by Marie Hall
Lately she’d taken to covering every inch of herself, save her face. Gone were the days she’d meet him in little more than a scrap of chiffon. They’d not even lain together in over a fortnight.
“Are you on your woman’s time?”
She flinched. Perhaps he shouldn’t have asked it. True, he’d missed her touch. But simply being with her was enough.
“Forgive me, Nala, I meant no--”
She tossed her silky black hair behind her shoulders. “No, my dearest, you have done nothing. I’m simply…” She worried her bottom lip between blunt white teeth.
The languor of a moment ago faded. He knew her well. Knew the secret smile that played about her lips in the grand halls when they’d pass. How when he touched the small of her back, her entire body would tense and writhe with pleasure. How one kiss upon the nape of her neck would make her slick and ready. Her knew her pleasure, but Jinni also knew her pain.
He’d seen it creeping in these last months. She laughed less, her green eyes hardly twinkled, even the rosy blooms of her cheeks had dulled down to a muted whimper.
Heart seizing as the reality of what was happening made him jerk to a sitting position. “You will not lie with me. You cover yourself. You’re leaving me, aren’t you?”
The words were a bitter taste on his tongue, made his stomach sick and palms sweat. In some part of his head, he’d always feared this day might come. But not yet, not so soon.
Nala squeezed her eyes shut. “No, my love, I’ve not come to break things off. I love you.”
“Then look at me, Nala,” he gripped her suddenly cold hands, his stomach no less queasy, “what is the matter?”
Her eyes were moist with unshed tears. “It is not what you think.”
So if she was not here to break it off, and if she still loved him, then what was… He hissed as a cold sweat covered his body, made his heart clench. “You’re pregnant. That’s why you won’t lie with me, that’s why--”
She placed her finger on his lips. “No, Jinni, I am not pregnant. I know how to prevent that.”
Reflexively, he dropped a kiss on the tip of her finger. “Then what is it, Nala? I do not wish to intrude, but something is wrong and you must tell me.”
Again she closed her eyes, but this time she lifted her arm and slowly pulled the sleeve back. Horror clouded his vision. Jinni gripped her purple and blue mottled wrist, planting one kiss after another upon the obvious finger impressions embedded in her fair skin.
“Who did this?” he growled, fire burned in his gut. “Who did this to you!” He gripped her shoulders, forcing her eyes to open.
“I… I…” She hung her head letting her hair hang over her face like a drape, shielding her from his eyes. “You cannot do anything about this, Jinni. Please. Don’t.”
He clicked his jaw, knowing in the depths of his soul who it was. Because there was only one person he could not kill in return. One man he’d sworn an oath of loyalty to. The only man who could lay his hand upon Nala without fear of retribution-- the King himself.
Jinni stood. The fire of heat turned into something sharper, colder, filling him and heating his veins with its icy kiss. “How long has he done this?”
Nala grimaced. “Jinni, please. Please don’t do this. You cannot do anything, my love. The bruises will soon fade, all will be well.” She gripped his hand, and tugged at him to stop his pacing.
But a powerful anger had gripped him, an irrational, mind-numbing rage that made him want to rip the man’s hands off with his own. He shrugged her off, needing to walk and pace and seethe.
“How long, Nala?” he asked her again, a low rumble laced his words.
She dragged her hands over her face. “He smells you on me. He cannot prove it, and I will never tell him, but I believe deep down he knows. And when I return, he… hurts me.”
Acutely aware that he could not scream, but needing to release the roiling tension gathering in his gut, Jinni marched to one of her precious apple trees and punched his fist through it, the wood splintered off in his knuckles, ripping his flesh open.
But the pain did not lessen the fury, only increased his desire to do more harm.
“No more,” he vowed.
Nala ran to him, gripping his hand and cooing softly against the bleeding. Gathering a corner of her robe, she dabbed at it. Tears coursed down her face.
“Please, Jinni, please forgive me. You shouldn’t worry about this. My body is strong, I’ll heal.”
