Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

“I’m not trying to. This is hard. I was able to lift the sheets up before, I don’t know why I can’t even do this now.”


“I’m immortal, in a sense. It took much longer for me to experience energy drain off. But your humanity accelerates it. It is okay.” He clasped his hands together, mainly because he desperately wanted to hold her arms, comfort and sooth her, but knew he’d never be able to latch onto her. “I know it is hard, Paz. But you are blocking yourself. You believe you cannot do this. So you cannot. Now close your eyes.”

She growled low in her throat, a delicious heated purr that sent shivers straight through him, but did as he asked. She huffed hair out of her face, must have been a habit, because her hair was tucked behind her ears.

“Now, imagine yourself on a beach,” he began, voice lulling and soft, gently hypnotizing. Once, long ago, he’d been good at this.

Her nose scrunched up in the most adorable fashion and his lips twitched. “Do you see the beach?”

“I see blackness. Lots and lots of it,” she whined.

He chuckled and closed his own eyes. The magic resting in his soul flared softly to life, like the gentle glow of candlelight. It flickered low, but steady. Reaching deep within himself, he grasped a hold of the flame and drew that heat through his body. It trickled through him, and for the first time in ages he trembled with joy. With the remembered knowledge of what it meant to grasp the fire.

But he no longer had what he used to have, what he’d taken for granted. Using too much would be dangerous. Hard as it was, he tamped down the thrill of the magic and took only what he needed. Even this little bit would cost.

Making sure to keep a connection between his mind and the flame, Jinni opened his eyes and smiled into Paz’s startled face.

She glanced around, mouth slightly open. “You’re here? In my head?”

In here she did not glow blue, her skin was a tanned olive, her hair darker than midnight, and her eyes the piercing brown of an owl. Dressed in a Grecian gown of sheer white-- Jinni lost his breath-- as her each and every curve came into exacting focus. Exotic and curvaceous, the type of body only a master sculptor could hope to capture. Round, firm breasts rose high as her breathing inched up a notch.

With the same degree he studied her; he felt her eyes on him like a hot brand. He’d dressed himself in the style of the King he’d served. Tunic and pants, the cerulean fabric threaded through with veins of gold.

Around them was nothing but darkness. Her mind was unfocused. Though all of what he was about to do was illusion, there would still be the sensation of touch. Jinni walked up to her. Her eyes were huge in her face, but she didn’t utter a word as his warm hands slid up the length of her bare arms. A rigid rise of goose bumps traveled in their wake and she hissed.

Touching her was like touching something hot and explosive. He licked his lips, his stomach bottoming out. He’d already touched her. When he’d carried her from the plane, but the desire to truly know her hadn’t yet been born in him.

Now it was, and this was so different.

Jinni forced himself to breathe. “Imagine the sand, dove.”

Her lashes fluttered, her gaze held his, as if spellbound.

With a flick of his wrist he helped her to see it.

She gasped as the land swayed around them, the blackness bled away as a wave rolled in.

“Stop the water.” He continued to rub circles on her arm with his thumb, enjoying the touch of her silky, soft skin much more than he’d ever expected.

Paz glanced at the wave barreling toward them. Her mouth set into a tight line, a frown marred her brow and then she said, “Stop.”

Power rippled through the air, danced across their skin, and the wave froze. A curl of blue water forever frozen.

“Good,” he said.

She smiled.

“Now, pick up a grain of sand.”

“Jinni?”

“You can do this, dove. You can.” He grabbed her hand. “Push all that power into your hand and pick it up.”

Paz knelt, studying the sand as if it were a science experiment. Jinni pushed a small measure of his magic into her palm, a tiny flutter of “will.” She inhaled deeply, then reached out and dug her hand deep into the sand.

A delighted squeal fell from her tongue. “I can feel it, Jinni.”

“What does it feel like?” he asked as his thumb traced the curve of her knuckle.

His entire body quaking and alive with the sensation of touch.

“Cold. Hard.” She looked at him, joy shining in her eyes.

“Pick one up.”

Tip of her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth in concentration, she focused, and ever so slowly held the grain aloft. Her hand shook, and her body trembled, but her laughter was full of light.

“I did it. I did it. Jinni, I did it!”

He kissed her.

Couldn’t help himself.