I lifted my chin, hands at the ready. For what, I didn’t know. I was less confident in myself than ever to know what spell to use to make them disappear, but I wasn’t going down without a fight, that was for certain!
As I anticipated, the door suddenly exploded, but my eyes widened.
“Run!” Doren said, reaching his hand out toward me. His typically calm lavender eyes were wide enough I could see whiteness.
I didn’t hesitate until I heard a snarl behind me.
“Don’t look!”
I couldn’t help it. I turned and my blood ran cold.
Glupin’s body wasn’t his body at all. It had been some kind of illusion, and the creature before me . . . I don’t know if I could have had a nightmare as terrifying. The creature roared at me, it’s lion-like mouth filled with shark-like teeth, but I couldn’t see a body, only darkness and moving shadow. And part of that shadow was reaching out to me with talons.
A hand gripped my wrist, and Doren yanked me away. The talons whooshed as they swung past me barely snagging my shirt.
Doren slammed my body against his, holding my head with both of his hands so my face was buried in his chest. “Don’t open your eyes!” he ordered.
Gale-force winds gathered around us. It pulled at my hair and clothing so hard my exposed skin felt as if it might rip off. Doren’s strong arms held me close. I’d almost forgotten how he felt.
The wind subsided, Doren’s hold on me lightened, and he said, “Okay. Don’t be too shocked when you open your eyes. I did the only thing I knew would keep you safe.”
I looked up at him. I meant to thank him but didn’t know what he meant. I felt my nose wrinkle as my gaze moved beyond his strong jaw, to his eyes, and . . . wait a minute. His beautiful dark brown eyes, no longer lavender. Brown, like summer mud after a rainstorm or the rich leather of a book cover.
When I looked beyond him, I saw a sky full of clouds, but the sky was brown. As I looked around, everything was some shade of brown.
“This is the djinn realm,” Doren quickly explained.
“You . . . took me to the djinn realm?” I looked at him again, aware of how wide my eyes felt.
He quirked a smile. “Like I said, I didn’t know how else to keep you safe.” His hands traveled down my shoulders and arms until he took my hands in his.
“How did you know . . .” My voice hitched.
“I heard you.” He dropped one of my hands to rub the back of his neck. “I’m trying to keep an eye on you. Besides, my orders were to find out what Taotin is doing, so I have a little more freedom than usual, which means it’s not a big deal that I’m gone for long periods of time.”
“Did you manipulate wishes with me as well?” I asked.
He grinned. “I didn’t want to use too much of your energy to fuel your wishes by pulling them out of thin air. It takes a lot less energy to just take the items from others.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, banks are insured, and the items only came from the rich. It’s rather amusing too. I need to take amusement wherever I can get it.”
I pulled my other hand out of his and put both hands up toward him. “Stop. They got Seymour.”
“They didn’t kill him. I believe they took him back to their master. The same master who wants you too, or else he wouldn’t have sent those things after you.”
“Where is Glupin?”
He shook his head. “Not at home.”
“But you knew that wasn’t his body. You knew before it transformed.”
Doren nodded and gestured with his hand. “Let’s walk while we talk.”
I fell into step beside him.
“As a djinn, I have the ability to see through . . .” He pursed his lips to one side of his face. “I don’t know the right term. Magical creatures put up a sort of façade so humans can’t see. Come to think of it, that’s something you should be able to do.” He glanced sideways at me.
I bit the inside of my bottom lip. “There’s a lot I should be able to do,” I mumbled in disappointment.
Doren hummed and said, “Perhaps.”
I didn’t realize until we reached a fork in the pathway that Doren hadn’t been watching me because his gaze was darting everywhere else, and his shoulders were stiff as if expecting something.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
He shook his head, and we turned to the right.
I frowned, wanting to demand an answer from him, but he glanced over his shoulder, and I lifted my chin in realization. I wasn’t supposed to be here. He was likely keeping an eye out for other djinn. Of course! This was the djinn realm, not my own.
