Jinni's Wish, Book 4 Kingdom Series (11 page)

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
choose 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.”

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.

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.