by Opal Carew
Now that the barriers between them had been removed, her feelings had bonded with his own. He had responded to her fear that he would not return her love, and quelled it. Now he shuddered as he drew on that connection now, wanting to understand her fear.
He saw a heart-rending vision of her as a young girl, six years old, tears glistening in her eyes as her mother explained that her father was not coming back. Celeste had never gotten over it. The barriers she’d erected over a lifetime of pain had been started that day.
His heart jolted as he realized his promise not to hurt her would be broken. He would cause her excruciating pain when he, too, abandoned her. Not by any choice of his own, but that wouldn’t ease her pain.
Great Ones, what have I done?
It was all his fault. He had encouraged her to make her wish. Now she loved someone who could not stay with her. He was a genie, enslaved by a crystal. He did not have the freedom to stay, no matter how much he wanted to.
His heart ached at the thought he would leave her in more pain than she’d endured before he arrived.
Chapter 8
Zurvan awoke to sunlight flickering across his face as a light breeze ruffled the curtains on the open bedroom window. He glanced at Celeste, her face inches from his own on the pillow.
He stroked her cheek tenderly and watched her eyelids flutter open, like shutters opening to sunshine, driving away the darkness in his soul.
He stroked her eyebrows, cupped her cheeks and smiled. “I love you.”
The sweet smile that turned up her lips washed away his lingering pain and brought tears prickling to his eyes. She reached for him and he slid into her arms, holding her so tightly he feared she might break. He loosened his hold, but not too much, and held her close.
She kissed his chest, her soft breath tickling his ribs.
He kissed the top of her head. “Come on, sleepyhead. Let’s take a shower.”
They soaped each other in the shower and enjoyed an intimate session of lovemaking under the warm caress of the water. Then Zurvan created a wonderful breakfast feast. Afterward, he drew Celeste to the couch and settled beside her. He took her hand in his.
“Celeste, I want to tell you a story about my life.”
She stared at him with her glittering blue eyes. “I’d love to hear it.”
He stroked the back of her hand while he talked.
“Centuries ago, when I was a free man, I often disguised myself and went out among mortals. I enjoyed seeing how they lived. It intrigued me how they stayed together as families and built communities to cooperate and care for one another. During one of these sojourns, I met a young woman named Yana. Her beauty took my breath away. She had bright blue eyes filled with laughter, a smile that rivalled the sunshine, and wisdom beyond her years. I was completely captivated by her.”
“You fell in love with her.”
“Yes, I did.”
A haze of pain darkened Celeste’s eyes. “Do you still love her?
“Yes, I do.” He grinned and dabbed at the tip of her nose. “But don’t look so stricken. You are Yana. Or, you were a lifetime ago. I fell in love with you.”
He lightly pressed his mouth to hers. Her lips parted at his whisper-light contact and his tongue swept between them to caress the inside of her mouth. Warm and smooth.
He harnessed his masculine reaction to her trembling softness, lingering only a moment before drawing away.
“Celeste, you are the only woman I have ever loved, or ever will. Always remember that.”
She frowned as comprehension came to her. “So I am this Yana woman reincarnated?”
“Yes, that is right. You know about reincarnation?”
“I do, but I don’t think I ever really believed it before.” Her hand stroked down his arm, along his palm, and her fingers entwined with his. “So what happened in this previous life of mine? Did we have a long and happy lifetime together?”
“No, that was not to be. A powerful woman, Atia, had been pursuing me, trying to manipulate me into marrying her. She claimed to love me and when she found out I had lost my heart to another, she flew into a violent rage. She threatened to kill Yana.”
Remembered anger and frustration surged through him. He pushed himself from the couch and paced. Celeste watched his progress back and forth across the carpet.
“I told her if she allowed Yana and me a life together, afterward, in gratitude I would marry her. A handful of decades was, after all, a small time compared to the eternity I would spend with Atia.”
His fists clenched tightly.
“But she refused. She couldn’t stand the fact that I loved someone else. She wanted me to love her. Demanded that I love her.”
He stopped and faced Celeste, his hands flattened over his heart.
“But I could only feel what is in my heart.”
“Did she kill… Yana?”
“No, she did not kill her. Instead, she tore Yana from her home and her family, everything she held dear, and flung her across the world to a strange, foreign land. She didn’t know their language or their customs.”
“And you? Is that when she imprisoned you in the crystal?”
“No. First, she locked me away in her private prison. She tried to make me love her. The prison was a luxurious, hedonist’s dream. Physical luxuries abounded. The only indication it was a prison were the invisible barriers that bound me inside, and the abatement of my power. I had to depend on her for everything.”
He pushed his hair back over his ear.
“She tried to seduce me, wearing provocative clothing, believing if I made love to her, it would prove I loved her. Finally, at my continued refusal, her patience snapped and she used a spell to make me obey her.”
His stomach churned and his fists tightened into balls.
