Because she didn’t seem particularly worried by the prospect of his apparent incarceration at the hands of his own kind, Aldair only shrugged. “Perhaps that is as good a word as any. The outer circles are more like…a place of exile.”
She was silent then, appearing to consider his words. However, she did not ask the next logical question, which would be why he had been sent there in the first place. She drank some more of her wine and then raised her head so she could look at him directly. For the first time, he realized she must have been wearing some kind of cosmetics when her mishap with the device propelled her into the otherworld; he noted dark smudges along her lower lashes, blurry black marks that had nothing to do with the skin itself being bruised.
“So…since we’re more than twenty miles away from Santa Fe, the other djinn won’t be able to tell that you’re here?”
He shrugged. “Most likely not. If they had known I would be in the vicinity, they might have been able to reach out and detect my presence. But I doubt any of them thought I would ever return to this world.”
That comment made her eyes widen. “That place you were sent — they expected you to be there forever?”
“That was the intention. However, most of those who are sent to the outer circles do not survive there for very long.”
Her dark lashes swept down, hiding her eyes as she appeared to digest that particular piece of information. “That’s…barbaric.”
The same thought had crossed his mind once or twice — it would have been far more merciful to simply execute those whose transgressions warranted exile — but again he merely lifted his shoulders. “Perhaps. But effective. At any rate, no one expects me to be here. And also, the topography of this place can function as an effective shield. Being hidden away in a valley like this will make it more difficult for them to realize I am no longer in the outer circles.”
Her expression was troubled. However, Aldair did not know her well enough to determine whether her worry was for his sake, or arose from a simple concern for her own well-being. After all, she must have guessed that the outer circles were a punishment of last resort, not something given lightly. And so she must also be wondering what kind of monster she had been trapped with.
“I see,” she said at last, which did not give any indication of her feelings. One finger traced the wood grain of the tabletop. She wore no polish, or any rings on her right hand, although he had noted the plain gold band on the ring finger of her left.
That reminder of her dead husband must be with her always. No wonder she clearly had spent her days since his passing alone.
Aldair would not allow himself to feel any guilt over that death. Men had had ample opportunity to become better stewards of this wonderful world that had been given to them, and they had squandered its riches. No, he had not been one of the mad geniuses who devised the disease, nor one of those who cheerfully volunteered for the task of spreading the Heat among the population, but neither had he mourned the passing of humankind…especially not when its aftermath had given him such a ripe opportunity for revenge.
Then Jillian said, “Thank you for the wine, and the food. I’m feeling a little tired now — I think I’ll go upstairs and lie down again.”
“Of course,” he replied, although in the back of his mind he thought her excuse was merely that — a logical reason for removing herself from his company. Perhaps she had realized that she was trapped here with a criminal, and no ordinary one, but a djinn, someone who could overpower her in a number of unpleasant ways.
She had no way of knowing that he did not intend her any harm. At least, not unless she gave him some provocation.
An uncertain smile touched her lips, and she rose from the table and left the room. A moment later, Aldair heard her light footsteps on the stairs, followed shortly thereafter by the soft thump of her bedroom door closing.
Well, at least it seemed as if she had no immediate plans to flee. Then again, perhaps she wanted to be alone so she might devise some stratagem for getting away from him.
Unfortunately, she could have no idea how difficult it would be to escape from an air elemental.
Jillian leaned against the door of her borrowed bedroom and pulled in a deep breath, one that rasped on its way down and seemed to burn slightly at the bottom of her lungs. Yes, she was feeling much better, but it appeared as if she’d need some more time than she’d thought to fully recover from her ordeal in the outer circles.
The outer circles. Now she could put a name to that hellish place, although she still had no idea why it was that the malfunctioning device had sent her there. Yes, intellectually she understood why she might have gone to the djinn plane itself, because Miles had told her that his devices worked by detecting djinn energy and subverting it somehow, turning it against them. So maybe there existed some strange connection between the devices and the djinn otherworld, some way that the little boxes would find themselves drawn there. But the outer circles were something else entirely.
Well, she couldn’t let herself worry about that right now. Somehow she’d made it back to Earth, and now that she was here, she had much bigger problems to deal with — the biggest one being the djinn who sat downstairs at the dining room table and was even now drinking wine and eating bread and cheese as if nothing particularly untoward had just occurred. And soon someone in Los Alamos would be sure to note her absence, although there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot she could do about that. To them, it must seem as if she’d vanished into thin air…which in a way she supposed she had.
What could Aldair have done, to be sent to the outer circles? It must have been something pretty awful, because a race of beings that could nonchalantly exterminate all of humanity had to possess very different morals from the ones she’d been raised with. Maybe he’d killed another djinn. Or several djinn. Or maybe….
No, she wouldn’t let her mind go there. Not that she’d ever had anyone make unwanted sexual advances toward her, except that one creep at an office party years ago, but even with her lack of experience, she hadn’t picked up anything like a predator vibe from Aldair. Or at least not that sort of predator. Anyway, he’d had ample opportunity to pounce if that was his true intention, and he hadn’t made a single move. Whatever his history, she didn’t think it included assaulting women.
