Jinni's Wish, Book 4 Kingdom Series (10 page)

She traced the curve of his cheek. “That was
a long time ago. You don’t seem like a bad person now.”

He snorted. “You do not know the end of my
story, dove. Save your kindness until you learn it. You just might
change your mind.”

Her lips compressed and Jinni fought to shake
off the self-recriminations. This was for her. Not for him to
wallow and dwell in his misery.

“I do believe you mentioned wanting to dance
on a star.” He held up his hand.

The effervescent smile was back and, as she
slipped her hand in his, a symphony only they could hear rode the
winds of time, embracing their light in a tight hug. They danced
and swayed, hopping from one star to another. Paz laughed and
laughed, throwing her head back, breathing in deeply as a rosy
flush touched her cheeks.

“I wish I’d known you before, Paz,” he
whispered so low he knew she wouldn’t hear. “You would have saved
me.”

Before she was ready, they were back. And
something was very wrong with Jinni. He was clutching his middle,
and maybe it was just her, but he seemed even less substantial than
before. A pale wisp of a shadow against her wall.

“Jinni,” she cried as he dropped to his
knees.

“I’m fine, dove.” He gave her a brave smile,
straight teeth cutting a path through his face.

“You don’t look fine.”

She reached for his hand, but this time
failed to even feel a shock of his awareness. There was literally
nothing, no static, no energy. Dead air.

Her stomach rolled. “Jinni?”

He closed his eyes. “It will pass, dove. I’ll
return soon. I must get back to my world.”

“Are you going to recharge?”

He didn’t speak for a moment and her lips
trembled.

“You’re leaving me, aren’t you?”

His eyes were glazed and seeming in pain, but
his voice was sure as he said, “I will be back for you. Do not go
to the light. Wait for me.”

She nodded and then felt an aching tide of
loneliness sweep through her as he vanished once again.

Jinni crawled through the portal, dry heaving
and panting as every molecule in his body threatened to rupture
apart. Grabbing his skull, he winced as needle hot pain stabbed his
brain. The moment he stepped through into Kingdom, he expected to
gain back some of the immortal flame he’d spent dancing with Paz,
but as his face landed on the dirt and he gulped in greedy
mouthfuls of air, he realized there was nothing left.

He laughed-- a wretched sort of sound full of
pain and irony. “Humpty dumpty cannot be put back together again,”
he sputtered and coughed as pieces of him stretched further
apart.

Closing his eyes, he cursed the day he’d made
that fateful decision. If he’d only known, only could have seen
what lay ahead. What waited for him, but he’d been blinded by a
pair of exotic green eyes and honey slickened skin.

The air around him tightened, compressed, and
then burst with a bolt of blue light. Jinni blinked against the
overwhelming brightness, studying the tiny figure of Danika as she
sailed through the time rift. She shook herself like a wet dog,
sending strings of pearls and dew to bobbing in her blond
curls.

Exhausted, Jinni closed his eyes. It only
took a moment before he heard a sharp gasp and then the buzz of her
wings, before she landed beside him.

“Bloody hell, Jinni! Fine mess you’ve
made.”

Not exactly the greeting he’d expected;
surprising enough to illicit a minute response from him. He cracked
an eye open. “I’m dying, fairy,” he mumbled.

“Thank you, captain obvious.” She planted
hands on her plump hips. “Why haven’t you used the bloody golem
yet? ‘Tis why I sent the beastly thing.”

She swished her wand, a bright pink bolt of
energy wrapped him up, and instantly the fracturing molecules
stilled. The frenetic buzz of his form quieted to a low hum and he
took a deep cleansing breath, still trembling from the after
effects of nearly dissipating.

He grabbed his chest, the ghostly remembered
pain, making him dizzy. “You did not ask me if I’d be okay with
that, Danika.”

At the moment she reminded him of a teenager
the way she theatrically rolled her eyes. All that was needed was a
foot stomping to round out the illusion. “Of course I didn’t.
Because I knew how you’d react, you… you Neanderthal. The key to
your salvation is right there with that thing and yet still, you
refuse my help. Why?!”

Jinni popped his jaw from side to side. She
was right. He’d never made it easy on her, never wanted Danika to
help him. Because to admit he needed her help, was to admit he’d
screwed up. That it hadn’t been Nala, who he’d blamed for
centuries, but rather himself. His fall from grace, from power,
from… everything that had ever meant anything to him, wasn’t
because of her. But him.

She threw her hands up in the air. “Well, of
course you won’t answer. Why would I ever expect to hear an answer
out of you? Hmmm?” She flitted back and forth, her dragonfly wings
buzzing louder than the wailing winds crying outside his home.
“Because I’m just a fairy, not worthy of a mighty djinn’s
notice…”

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…”

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.”