“With this spell, I became her puppet. She could force me to make love to her, even force me to speak words of love. I spent thirty years as her love slave, satisfying her every whim. Totally controlled by her. Used by her.”
Celeste stood and walked to him, took one of his hands and kissed it, then stroked it gently. At her soft touch, he relaxed a little. She led him to the couch and coaxed him to sit beside her, then held his hand and waited patiently for him to continue.
“I knew when Yana died. All through her life I could feel a connection to her, and when that connection died, I died a little, too. When she was alive, it was like knowing she was there, somewhere in the world, no matter how far away, and it gave me hope. After that, I lost all interest in life. I became unresponsive and detached.”
Celeste stroked his hand with comforting warmth.
“Atia could make my body respond at will, but she could not change how I felt. Finally, she decided I depressed her too much. She decided if I liked humans so much, I should serve them. That is when she imprisoned me in the crystal to serve whatever master came along.”
Celeste rose and drew him into her arms.
“Oh, Zurvan, you have suffered so much.”
He squeezed her. “As have you, my love.”
He cradled her hands within his own. “Have you any memories of your past life? Perhaps as part of a dream?”
“Well, I have had X-rated dreams of a tall, handsome stranger with long, black hair. I’m starting to believe they were memories of us.”
His gaze locked with hers. “I pray to all that is good in the universe that you never remember anything else about that time.” Especially how she’d suffered. “Only us. Only our love.”
He swept his hands across her cheeks, loving the velvet feel of her skin, then he bent his head and she met his lips halfway. His tongue ravaged the sweetness of her mouth with urgent passion.
She pulled away. “Zurvan, what are you hiding from me? Tell me. What happened to Yana?”
He sighed, knowing he had no right to keep it from her. It was her past, after all. But he would give her no details.
“I told you Atia sent you… Yana to a faraway land. The peopl
e there found her so beautiful and exotic they enslaved her. She served many masters.”
“Male masters?”
“Yes.”
The stricken look in her eyes told him she understood the implications. At the thought of those men touching her, sullying her with their sexual acts, acid anger must burn through her veins.
“So I became a love slave, too,” she murmured.
“I’m sure Atia loved the irony. She tortured me with a deceptive act of kindness by giving me a crystal ball that would show me Yana whenever I looked into it.”
He had longed to see her sweet face and gazed into the sphere often, but so many times he would see a man using her body for pleasure, and Yana cry out, not in pleasure, but in despair.
He dragged her against his chest, holding her tightly in his arms.
“Every time I saw a man with you, I died inside. I could do nothing to save you. Finally, I smashed the crystal, unable to endure it any longer.”
He drew back and stared into her eyes, seeking her forgiveness.
“At that moment, I truly felt I had abandoned you. Please forgive me.”
“Zurvan.” She stroked his cheek, her eyes large and luminous. “You couldn’t help it. There was nothing you could do. Don’t torture yourself with guilt.”
He kissed her and held her against him, the aching pain dissipating a little at her words. His sweet, understanding Celeste.
“There is one more thing. Atia made you believe I betrayed you.”
“How could I… could Yana ever believe that?”
“Atia told you I had been amused by my affair with a mortal, but that I had tired of you. She also told you I was the one who exiled you.” He held her tightly. “You died believing I had betrayed and abandoned you.”
She snuggled against him. “Somehow I don’t think I would ever have believed that. But if I did, I know better now.”
“Of course you believed it. Don’t you see? That’s why you have been so afraid of love in this lifetime.”
“No. I didn’t believe in love because of my parents. They never seemed capable of loving, or being loved. And my father, he left when I was six years old—"
“Celeste, everything that happens in a mortal’s life is because it reflects what they believe. You believed that love meant pain and abandonment, so you chose to be born to a family where that is true. And that’s my fault. I am the cause of your pain. I may not have been able to stop Atia, but if I had left you alone, if I had never interfered in your life, you might have had a chance at happiness.”
She looked straight at him. “No, Zurvan. You are my soul mate. Neither of us ever had a choice. We are meant to be together.”
“But for how long? Don’t you realize that we have only two more days together? Then we will be parted again. For eternity.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, Zurvan. I believe I have a solution.”
Zurvan stared at her, astonished. “A solution? How is that possible?”
She rested her fingertips on his cheek, her tender touch and the glittering, golden sparks in her lapis blue eyes reminding him of a special moonlit night centuries ago when she, as Yana, first declared her love for him. He’d known at that moment that no matter what happened, he would love her always.
Atia might have suppressed his memories, but the love had burned as hotly as ever. He had mistaken it for hatred. Of women. Of Atia. But the true emotion could not be quelled, only mistakenly labelled.
Her lips touched his in a delicate kiss that reached deep into his heart and tugged.
“I will use my wish to free you,” she murmured. “Then we can be together.”
His heart compressed, growing stone cold. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. How could he dash her hopes? How could he explain that what she feared most, being abandoned by the man she loved, was inescapable?
“Zurvan, what’s the matter?”
