by Marie Hall
He winced as the barb found its mark. She was right. Shameful as it was to admit. And as Danika continued to mutter and spew her vitriol, Jinni’s epiphany grew. Maybe it was time for him to let go his petulant insistence that the world was out to get him and finally start to accept his part in all of this.
“Well I’ll have you know, Mister, just because you were thrust at me, doesn’t mean I took my job any less seriously. You’re a horrid, mean tempered, man. Beautiful to gaze upon,” she laughed, a wicked chirping sound, “but inside there’s nothing but black, vile--”
“Danika, I’m sorry.”
“Evil… you… huh?” She stopped, mouth dropping open.
He hung his head. “I’m sorry, Dani. All these years I’ve blamed you for something you never did. I directed my hate and anger at you, when all along, it was me.”
She swallowed hard and Jinni got the uncomfortable feeling that she was close to tears. He glanced down; he couldn’t stand the sight of a woman’s tears.
“I had convinced myself long ago that Nala had betrayed me, but the truth of it was, I betrayed myself. I deserved the punishment I received and I am only sorry that it has taken me so long to confess it.”
“In a few days Paz has managed to do with you what I haven’t in decades.” Trilling laughter fell from her lips.
“What is that?”
“Make you care. Give you a heart. Pick your poison.” She shrugged a plump ivory shoulder. Then her features softened. “I was never your enemy, Jinni. I only ever wished to be your friend. To help you as I’ve helped so many others.”
She started to reach out and then checked herself, bringing her fist back to her chest. “I forget sometimes that I cannot touch you anymore. Which is why I sent you that golem.”
He shook his head, rifling his fingers through his thick hair. “It doesn’t look at all like me. If I encase myself in that thing, I can never leave. What if… what if the form is displeasing to her?”
Danika smirked. “We both know that is not the case. I saw into her dreams and created her most perfect form.”
His lips thinned, displeased to hear it put that way.
Danika laughed. “She is a mortal with mortal vision. I’m sure if she could have imagined something as bonny as you, she’d have thought of you first, genie dear.” She winked.
“We barely know one another. To tie myself to her in that way, for all of eternity. What if..”
“Och, me boyo. Must you overthink things always?”
Before Jinni could blink, Danika punched her fist through his midsection, and tugged on the necklaces he’d hidden within himself. Even though the action was so obtrusive, he felt nothing. Not even a tingle of awareness. Then she shook them at him. A knowing smile graced her lips. “I did not even need to see these to know they’d already turned from cold blue, to a fine shade of purple.”
She was right. The stone of veritas-- truth-- a lover’s stone, the means by which two hearts knew unequivocally they’d found their perfect half, glowed purest amethyst with twinkling strings of blue throughout.
“Another day or two, and these things will be glowing brighter than the sun. She loves you too, Jinni. She may not know it yet, but oftentimes the soul knows quicker than the mind when it meets its perfect half.”
“But she is dead. When she returns to the body, it could fade. You have seen it happen. Many cannot remember what occurs in ghostly realm.”
“Then that is a chance you must take. You must trust that what you have now, will transcend death. She is much too close to the other side. Her soul yearns for the peace of beyond, you must return to her if you have any hope of saving yourselves.”
Danika handed him back the necklaces. Focusing his energy on the palm of his hand, he felt the heat flow down into his fingers moments before she dropped the necklaces on them.
“Trust is a terribly hard thing, Jinni. And it never gets better or easier. But, at some point you must decide whether to take that leap, or, don’t … and fade gently away. But whatever you do, do not use any more of your immortal flame. You’ve hardly any left to you.” She lifted a stern brow.
“I must return to her.”
She nodded. “You’ll be just fine, Jinni. Just fine. The golem. Use it.”
Jinni waved his hand, opening a time tunnel and sailed through, joy speeding through his soul quicker than the lights flying passed his vision.
Within moments he was there. Her fresh scent reminded him of a grassy green meadow, and smelling it was like a kick in the stomach.