Unless part of his game was to make her think she was safe, and then get some sort of twisted pleasure in savoring her betrayal.
Stop it, she told herself. Just stop it.
To calm herself down, she made herself walk around the room and inspect it closely this time. Even though it was a secondary bedroom, it was still nearly as big as the master she’d shared with Jack back at their townhouse in Albuquerque. She’d never been all that great at estimating square footage — kind of a joke for someone who’d worked as an office assistant at a real estate broker’s — but she thought the house here in Madrid probably had to be around three thousand square feet. A lot of space for just one person, but then, Jillian reminded herself that she didn’t know for sure that the artist whose dust they’d discovered downstairs had lived here by him- or herself. Maybe the other members of the family had been out when the Heat descended.
But she didn’t want to think about that, either, didn’t want to think about how Jack had gone into work during that terrible time, even though she’d begged him not to. That had been the second day after the illness had first begun to spread through the population, although at that point they still hadn’t gotten any real confirmation one way or another that it had struck Albuquerque yet. But even the rumors had been enough to set Jillian on edge; she’d called in sick, although she felt fine, and she’d pleaded with Jack to stay home.
He hadn’t, of course. He loved his students and believed he had a duty to them, and had told Jillian that he would be letting them down if he didn’t show up for work that day. So he’d driven off in the used Prius they’d bought the year before, and that was the last she ever saw of him.
By now
she was used to the way the tears seemed to come out of nowhere, and, just as she had countless times before, she blinked fiercely until they subsided. There, that was better. She had to keep it together right now.
The room didn’t contain any other furniture beyond the bed, nightstand, and dresser. Jillian opened the top nightstand drawer and found it empty except for a rectangular box of tissues. The drawer below that contained nothing at all, and the dresser was similarly empty.
Definitely a guest room, then, which seemed to shoot down the idea that whoever had lived here might have had a family. Jillian ran her hands over the thighs of her stained jeans and realized she had absolutely nothing to change into. Aldair had apparently magicked a new set of clothes for himself out of nothing, but she didn’t possess that particular gift. And since the djinn had claimed the master bedroom for himself, that meant Jillian wouldn’t have much opportunity to go in there and see if there was anything she might scrounge for herself. At least not without asking permission.
Well, she’d just have to get by for now, and then maybe tomorrow she’d feel up to roaming around Madrid to see if she could find a change of clothes. It didn’t exactly thrill her to know she’d be taking items that once belonged to the residents here, but she didn’t have many options. This wasn’t like Santa Fe, where the Chosen had all those boutiques to raid, along with a Target, two Walmarts, and the stores in the mall at the southern end of town. Or even like Los Alamos, which didn’t have a ton of shopping options, but did at least boast a Beall’s Outlet, not to mention the places down the hill in Española.
She sat down on the bed and pulled off her socks; she’d already taken off her running shoes earlier, and had gone downstairs in her sock feet. Had Aldair noticed? Probably not. He’d seemed pretty focused on the wine.
That wine had helped her a little as well, if only to ease some of her aching muscles. The food had also soothed her somewhat acid stomach, although she wished now that she could brush her teeth. It was very early, probably only six-thirty, and yet Jillian felt as if she could sleep for a hundred years. But doing that without brushing her teeth didn’t sound very appealing.
Moving quietly, and hoping that Aldair wouldn’t be able to tell that she hadn’t yet lain down as she had said she would, she opened the door and went down the short hallway to the bathroom. Like the bedroom she’d just left, the bath seemed intended for guests, as she couldn’t see any personal items, just extra rolls of toilet paper and another box of Kleenex under the sink.
But there in one of the vanity’s drawers was an untouched tube of toothpaste, and a toothbrush still in its packaging, along with a few bars of glycerin soap and a jar of Oil of Olay. Thank God. Jillian had no idea who had lived here once, but she silently thanked them for being so thoughtful, and prepared.
Water came out of the faucet when she turned it. Aldair’s doing, or just another indication that the solar panels on the roof were still capable of doing their job? She’d never lived anywhere off-grid like this, so she had only a very fuzzy idea as to how everything was supposed to work.
In the meantime, she should just be glad there was water at all.
She brushed her teeth, doing her best to get rid of the residual sourness of the outer circles’ acrid air, and then washed her face as well, using the soap and following it up with the moisturizer she’d found. Afterward, she thought she felt almost human, although when she looked in the mirror, she wasn’t too thrilled by her reflection. Shadows showed under her eyes, and she noted a tension to her mouth that hadn’t been there before.
Well, what did she expect? After everything she’d just gone through, she supposed she should be glad that she didn’t look like about fifty miles of bad road.
When she turned away from the mirror, though, she couldn’t help letting out a gasp. Aldair stood in the hallway just outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall, his expression curious.
“So you were not that weary after all?”
