"And yet you are unhappy with it."
"I’m not," she said, although her heart wasn’t really in it. She was unhappy. But would living in town and waiting to die be harder or easier? Building a life just to have it ripped away? There was no way to know. It felt easier to have nothing so in the end she lost very little.
"I can heal you," he said.
Valerie looked up at him. She couldn’t possibly have heard him correctly. "What did you say?"
"You have two wishes left. I don’t have the power to raise you from the dead after it happens, but I can save you before it does." Raj reached across the table to cover her hand with his. "I can heal the defect in your heart, and you can live a long, happy life."
Her mouth dropped open, but she didn’t know what to say. She’d just decided she wasn’t going to make any more wishes. Ever. And not ten minutes later, he offered her the opportunity to get her life back.
Her life back.
What did that even mean? She didn’t have a life. She’d walked away from her career as a real estate agent after her diagnosis. She’d sold nearly everything she owned, including her house and her car. Most of that money went toward medical bills. What little salary she made on the island went to supplies and the savings fund she’d started for burial expenses. She’d been preparing to die for a very long time. Did she even know how to live again? To return home and try to integrate back into society? She had nothing. Her world fit into a suitcase.
She didn’t have the strength to fight her way back. At least, not alone. And by using that wish, she was one step closer to losing Raj. Somehow all of those things seemed pointless without him.
"That’s not possible," she croaked, pulling her hand away.
Raj frowned, his brows drawing together. "It is possible. I can fix it and you can live."
"Maybe," Valerie said. "But that doesn’t mean I’ll have a long life. I could have an accident or get sick."
"Well, yes, things could happen. Bad things could befall anyone at any time. But you could leave this island and start living again. Fall in love, have children. You could have a second chance."
"No."
"What do you mean, no? How could you not choose to live? I’m offering you the life you never thought you would have. All you have to do is wish for it."
"You’re asking me to do what everyone else has done. I don’t want to use you, Raj. I don’t want to take a single thing from you. And I certainly don’t want to go on with this wonderful new life without you there with me. I would rather live the short life fate has dealt me with you."
"You’re refusing because of me? Of what it would do to me?" His head shook slowly in disbelief. "You have three wishes. Make the second wish to save yourself, then choose not to make a third, if that is what you want."
Valerie sighed. She didn’t want to talk about this anymore. She didn’t feel like she was on death’s door, so they had time. "Right now, what I want is for you to make love to me again." She made the demand knowing he couldn’t refuse her.
The irritation and confusion in Raj’s eyes were quickly replaced by the blue flame of desire. He pushed back his chair and stood, tugging Valerie up with him. He captured her mouth with the searing kiss she’d come to crave the last few days. Her whole body responded in an instant to his touch. She couldn’t live without it.
And one way or another, she wouldn’t.
Chapter Six
"I’m sorry I haven’t been able to make it out there yet," Benny said. "My boat took a beating."
Valerie carried her cell phone with her out of the house and opted to sit on her favorite rock overlooking the sea. The weather was remarkable today: a rare glimpse of spring with bright blue skies and calm waters. The weather seemed to match her outlook — sunny. Her whole life had turned around in just a few days. She never could’ve imagined things would be like this for her.
"Don’t worry about it. Raj and I are quite content out here together. He’s recovered from his time in the water." She wasn’t about to mention he was a magic genie. "We have plenty of supplies."
The silence on the line was deafening.
"Yes, Benny, I’m sleeping with him. I’ll save you from asking."
"Val, are you crazy?"
"Crazy for him, maybe," she said with a girlish giggle that sounded odd to her ears. "He makes me happy. I haven’t been happy in a long time."
She could tell her friend was wrestling with her revelation. "I’m still going to come out and check on you the minute my boat hits the water again."
"That’s fine," she said. "I’ll be happy to introduce you. Just be sure to knock."
The groan on the other end of the line made a grin spread across her face.
"Bye, Benny."
Valerie hung up and slipped the phone into her pocket. Raj was waiting for her inside, but it felt too good to leave. The warm sunlight on her skin was wonderful, even if the breeze was still a touch cool. The fresh air filled her lungs and helped her think more clearly.
She’d been very confused since dinner the day before. There were so many things to consider, and in the moment she just hadn’t been ready to make her choice. After losing herself in the pleasure of his arms and collapsing into a thoroughly exhausted sleep, she’d found some clarity. Raj was right; there was no reason why she couldn’t wish herself well and then just not use her third wish. There wasn’t a time limit that she was aware of. She could also use the third wish to free him. He hadn’t seemed very enthusiastic about that idea, but it was something he’d probably been promised many times, and no one had delivered.
Valerie would. That was the only wish she would feel good about making. He deserved to be free. She wouldn’t let him slip back into the hell of his confinement. That was an impossibility.
With a sigh she climbed up from the rock and headed back to the house. She found Raj at the kitchen table. He was flipping through an old photo album she kept on the bookshelf.
"Who is this man?" he asked.
Valerie peered over his shoulder at the picture. She’d forgotten all about that day. Funny how the moments that seem so important at the time can slip away. "That’s Danny. We dated for a couple of years in college."