Her face was pressed to the window, black hair in wild disarray around her head. Then her spine stiffened and she slowly turned. “You came back.”
The beatific smile she turned on him stole his breath. She loved him too. But she didn’t know him, not everything. He had to tell her. Had to finish his story, she had to know everything before she could decide. Though the thought of her rejection was a thorny barb in his side, she deserved the truth.
“I’ve not finished my story, dove.”
The white hospital gown fluttered around her calves as she slowly glided forward. A body in a bed sat between them-- her body. He’d not glanced at it when walking in. Because the real Paz was in front of him. Staring at him with chocolate brown eyes, a question burning in her gaze.
But looking at her body now, he knew Danika was right. Neither of them had much time left. Soon there’d be no tether to hold her here, and when that happened, he’d lose her forever.
“You don’t have to tell me anymore, Jinni. I know all I need to know about you.”
It warmed him to hear her say it. “I have to know, there’s a decision to make, and I must know, Paz. Do you understand?”
For a moment she simply stared at him, thinking thoughts he couldn’t fathom and he worried that perhaps she wouldn’t be willing to listen. Finally she gave him a tight grin. “I understand.”
“Good.” He nodded, relieved. “Then let’s finish this story.”
A roll of canvas unfurled, fluttering open like delicate wings, Paz lifted her hands, an expectant look on her face.
“Time to show you who I really am…”
Chapter 12
Jinni stood in the center of the orchard, a white apple blossom clasped tight in his fist as he inhaled its fruity scent. The moon hung low, a thin sliver in the sky. The navy blue canopy of night glinting with a trillion stars.
He wondered if his brothers saw him now, what must they think?
Shame crept up his neck. That awful self-loathing he could only resist whenever Nala was around. The King had been good to him, Aria… like a daughter.
And yet, when she was around, none of it mattered.
A thread of orange blossom tickled his nose. Jinni’s lips curled a second before a small pair of hands wrapped around his eyes.
“Lover.” Nala’s warm breath tickled his ear, her breasts trailed hot and heavy along the length of his spine. “Have you missed me?” she purred.
With a low growl, Jinni turned and grasped her wrists, bringing them down to his waist with a sharp snap. She bit her full bottom lip, liquid lust glinting bright from within her kohl rimmed eyes.
Shoving her against the base of the tree, he spread her legs apart with his own and clamped tight to her waist. “You look like a painted whore tonight.”
Rather than insult her, the words seemed to spur her on. Nala moistened her lips, her gaze zeroing in on his own.
Madness spread through his veins, made his blood hot, and his head foggy. Nala’s pale chiffon wrap concealed nothing. Every lush curve, every dip was revealed to his greedy stare. His gaze scanned down, to the full breasts and small brown nipples. She ripped her gown off her top, and then scrubbed her fingers through his hair. A painful scratch that enflamed him.
“I’ve waited all day for that bore to fall asleep.”
Jinni inhaled her scent, running his nose the length of her swan neck, pausing when he detected the scent of balsa wood.
He
gripped her forearms. “You mated him tonight,” he snarled, a sort of madness overtaking him. “You are mine, Nala. You swore it.”
She laughed, her bright red lips curving into a seductive grin. “Of course I mated him, he is my husband.”
He ground his jaw, his thumbs digging into her biceps forcefully. He wouldn’t hurt her, not really, but he smiled at her sharp gasp.
Nala was no delicate flower. She loved it rough. She danced her fingers up the bridge of his nose. “But my heart belongs to you. You know that.”
He closed his eyes, his cock so hard he felt it would burst through the seam of his pants. She placed her open palm on his chest, surely feeling the steady beat of his heart.
“Look at me, djinn.”
Narrowing his eyes, he growled, “Is that a command?”
He knew it wasn’t, none could command him save Abdullah, but he needed to hear her say it. “You do love me, Nala? Only me?”