“Forgive you?!” he roared, knowing his voice rose, knowing anyone who marched passed would hear, but his rage would not let him think rationally. “You’ve done nothing wrong. I will kill him.”
“No!” She squeezed his forearm as he tried to yank out of her arms. “No,” she pleaded again, wrapping herself around his middle. “You cannot.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You forget who I am. What I am. I can kill him. With my bare hands.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Not like this, Jinni.” Worry scrawled fine lines upon her brow. “Not like this. You must calm yourself.”
His nostrils flared, his blood boiled. Could she not understand, she was not a martyr that had to take this abuse. “I love you, Nala.”
Nala shook her head. “Quiet, Jinni. I’ll not have you be tried for treason. Do you hear me?” Her kiss took the sting out of her words.
That touch of her lips mollified him somewhat, eased the crippling anger to a manageable level. But his body still trembled with adrenaline.
“I must avenge your honor, King or no, you must understand that?” He trailed his knuckles down her soft cheeks.
Sighing, she laid her head against his chest and he gripped the base of her skull with frantic fingers. That any would dare to harm her…
“I understand,” she whispered.
“Tonight,” he nodded, gripping her chin in his hand, “open the doors to me tonight.”
“Oh what am I doing?”
Jinni feathered a kiss across her lips, tongue seeking entry, when he heard a rustle in a bush behind them.
Nala jumped away from him, and it incensed him all over again that they could not be free to touch and love openly. Muscle ticking in his jaw, he watched as one of her personal guards walked into the square.
The guard wore a bright crimson tunic and a large scabbard strapped to his waist, his black brow was raised in question as he spotted Jinni standing by the Queen’s prized apple tree. The very one that now sported a fist sized hole through its center.
Nala lay on her chaise, attempting to appear calm and collected, but it was obvious to him she was anything but. Her skin looked waxy and her eyes haunted.
“My lady,” the guard intoned, and dropped to his knee. “You look unwell, allow me to escort you to your chambers.”
“Yes, Mikahel,” she nodded, “I think that to be a good idea.” She gave him her hand, then turned and glanced once more at Jinni over her shoulder as the guard escorted her out.
Jinni clipped his head. Tonight, it would end.
***
Paz licked her lips as she gazed at the canvas. It was obvious to her how this would go down. Jinni stood by the window, gazing out at the sky, a blank look on his face.
“You don’t need to keep telling me this story, Jinni.”
His shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t look at her.
She sighed.
Nala was cruelly beautiful the way she’d painted her this time. Full mouth set into a devilish smirk, golden robe marked with blood-- his blood-- it was all a set up.
And Paz was angry.
Not at Jinni. Not even at Nala, who was probably nothing more than a bag of bones and dust now. But at the fate that’d befallen a man who’d been so desperate to know love he hadn’t seen the truth of the woman he’d picked to be his beloved.
“I’m sure it is obvious to you by now, what happened. No?” Jinni spoke, his voice flat and without emotion.
She wanted to beg him to stop. Stop rehashing a night tha
t had happened long ago, stop trying to push her away. But as much as she didn’t want to hear more, she knew he had to tell it. Had to lay the demons to rest.
“Yes.”
He smirked and stared back out the window. “You think you know the story, Paz. But it’s so much more than what you think.”
Paz glanced at her body on the bed. At Richard, haggard and sporting more than just a six o’clock shadow, he looked related to Grizzly Adams at this point. How sad life could be sometimes. How wholly unfair.
Not only had her brother lost their parents, he’d now also lost her. At this point Paz didn’t know what to do. The tugging to go to the light wasn’t as strong as before, but neither was the desire to reenter that broken thing lying on the bed. Not if it meant she’d never see Jinni again.
Sighing, she turned to look at him. He hadn’t moved, just continued to stare out the window with haunted eyes that looked back in the past.
“What will happen when you finish the story?”
“You’ll get back in your body and wake up.”
