Contents
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Overview
Sylvia arrives at Omal’s opulent palace, where cursed ghaiba dolls target her and her companions. Her cuffs blunt the spell, while Arin draws the ghaiba from Sefa and Marek, risking himself. At dinner, another attack lets Arin expose Vaida and Felix, leveraging Nizahl’s threat to force their retreat and deepen his fraught bond with Sylvia.
Summary
Sylvia, Sefa, Marek, and Arin arrive at Omal’s lavish palace. While settling in, Sylvia finds a bound ghaiba doll in her quarters and realizes someone planted it. Rushing to Sefa and Marek’s room, she discovers them suspended and consumed by the curse. Arin arrives and, using the doll’s twine and his own perilous sensitivity to magic, draws the ghaiba from them, enduring its torment himself until both friends collapse safely into sleep.
Shaken, Sylvia and Arin exchange sharp words—she condemns his reckless self-endangerment; he deflects, but their mutual concern is unmistakable. They anticipate Felix will strike again.
At the royal dinner with Queen Hanan, Felix, Vaida, and the Champions, a servant unties another doll and the ghaiba floods the hall, fragmenting to invade diners. Sylvia’s cuffs repel the magic; Arin endures but remains conscious. Seizing the moment, Sylvia briefly searches Vaida for the Lukubi seal but fails to find it before Arin regains awareness.
Arin swiftly reties the doll and orchestrates a reveal: the servant—one of Vaida’s retinue—had the doll in her pocket. Felix and Vaida, disoriented, incriminate themselves in a heated exchange. Arin publicly invokes “magic” and threatens a Nizahl sweep, forcing Vaida to capitulate and Felix to retreat.
In the aftermath, guards clear the hall, and Arin slips away. Sylvia follows, recognizing his calculated setup and the precision of his timing. Their charged confrontation ends with unspoken threats and desire, underscoring a dangerous, inescapable pull between them as Omal becomes a battlefield of politics and traps.
Who Appears
- Sylvia (Essiya)Jasadi heir and Nizahl Champion; discovers ghaiba plot, resists it via cuffs, attempts to steal Vaida’s seal, confronts Arin.
- Arin NizahlNizahl Heir/Commander; absorbs the ghaiba to save Sefa and Marek, then weaponizes a dinner attack to corner Vaida and Felix.
- SefaSylvia’s friend; victim of the ghaiba in their room, saved after Arin draws the curse away.
- MarekSylvia’s ally; unwraps the doll, is seized by the ghaiba, rescued when Arin diverts it.
- Felix of OmalOmal Heir; implicated in deploying ghaiba dolls, publicly cowed by Arin’s threat of Nizahl intervention.
- Vaida of LukubLukubi Sultana; her servant carries the doll, quarrels with Felix, yields under Arin’s pressure.
- Queen HananOmal’s queen and Sylvia’s grandmother; subdued presence at dinner, overcome by the ghaiba’s effects.
- WesArin’s guard; posted at Sylvia’s door, helps secure the hallway during the crisis.
- JeruArin’s guard; alerts Arin and holds position while Sylvia enters the afflicted room.
- DiyaOrban Champion; succumbs to the dinner ghaiba, providing cover for Sylvia’s brief search of Vaida.
- MehtiOmal Champion; questions Sylvia at dinner, then is taken by the ghaiba’s effects.
- Lukubi servant (Vaida’s retainer)Unwitting carrier of the doll at dinner, triggering the public fallout between Vaida and Felix.