He sensed, rather than heard, the edge of panic in her words. He eased away from her, planting his hands on her shoulders.
“Celeste, I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
Her eyes widened. “Why not?”
“I can only grant wishes within my power to give. I cannot free myself from the curse. Only the Djinn who cast the spell—Atia—can do so.”
She stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
“No. That doesn’t make sense. I’ve been planning this all along. Aren’t my wishes the key to releasing you? I thought that’s how it worked."
“In fairy tales maybe. But this is not a fairy tale, Celeste.”
Celeste felt her heart constrict. So love did mean pain, as she’d always believed. And abandonment. There was no way around it. Even with magic.
She threw her arms around his waist and clung tightly, as if holding him would keep him here.
“How will I go on without you? How will I survive?”
He stroked her hair, saying nothing.
She realized there was nothing he could say.
“Zurvan, you’ve had to carry this burden for so long.”
He gave a sad smile. “Not really. When I was a genie, I had no memory of us. Atia took that away from me, too.”
“But you did for those years she kept you locked up. And even after, you felt it, didn’t you? A sense of loss. A pain deep inside. You just didn’t know the source.”
“True.”
She stroked his hair, the long, silky strands slipping through her fingers.
“It’s not fair. You shouldn’t have to suffer an eternity of pain.” She kissed him, a sweet, tender brush of her lips on his cheek. Then she drew her shoulders back and stood up. “I wish I could take your place.”
She spoke the words clear and strong, then tensed, her eyes widening.
“No, Celeste, don’t even think it.”
Whether she expected a lightning flash or the heavens to come crashing down around her, she didn’t know. But despite the panic roiling inside her, she knew she would not take back the words even if she could.
“It’s the right thing to do. If we can’t be together, at least I can suffer the consequences of my ill-chosen wish.”
Her unselfishness touched Zurvan. “I cannot grant this wish, either, Celeste,” he said gently.
She narrowed her eyes. “You can’t or won’t?”
“If I could, I wouldn’t have a choice. Celeste, I am touched that you would take my place, but I can’t give you Djinn powers, so you cannot be a genie. And I already told you, I can’t free myself.”
She took his hand. “Then I wish I could be imprisoned with you.”
“No, that won’t work. You are a mortal, so being imprisoned in the stone would kill you. Luckily, I am not allowed to grant wishes that mean certain death.”
He tucked his finger under her chin and tipped up her face.
“Celeste, stop trying to save me. I want you to live a happy life.” He longed to tell her to ask for the first wish to be undone, so she could live her life in ignorance of their bond, but he could not. And he was certain she would ignore him if he did.
She turned away and paced, then slammed her palms against the desktop.
“Damn it, there has to be a way. It’s just not fair.”
“I have found that life is rarely fair.”
She turned to him, fire in her eyes. “I’d really like to meet this Atia. I’d give her a piece of my mind.”
“That would be very unwise.”
The light igniting in her eyes sent fear jolting through him.
“Celeste, no. Don’t do it. You don’t know her. If she saw you again, if she knew we were together, there’s no telling what she’d do.”
“Don’t you understand, Zurvan? She’s already done the worst thing she could ever do. She’s kept us apart.”
She drew her shoulders back and drew in a deep breath. If Zurvan could have stopped her, he would have, but it was beyond his power.
“I wish I could meet Atia, the woman who impriso
ned Zurvan in the crystal.”
A magical force, more powerful than Zurvan could resist, compelled him to gather magic together into a bundle of intent and fling it out to the universe. Moments passed and nothing happened. Zurvan prayed Atia had chosen not to answer the magical summons. She could ignore it if she chose, even if it was the result of a wish. After all, she set the rules.
His prayers faded as he felt the energy build around him. The papers on Celeste’s desk fluttered, then spiraled upward on the growing torrent of air sweeping through the room.
Atia was coming.
Chapter 9
The near-tornado that swept through her apartment left Celeste a little shaken. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“So this is it? This is what called me?”
At the sound of the female voice, Celeste spun around to see a woman standing in the dining room. Her long, shiny white hair flowed almost to the floor, and her silver eyes, a jolt of cobalt spiking through the pupils, were locked on Celeste.
“Atia, spare her. She didn’t know what she was doing.”
At the sound of Zurvan’s words, Celeste stiffened. “Don’t apologize for me.”
Atia stepped forward and circled Celeste with slow, purposeful steps, inspecting her like one might an interesting creature.
“It seems to know what it wants.”
So the it referred to her. She would love to smack the arrogant smile off the woman’s face, but Celeste wasn’t a complete idiot. She wouldn’t hit someone who could turn her into a toad. Or worse.
“Why did you come, Atia?”
For the first time, the woman turned her gaze to Zurvan. Celeste almost stumbled at the complete change in the woman’s demeanor. She looked at him as though the earth, the sun, and the stars revolved around him. Her features softened and her eyes filled with yearning.
Clearly, the woman loved him.
“Zurvan, will you come back to me?”
He crossed his arms. “I was never with you.”