Damn it, how had he managed to appear there without making the slightest sound? Another kind of djinn trick, she supposed — an extremely unnerving one. She gathered herself and replied, “I didn’t want to go to sleep without getting cleaned up first. If you don’t mind.”
A small smile played around his lips. “No, I don’t mind. But I heard water running, so I wondered.”
“Well, now you know.” She put the moisturizer back in the vanity’s drawer, then hesitated. Aldair showed no signs of moving, and she realized she’d have to push past him to get to her bedroom. The prospect of bumping into him didn’t seem very appealing. On the other hand, she didn’t want him to think he’d intimidated her, even though of course he had. Jaw set, she began to make her way out of the bathroom, and wouldn’t allow herself a sigh of relief when he shifted slightly out of the way so she could pass.
But then he said, “You plan to sleep in those clothes?”
His words brought her to a halt. Reluctantly, she turned back toward him and shrugged. “I don’t have much choice. I didn’t find any spare clothes in the bedroom I’m using.”
He glanced past her to her open bedroom door, and then farther down the hall to the room he’d claimed as his own. “Perhaps you should try my room.”
Was this his way of trying to be helpful, or was he only inviting her to look there as a way to get her in his room? No, that was ridiculous. She really needed to stop looking at him as some sort of otherworldly sexual predator. Otherwise, she was going to end up driving herself crazy.
“You don’t mind?”
“If I minded, I would not have invited you to look.”
Well, true enough. She almost asked him why he couldn’t simply conjure some clothing for her, the way he’d done for himself, but decided it was better to leave the topic alone. Did a djinn even know anything about women’s undergarments, bras and panties and all that? Attempting to explain all that to him would be mortifying.
So she murmured a thank-you and went on into the master bedroom, which was quite large, with an en suite bathroom and a little sitting area near the dormer window. The furniture here was also simple, probably to showcase more of those colorful abstract paintings, which hung on every wall.
Jillian went to the dresser and began to carefully go through the top drawer. Here she found tank tops and yoga pants and sweats, all of which would be helpful for sleeping. Well, maybe not the sweats; the weather was far too warm for that. She pulled out a few of each and began to make a pile on top of the dresser, uncomfortably aware of Aldair watching her the entire time.
The drawer next to that contained underwear. Not all that appealing to take someone else’s undergarments, but still better than wearing what she had on for lord knows how many more days. But lo and behold — there was a pack of cotton underwear, still unopened. A size bigger than what she normally wore, but she’d take it. A bra with the tags still attached — her cup size, but a larger band size. Still, if she put it on the smallest hook, it should work.
Then a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, again bigger than what she wore, but at least they were clean. They’d keep her going until she could go raid some of the little town’s boutiques. She remembered there actually had been several places in Madrid that sold women’s clothing, although she hadn’t done anything more than look in the windows when she and Jack visited here. Boutique clothing really hadn’t been in their budget; back before the Dying, she’d shopped at places like Ross and Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx. And then she realized she was distracting herself with those thoughts, because that way she didn’t have to think about the djinn who stood a few feet away and watched her with hard blue eyes.
She made a neat pile of everything she’d found and then picked it up. “Thank you,” she told Aldair, who had waited in the middle of the room while she went through the dresser. “This should be enough for now.”
“Good.” He didn’t say anything other than that, but the half-amused expression he wore irritated her for some reason. Did he think she enjoyed h
aving him watch her pick out her new underwear?
“I’ll just go to sleep now,” she said stiffly, and went back out to the hallway and on into her room. After she set her plunder on the bed, she closed the door, wondering as she did so whether he would protest.
But he didn’t. From the room down the corridor, she heard only silence.
Even so, she wondered whether she’d be able to fall asleep at all, knowing he was just a few yards away.
Chapter Four
The woman did not venture forth from her room after that. Whether she slept or not, he couldn’t know for sure, since his abilities did not include the power to see through walls, or doors.
All the same, he did not wish to go too far from this house, just in case she might make an attempt to leave while he thought she was asleep. He could not risk her getting away and going to Santa Fe. She would be sure to tell the djinn there of his presence in Madrid, and then no doubt that do-gooder Zahrias al-Harith would inform the elders. They would send him back to the outer circles without a second thought; Aldair was certain of that.
So instead he took the time to become more familiar with this place that would be his shelter — and Jillian’s — for the foreseeable future. It would do him no good to attempt to locate a refuge farther away from Santa Fe, as he would only run the risk of encountering more of his kind. At least here he knew where his enemies were. He could not say the same thing for the rest of the world.
He’d already cleared the refrigerator of any spoiled food, and he did the same with the items he found in the kitchen pantry. Normally, he would have required more of a meal than the bread and cheese he’d shared with Jillian, but it had been so long since he’d eaten anything fit for djinn consumption that the meager repast was quite enough to satisfy his hunger. They would need more, of course, although he had no worries on that count, for he knew he could summon what they needed directly from the stores in Santa Fe. No one would notice those items missing, he guessed. At least not for a while.
Forbidden (The Djinn Wars Book 6) Page 4