But then he saw her shoulders lift. Her gaze fastened on Lewis Turnbull. “What about you? Did he ever speak with you?”
Lewis hesitated. “Sometimes.”
“About?”
The mortal’s features hardened. He was a muscular man with thick, close-cropped brown hair and blue eyes. Perhaps a woman might have found him handsome. Clearly, his djinn partner Rosala thought he was. “About how I could be a traitor to my kind.”
Julia didn’t flinch at the sharp tone in the man’s voice. “Because you’re with a djinn?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Something about her mouth seemed to soften then. Zahrias wished he could have been the one who had prompted that easing of the tension in her face. But then, he wished for many things, most of which would never come true.
“Did that bother you?”
“No, ma’am.”
Her head tilted to one side, and a few heavy locks of dark gold hair slipped over her shoulder. Allah, what hair that woman had. It made Zahrias want to bury his face in it, breathe it in. Breathe her in.
“Which branch were you, Lewis?”
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Army reserve, same as Margolis.” A pause, and then Lewis added, “Well, not the same as Margolis, but you take my meaning.”
“I do. Did Margolis give you any crap about that? I mean, on top of being a traitor to your race?”
“Yes, ma’am, he did. Not that I paid him any mind, because as far as I was concerned, he’d forfeited his right to a high horse because of what he did to Natila and Jace, what he did to — ”
“Thanks for that, Lewis.” The interruption was done so smoothly that perhaps some people might not have even noticed, but Zahrias knew that Julia had spoken in the way she did because she wanted no reminders here of the atrocities Margolis had visited on her. Rage flared within him, but he knew he had to keep it tamped down. It wouldn’t do for the others in the room to realize his anger toward Margolis was a little too personal.
Lewis leaned forward over the table, his hands flat on the smooth surface. “That’s why I volunteered for guard duty, ma’am. I felt like — like he’d made me look bad, made everyone who served look bad. The least I could do was keep an eye on him and make sure he couldn’t hurt anyone ever again.”
To either side of the mortal man, Alshira and Murrah nodded. Their expressions were equally grim. Zahrias could see nothing in either of their aspects that would suggest they had been complicit in Margolis’ escape.
It seemed that Julia was thinking more or less the same thing, for she settled back in her seat and let out a breath that wasn’t quite a sigh. “Thank you, Lewis,” she said. Her voice was calm enough, but Zahrias thought he could hear the faintest tremor behind it. It seemed obvious enough to him that she had hoped one of the guards would betray him- or herself, give something away to prove that Margolis had been assisted in his escape.
“We wish we could tell you more,” Alshira added, her tone gentler than it normally was these days. “But truly, the prisoner did not wish to speak to us. He always seemed…preoccupied.”
“Preoccupied?” Julia asked.
“As if his thoughts were elsewhere. Which I suppose I can understand, for if one is confined to a cell only a few handspans wide and deep, then what else can one do but cast one’s thoughts someplace else?”
A nod, and then Julia turned toward him. Her face was almost too calm. He knew she must be struggling with her disappointment, for truly he had felt that same too-calm expression on his own features more often than he would like.
“I can’t think of anything else,” she said. “So….”
“So that will be all for now,” he said, addressing his words to the three guards who watched them. “Thank you for coming to speak with us.”
They all nodded and murmured commonplaces that more or less stated they did not mind at all. Then they got up and let themselves out of the room.
“Well, damn,” Julia said, once only she and Zahrias remained. “I was hoping one of them would incriminate themselves. That is, it would have been awful, but at least then we would have known what happened.”
“I understand,” he replied, and he did. Loose ends set him on edge. Seeing the worried look in her eyes, he went on, “I do not know if this will reassure you or not, but my people have been scouring the area around Santa Fe and have found no trace of Margolis. Wherever he went, it is nowhere near here.”
“I suppose that’s some reassurance.” She pushed her chair away from the table and stood. “Now I suppose I should see how Miles is getting on. If he’s not making any progress, then we should probably pack our things and get back to Los Alamos. Obviously, we’re not doing any good here.”
A pang went through Zahrias at these words, but he made himself nod. He could not protest her leaving, not without betraying how much he wanted her to stay.
They left the conference room and headed downstairs, where Lindsay was now crawling around on the floor of the cell and appearing to take some kind of measurements, and Miles was still tapping away on that flat-screened contraption he appeared unwilling to let go. Lindsay shot a long-suffering glance up at Zahrias and Julia as they approached but didn’t say anything. If Miles had even noticed their arrival, he gave no sign of it.
“Um, Miles,” Julia ventured after a few awkward seconds had passed.
“What?” he snapped.
Zahrias wanted to tell him to keep a civil tongue in his head when speaking to Julia Innes, but he forbore. Everyone seemed to ignore the scientist’s rudeness, perhaps because otherwise, he had proved to be quite useful.
“I’ve talked to the other guards, and they don’t have anything to contribute, either. I really think we need to pack it in and go home.”
That statement did cause Miles Odekirk to lift his head and give Julia a narrow-eyed glare from behind the spectacles he wore. “Now?”
“Well, yes. I mean, as soon as we can get all our stuff together.”
