The Price of Betrayal Chapter 7 by Maggie Finson

I had touched, changed, every one of the circle who had done this to me.

I would have my payment, my true price, soon.

My true price. Now that was interesting.

Even the ones I hadn't changed into females were going through a slow, and probably at least emotionally painful metamorphosis. They were losing their manhood, but slowly. Incrementally.

Hey, I did tell you that Djinn had a streak of cruelty. These people had ripped me prematurely from safety, and destroyed a life that I was truly happy with then endangered somone I loved. They had to pay for that, and hopefully, learn a few things while they did.

I still had plans for them. All of them.

And no, I'm not at all gentle with my enemies. But I could have simply wiped them out of existence and didn't. As the saying goes, where there is life there is hope. I wouldn't deny them that one solace.

But they were going to pay my true price, in full.

As with many things, that was far more simple than most people would have thought.

They would learn what is to be female in a society that not only pushes females down, but often brutalizes them. Let them feel at least some of what they did to me, and to my poor, beautiful daughter, Naderah.

Hopefully, that will open their eyes to other things, too.

If not? Well they were being, or going to be quite adequately punished.

Not by being female, oh no. But by how the culture they were part and parcel of treated females.

I'm sure that those lessons would be hard ones, but illuminating.

Very illuminating.

“The tear in the binding spells grows.” Souri noted as we looked at them again.

“Yes.” I looked at the once tiny spot of darkness in all that light and color and nodded. “Everyone I take, each one, adds thier power to the breaking. It looks slow, but spells, bindings like this are at best very difficult to unravel.

“But when they do...” I smiled in satisfaction at that thought. “They collapse completely. There is no slow unwinding, or unraveling, it simply rips and that is that.”

“I look forward to the day.” Souri told me.

“Oh, so do I.” I answered with grin I knew was nasty. “Oh, so do I.”

“They are sooo, cute!” Souri laughed as she watched over my shoulder.

“That they are.” I chuckled while watching Naderah and Behrouze. “They dance around each other and their feelings for the other while being like opposite poles on a magnet. The attraction isn't something either one can stop. I think it's about time they stopped being careful and just move into being the couple that they are.”

“Are you going to help that along?”

“Why?” I asked and shrugged. “It's going to happen, they know it, we know it, and all that stuff. Let them do their mating dance and we can tease them about it later.”

“Me? Tease a pair of Djinn?” Souri actually looked outraged and fearful at the same time.

“Dear.” I told her. “If any of your people have earned that right, you have. Behrouze thinks very highly of you, and Naderah only knows you as my very faithful, long time companion. So yes, you. Feel free to tease them about this because I know I will.”

“I don't know...” She shook her head doubtfully.

“Souri, look at me.” I asked her, no command, just a request. Once she did I smiled at her. “You are a queen in your own right, mighty Efreeti. Behrouze respects you beyond mere acceptance, your own surviving people revere you. Get used to it, my little darling. You are now officially one of the Powers in the world.”

“Me?” Her eyes widened and she started to deny that.

“You.” I nodded. “Not only are you the eldest of your kind now, you have been inspiring your people to work at survival for a very long time. Admit it or not, like it or not, you are their Queen.”

“I think I need to go and do some thinking here.” She quietly answered that one.

“Take your time, dear one.” I gave her a smile and a hug. “You will see that I'm telling you the truth here.”

“Queen Souri.” She shook her head again. “That just does not sound right at all.”

“Oh, in time it will.” I assured her. “It is, after all, a responsibility you won't ignore. Just as you've stayed with me all this time no matter how hard that must have been for you off and on. Believe me, Souri, you are special, very special.”

She disappered then, gone to think, pout, and get used to the idea, I'm sure.

Souri wasn't the only one who knew her companion inside and out, you know.

“I need to talk with you, Mother.” Naderah told me after she appeared in my opulent prison.

“About?” I asked with a little smile.

“I'm in love.” She answered a bit uncomfortably.

“With your husband?” I asked, deliberately drawing this out.

“No.” She kind of shook herself and shook her head. “That one could hang for all I care. No it's someone, something else that I've met.”

“Oh?” I gave her an interested look and let that hang.

“He is Djinn.” She said in a rush. “The last male Djinn in the world right now. He should be yours, Mother.”

“Why?”

That question surprised her. But she rallied quite nicely. It is so good to be proud of your children and at that moment I truly was proud of her. “Because he should be yours, Mother.”

“Again, why?” I prodded and hid my amusement behind a genuinely curious expression.

“I am still a child!” She shot back. “He has lived through centuries, like you. He should be yours, not mine!”

“Naderah.” I touched her cheek and caressed it for a moment. “Behrouze was born after I was hidden in mortal flesh, and he has not been in the world all that much himself. He is a child to me just as you are. Why do you think I would take a child for a husband?”

“You know him?” She actually appeared shocked at that one.

“Yes.” I nodded. “He is young as you are in experience, my beautiful child. The two of you should be allowed to mature, to grow, with each other.”

“You aren't angry.” She wasn't asking, just stating something.

“Not at all.” I said with a wink and smile. “He is for you, you are for him, what else is there to say?”

“But...”

“Hush.” I stopped her. “I want grandchildren like any mother would. Let him love you, love him. And give me those grandchildren.”

“Did you manuever this?” She asked suspicioulsy.

“No.” I laughed and grinned at her again. “I simply let nature take it's course. And yes, I approve. Let him be your man, daughter. He should be a good one to have.”

“But what about you?”

“I have my own loves, sweet.” I answered simply. “Go get yours.”

She grinned back and I could swear that I heard a very enthusiastic 'Yahoo!' as she left.

My pile of coins was growing.

What I had to do to get them? Well I'm sure you already know that so I will not go into the nasty descriptions.

If you are wondering why I didn't just pull silver out of the earth to get what I needed there is an answer to that.

The silver I needed, had to be given to me in payment for my — services. I could have accumulated a fortune in the metal, but it wouldn't have done me any good if I had gotten it for myself. The bindings demanded that what I used were payments.

Unpleasant as that was at times.

On the other hand, off and on, what I had to do was feeling kind of good.

So tell me I should fight it more. Go ahead.

I am female now, very female, and the Heart's Desire of any man who calls me.

At some point it was either start to enjoy being a female or go hopelessly insane. I took option one there.

Accuse me of weakness if you like, it doesn't matter.

When you think about it, I had been female a lot longer than I'd been male in any and all incarnations.

The soul knows, and I knew.

I was now quite unabashadly female.

And even if I was still a slave of sorts, I was glorying in it.

And again, my time was coming. I would be free.

And have my vengeance.

Now what more could you ask for?

I had all that I needed.

I had also, whimsically, put my face on one side of the coins and a hangman's noose on the other. They were actually quite pretty, and rare. They would become collectors items almost immediately, espcially since all of them were two ounces of pure silver.

I carefully put the coins into a very fine leather bag I had found and tied it so nothing would spill out. Losing even one coin just wouldn't do and I had no intention of doing that.

Weighing the bag in my hand, and listening to the muted tinkle of coins bouncing against each other, I had to smile. It had taken years in mortal terms.

But I held my freedom in my hand.

Now. Oh, now, it was time to go get it.

Along with some retribution.

Life can be good at times, can't it?