Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

Her head jerked up. “But you said…”

Danika nodded. “Aye, I said he vanished, but that golem in the next room is not dead. That golem is tied to his essence. Somewhere in this vast universe Jinni still exists. Maybe not for long, but for now. And I believe he has a very important decision to make soon. But he won’t do it, if you don’t return.”

She clasped her hands together.

“Your brother, Richard is it?” Danika asked gently and Paz nodded. “He’s kept a constant vigil. He painted your toenails last night, and sang to you.”

The image of her big, strong brother singing and painting her toenails made her giggle.

“Worst voice I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing.” Danika cringed and stuck her finger in her ear.

Paz outright laughed, a deep belly laugh that filled her. “Yes, he does. Like a dying bird.”

Their eyes sparkled with laughter and tears.

“Where is he now?” Paz looked around, suddenly yearning for the sight of him.

“A man has arrived for him.”

“Todd,” she breathed. “Todd made it.”

“They need you, love. It is not yet your time.”

“But I died.”

Danika’s curls bobbed as she shook her head. “No. This interlude was designed for you to meet my Jinni. I wish he would have taken my advice sooner, this might not have been necessary, but you need to return, get strong, and live. Be ready.”

“For what?” She held her breath with anticipation, with the unspoken desire that Jinni might still be able to come back to her.

“For love, Paz Lopez.” Danika brushed a tear off the corner of Paz’s cheek before she began to glow so bright, Paz had to shield her eyes against it.

When she opened them again, Danika was the size of her hand, her wings once again buzzing behind her back. “I’ll see you around, little dove.” Then with a flick and a wave, she was gone.

Little dove. What he’d called her.

Could there still be hope? If there were even a chance, one tiny miniscule chance, she’d go back. She’d hang on and stay brave. For as long as it took.

There was so much she still didn’t know, so much she’d wanted to ask, like how the golem and Jinni were connected? Why they were connected? Had that been why Paz had felt so strangely bonded to Tristan? Would Jinni return back to her?

Clearing throats made her glance up. Richard and Todd walked into the room holding hands and a cup of coffee each. Richard rested his head on Todd’s shoulder as Todd gently brushed his hair back.

“I don’t know what I’ll do without her, Todd,” he whispered, his voice a rough burr full of sleeplessness and pain.

“Ssh, baby, it’s okay. She’ll come back to us, you’ll see.”

Richard hiccupped. “It’s been a month, with no brain activity.”

A month?

It’d only felt like days to her.

Todd slipped the cup out of Richard’s hand and sat on the lone chair next to the bed. He pulled Richard onto his lap, cradling him like a child. “Honey,” he kissed Richard’s brow, “you let me take care of you now.”

Richard wept, hiding his face in Todd’s neck. “I can’t lose her too, I just can’t,” he said, voice mumbled.

Todd’s eyes were large and haunted as he stared at Paz’s body.

“You just let me hold you. I’ve got you now and I’ll never let you go.”

Paz felt the tug in her soul from the light, the tunnel just at the end of the hall. It could take everything away from her, it could heal her . . . but it would ruin Richard.

She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer of strength, then whispered low, “Jinni, wherever you are, you find me again. No matter what. No matter how, you find me again.”

Then she walked to her body and laid down into it, sinking slowly into the shell of who she’d once been. It was cold and damp, made her cringe and regret for an instant that she hadn’t left it all behind. But then the shell was closing over her, covering her and she was being reborn from death back to life as the memories of the last month rewound swiftly through her head.

Jinni’s touch. His kiss. Dancing on the stars. His story of loathing, but in her mind, his triumph. His ability to have made himself into a good and decent person again. The first time she’d seen him. When he’d smiled and introduced himself.

His smell.

His eyes.

Then it all disappeared and she opened her eyes.





Chapter 17





Danika flew to the heavens, seeking the necklaces. A piece of him would forever remain trapped within the stone. And that was what she had to find.

Jinni, whether he wanted to admit it or not, had fallen madly and deeply in love with Paz. There could be no other explanation, because the golem still survived. She’d created the golem as a tether to the man himself, if Jinni died so did it.

It took no time to find the glowing amethyst stones.

Quieting her mind of all but Jinni she listened for the small still voice of him.

Jinni?

The stones pulsed bright in her fists and she smiled.

Danika? Can you hear me?