She frowned. “Why do you want me to go away so badly? Don’t you like me? Even a little?”
For a long moment he didn’t answer, and she feared he wouldn’t, then he turned to her and shook his head. “I am no good for you, Paz. What we have here, it is temporary. Whether you go to the light, or go to your body, I cannot follow.”
The thought made her throat burn. He was right. This was hopeless. What was the point of all this then? Why continue to tell her stories? Take her dancing? Kiss her? Why were they doing this to themselves?
He swallowed; a frown marked his face. Squeezing his eyes shut, she saw his jaw work side to side. Then he asked her the strangest question.
“What do you think about that man in the next room?”
“Who? Tristan?”
He lifted a brow.
“I don’t know him. I feel a weird bond with him, but it’s probably only because of the crash. I know he saved me. But it’s you I want.”
“Is he pleasing to look at?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What are you asking? Are you trying to play cosmic matchmaker?”
“Answer the question, Paz.”
She huffed. “Yes, he’s hot. But no, I don’t want him. I don’t want anything to do with him. I want you. Only you. Besides you said that thing is a soulless golem, why in the world would I want that?”
“You cannot have me,” he snarled, and she gasped as the pain of those words ripped through her like a lance.
“If I can’t have you anyway, then what’s the point of going back into that body? I’ll eventually die. I’m human. So…” She shook her head, tapping her foot as the pain turned to bitter anger in her belly.
“Your brother needs you, you must return to your body.”
She winced, feeling like she’d just been punched in the gut. Richard. Her best friend and brother, it would kill him when she died. She knew it. And it was silly and petty to want to leave him alone forever because she couldn’t have a man she barely knew.
“He has Todd,” she whispered in a final effort to mollify her conscious.
“Don not be selfish, Paz. It is not like you.”
“You don’t even know me.” She wiped at a tear she hadn’t realized she’d shed. And how was that even possible? She didn’t think ghosts could cry. But now that she felt the one, more followed, and suddenly her vision grew clouded with water.
Then he was by her side, moving as quick as thought, his eyes were searching hers. “I do know you, I know your soul. And it is so beautiful, worthy to be shared and known. I do like you, Paz. And I wish… I wish I had seen you first.”
She nodded, too choked up to speak.
His lashes flickered, a helpless look crossed his face. He raised his hands and stared at them, then at her. “If I could touch you, I would. I would draw you into my arms and ease the pain from your chest. I would be your lover and friend. But know, that in my heart, I do that for you.”
The moment was one that, dead or alive, would forever burn in her memory. She couldn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. He nodded, and she knew he knew.
“Now, I must finish. We haven’t much time left,” and as he spoke it she saw his light dim even further.
Chapter 14
Jinni glanced over his shoulder, the King and Queen’s guards had been easy enough to dispatch. He’d hidden behind potted shrubs, waiting until the moment they crossed his path and then he’d struck them with the hilt of his sword in the side of their heads. There’d only been two of them, and each walking separate wings. There’d been no cries of alarm, no sharp gasps of breath. They’d simply crumpled at his feet like wilted flowers.
It would have been so much easier to use his magic, to will them to sleep, into a stupor so deep they’d not wake again until the next morning. But magic always left a trace, and only he could use magic in all of the King’s palace, which meant he’d be discovered.
If he was discovered, it was entirely possible the Queen’s affair would also be revealed. She’d be stoned, or worse. He couldn’t have that. So he tiptoed silently along the halls, hugging the walls and keeping well within shadow.
Dressed entirely in black, from the scarf wrapped tight around his face, to the supple black sandals on his feet-- it would be nigh impossible for anyone to discover his secret. A soft blue wash of moonlight spilled through the open windows, Jinni pressed his face tight to the stone wall, hearing nothing but the violent beating of his heart.
The King and Queen’s chamber lied just ahead. Breathing through the rush of adrenaline, he moved as silently and stealthily as he could, ignoring his compulsion to run and end this now.
