Her face lifted to him. Eyelids at half-mast, she considered him with slow blinks, the trembling receding. “Green.”
Clearing his throat, he looked across the room. “I heard you, but I don’t take commands.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“Disappointed?” The sneer in his voice wasn’t intentional, but it was absolutely there.
“I think you actually could take commands. You’re just afraid to.” She tried to lift the bottle of water to her mouth but only managed to spill it.
Seth took the bottle and lifted it to her lips. “Small sips.” When she followed the directive, he considered her. “No one tops me, beautiful, so let the idea go.” He ran a hand through her hair and massaged her scalp, softening toward her when she hummed her approval. Her chin dipped to her chest, eyes drifting closed as he continued to pet her. When her breathing slowed and sleep stole over her, he slipped her to the table and tucked the blanket around her.
So lovely, he thought, stroking her forehead. Without thinking, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Her response did him in. The tiny smile sent him lurching toward the bedroom.
Grabbing the phone as he flopped down on the bed, he dialed downstairs.
Griff answered on the first ring. “What’s the news?”
“Nothing good.” Seth drew a clammy hand down his face. “I didn’t get it back.”
“Shit.” The vehemence behind the single word radiated through the phone. “What now?”
“Unless I can get her to give it up willingly, I’m done.”
“Not happening.”
“Yeah, well, if you and our resident Nancy Drew haven’t come up with a way to make my element come home, there’s nothing else left.”
“I’m telling Dominic you called him Nancy Drew.”
Griff’s attempt to keep things light meant a lot. The last thing Seth wanted was for his friends to get all morose and emotional. If this were the end, he’d face it head-on.
“What do we need to do to get your element back?” The other man’s voice was so wrought with tension a musician could have plucked at it and achieved a harsh, out-of-tune chord.
“Not sure there’s much left to do, Griff. We more than recreated what occurred, and my element showed no interest in separating from her.”
“What does that make her, then?”
“No idea. But so long as she has my flame? She’s immortal.”
“And you’re not.”
“Nope. I’m not.” Seth leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees, one hand dangling between his legs while the other clutched the phone. “I’m fading, my man.”
“You have to try again.” Griff’s stubble raked over the phone in a harsh rasp that did nothing to hide the catch in his voice. “Just…try again.”
“Every time I try will wear me down and carry me one step closer to final death. I think I’d rather just hang out and enjoy the time I have left.”
“You’re not giving up, damn it.”
“You should probably, uh, grab Dominic and head up. Don’t bring the women. Goodbyes are hard enough without tears.” His throat tightened. “I wish it was different. I wish…” He opened his mouth only to close it, because he didn’t have a clue. His head snapped up and his lips thinned. There was only one thing he knew for sure.
The witch stood in the doorway, and, from the look on her face, she’d heard every word.
* * *
Eden locked her knees and aimed for casual as she leaned against the door frame. “Were you going to tell me?”
Teeth grinding, Seth said, “Don’t come up. I’ll call you back.” He slammed the phone onto the receiver, knocking a water bottle over. Water sloshed out, puddling on the telephone stand. He swiped a hand through the mess, raking it to the floor with a curse. “For what it’s worth, I just did.”
The band around her chest tightened and she fought the urge to fall to her knees.
Chest heaving, back rigid, Seth stared at her, the whites of his eyes far too wide. “Why aren’t you releasing my flame? I saw you command all four elements in the office earlier. I know you can set it free for me to reclaim, yet you won’t.”
“It’s not that easy for me.” She stood slowly, surprised when she didn’t slump to the floor.
“Explain.”
“We’re not playing anymore.”
“Yet you gave me the green command before you dozed off.”
“I thought you didn’t take commands.” She glanced up at him. “Is there another bottle of water?”
He shoved off the edge of the bed, stalking past her and into the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle from the fridge, he twisted the cap off and snapped it into the trash. “Small sips.”
“Why didn’t you… You know.” She gestured to his groin with the bottle and coughed.
Rubbing his forehead, he ignored the question. “I wanted to remain in control, see if I could wrest the element free by force.”
She sighed, the sound awkward and heavy. “I don’t know how to make you do what needs to be done, Seth.”
“Sir,” he snapped.
“Madam,” she snapped right back.
“You were doing so well,” he muttered.
“Yeah, well, it’s probably better we steer clear of the topic of forcing me to do anything.”
The snort was anything but subtle. “Steer clear, huh? Seems you’re the one with her ass stuffed.”
“The night’s young.”
“For you.”
Guilt slammed into her with the force of a major league slugger swinging for the fences.
“Besides, I’ve been there, done that. It doesn’t flip my switch.”
Something tickled her consciousness, something she knew should be obvious. What am I missing? No matter how hard she tried to grasp elusive understanding, all she could imagine was Seth with another man. High color stained her cheeks. “You’ve been with…” She cleared her throat, unable to finish the question.
“I’ve played across the board.” He rubbed his brow. “Does that bother you?”
“It’s actually, um…” She chewed her bottom lip.
Seth’s frame stiffened.