"What happened?"
Valerie shrugged. "It just didn’t work out. We wanted different things."
Raj hadn’t looked up once from the picture. "He looks very much in love with you."
They had been in love. Danny was probably her most serious relationship. The one she had thought about marriage and children with. "That was a long time ago. I’m certain he has moved on."
Raj flipped the album closed and turned to her. "I am concerned about you."
"Please don’t start that again. I have decided that I —"
"Not about your health," Raj interrupted. "I am worried about your feelings for me."
How did he know what her feelings were? She hadn’t voiced a single one. "What are you talking about?"
"You are my mistress. I cannot read your mind, but I am attuned to your thoughts and desires. You have an…attachment to me. I admittedly feel the same. But I am worried that is not what is good for you."
He had basically said he had feelings for her, and yet Valerie felt somehow like she’d been punched in the gut. "How do you know what’s good for me?"
"I am not a man, Valerie. I am not a human. I might look like one. And alone on this island it might be easy to pretend that I am, but I’m not. Even if you allow me to save you and you never make another wish, what will become of us? How will you explain me to others? I have no family, no papers. I don’t exist. I couldn’t have a driver’s license, much less marry you. A djinn cannot give you a child of your own. You may live a long life, but you might never have the things you truly desire."
"What if what I truly desire is you?"
Raj’s gaze dropped to the floor. "You say that now. What if you tire of me? I am bound to serve you until your wishes are done. I don’t want to be a burden because yo
u feel too guilty to make a wish and send me back where I belong."
"You don’t belong in that necklace, Raj."
"Do I belong here with you? I want to, but do I? I don’t know that the necklace isn’t exactly where I should be. It might be better for you that way."
"What if I used my third wish to free you?"
He looked at her with soulful blue eyes that held more emotions than he could ever voice in a thousand years. "Even if you did, what would it change? I would still be a djinn. And you deserve better."
"Better?" Valerie couldn’t believe they were having this argument. She’d finally found someone to love. Someone who not only understood her but had the power to see to it that they were together for more than the brief remainder of her life. He could heal her. She could free him. And yet he still saw problems. If she was alive and he was free, they could weather any rough patches as easily as they had weathered the nor’easter.
"Someone like this Danny," he said, pointing to the album. "A real man with a family and a life that you can become a part of. I can never be that for you. I will never fit in this world."
"I don’t love Danny," she said, her jaw growing tight with irritation. "I love you. I want you."
"And I want you to be happy," he said.
The frustration was boiling in her stomach. They had something beautiful and wonderful. They were on the verge of a great life together, and she wasn’t going to let his self-doubts ruin it for them. "You’re right," she snapped. "I wish you were just a regular man, because if you were human, we wouldn’t be having this argument right now about whether or not you’re good enough for me."
The words slipped through her lips before she could stop them. Never before had the word "wish" meant anything, but now it meant everything.
Raj’s eyes widened as he looked at her in surprise. "What have you done?" he whispered. Before she could answer, he stumbled backward, collapsing to the wood floor. He screamed, a sharp, piercing sound that made Valerie’s chest tighten. He curled into a ball and clawed at his skin as though he was desperate to rip his flesh from his bones. It was a terrible sight.
Moments later the screaming stopped and Raj finally stilled, a panting, shaking heap on the ground.
What had she done?
"Raj, are you okay?"
He was cold. After everything that had just happened, it seemed like a ridiculous thought, but given it was the first time he’d ever experienced the sensation, it felt important. Tiny bumps rose up across his skin as his teeth chattered lightly against each other.
"Raj?"
"I’m ok-k-ay," he stuttered. "Just c-cold." He pushed up onto his knees just as Valerie dashed over to the couch and snatched a blanket off the back.
"Here," she said, throwing it over his shoulders.
That was better. The soft flannel made a huge difference. He crawled to his feet and stumbled over to sit on the sofa. He was so weak. It felt as though every ounce of his strength had just been torn from him. It had hurt. More than a couple hundred years in those gold cuffs.
Raj looked down at his wrists. The cuffs were gone. His skin was scarred and twisted where they had once tortured him, but the shiny gold symbols of his bondage had vanished. He was free. No, not just free — human. Valerie had wished he was just a regular man. And now, for the first time in his life, he was.
He watched Valerie cautiously ease herself down on the couch beside him. There was fear in her eyes. His transformation had probably scared the daylights out of her. To be honest it had scared him as well. For a moment he wondered if the sorcerer had some kind of trap built into the curse that would torture him if he tried to escape it.
But now he knew better. It was the blinding pain of having his powers ripped away from him for good. He’d felt something similar once, when he was captured, but then it was less severe as he’d just had his magic constrained and bent to the sorcerer’s will. Losing it forever was ten times worse. But hadn’t that been what he’d secretly wished for?
A thousand times. But not before —
"Valerie," he whispered, reaching out to caress her face. "Why did you do that?" he asked. "I told you there were two wishes remaining. Why the hell didn’t you save yourself first?"
