FREEDOM'S SLAVE

Book 3 in the series.

The revolution is at hand. Nalia and Raif join the resistance in their network of tree houses deep in the Arjinnan forest. Here, all Arjinna’s ethnic groups have come together to fight the Ifrit, but Nalia is an outsider, mistrusted by the freedom fighters because she was once part of the oppressive ruling class. SHIRIN, Raif’s second-in-command and former flame, does everything in her power to make Nalia’s life miserable, including convincing Raif to break his promise to Nalia and use the sigil. Can he give the jinn their freedom by making them his slaves? Now, Raif must choose between the jinni he loves and the revolution he has committed his life to. They break things off, but with the support of Raif’s sister ZANARI, Nalia wins the grudging respect of the freedom fighters when she bravely takes on the Ifrit during raids and offers to teach the resistance the secret martial art of the royal knights. Tired of waiting for Raif to help her rescue her brother, BASHIL, Nalia decides to journey on her own to the work camp in the heart of the Ifrit volcanic territories. Moved by the appalling conditions in the camp and her own memories of being a slave, Nalia takes on the Ifrit guards in order to set every prisoner free. However, Nalia’s heroic gesture has an unintended side-effect: she wins the hearts of the Arjinnan people, who now proclaim her as their empress. It is a huge blow to the resistance, who have been fighting to overturn the caste system for centuries. Nalia’s destiny and the fate of her world is more uncertain than ever and she has no desire to rule. Soon, the people turn on her and Nalia and her brother go into hiding, where CALAR, the Ifrit empress, discovers a way to psychically torture Nalia. It is only after Zanari’s death in an Ifrit ambush and a disastrous attempt at wearing the sigil that Raif finally decides to relinquish the ring, knowing that without it the resistance will fail. He finds Nalia and together they destroy it, then lead a suicide mission to take over the palace. However, Nalia is able to kill Calar and discovers her foe is none other than the prisoner who had betrayed Nalia years before. The training Nalia has given the freedom fighters pays off—they root out the Ifrit and take back control of Arjinna. Even though she fought so hard to return to her land, Nalia knows the battle isn’t over: she must go back to Earth to begin the slow process of freeing the jinn slaves on the dark caravan while Raif stays behind to lead the new government. Though Nalia and Raif will be worlds apart, they still have nearly a thousand years to find their way back to each other. Nalia knows she will be forever enslaved by her obligations to the dark caravan and Arjinna—and that she’ll never be truly free of her painful past—but one thing’s for certain: freedom never looked so good.