“It’s hot, okay? It’s really hot.” Rubbing the bottle against her forehead punctuated the statement nicely.
He grinned. “You interested in bi-play?”
“Not exactly. Not unless it’s watching you with another man.”
Shaking his head, he chuckled. “You keep surprising me.”
“How am I going to fix this, Seth?” she whispered.
He moved to stand next to her, glancing down before slipping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side.
Before he could move away, she slid a hand out from under the blanket to twine their fingers together. His hand tightened around hers when she muttered miserably, “Sorry,” and started to pull away.
“It’s fine.” He rubbed his thumb along the heel of her hand, seeming to consider his next words carefully. “How did you manage to separate me from my element in the first place? That’s some hell of a strong magic.”
“I’m…” She forced their hands apart and twisted to face him, propping a hip against the counter. A slight wince marred otherwise smooth features.
He grinned. “Sore?”
“Would you be sorry?”
“Nope.”
Her answering smile felt so good, so right. “Me neither.”
Rolling his shoulders, he turned to face her in the same manner, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “How’d you manage it, Red? You said something about how controlling the elements isn’t easy for you. What is it you’re not telling me?”
Emotion clogged Eden’s throat. He’d called her Red. She had to tell him, couldn’t let this huge elephant in the room keep tap dancing around them. “I’m the Elemental Guardian.”
Seth went so still she had the urge to check his pulse and see if his heart had quit moving, too, or if it were
racing as fast as hers. He stepped back, breaking their contact and looking at her with something akin to fear. “Elemental Guardian? That’s a myth.”
Her answer was a single, humorless bark of laughter. “Right. Because we’re not myths ourselves.”
“No. I mean, yeah. We are. But we’re not. You, though. You’re not supposed to be real. You’re a nightmare, a threat the elemental djinn use to scare their children into behaving.”
“A nightmare.” The words were so soft they were little more than a breath of air.
“You know—if a kid won’t stay in the spatial bend where we exist, say he keeps playing with mortals before his element is anchored to his soul, the kid’s told the Elemental Guardian will come for him and steal his element as punishment.” Reaching out in tentative fits and starts, he finally rubbed a loose curl between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re our greatest threat and the most beautiful nightmare I’ve ever had.”
“I don’t want to be a nightmare. All I ever wanted was to be normal, to live with people who didn’t try to shove me into some type of ideal Wiccan mold, force me to learn to wield a magic that’s too big for me or try to break me simply to prove they could. I didn’t ask the Goddess for the internal power grid I ended up with.”
“Clearly she thought you were the right person for the job.” He considered her. “Is it true you keep the four elements aligned?”
“Yeah, it is. I hold the core of each one inside me. They’re tied to me sort of like your element is tied to you, but if I lose even one, I have to be destroyed.” She slumped to the floor, sighing when her ass hit the cold tile. “Feels good against the burn.”
“I didn’t leave permanent marks. You’ll feel it for a day or two, but then it’ll get better.” He slid to the floor next to her. “Why did you seek me out, Red?”
A harsh sob escaped. She swiped angrily at the tears that tracked down her cheeks, misery’s little soldiers. “I wanted to know what it was like, to give up the responsibility. I have to take up the mantle of my power tomorrow in a full moon ceremony.” She looked up at him through spiky, wet lashes. “Just once, I wanted to put someone else in charge, switch places and… Oh!” She scrambled to her feet. “That’s it!”
He didn’t bother to get up, just looked at her with mild curiosity. “What?”
“We have to switch!”
Chapter Nine
“Switch places.” Anxiety raced through Seth’s veins. “As in, actually switch places.”
Her exasperated sigh didn’t bode well. “Not physically, no.” Chewing on her bottom lip, she refused to meet his eyes. “I’ll top you this time.”
“You’ll what? No. No way. I don’t bottom for anyone.” He lunged to his feet. “Besides, you have no idea how to properly dominate someone.”
“You have to try, Seth.” She stepped toward him. “And all I can do is what has been done to me. If I repeat your actions, is that okay?”
“Absolutely not.” He backed away, fighting not to run. No freaking way was he giving up control. It had been too hard won. “Not happening. I’d rather do my smoky bit and wink out, thanks.”
Her mouth set in a hard line. “Don’t be an ass.”
“I’m an ass for holding onto what I believe?” He shoved his hands through his hair. “If you want to help, come up with realistic solutions.”
She met him glare for glare as she stalked him around the kitchen. “Stubbornness is a character flaw, not a belief system.”
“Says the woman whose chin just lifted in an argument. That’s rich, Red.”
“Stop.”
The merciless power in her voice drove into him so hard he doubled over at the waist. Hands on his hips, he glared up at her and bared his teeth in a nasty grin. “Getting witchy on me?”
“You have no idea.”
Seth tried to step toward her but only managed to wobble like a dashboard hula girl. His feet didn’t budge at all. “What the hell?”
She paled. “I said stop. I have your element so you have to comply.”
“I have to… Oh, hell no. You aren’t doing this to me. You are so not doing this to me.”
“Give me your full name.”