It unmanned him to grovel this way. At first he understood, even accepted, that theirs was an illicit affair. Never, in time immemorial, had a djinn ever fallen in love. It was forbidden. Love caused a clouding of common sense, of loyalty, and faith. But he could never see it that way. Love was a magic more powerful than his own. He could no more deny his heart, than he could deny the setting of the sun. It simply was.
She grabbed his face, her tempting breasts rising and pressing firmer against his chest, driving him mad for want of her. “That bastard may own my body, but you own my heart, Jinni. Always. You do believe me. Don’t you?”
Malachite eyes, so striking against the dusky beauty of her skin, searched his with a profound longing and desire.
It was wrong to take the King’s wife. The King was a good man, he did not deserve it. But, Nala also did not deserve to be forced into a loveless marriage for political gain.
Awash in the scent of apple blossoms and Nala, Jinni smiled. “I do.”
She petted his arm, causing him to shake and tremble. “Then trust me. Soon we will be together.”
Jinni rolled his eyes. “The King is old, but not so old to have hope of that, my beloved.” He traced the soft flesh of her cheek with his knuckles.
Her lashes fluttered as she started to dance and squirm on the thigh he still had trapped between her own. Her womanly arousal assailed him, made his body thrum with heat and need to rival the sweltering humidity of the night.
She nuzzled his neck, pressing her nose into his collarbone and inhaling deeply.
“You smell of magic,” she murmured and then licked him, tracking a slow, hot trail up and down and making him growl in the back of his throat. “Now, talk no more of that beast. Take me, Jinni.”
Frantic, he shoved the fabric of her gown aside and released himself, then shoved into her. Claiming her with his body, with his mind, screaming silently to the heavens that she was his and to hell with all else…
Paz lowered her arms, a heart-rending frown tipping the corners of her mouth.
“Paz,” Jinni said, forking his fingers through his hair. “I did not know you then. I did not even know myself.”
She looked at him, not speaking, but the damning picture behind her spoke volumes.
Nala pressed against a tree, lust and desire scrawled upon her face, his body covering hers as he took her over and over. He popped his jaw. That hadn’t even been the worst of his sins.
Jinni glanced down at the body between them.
Paz’s body.
She’d lost more weight. Dark circles lined the creases under her eyes. Sometime during his story, her brother had returned. He was slumped in a chair beside her, her hand pressed tight to his lap, soft snores dropping from his exhausted lips.
“You must understand, though I was old in mind, I was young in the ways of women. I did not understand that the path I chose would lead where it did.”
The heated press of eyes upon his face made him glance up. She’d come to him, the sadness still glinting in her eyes.
“Jinni,” she chuckled, “my skeletons are deep. This happened a long time ago, and though it hurts me to think you lo…ved,” she cleared her throat, “loved somebody that way, it shouldn’t. I barely know you. I’ve got no claim on you. We’re friends right? And friends don’t judge.”
He frowned. Friends? Not that he’d expected more, or maybe he had. Maybe he’d hoped. But it was foolish, he knew it and so did she. To all accounts and purposes, they were dead. Allowing himself, for one moment to forget it, had nearly done him in. Without Danika, he’d be nothing but a vapor. A memory written in the stars.
Exhaling deeply, he nodded. “Yes, dove, we’re friends.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. His words seeming to wound her as hers had him. “Why do I feel so connected to you?” She still wouldn’t look at him. “Why do I feel like I’ve known you forever?”
Because my fairy godmother said we’re soulmates… the words drifted on his tongue, but never made it passed his lips.
Warm brown eyes searched his. “You have such beautiful eyes,” she whispered. “They’re like twin pools of heated umber and flecked with gold. When I look at these paintings,” she gestured to the canvas still floating beside them and shame spread fierce through Jinni’s gut seeing himself rut on Nala like an animal, “I don’t see you.”
He cocked his head.
“That man,” she flicked her wrist, “he’s not you. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”
But she was wrong. The man shoving his cock into Nala’s writhing body was him, so was the man who’d chosen dishonor over loyalty. “You do not yet know the rest of the story, Paz.”