Tears gathered in her golden eyes. "I know. And I told myself that was what I was going to do. It made sense. Despite your doubts I knew we would be happy together if I wished myself well, then wished for your freedom. It just came out. I didn’t even realize what I’d said until you collapsed."
Raj closed his eyes and let his head roll back. It hit the stone wall with a thud of pain that helped distract him from the situation. He was human. She’d accidentally given him freedom and stripped his powers in a single breath. And now he couldn’t do anything to save the woman he loved.
If she had wished for his freedom alone, he would’ve been able to use his magic at will. He could’ve done anything for her. He could’ve granted her a million wishes. And now, he was a shivering man, powerless to do anything but sit back and watch Valerie slowly die.
"And now it is done," he said with finality. He was human in a foreign world, and soon he would be without the one person he counted on to guide him. He had been worried that his presence would be a burden on Valerie’s life. Now he would have to face it all alone.
"I’m sorry, Raj. I didn’t mean to upset you."
"Upset me? Are you not upset as well?"
Her gaze dropped into her lap as she shrugged. "A little. But this was what I truly wanted — for you to be free and for me to not take anything from you. All those things you said about not being the man I needed — they no longer matter. You’re a free man now."
"What good is my freedom without you, Valerie?" Raj leaned forward and cupped her face in his hands. "I’ve waited thousands of years for you. And now I’m going to lose you when up until only a few moments ago, I had the ability to save you. What use is the beating of my heart when the reason for its dance has gone?"
Raj leaned in and kissed her. He drank in the taste of her lips, committing it to memory. He would carry her with him until the day he died. Thanks to her, that would only be a short lifetime from now. He wouldn’t have to live on for hundreds of years, pining for her inside that stupid necklace.
Valerie pulled away. A small smile curled her lips as her gaze ran over his face. It seemed an odd reaction under the circumstances.
"What is it?" he asked.
"You’re skin isn’t burning hot any longer. I’d gotten used to you feeling feverish all the time."
He supposed that would be strange. A blinking sign pointing to his newfound humanity. "I was born of fire," he said. "And now I guess I am born of woman, just like every other human. And kept at a steady ninety-eight point six degrees."
How many other things had changed? The thought struck him. Raj got up and went over to the kitchen wall where her coat hung on the hook. In the pocket was the sapphire necklace, just as it had been all week. He held the heavy pendant in his hand, the gold doing nothing more than feel cold against his palm. No searing of his skin. No agonizing pain. He carried the sapphire back to the couch and sat down beside her.
"What are you going to do with it?" she asked.
"I don’t know. Part of me wants to destroy it so there’s no way I can ever get trapped back inside."
"While therapeutic, it’s probably worth a lot of money. If you sold it instead, it would give you something to live on while you get settled in your new life."
His new life. In the blink of an eye, he had lost and gained so much. He would have to get a job. Buy clothes that fit. Find a place to live. Learn how to build a fire the hard way. He would stay with Valerie until the very end, but he would have to find out how to continue without her. Maybe he could take over as the lighthouse keeper. The chill of the room crept up his spine. No, he would go someplace far warmer.
Raj let his thumb graze lightly over the blue gemstone. It seemed so different from the outside than on the inside. "I
’ve granted a million wishes, but not once in that time was I ever able to make a wish of my own. If I could, I would wish that your heart would beat as long as mine does. That way, neither of us would ever have to live without the other."
"That would be —" Valerie spoke, then stopped. Her mouth dropped open into an O of concern as she hunched over. "Oh no," she gasped, her hand clutching at her chest.
Raj shot to attention beside her. "What is it? Are you okay?"
Tears brimmed in Valerie’s eyes as she frantically shook her head. "Why now?" she asked, looking up instead of at him. "Please give me more time with him!"
The aneurism. Certainly the fates were not so cruel as to take her from him only minutes after he first tasted freedom. She slipped off the couch to her knees, pressing fiercely against her sternum as though it would help stop the bleeding.
"What can I do?" he asked in desperation. He’d never felt so completely and utterly powerless in his entire existence.
"Just hold me," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain and fear. "I only have minutes left. There’s nothing else that can be done."
Raj didn’t hesitate to scoop Valerie into his arms. He held her tightly as though she wouldn’t slip away if he didn’t let go. "Stay with me," he whispered into her hair, rocking her gently. "Please stay with me."
"I love you," she said. "And I’m not sorry for what I did. Freeing you was the most important and wonderful thing I ever got the chance to do."
"I love you, too," he replied. "Thank you. For everything." He couldn’t think of anything else he could say or do. He just held her. And kept holding her.
Eventually her rattling gasps quieted. She didn’t speak or move. Raj couldn’t bear to pull away and know for certain she was gone. He couldn’t take it. Instead, he softly stroked her hair and pressed his lips against the crown of her head.
The pain in his chest was excruciating. He’d lost her. After all this time waiting, in a flash she’d disappeared and he was alone. He had been trying to do the right thing convincing Valerie he wasn’t meant for her. He hadn’t wanted to go. Not at all, but staying by her side was the selfish choice, he knew it. He would’ve spent every moment of his existence in agony without her, but it would’ve been what she needed.
Sexy In A Bottle: A More Than Men Novella Page 6
