The Angel: Tales of the Djinn, #3

by Emma Holly

  She hopped up and bowed when she saw the empress. “Gloriously Lovely Highness. Forgive the intrusion. I have news to relay.”

  “The sultan is here?” Luna asked eagerly.

  “He is,” Pink confirmed. “The surveillance spells we hid at Georgie’s shop caught their first meeting. Our captain reviewed the footage. He believes you’ll be pleased with both the quality and content. I hope you don’t mind. I took the liberty of bringing your laptop so you can watch it immediately.”

  Luna wasn’t thrilled over Taytoch seeing the film before her, but Pink’s initiative was welcome.

  “What about Georgie’s apartment? Taytoch mentioned his man was having trouble installing watch spells there.”

  “I’m afraid he still hasn’t managed. The Made One put up wards. I suppose he doesn’t want us critiquing his boinking skills.”

  The “Made One” was what Taytoch’s crew called Connor. Boinking skills aside, Luna could live without overhearing more sappy declarations. She decided to let the failure slide. “Very well. Leave the computer on the table. I’ll inform your captain when I have further need of you.”

  “I shall await that moment with bated breath,” Pink declared.

  Luna frowned. The demon hadn’t sounded as sincere as she ought. One blink later, it was too late to scold. Pink had smoked out of sight.

  Making a mental note to deal with her later, Luna opened the laptop to play the magically recorded file.

  A minute later, she was grinning.

  This was better than she hoped. Georgie called the sultan a “self-righteous man-hoe” and accused him of being responsible for Najat’s demise. Iksander was responsible, of course—and thought so himself, obviously. His shocked and tormented look was manna to Luna’s vengeful soul. Actual tears sparkled in his lime green eyes, his exit from the junk shop a micron short of a run.

  Run all you want. You won’t escape the just desserts I plan on serving you.

  She re-ran the film from the beginning, drinking in Georgie’s scorn for her enemy. The girl’s awareness of Najat’s fate did startle her a bit. Luna thought she’d prevented those two from connecting up. That didn’t matter, though. Najat was gone from this timeline and all others, boiled down to worthless nothing—just as was good and right. Best of all, because her Georgie knew the sultan had failed his beloved spouse, she wouldn’t so easily forgive him.

  Separating Georgie from the virtuous idiots across the way had surely helped as well. Luna’s ward wasn’t the same doe-eyed bleeding heart they’d brought up.

  Poor Iksander, Luna gloated. No mercy for you this go-round. And no nauseating redux romance.

  He’d still be drawn to Georgie, of course, like a stupid moth to a hopefully searing flame. Luna could hardly wait for him to discover his dead wife’s twin had given her heart to another.

  IKSANDER COULDN’T HAVE said how he got through the day—like a zombie perhaps, obedient to orders but without consciousness. When Tobias called him to his office and handed him a few additional drab green bills, Iksander felt rather stunned.

  “You earned it,” the human said. “Without your help, I’d never have kept Francine off her broken ankle.”

  “The woman across the way . . .” Iksander said, unsure precisely what question he wished to ask. “The Black Cat proprietress, Georgie.”

  “Oh, she’s not as bad as Francine claims. A bit big for her britches, but so far she’s pulled off her ambitions. She might have some odd jobs for you, if that’s what you’re wondering. I don’t think her staff’s very large.”

  “She lives in the attic above her store?”

  Tobias leaned back in his swiveling chair, considering Iksander with more attention. “She and that hulking friend of hers fixed it up. Be extra polite if you approach her there. Asking someone to employ you when they’re at their personal residence isn’t common procedure.”

  Iksander bowed his head. “Thank you for the advice.”

  He hoped politeness would smooth what he’d resolved to try. With his new money tucked away in his inside pocket, he strode across the street and up the outside stairs to Georgie’s apartment. His palms were damp, so he dried them on his jacket. The Georgie he’d met yesterday must share some characteristics with the one who’d flown at him like a harpy this morning. Her choice of living space certainly echoed the other version. And she’d defended Najat—whatever she thought of him.