The hall opened up into a “T,” quickly he peeked his head around the corner, relieved to see an endless stretch of blackness and no sounds of feet.
He was here to kill the King. It was inconceivable to him that someone hadn’t figured it out yet, that he could be so close to their beloved King and none stirred. How could the palace be so peaceful and calm, how could they not know?
He licked his lips.
The King had been good to him. Had cared for him. Given him a home, and shown him true friendship. Many nights he’d been called upon by a restless King to tell tales of a Kingdom made of stars-- of the birth of the djinn and the power that they weaved with nary a thought.
They’d walked the gardens talking of government matters. The King had even given him exclusive access to Aria, knowing their friendship, and lifting the ban that no man could ever visit his daughter alone.
The King trusted him.
Jinni gripped his scimitar, it glowed an unearthly blue as a shaft of moonlight sliced across its steel face. The curved sharp blade intended to cut a man in half.
Did his friend deserve this fate?
As he stared at the blade, torn between his need for vengeance and his love for a man who’d never shown him anything but kindness, the door swung open on silent hinges. Nala stood poised at its entrance wearing nothing but a white guazy nightgown.
Her black hair spilled around her face and back, her green eyes were frantic and wide. Panic fluttered at the pulse in her throat and Jinni’s mouth went absolutely dry.
“Jinni,” she cried, flinging her arms around his neck. Nala kissed him, peppering his face and brows with her relief and joy. Tears ran warm down her cheeks.
Jinni frowned, wiping the tears up with his thumbs. “Nala, we could be caught.”
“Do not worry about the guards. All know not to bother us when the King is present.”
The moment he’d spotted her, he’d forgotten about the fact that the King was in this room, that right now he could be watching him embracing his wife. Thinking about it made a sick rush of bile race up his throat. He peeked over her shoulder
Hundreds of candles lit the room, incense swirled thick and musty, sparking heat through his blood. And then he smelled it, that sick odor of musk and sex. “You mated him again.”
>
He ground his molars.
She nodded. “It was the only way, I had to get him sated that he wouldn’t suspect.”
Jinni narrowed his eyes, taking her arms off his neck. “Suspect what? Where is he?” He swept into the room and immediately spotted the prone form of the King.
He looked small in the enormous four poster bed. The flickering lights danced across his tallow colored skin. A white silk sheet was the only thing he wore, it wrapped loosely around his hips and upper thighs.
King Abdullah’s eyes were closed as heavy snores fell from his lips. Beside the bed, upon the nightstand, a golden goblet stood. Jinni marched up to the cup and swiped it, sniffing its contents. The red wine smelled too sweet. Sickly even. He curled his nose with disgust and sat it down, splashing some of it over the side.
“You drugged him?”
She clasped her hands. “It was the only way.”
Jinni dropped the scimitar and grabbed his head, tugging on his hair. “I cannot kill him now.”
Her eyes grew more frantic. “Jinni, the beatings. It must end.”
Heart clenching at the reminder, he squeezed his eyes shut. “I will not ram a sword through his gut while he sleeps, Nala! I’m not a coward. I came here to fight him man to man. To tell him of my love for you, to demand justice for the beatings he’s inflected upon you.”
A sharp snore punctuated his statement and he growled.
“I will not kill an unarmed man.”
“Jinni please,” Nala grabbed his hand, forcing him to stop his pacing and look at her, “you must. A night like tonight, it may never happen again. The gods have decreed this, can you not see? The guards are on another call, the King allowed me to drug him… I…” She dropped his hand and hugged her arms, “I cannot bear it anymore. You must kill him. You must. For me.”
Her look shattered his heart, the tears in her green eyes unmanned him. Jinni grabbed the sides of her face. “Do not cry, beloved. We will find another way.”
“No!” She shook off his hands and tore her shift down the center, exposing the lush curves and planes of her body. “Look at me!” She hissed. “Look at what he’s done to me. Just this night. LOOK!”