“That would not be prudent.”
Julia’s eyebrows lifted. “Why not?”
“Because I am unwilling to give up after so little time has passed. One more night here couldn’t make that much of a difference, could it?”
“Most of a day and then a night,” she pointed out. “Since it’s not even noon yet.”
“All the better. That may give me enough time.”
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. Was she concerned about spending that much time away from Los Alamos…or was she simply worried about what might occur if she extended her stay here in Santa Fe?
Zahrias hardly dared to breathe. Logically, he knew it would be better if she packed up and left this afternoon, removing all temptation from his world. But he knew he wanted her to stay. All the intervening months since he had last seen her now seemed empty, barren. She brought light and life to every room she inhabited. Would it be so terrible after all, if something happened between them?
At length she gave a reluctant nod. “Okay, Miles. One more night. But after that we really have to go. All right?”
“Hmm.” Now that she’d relented, Odekirk had already transferred his attention back to the device he held.
A rueful shrug, and Julia turned toward Zahrias. “I’m sorry — it looks as if we’ll have to prevail on your hospitality for another night.”
“It is no intrusion, I assure you.” A thought came to him, one he hoped would please her. “Since you are extending your stay, perhaps you would like to visit with Jasreel and Jessica? I am sure they would be happy to see you.”
A sunrise of a smile spread over her features. “Oh, that would be wonderful. I wished I might be able to see them, but I knew we had more important things to do.”
“Then let me contact Jasreel. Such a visit should make the time pass more swiftly.”
Still smiling, Julia nodded.
And if I give you to them for the afternoon, Zahrias thought, surely they will
not mind if I borrow you for dinner….
* * *
Jessica and Jace’s home was like a little slice of heaven on earth. Julia had heard her friend talk about the house with longing, even when she and Jace were ensconced in a high-end place only a few blocks from the Plaza, and at the time Julia could only wonder what it was about the house well outside the outskirts of town that made it so special. Now that she was here, though, she could understand what Jessica had meant. Every piece in the house seemed to have been chosen particularly to work with its pueblo architecture, but the charm of the place went far beyond the interior decoration.
No, there was something about the way the breeze ruffled the gold-crowned aspens that ringed the property, and the way the warm late-September light slanted through the windows, glowing on the terra-cotta tiles that covered the floors. Everything was neat and clean and tidy, from the house itself to the vegetable garden off to the side and the large walled yard with its complement of goats. Even though they probably hadn’t lit a fire in months, the place still smelled faintly of wood smoke, welcoming, familiar.
Both Jace and Jessica had already heard the news about Margolis’ escape, but they also seemed to realize that Julia didn’t want to discuss the subject, not on this gold-washed afternoon where the clouds from earlier that morning seemed to have dissipated, along with the tension in her neck and shoulders. Maybe that was a result of telling herself she simply couldn’t do any more than she already had, and to let it go and relax. Or maybe it was just being here in this magical spot that seemed so far away from any of her problems.
“We’re making some really good goat cheese now, too,” Jessica said. The three of them had retired to the living room after Jessica had given Julia the nickel tour of the property. A bottle of white wine, nicely chilled, sat on the coffee table. The wine was from Black Mesa winery, reinforcing Julia’s idea that she really needed to get an expedition out there one of these days to load up on supplies for Los Alamos. “Jace has been talking about getting some sheep, too.”
“You ever think you’d end up as a farmer?” Julia asked him, only slightly teasing. Truth was, they all needed to be farmers now. The days of walking into a supermarket and getting anything you wanted were long gone.
“No,” Jace said with a grin, “but it appears I have some talent for it. And Jessica tends to accommodate my whims.”
“Only because they’re usually damn smart ideas,” she replied.
“So you don’t mind being so far away from the others?”
Jessica and Jace glanced at each other briefly, and then they both shook their heads. “Not really,” she said. “After all, we can be in town in the blink of an eye, and we go in once or twice a week to bring Phillip some of our latest offerings, or to check in with everyone. But they’re still….” She let the words hang there, as if she wasn’t quite sure of the best way to express what she was trying to say.
“They’re still living like djinn,” Jace explained. His tone was even. Julia couldn’t sense any condemnation in his words, but somehow she could tell he was slightly frustrated with his fellow elementals. “They think I’m a fool for working the land like a mortal. Why bother, when I can just snap my fingers and have whatever I want?”
“Is that how it works?” Julia inquired, intrigued. She’d seen various djinn use their powers on occasion, but she still didn’t have a very good idea as to how they managed to keep Santa Fe functioning, with power and food and anything else its small band of residents might need.
“More or less,” Jace said with a shrug. “That is, they can’t conjure the materials out of nothing, but as long as the raw ingredients exist somewhere in this world, they can make their meals and their clothes appear as if from nowhere. They provide the power that runs the lights and keeps the water flowing and the heat on. To an elemental, it’s a mere trickle, something we don’t even notice giving away.”
“Must be nice,” Julia remarked, trying not to sound envious. After all, she knew that everyone in Los Alamos was lucky to have electric lights and warm showers — even if those showers were limited to five minutes each.