  That, at least, implied compassion.

  His will was as braced as it was getting. He knocked on the green painted metal of her apartment door.

  The large man who’d held her ladder opened it.

  “Ah,” he said, seeming unsurprised.

  That made one of them. Iksander found himself wondering—somewhat uncomfortably—if this male resided here with Georgie.

  “Please forgive my uninvited appearance. I need to discuss a matter of importance with your employer. I’m willing to do so in any venue she prefers. Stuckey’s Diner, perhaps? I promise my request isn’t idle. As she may be aware, the fate of my city hangs in the balance.”

  “You again,” Georgie said, appearing without warning beside her companion. Her short multi-colored hair was nearly as shocking as the first time he confronted it. “Why would your city be in trouble? Didn’t you marry the evil empress and live horribly ever after?”

  “Certainly not,” Iksander said, offended by the suggestion. “Even if Luna hadn’t killed my wife, I couldn’t do that to my people. The calamity she threatened to wreak on them proved she was a despot.”

  “What calamity?” Georgie asked, still displaying more temper than concern. Iksander must have gotten through to her a little, because she swung the door wider. “Whatever. Come inside and explain. Connor’s coffee is better than Stuckey’s.”

  He guessed Connor was the male. Iksander wouldn’t have called him hulking, but he was Iksander’s equal in height. Their gazes met as the sultan stepped around him. Connor’s calm blue eyes reminded him of windows into an impossibly serene place.

  Is he human? Iksander wondered abruptly.

  He wasn’t a djinni. Iksander would have sensed that. He was off, though, a definite whiff of . . . extra-ness swirling around him.

  Was he the reason for the differences in Georgie?

  He disconcerted Iksander by squeezing her shoulder familiarly. “I will fire up the percolator. Are you hungry, Iksander? We have not decided what to eat for dinner, but Georgie baked cookies.”

  “You bake?” Iksander asked.

  Georgie put her hands on her waist. “Is there some reason I shouldn’t?”

  “The other Georgie only heated up pizza and tossed salad.”

  “What other Georgie?”

  He sighed. This would be difficult to explain. “The one I met yesterday. The one who loved her adoptive parents. Who found it in her heart to forgive me because her friend Najat did. Yes,” he added when Georgie gaped at him. “I know about the message her spirit gave you. The other version of you repeated it to me.”

  Connor turned to stare as well, the bag of coffee forgotten in his hands. All of them stood in the kitchen now. It wasn’t exactly Georgie’s other kitchen, but it was similar.

  “You’re not making sense,” she said. “There’s only one of me, and Alma West is my sole guardian.”

  “Francine and Tobias were your guardians yesterday.”

  “Never!” she burst out. “Francine Hamilton thinks I worship Lucifer.”

  “The person she became without you may. She needed a child to love. I think adopting you brought out a different side of her character. She wasn’t as sad and bitter as she is now.”

  Georgie pursed her lips. “You mean narrow-minded and self-righteous.”

  “Pardon me for saying so, but you sound narrow-minded now.”

  “I suppose I was a saint in this alternate reality you dreamed up.”

  “Not a saint. Just . . . you’d been brought up loved.”

  “I’ve been loved,” Georgie huf
fed. “You’ve no idea how much.”

  Connor set down the coffee bag on the big island. “Was I present in this other reality?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. Georgie didn’t mention you.”

  “If Connor wasn’t there, it couldn’t have been any good.”

  Georgie’s assertion—and the firmness with which she made it—took him aback. The connection between her and this man was strong. Never mind that, he ordered. He couldn’t afford to get sidetracked.

  “There is your cat, Titus,” he said, pointing out the creature that had pattered over to wind around her legs. “He likes pepperoni. I watched you feed him leftovers.”

  Georgie frowned at him. “Cats like meat. And lots of folks know his name. He’s our store mascot.”

  “Fine. In the other reality, you were obsessed with a mansion called Ravenwings. You had what you called a chocolate tooth, and attended the University of Virginia.”

