The Trinity War (Book 3 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 21

Now the Sultan was truly silenced. He closed his mouth, stress lines appearing on his forehead as he thought about what I said. Gerrard nudged me with his foot and I glanced at him. He raised his eyebrows at me, as if to ask how I had come up with all of that. I simply shrugged and looked back at the Sultan, who was now pacing, his brows furrowed.

"The reason I called you in here was not to chat," the Sultan began. I noticed a difference in the tone he was using. It no longer was harsh and condescending, but it wasn't completely sympathetic, either. "It was to tell you the results of the blood test," he said.

"Did you find that I'm a half-breed?" I asked him. He looked at me grimly.

"Yes, we did. You are, indeed, partly a water master and partly a fire master," he said. 

"So does that mean you aren't going to kill us?" I asked. 

"No matter the foul blood in your veins, we cannot kill one of our own," he said.

I let out a sigh of relief. One thing was for sure: we would get out of this alive.

"So are you going to let us go?" Gerrard asked. The Sultan turned towards him.

"Not quite yet," he said. I felt my stomach drop. "I still want to know what exactly you have to do with Mikael. And I would like to take a look at those maps that he has given you," he paused, looking at us, "However, that will be for another day. For now, since you have consistently insisted, you may eat and rest. We will converse in the morning tomorrow," he continued.

"What about me?" Anoki, who had been quiet up until this point, asked. The Sultan looked at him.

"Just let him go. He was only trying to help us. It wasn't his fault," Gerrard said, sticking up for our strange sidekick. 

"I let him free before and he chose not to accept it," the Sultan said.

"I promise I will leave this land for good if let me go now," Anoki said. The Sultan sighed, rubbing his temples.

"I don't care. Just go. I have a headache and I don't want to deal with all of this now," he said.

Gerrard and I glanced at each other. I decided to keep my mouth shut in case he changed his mind about giving us food and a comfortable place to eat. The guards unshackled us. One of them led Anoki out of the room. Before he walked out the door, he exchanged a glance with me. I tried to convey to him that we would meet up again once we got out of here, but I wasn't sure if he got the message. Turning his head away, we watched Anoki walk out of the room.

The guards then led Gerrard and I out of the room, too. We walked to what I assumed to be the center domed building and then went up a flight of stairs. We turned towards the right and walked down a hallway, which led to a set of doors. Above the doors, written in gold embossed letters, was a sign that read "East Wing". We walked through the doors and into what was called the East Wing. I noted the golden textured wallpaper. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it wasn't wallpaper at all. It was actual gold. I raised my eyebrows, impressed, and continued walking forward.

The guards led Gerrard and me to a suite with double doors that were trimmed with gold. 

"These will be your living quarters for the time you spend here. Someone will come get you for dinner," one of the guards told us. We nodded at them and then opened the doors to reveal the most spectacular room I had ever seen.

The walls were painted a fiery red and had gold designs running vertically down them. The walls and ceiling were trimmed with a shiny ebony colored marble that was embossed with a solid gold trim. The floor was covered with an extremely soft carpet that had brightly colored sun burst patterns. Directly in front of us were a few red suede couches with black and gold afghans thrown over them. To one side was a small kitchen area and to the other was another set of double doors that led to what I assumed to be the bedroom.