If he did this, if he gave her what she demanded, he was screwed. She could issue any directive and he’d have to do his absolute best to grant her what she wanted. It was a bond he wouldn’t be able to break without killing her. He clamped his mouth shut.
“I command you to give me your full name now, djinn.” Again, her voice resonated with power.
His mouth opened and he was speaking before he could fight the compulsion. “I am Seth Setekhis, Crown Prince of the Ifrit, djinn of the ancient deserts, first son of King Aganjú, beloved of all ifritis.” Sweat beaded in his hairline, trickling down his neck in frigid streams. “Damn you.”
“I’m sorry.” The apology was as powerful as her every command, and he wanted to believe her.
“If you’re sorry, return my flame.”
“At any cost?”
“Yes, okay? Yes,” he shouted.
“Seth Setekhis, Crown Prince of the Ifrit, djinn of the ancient deserts, first son of King Aganjú, beloved of all ifritis—”
Fear snaked through him with the building power behind her every word.
“—I need you to choose life, to find your own release and retrieve your element from me at any cost. If that means you submit to me…”
“At any cost,” he repeated numbly.
A sad smile crossed her face. “That’s one.”
* * *
Eden suspected Seth would never forgive her for this when he figured out what she’d actually just done, and it wasn’t what he thought. At least he’d be alive. And as an immortal, he’d be able to hate her forever. Handy, that.
The key point he had missed was that she hadn’t commanded him, hadn’t forced him. She’d told him what she needed. It was all true, too. She needed him to choose to live. And by choosing to live, he was exercising free will. And that was the kicker. Free will. He would retrieve his element by choice. Every request he perceived as a command, everything she had him do tonight would be done by asking. There would be no orders, no directives he couldn’t refuse.
But there was a dark side to her manipulation. Because magics would be exchanged, there would be a cost. If he stripped the element from her completely, the other three elements whose sources she harbored would be catapulted into a fierce global imbalance. The only way to restrike the balance, to prevent natural disasters from wiping out mankind, would be to end her life. Fire would do the trick because, not holding the element any longer, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. Ironic that witch burning in the twenty-first century might be the most legitimate means of managing her magic. Heinrich Kramer, the man responsible for the burning of so many women during the witch trials, was undoubtedly kicking up his heels in the afterlife, touting his righteous superiority. Goddess save her, but if there were any type of justice, the man had been reincarnated as a slug.
Fear thrummed through her, pounding out a radical drumbeat inside her chest, the percussion vibrating through her from tip to toe.
Why make this sacrifice? her subconscious whispered. Why put yourself in harm’s way for a man you hardly know?
“I can control the magic and, thus, the outcome.” Probably. Maybe. Oh, shit. Maybe.
Seth stared at her, fury lighting up his bright green eyes like glass. “Clearly you can’t.”
“It’s not up to you whether or not I try,” she said through lips gone numb. Then she repeated almost verbatim the same thing he’d said to her such a short time ago. “You only choose how we get to my desired outcome.”
“I could kill you for this.” The snarl ripped across the space between them, animosity fouling the air with its sulfur-like smell.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” She hated the way her voice trembled. “To that bench, please.”
He moved silently, an automaton, limbs stiff and movements j
erky. The important thing was that he complied. Stopping in front of the padded bench, jaw clenched, he didn’t look at her but rather waited for her next directive.
“I’d like you to take your pants off and get on.” She moved in behind him, tracing a hand down the ropes of muscle on either side of his spine. Goose bumps followed in the wake of her caress. Summoning her power and fighting the fear the magic would rule her, she laid her hands on Seth’s shoulder blades. “Same rules, same safe words—green, yellow, red. Do you understand?”
“Why wouldn’t I understand?” he snapped, parroting her earlier belligerence.
“That’s two. Lie down and align your wrists and ankles with the cuffs, please.”
He complied. Arms straight out in front of him, knees on the padded lengths, he did as she asked but nothing more. “Do you even know what this is?”
“A spanking bench.” What should have been a statement of fact was flavored with uncertainty.
“Give the witch a prize.”
She looked him over, thrilling at the sight of his swelling shaft. “I’ve got exactly what I want,” she murmured as she buckled him down tightly before moving to the nearest toy box. With her back to him, she perused the items. Thank the Goddess he couldn’t see the furious blush staining her cheeks. No doubt he would have laughed. Taking a deep breath, she summoned calm, found her center and clutched her magic. “What do you fear most?”
Silence ruled the moment.
She waited.
His voice, rich with grief, broke through the quiet. “Being forced to take the throne.”
“Why?”
“Royal genealogy never takes into consideration the needs or desires of the next in line.”
“What do you need?”
“Control.”
“What kind of control?”
“Absolute.”
“What do you desire?”
His nostrils flared. “Control.”
“But you just said—”
“Emotional.” The admission set the muscles in his shoulders twitching.
“What happens if you don’t have emotional control?”
“People die.”
Her heart ached. The urge to go to him, comfort him and let him find solace in her embrace, swamped her. “Who died?”
Elemental Desire Page 6