon, a giant closet
with more clothes than she’d worn in her entire life, a jewelry
room, a bathroom with a steam pool a person could do laps in, and
finally the most eye-popping room of all: a bedchamber as big as a
basketball court.

The walls there were covered in miles of pale
blue embroidered silk. Giant antique framed mirrors reflected the
room at intervals. A balustrade separated the sultan-size bed from
the rest of the gleaming space. If the crystal rope chandelier that
hung above it ever fell, it would crush the inhabitants. The light
its branches emitted came from small hovering sun-like spheres.

“O . . . kay,” Elyse breathed. “I’m actually
thinking your asshat double was right about me not belonging
here.”

Arcadius turned and wrinkled his brow at
her.

“This is insane,” she said, trying to explain
her reaction. “All this stuff for one person. I mean, I have a lot
of stuff myself, but this is . . .” She trailed off and turned in a
slow circle. “This doesn’t even seem real to me.”

“We can sleep somewhere else,” he
offered.

“Oh, no,” she demurred, gathering her nerve
to prowl around and peer at interesting objects. “I’m determined to
rise to this occasion.”

“Then you like it.”

He didn’t sound sure, so she stopped snooping
to grin at him. “Give me twenty minutes to look around and I’ll get
back to you.”

He restrained himself very well, she thought.
“You
are
coming to bed,” he said after about fifteen.