Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

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.”





Chapter 13





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.