Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

“I will not kill an unarmed man.”


“Jinni please,” Nala grabbed his hand, forcing him to stop his pacing and look at her, “you must. A night like tonight, it may never happen again. The gods have decreed this, can you not see? The guards are on another call, the King allowed me to drug him… I…” She dropped his hand and hugged her arms, “I cannot bear it anymore. You must kill him. You must. For me.”

Her look shattered his heart, the tears in her green eyes unmanned him. Jinni grabbed the sides of her face. “Do not cry, beloved. We will find another way.”

“No!” She shook off his hands and tore her shift down the center, exposing the lush curves and planes of her body. “Look at me!” She hissed. “Look at what he’s done to me. Just this night. LOOK!”

He did look and got sick.

Her fine skin was covered in blue, green, and purple. Jinni reached out to touch a large palm print on her abdomen and she smacked him.

“No, you don’t get to touch. You don’t get to pretend you care! Go. Go away.” She turned on him, covering her body with the shredded edges of her gown.

Blinking hard against the black, choking hate sweeping up his throat, Jinni reached for his sword.

He’d meant to do an honorable killing. For the kindness and mercy the King had extended him. But now…

Now things were different.

Nala’s shoulders heaved as her frame was wracked by her silent sobs.

Jinni glanced at the frail looking man on the bed. Awake, Abdullah seemed more than a man, he seemed a god. Wise in so many ways. But beneath the kingly bearing beat the heart of an abuser.

Nala glanced askance at Abdullah. “The King raped me tonight, Jinni.”

Her fingers trembled as she reached out to touch the King. Then she squeezed her fingers and yanked her hand back. “I know that in this realm a woman’s body does not belong to herself, that I am the King’s. But,” she twirled, the fire of justice burned in her eyes, “do I not deserve better?”

She did.

That was the truth. No one deserved the nightmare she’d lived through this past year.

Aria would mourn. The two had always been very, very close. But perhaps, she’d also been privy to the King’s tirades. Perhaps she’d also witnessed this violence.

Insides quaking, but resolute, Jinni clenched the hilt of the sword and with his next breath, drove the blade through the King’s heart.

The death was violent, but quick. Abdullah never even opened his eyes. He expelled his final breath, and then his chest stopped moving. Blood pooled around the body as Jinni released the sword.

He stared at his hands. He’d committed the irrevocable this night. He’d killed his King. The man he’d pledged his life to.

Nala grabbed his face, and he felt cold, numb. She shook him. “I love you, eshq-e man.”

“And I worship you, my love,” he mumbled, still unable to process that beside him lied the body of his King. That he’d killed him.

A soft smile graced her lips as she sat on the edge of the bed. Blood welled upon her white gown.

“Nala,” Jinni wrinkled his nose as she started to pull him on top of her, “Nala! The body. We cannot. The blood, it is everywhere.”

She shook her head. “The body is just a body. The King is gone. I simply want your touch, your kiss. That is all. I want to erase your pain, and you to erase mine. Just a moment. And then we’ll deal with the rest.”

How were they going to cover this up?

Jinni had never thought that far ahead. The desire for vengeance had made him forget that there was now a body to dispose of. But not just any body. The king of the realm.

Nala’s kiss ripped him from his morbid thoughts. “Your eyes are a thousand miles away. Stay here with me. I need your strength.”

Jinni grimaced when he felt the warmth of Abdullah’s blood began to seep through the fabric of his pants. “Nala, I truly wish we’d go someplace else.”

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his face close to hers. “Soon, soon. I promise. Only… kiss me.”

Why could she not understand this was not the time nor the place? “Nala,” he groaned and then kissed her, deeply, passionately, pushing all of his pain and agony into that kiss. Giving her his strength, drawing her own into his soul.

He’d killed a man tonight. To keep her safe. For always.

The sound of feet moved through the still of the room like thunderclap. Then something loud and heavy dropped to the ground.

Terror welled deep and bottomless. They’d been found. Nala would be executed. He had to save her.