“It is…on the surface. But it’s also a crutch. The djinn have taken this world for their own, but they don’t seem too eager to live in it with any respect for its resources.”
“Besides,” Jessica added with a grin, “chopping wood and herding goats has given Jace some awesome muscles.”
“I had those already,” he protested, and Jessica chuckled.
Watching them, Julia felt another stab of envy. They seemed so easy with one another, even more so than the djinn she’d seen with their Chosen in Santa Fe. Maybe it was because Jace and Jessica interacted with one another as equals, not as a magical being and the mortal he’d deigned to choose. Whatever the reason, she knew they were both damn lucky, for multiple reasons.
And Julia — well, she supposed she’d get her life figured out sooner or later. Being around Zahrias had been difficult, but she didn’t think she’d done anything to arouse his suspicions or make him believe that she saw him as anything other than a colleague. True, he’d asked to have dinner with her tonight, but he’d quickly added that he thought it would give them the opportunity to discuss how their respective communities were faring. Nothing in his voice or expression had seemed to indicate he expected anything more than that.
“So,” Jessica said, abandoning the topic of Jace’s muscles, “you’re having dinner with Zahrias tonight. What are you going to wear?”
“What I have on,” Julia replied calmly. “We’re just going to discuss business.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jace chuckled, then sobered as Julia lifted an eyebrow in his direction. After retrieving his wine glass, he settled back against the sofa cushions, apparently content to let the women argue this one.
“Zahrias is a very formal person,” Jessica said. “I don’t know how he’d feel about a dinner guest showing up in jeans.”
“Well, that’s all I brought,” Julia told her, feeling irritated. “Have you forgotten the reason why I’m here in Santa Fe in the first place?”
The smile faded from Jessica’s lips. “No, I hadn’t forgotten,” she said quietly. “But you’ve done everything you could on that front, so you might as well make a good impression tonight. Hang on.”
She got up from the sofa and headed down the hall that led to the bedrooms. Once they were alone, Julia turned to Jace. “Do you know what she’s up to?”
“Not at all. But I suppose we’ll find out in a minute.”
As they did, because Jessica returned a few minutes later carrying some lengths of teal-colored fabric draped over one arm. In her other hand, she had a pair of high-heeled brown boots. Julia stared at them for a moment, and then shook her head in recognition.
“Where on earth did you get those?”
“I rescued them after I saw that you’d left them behind when you went back to Los Alamos.” Jessica laid the top and its matching skirt down on the cushion of the love seat where Julia was sitting. “And the jewelry. I stuck it in the skirt pocket.”
“Jessica, I — ” Breaking off, Julia could only shake her head. Yes, she had left the lovely outfit behind when she vacated the townhouse where she’d been living in Santa Fe. She hadn’t seen any reason to bring the clothes with her, since she’d known she’d be too busy running Los Alamos to worry about having any fancy outfits.
Besides, she could recall all too well the sudden flash of admiration, quickly hidden, that she’d seen in Zahrias’ eyes when he first saw her wearing those clothes.
“Just take them,” Jessica said. “You don’t want to offend Zahrias, do you?”
No, Julia supposed she didn’t.
Chapter Five
During the warm summer months, Zahrias had enjoyed sitting at the table in the courtyard and consuming his meals there, but he knew the nights now were too cold for such an arrangement to be comfortable for Julia. Instead, he planned to sit down with her in the dinin
g room. The table seemed small and somewhat mean to him, as it could only accommodate twelve and no more, but since it would only be the two of them, he supposed that didn’t matter.
He recalled that she had enjoyed the meals Phillip prepared, and so he enlisted the mortal man to create the menu and prepare the dishes. Not wishing to impose too much on that worthy individual, Zahrias made sure that Phillip could do all the cooking during the afternoon and be done in time to prepare another fine meal for Julia’s party so they wouldn’t feel too abandoned. It would be easy enough to keep everything warm until the appointed hour.
Besides that, Zahrias made sure the table was covered in a fine cloth of ivory linen, and two place settings of porcelain were laid out just so, along with oversized goblets of blown glass. The dining room had a fine sideboard of dark carved wood, and he collected candle holders from throughout the house and set them there.
Would she think it too much? Difficult to say. He always dined by candlelight because he enjoyed it, but he couldn’t guess what Julia’s reaction might be. Humans seemed to think of candles as “romantic,” rather than as a useful alternative to harsh electric light. Ah, well. In his heart of hearts, he rather hoped she might get the wrong impression.
Jace had promised to bring Julia back to her hotel once she was done with her visit, and so Zahrias had little to do except wait for the appointed hour. He revisited the dining room several times to make sure that everything was just as it should be, and spent a great deal of time deciding on the best wine to accompany the elk tenderloin Phillip had prepared. The people who had owned this house were long gone, but they had left behind a very impressive wine cellar.
In the end, Zahrias chose a cabernet franc and opened it to let it air. Just as he was setting the bottle down, the doorbell rang.
Djinn had no need of watches, for they sensed the passage of time as easily as they breathed. Mortal divisions of time were more difficult, but Zahrias had become accustomed enough to them to know that Julia was right there at the hour he had specified.
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