Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

“Stop.” His voice was a command. “I… I do not mean it. I just… by all that is holy, Paz, I do not know if I can…”

She turned around. “I’m sorry she was so evil. I’m sorry she hurt you that way, Jinni. I’m so, so sorry.” She touched her chest. “But I’m not her. And I never will be.”

He came up to her, his chest so close to her own she felt the static of him ripple through her, it made her toes curl. His gaze held infinite meaning and possibility. They stared at each other, simply stared, pouring so much meaning and emotion into the look.

“I wish I could touch you,” he whispered, tracing his hand down her cheek. She sighed as his power rolled down her form.

“I feel you,” she whispered.

“But I do not.”

She frowned.

He shook his head. “To only hold you once more. Oh, Paz, I am fading. I cannot stop this. I’ve not much time left. You have to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Promise me that when I go, you will get back in your body, and you will live.”

She clamped her lips. The thought of existing when he didn’t, of living and knowing he never would again, no… she couldn’t make that promise.

“I’ve enough flame for one last dance, Paz. But only if you promise.”





Chapter 15





Jinni drew on the flame, knowing there would be no Danika to save him this time. But it didn’t matter, he could prolong the inevitable but he knew his was time was over, either way, he only had tonight left.

Against rhyme or reason she’d stayed. Paz had heard the worst of him, and stayed. Was this love? He wasn’t sure. Was it possible to love someone so completely, so quickly?

Long ago, he’d have thought so. But now…

Maybe this was more. Deeper. Bigger than both of them.

Danika had told him she’d found his perfect mate and he hadn’t believed. Hadn’t wanted to believe. Believing in his soul that a black devil such as he did not deserve happiness again. But he’d found it.

Drawing the flame deep into his body, he let it fill him, stretch him. Smiling as his soul took form, flesh and bone.

Paz inhaled sharply. “You are so beautiful.”

“Should I not be saying that to you?” he asked, trembling as she slipped into his arms. Arms that weren’t made out of a nothing but air, but solid and warm. Arms that held her tight and shook when she ran her fingers up them, trailing heat and fire in its wake.

“You can. Or,” she leaned in close, until his eyes nearly crossed to keep her in focus, “you can kiss me again.”

There were a million reasons why he shouldn’t. First and foremost that this was merely prolonging the inevitable, that the less they did together, the less she’d ache when he was gone. That forcing her to tie her heart to a man who could never be her Todd would forever taint her for another.

But again, as with so many other times in his life, Jinni didn’t listen to his own wise council. He did what he’d wanted to do all along.

The first touch of their lips was hesitant, exploratory. A gentle pressure, like a coaxing question. Should we do this?

But then her nails were digging forcefully into the nape of his neck, adding friction and pressure. A low moan built between them.

Jinni pulled Paz firmer into the crook of his arms and the magic that flowed through him entered her. They melded once again into a burning ball of light and sailed gracefully through the roof of the hospital, still wrapped up in each other.

Their bodies pure lights of energy, burning with passion and fire, and unrequited desire.

She was everywhere, her light and life leaking into him, filling the empty spaces of his heart, his soul. He was in her too. His light and her light becoming one, a nova of pleasure as they flew higher and higher through the clouds.

Jinni clung to her. Danika had told him that he’d be Paz’s tether, but the truth was, she was his.

She made him forget.

Forget that he wasn’t good, that he should leave her alone. He kissed her, tasted her tongue, the warmth of her breath, breathing in the air she exhaled and forcing his own through her lips. In her arms, right now, he was a man and she was a woman.

A woman made for him.

Just for him.

She pulled away, gasping and quivering. Then she glanced around and smiled. “The stars. Oh, Jinni, I love your home.”

He framed her face between his large hands, shivering at the silken softness of it. “Dance with me, Paz.”

Her smile was flushed and radiant as she nodded. Jinni swept his arm around her waist, commanding the stars to sing.

An angelic melody drifted by them, through them. The pink and red streaked blue sky burst with the light of a trillion stars. They moved and swayed to the music, Paz rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers idly toying with the hair on the back of his head.

“I don’t want this night to ever end,” she whispered and then planted a kiss on his chest, right above his heart.