Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

Not at Jinni. Not even at Nala, who was probably nothing more than a bag of bones and dust now. But at the fate that’d befallen a man who’d been so desperate to know love he hadn’t seen the truth of the woman he’d picked to be his beloved.

“I’m sure it is obvious to you by now, what happened. No?” Jinni spoke, his voice flat and without emotion.

She wanted to beg him to stop. Stop rehashing a night that had happened long ago, stop trying to push her away. But as much as she didn’t want to hear more, she knew he had to tell it. Had to lay the demons to rest.

“Yes.”

He smirked and stared back out the window. “You think you know the story, Paz. But it’s so much more than what you think.”

Paz glanced at her body on the bed. At Richard, haggard and sporting more than just a six o’clock shadow, he looked related to Grizzly Adams at this point. How sad life could be sometimes. How wholly unfair.

Not only had her brother lost their parents, he’d now also lost her. At this point Paz didn’t know what to do. The tugging to go to the light wasn’t as strong as before, but neither was the desire to reenter that broken thing lying on the bed. Not if it meant she’d never see Jinni again.

Sighing, she turned to look at him. He hadn’t moved, just continued to stare out the window with haunted eyes that looked back in the past.

“What will happen when you finish the story?”

“You’ll get back in your body and wake up.”

She frowned. “Why do you want me to go away so badly? Don’t you like me? Even a little?”

For a long moment he didn’t answer, and she feared he wouldn’t, then he turned to her and shook his head. “I am no good for you, Paz. What we have here, it is temporary. Whether you go to the light, or go to your body, I cannot follow.”

The thought made her throat burn. He was right. This was hopeless. What was the point of all this then? Why continue to tell her stories? Take her dancing? Kiss her? Why were they doing this to themselves?

He swallowed; a frown marked his face. Squeezing his eyes shut, she saw his jaw work side to side. Then he asked her the strangest question.

“What do you think about that man in the next room?”

“Who? Tristan?”

He lifted a brow.

“I don’t know him. I feel a weird bond with him, but it’s probably only because of the crash. I know he saved me. But it’s you I want.”

“Is he pleasing to look at?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What are you asking? Are you trying to play cosmic matchmaker?”

“Answer the question, Paz.”

She huffed. “Yes, he’s hot. But no, I don’t want him. I don’t want anything to do with him. I want you. Only you. Besides you said that thing is a soulless golem, why in the world would I want that?”

“You cannot have me,” he snarled, and she gasped as the pain of those words ripped through her like a lance.

“If I can’t have you anyway, then what’s the point of going back into that body? I’ll eventually die. I’m human. So…” She shook her head, tapping her foot as the pain turned to bitter anger in her belly.

“Your brother needs you, you must return to your body.”

She winced, feeling like she’d just been punched in the gut. Richard. Her best friend and brother, it would kill him when she died. She knew it. And it was silly and petty to want to leave him alone forever because she couldn’t have a man she barely knew.

“He has Todd,” she whispered in a final effort to mollify her conscious.

“Don not be selfish, Paz. It is not like you.”

“You don’t even know me.” She wiped at a tear she hadn’t realized she’d shed. And how was that even possible? She didn’t think ghosts could cry. But now that she felt the one, more followed, and suddenly her vision grew clouded with water.

Then he was by her side, moving as quick as thought, his eyes were searching hers. “I do know you, I know your soul. And it is so beautiful, worthy to be shared and known. I do like you, Paz. And I wish… I wish I had seen you first.”

She nodded, too choked up to speak.

His lashes flickered, a helpless look crossed his face. He raised his hands and stared at them, then at her. “If I could touch you, I would. I would draw you into my arms and ease the pain from your chest. I would be your lover and friend. But know, that in my heart, I do that for you.”

The moment was one that, dead or alive, would forever burn in her memory. She couldn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. He nodded, and she knew he knew.

“Now, I must finish. We haven’t much time left,” and as he spoke it she saw his light dim even further.





Chapter 14