Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

“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.





Chapter 11





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.”