in the audience-probably most-had lost friends, lovers, family. They'd survived, but many
still held on to the pain, and the bitterness. Those were the prime recruiting ground for the
Sentinels.
The ones who hurt the most.
''That's why this is important,'' I continued. ''You all know me. You all know that I owe my
life to a particular Djinn who's been my friend and my protector through all of this. What you
may not know is that it's more than gratitude; I love David, and he loves me. And we know it's
not easy, and it may not be popular, but I'm here to announce that we're going to do something
no Warden and no Djinn have ever done in history.'' I felt short of breath now, elated, scared,
exhilarated. ''We're going to pledge ourselves to each other in marriage, and I hope that you'll
all join us in the next couple of months for a great celebration of our wedding. We believe that in
making this vow, we'll bring the Wardens and the Djinn together again, in friendship, respect,
and cooperation.'' I swallowed hard, suddenly feeling very exposed. ''Thank you all.''
For a heart-stopping second, there was still nothing-no sound at all. And then a lone pair of
hands clapped, somewhere in the darkness, and then a few more, and then it turned into a round
of applause. Not cheers and champagne, but it seemed positive enough. Lewis reclaimed the
podium and I went back to my chair and sank into it, feeling relieved and a little sick with
adrenaline.
The next bit of theater belonged to Kevin, who was standing at the back of the hall, looking surly
and militant, as only Kevin could do. When a lull came after the applause, Kevin said, clearly
enough to carry throughout the room, ''I thought screwing a Djinn was off-limits. What, you're
special?''
There was an audible intake of breath, and heads turned. Somebody laughed, but it was quickly
smothered. Lewis, who'd been about to speak, seemed thrown off balance. He focused on Kevin
with a baleful stare, and said, ''If you want to offer your congratulations, Warden, do it to her
face. I'm sure Joanne will be glad to take them personally.''
That got general laughter. People knew me all too well. I stood up slowly, making sure that
everybody saw my expression.
Kevin pushed away from the wall. ''Yeah? Well, I'm just saying what everybody in here is
thinking. We just got done burying people who were killed by these bastards, and now she's
going to marry one? Not just a Djinn, but the Big Kahuna? What's the matter, Jo? Blowing off
the Warden rules wasn't enough of a thrill anymore?''
''Shut up, Kevin.'' We'd worked this out, but I was still taken aback by the venom in his voice.
Kevin had a huge backlog of hate stored up, and some of it was meant for me; it was an officially
approved opportunity for him to vent some of it, and I was going to have to be the one to control
my reactions. He's a kid, I reminded myself. He's a kid who's been wounded, over and over. Cut
him some slack.
My slack-cutting hand was getting tired.
''Shut up? In your dreams, bitch.'' He stepped up again, this time addressing the entire hall.
''Look, you can see where this is going, right? You think the Djinn are just going to forgive and
forget all the time we spent sticking them in little bottles, making them do our shit work? You
think they don't hate us for that? Don't kid yourselves. She thinks this is some kind of peace
process. It's not. It's obscene. Believe me, I know all about obscene. Especially when it comes
to people using the Djinn for sex.''
''That's enough,'' I said, and moved to the edge of the stage. ''Enough, Kevin.''
''Don't think so. Bad enough the two of you popped out some kind of mutant kid-''
I saw red, and fury burned up from around the base of my spine and jolted into my head like a
physical shock. Son of a bitch. He'd never said he was going to drag Imara into this, and while I
was prepared to overlook personal insults to myself, my kid wasn't part of the deal. Some of the
audience agreed with me; they were shouting him down. But a significant portion was either
silent or nodding in agreement, shooting me frowns and dark looks.
''We need to move away from the Djinn, not get all cozy all over again,'' Kevin continued.
''She just wants everything to go back to normal. What the hell was so great about that, anyway?
What about the rest of you? You think we should just rip up the blood-stained carpet, remodel,
and get over it? Or should we figure out what the Wardens are supposed to be? Not depending
on Djinn, not letting them into our heads or our homes or our beds-''
''What's the matter, Kevin?'' I asked. ''Some hot Djinn chick turn you down?''
We'd scripted this part. I hadn't wanted to do it-had argued against it, in fact-but now I took
just a tiny bit of satisfaction in seeing him visibly flinch. The pallor that set into his face,
followed by a vivid flush, wasn't acting. I was bringing up old demons, opening old wounds.
''No,'' he said. ''I turned them down. But it didn't matter. They had their orders, and the Djinn
always follow their orders, don't they? My mother made sure of that.''
Rumors had floated around over the past year about Kevin, about his stepmother, Yvette, who
was truly one of the most morally grotesque people I'd ever met. About her illicit use of Djinn
for personal gratification, and for other, even less savory, purposes.
Kevin had suffered at her hands. I didn't know whether or not she'd turned her Djinn on him in a
sexual sense, but I didn't doubt it. It would have been a tragedy for the Djinn as well as Kevin,
but Kevin wouldn't necessarily feel that.
The worst part of it was that for at least some period of time, Yvette had owned David. I'd never
asked him what his history was with Kevin, and neither he nor Kevin had ever really come clean
about it.
I hoped I wasn't hearing the truth of it, right now, but the pain and rage in Kevin couldn't
possibly be mistaken for anything else but honesty.
''I hope you get what's coming to you. Both of you,'' he spat, and turned to leave.
''Wait a minute,'' I said. ''You think you just get to make a dramatic exit?'' I sent a gust of wind
past him and blew the doors shut with a heavy thud. ''Sit your ass down, Kevin.''
''Bite me.'' He whirled back toward me, and there were tears glittering in his eyes, real and
agonizing, and I almost stopped it there, almost went to him and put my arms around him and
told him he didn't have to do this.
Lewis got in my way. ''Sit,'' he said flatly. ''I'm not telling you again, Kevin. If you can't
control yourself, I'll do it for you.''
In answer, Kevin formed a fireball in both hands, glared at both of us through the unholy orange
glow, and then turned and threw the fireball straight at the doors. It hit and detonated with
enough force to blow the doors open and off their hinges.
He walked out.
''No,'' I said, and put out a hand to stop the guards who started after him. ''No, let him go. If he
wants to leave, let him leave. This isn't over, but there's no point in destroying the place.
Again.''
That got a weak wave of nervous chuckles. Some of the Wardens out there looked as if they
were suffering a PTSD moment; I completely sympathized. This was turning out to be less
theatrical and more gut-wrenching than I'd ever intended, but I supposed that was a good thing,
ultimately. It's for his own protection, I reminded myself. If the Sentinels can't buy his defection
after that, it can't be done.
But I was going to have a hell of a lot of fence-mending to do. And I felt filthy inside, as if I'd