“Why are you so obsessed with sharing this with me? I don’t need to know, Jinni. Just like I’m sure you don’t want to know about my sordid history with men.”
To scrub my conscious. To release the demons that have held me prisoner for years. To know that someone knows me, the real me, and still chooses to stay by my side. All those thoughts flitted through his head, but instead he said, “Because I cannot pretend to be other than I am. Don’t you see, hiding it is what’s causing me to fade.”
He ran an angry hand down his form. “I am weak, a pathetic miserable man and I cannot seem to stay away from you. I know I should.”
“No.”
“Yes,” he gnashed his teeth, “Yes. You should get back in your body, open your eyes and live, Paz. Live, find your Todd. Do not do this to yourself. Do not wallow in this. If it were truly your time, you would be gone. Don’t you understand that?”
He turned on his heels, marching back and forth. She stood where he’d left her, wringing her pale blue hands in front of her body. She was growing a brighter blue, deeper hued. Not good. It meant she wasn’t fighting the death, wasn’t fighting for her life. Why?
“Why aren’t you fighting, Paz, why?” He turned on her, his anger barely leashed. It churned and brewed in his gut, made his breathing heavy, his vision foggy. “Why?”
She glanced down at the wasted form on the bed, a frown marring her smooth forehead. “Because if I leave, I’ll never…” She bit her lip; tears shone in the corners of her eyes.
He turned his head. “I am not good for you.”
She scowled. “Don’t tell me what is and isn’t good for me. My parents did it to me all their lives, told Richard the same thing. Guess what, they were wrong. I loved them,” she walked up to him, and then softly murmured, “but they were wrong. Todd makes my brother happy. That’s all I want. I don’t know why I feel so close to you, maybe because all that stupid stuff you feel you have to hide behind in life doesn’t matter at this point. Maybe because the luxury of flirting and dates, aren’t something we can indulge in. I don’t know.” She gesticulated wildly. “All I do know, is that when I look at you, I see my Todd. And I don’t want to leave you.”
A lone tear tracked down the side of her nose.
“Each moment you stay out of your body, you get closer to that tunnel. Either way, Paz, you lose. Why would you choos
e this? You are not supposed to die yet.”
She shook her head. “But I’m not dying, Jinni. I’m alive. You took me dancing on the stars. You showed me the milky way, the birth of galaxies.” She laughed, a sultry sexy sound that shivered down his spine and kicked him in the gut. “I’ve seen a Kingdom I could never have imagined existed.”
Paz cupped his cheek. She sighed and he couldn’t feel a damn thing.
“Finish the story, Jinni, if that’s what you need to do. But I’m not leaving you. No matter what happens next.”
Chapter 13
Head in Nala’s lap, and entranced by the hypnotic trickle of water in the marble fountain, Jinni nibbled the grapes from off her feeding fingers. The hazy white glow of the twin planets hanging high in the sky, gave the twilight setting an ephemeral feel. The wind was ripe with the scent of flower blossoms and fruit. Nesting birds chirped and sang a few yards away.
The setting was one for lovers, and the brief moment in each day that he always anticipated. Thirty minutes in time that they could come together as one, laugh and talk, make love, and dream.
Red grape juice slid down his throat. With a contented sigh, he closed his eyes.
She smelled of honeysuckle and myrrh, and though the Queen’s private gardens were not nearly as private as he’d have liked, in a year of visits, they hadn’t been caught yet.
“I could die now and be happy.” Jinni moved his hungry gaze across the graceful beauty of her still face.
“Could you, my love?” Nala feathered her fingertips on his brows, but there was a distracted air about her. She touched him, but her mind was a million miles away. She’d suffered this ennui before, and always it would pass if he gave her time.
“Mmm,” he nodded, but eyed the heavy golden robe she’d draped herself in. “Though I wouldn’t mind less clothing.” He plucked at the heavy fabric with a frown.