  “Did not!” She stuck out one finger as if to say aha! “I skipped college.”

  “Georgie,” Connor interrupted softly. “I don’t think the djinni is lying.”

  “I swear on my people’s safety that I am not. They are in danger. If there is any of that other Georgie in you, please help me rescue them.”

  “What happened to them?” Georgie asked grudgingly.

  “When I refused to marry the empress, she turned my citizens to stone. Her magic was more powerful than any we’d seen before. We . . .” He stopped, undecided how much to share. “The djinn plane possesses magic portals, through which we can journey between realms. They are rare and difficult to use, but one was charged up to transport me here. Through it I escaped Luna’s curse. Now I must make sense of what’s happening in this world before I try to return. If I act in ignorance, my rescue attempt may fail.”

  “And you think I know how to explain this craziness.”

  “I pray you do,” he said, refusing to allow her resistance to make him disconsolate. He took her hand. To his surprise, she allowed him to pull it to his breast. “Your presence drew to me to this place, the bond you and my wife shared. You may have the answer without even knowing it.”

  Connor drew his attention by letting out a sigh.

  “I’m afraid I have the answer,” he confessed.

  CONNOR WISHED HE COULD dismiss the djinni as crazy. The likelihood that he was sane tightened his stomach.

  “You’re taking his side?” Georgie asked in amazement.

  “It is not a question of sides.” Connor wagged his head. “Forgive me. I could use a breath of air. If you don’t need Titus, I’ll take him with me.”

  Georgie blinked and touched his arm. “Are you okay? I mean, of course you can take Titus, but—”

  “I shall return when I have thought this through,” he said.

  He scooped up the cat. Perhaps he shouldn’t have required company, but Titus would enjoy the trip outside, and he was comforting.

  He sensed Georgie and Iksander’s gazes following him to the door.

  He should have felt better than he did when he closed it behind him. The night was a beautiful creation. The sky was clear and star-filled, the cold air scented with turning leaves. Connor descended the outside steps and sat on the final tread. Titus wriggled to be let down but didn’t wander far. The cat was still a little shy of exploring his new home.

  “I’m here,” Connor said when the feline looked back at him. “I’ll watch over you.”

  That was his self-appointed job: to watch over and love beings he cared about. He knew he’d come to care differently for Georgie than he did for Luna, but a graver choice was presenting itself now.

  Should Connor betray the woman who’d brought him into being as a separate consciousness? This would be yet another break from his original state. How could he not, though, knowing what Luna had done to Iksander’s people . . . and might do to others in the future? The destruction she’d caused was large: not one sparrow but many flocks. If she harmed more, he’d be complicit.

  He wasn’t willing to do that.

  You’ve already made your choice, he thought.

  CONNOR’S DEPARTURE left Georgie alone with Iksander. Too uncomfortable to sit, she took over making coffee. Seeing the big stranger leaning on her kitchen island gave her an odd sensation. She’d seen his picture in the Daily Demon Mirror, and identified him because of it. What she couldn’t settle in her mind was if he seemed familiar otherwise.

  One thing was sure: he was very handsome. She guessed being around Connor didn’t make her immune to being awed by attractive men. He was fiddling with her nested set of metal measuring cups, his hands strong and sensitive. When he glanced up and caught her staring, blood rushed into her cheeks.

  He looked down but not before he saw. The corners of his mouth inched up.

  “You blushed when we met yesterday,” he said.

  “Yesterday—the real yesterday—I was in the store all day with Connor.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Forgive me.”

  He’d stopped smiling, but she didn’t feel better. Christ. Why did her life have to get weirder and weirder?

  This wasn’t a question she could answer. Connor saved her from trying by coming back inside with Titus. The cat leaped onto the couch back as Connor crossed the room to them. His expression was unusually solemn.

  “I have decided to tell you what I know. Empress Luna is in Black Bear Mountain.”

  “Here?” Georgie asked as the sultan exclaimed, “Impossible!”

  “I’m not mistaken,” Connor said soberly. “She must have found a way to use the portal.”

