Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

“Go where?”


That dark decadent voice rolled over her body like sun warmed honey. Tingles of heat shot through a soul she thought might never feel warmth again.

Prickling force pressed against her back. She remembered that sensation. It was the hard penetrating gaze of a man liking what he saw. And for a moment she remembered how it felt to be alive, to feel empowered, sexy…

“Go where, little dove?”

Her lashes fluttered and all thought scattered. There’d been a tunnel, and light, a hot, hard desire to go… but now there was this. Him.

She turned. “Jinni?”

Her reflection glinted in the depths of his dark eyes. Soulful eyes. The kind of eyes that mesmerized, made her forget the cold, the soul sucking loneliness that shredded any resolve to stay.

“You left me,” she said, the words sprung from the depths of her pain.

Long, sooty lashes shaded his eyes. His full bottom lip turned down in a small frown. “It is hard to be around you.”

“I’m so cold when you leave. And the light,” she glanced out the door, knowing the light waited just down the hall, “it’s so warm. I need warm.”

Ripples of static buzzed along her jawline as his nearly translucent finger traced the curve of her jaw.

“I am here now, and I promise I will not leave again.”

She smiled as a lone tear slipped out the corner of her eye.

“Would you like to hear a story?” he asked.

“What kind of story?”

“One filled with romance, intrigue, and betrayal. My story.”

He sounded so sad, so unsure, and all she knew was she had to stay for him. She couldn’t leave. He needed her and somehow, deep down, she knew she needed him too.

Maybe they could save each other.

She smiled and nodded her head, feeling his tug of energy move against her wrist as he magnetically seemed to pull her close to his pale side.

“You told me once you like to paint.”

Colors filled her head, a miasma of differing shades-- bold blues and vivid reds. Her heart quickened and she nodded as joy trembled in her throat. “Yes. I do.”

He turned his hands over in silent entreaty. She understood and rested hers on top of his. His power buzzed along her arms, and for a moment, a split second in time she swore she could almost feel them-- strong, and firm, and slightly cool. They thrilled her, made her burn and ache, but then the sensation of touch was gone and all she felt again was the delicious hum of him ripple through her.

Something intoxicating and exciting filled the space between them, it shimmered like pale golds and glinting silvers.

“This is my magic,” he leaned in so close, his lips hovered by her ear, and she shivered as heat streaked from her fingertips. “Paint my story, and see who I really am. Then you can decide.”

He didn’t make sense to her, but it didn’t matter, because in front of them a white canvas stretched out and colors coalesced into exotic and lovely shapes.

“A long, long time ago,” his deep honeyed voice began, “a genie wondered what it would feel like to live as man…”





Chapter 6


Several hundred years ago in Eastern Kingdom





Look at the beetles, marching here and there. Filling the King’s halls with their colorful frocks and titillating laughter, Jinni could barely conceal the disdain, even within his own head.

He rolled kohl-rimmed eyes, sneering at the humans marching passed. They offered him furtive glances. Some were boldly inquisitive, but most trembled with fear.

He quirked his brow and lifted his turbaned head, jutting his chin out proudly. He was djinn, and they should fear him. The King’s newest and most powerful acquisition, a show of strength to all of Eastern realm.

Jinni guarded King Abdullah’s door, standing with his feet spread and his arms crossing his chest. A djinn didn’t need sleep, didn’t need rest, a djinn was power, might, god-like in every way.

“Who are you?”

Jinni turned at the sound of her voice, soft and sweet, hesitant, but sure. Her skin was firm and brown, her eyes seeming dipped in kohl. She was a child, barely more than five years of age. But there was a sort of maturity to her features, a twinkle in her dark eyes that said she saw more than the world thought she did. Tight braids circled her head, causing her ears to turn outwards just slightly. The effect was oddly endearing and made him grin.

“I am King Abdullah’s royal vizier,” he said, quirking a brow, asking without words what she wanted.

She inhaled sharply, glancing over her shoulder. “I do not know you. I have not seen you around before.”

High-pitched girlish giggling drew his attention. Gathered deep within the shadows, several jasmine-scented barefoot maidens hid their smiles behind their hands, gawking openly at him.