  “How do you know this?” Georgie asked. “Is it one of your intuitions?”

  “I know because she is the person who made this body I inhabit. She gave it to me so I could seduce you and win your heart. I think she was afraid you’d fall in love with Iksander when he showed up again. As near as I can figure, she stole the life you were meant to have.”

  Georgie’s head hurt trying to take this in. Everything he said sounded ridiculous. “Nobody stole my life. You’re my life. This town. The store. Alma and Ravenwings.”

  “Georgie, Alma is the empress.”

  Georgie’s hands clenched around a coffee cup she didn’t remember taking out. “She can’t be. I’ve seen pictures of the empress. They look nothing alike.”

  “She stole a human’s body, the true heir to Ravenwings. I didn’t add up the pieces before, but now . . . I think she must have traveled to this world in disembodied form. When she saw you and Iksander might be drawn together, as he and Najat were, she went back in time to prevent it from happening. She went back to make you different.”

  “People can’t go back in time,” Georgie protested.

  “Maybe Luna could.” Iksander rubbed his clean-shaven jaw. “When I came through the portal, I experienced a strange effect, as if tiny claws gripped my nape. If she’d hitchhiked there as energy, she’d have seen me meet you. She’d have—” He cleared his throat. “She’d have been aware we might develop a sympathy. When the reality I landed in winked out, I’d just told you whoever you gave your heart would be a lucky man. Luna was obsessed with me and she hated Najat. She must have thought history was repeating.”

  “Alma steered you,” Connor added. “To have different experiences. To exhibit different behaviors. Think back to what Najat said. How she thought you lived above Hamilton Salvage. How you seemed and looked different to her. Those discrepancies fit with what Iksander and I are saying.”

  “Alma isn’t a sorceress!”

  “She is,” Connor said. “She knows about the ifrits at Ravenwings. She summoned them there to serve her. She compelled them not to reveal the truth, just as she tried to compel me. She didn’t realize she couldn’t because of what I am.”

  “But if you weren’t compelled, why wouldn’t you warn me she’s evil? Honestly, I could believe anything but that.” Her voice broke, her eyes stinging on the edge of tears. “You love me. I know you do.”


  Connor’s eyes spilled over a second before hers did. She couldn’t recall seeing him cry before. He was the most consistently happy person she knew.

  “Yes, I love you,” he said, his shimmering gaze holding hers. “With every atom and cell. In truth, I love you above all others, but, Georgie, I love her too.”

  She rocked as if he’d slapped her. “You should have told me what she was the instant we found out she’d killed Najat.”

  “I considered it,” he said.

  “You considered it!”

  “Yes. Learning what she did to Iksander’s people tipped the balance beyond what I can tolerate.”

  Georgie covered her face.

  “This is my nature,” Connor said softly. “To love and not to judge. I have told you this before. Perhaps you didn’t fully comprehend what it meant.”

  She dropped her hands. He was sad but not ashamed. He met her eyes forthrightly.

  She wasn’t sure what she felt. Shocked, she supposed. And cut loose from her moorings. Her heart felt as if it were tilting.

  “If it isn’t too presumptuous,” Iksander said, the dry interruption reminding her he was still present. “Might I be enlightened as to what Connor is?”

  Georgie blew out her breath. The sultan wasn’t going to like the answer any more than she did right then.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  —

  DISCOVERIES

  This seemed like a conversation Iksander ought to sit down for. He went to the couch and did so, only slightly startled when Titus jumped into his lap.

  He obeyed the cat’s urging to pet him. As he did and it started purring, he noticed Georgie staring at him strangely.

  “Perhaps Titus is aware he met me in the other timeline,” he suggested. “Cats can be uncanny.”

  Georgie pulled a doubtful face and lowered herself into a chair opposite. Her friend Connor remained standing.

  “Well?” Iksander said to him.

  “First, I wish to assure you that I bear you no ill will,” he said. “I have only learned recently that my kind have a . . . tense relationship with yours.”