I swallowed hard and stayed silent as we walked.
The path curved up a small hill, and when we turned, I followed the cobblestone pathway up to the most magnificent building I’d ever seen. I gasped at the massive ornate building, and knew immediately what it must have been. He hadn’t been lying.
Doren chuckled, even though the sound was tight. “Yes.”
“That’s . . .” I breathed. “You told me . . .”
“You didn’t believe me? Ouch.” He put his hand on his chest and gripped it as if I’d just stabbed him, but he grinned at me in the way he did that showed his teeth.
“Can I go in?” I asked.
He nodded and brushed his knuckles against my hand.
I reached out and entwined our fingers together, not looking at him. I needed his touch right now. My heart was still trying to calm down from what happened earlier.
I took in the details of the sculptures, the hand-carved pillars, and the reflection pond that looked like it was filled with water but didn’t move.
“Is everything here frozen?” I asked.
He nodded. “It’s a prison, remember?”
I hadn’t but realized it made sense.
Doren reached his hand out and pulled the heavy wooden door open. His hesitation made me squeeze his hand. “I . . . don’t know how this is going to work,” he confessed, looking at me again. “The library is magical. It’s . . .” He shook his head. “Finicky. I don’t know if you can make it through or not, but you need to hold on to me. I might be able to trick it into thinking you’re a djinn too.”
I didn’t bother to ask, I knew I wouldn’t understand anyway. “Like how you got me here?” I asked, stepping in front of him.
His soft smile made my heart skip. “Sure,” he said gently. He returned his gaze forward and pushed me into another vortex of wind.
It lasted a lot shorter than getting to the djinn realm, and it didn’t hurt. When I pulled away from Doren this time, my jaw hung open.
I’d been in old libraries before.
Nothing compared to the beauty of the Library of Alexandria, and I knew it was because I was inside a building that had been destroyed in my mortal realm. A building containing strolls, books, and paintings lost to my world. History. This was history.
Doren said nothing, allowing me time to look at everything, take it in. He stayed a step behind me as I walked down the stairs, my eyes locked on the glowing crystal chandeliers. The mural overhead glistened with reflections of golden light.
He finally put his hand on my lower back, and I tore my gaze away from a limping gargoyle to see his face. “Come with me this way,” he said.
“I have a lot of questions,” I said in a low voice, being in a library and all.
He nodded, glancing around once more. “All right. We should be okay.” He pushed me down a chosen row of books. “Where do you want to start?”
“Those demon shadow things. Why did they go after me? And why did that . . . monster imitate Glupin?”
His lips tightened in a thin line, and he looked above my head, at a book. “There are . . . things you don’t know about.”
“I’m aware of that,” I said stiffly.
Doren looked back down at me, then stepped past and p
ointed to a book. “I am not allowed to touch it. You have to.”
“Doren,” I warned. He was avoiding my questions yet again.
“Just . . . trust me, okay? Please?”
I reached up and grabbed the thick spine of the leather-bound book, and magic coursed through my hand, then tingled up my arm, across my skull, down my body, and into my toes. I saw a bright flash of light, and a movie on rewind played in my head with every spell I had written down.
Me.
This was my spell book.
I felt strong and confident, looking down at the book as I wrote in elegant letters. And then I saw myself flipping to that page, the rug beyond the book letting me know I was very much in the library. And yet, I was very much writing in my book, sitting at a desk in the summer heat, grateful for the breeze from the nearby window.
I traced the drawing with my index finger and lifted my gaze to Doren.
Doren.
He stood with his shoulder against the wall, the curtain behind him settling, and he wore his coy, playful half grin. He settled the hood of his dark robes on his shoulders and chuckled. “Why are you always writing your spells down? Won’t you always remember them?”
“Maybe someday I won’t,” I replied, my voice echoing in my head. I dipped the quill again, finishing the last of the images, then poured the red sand on top.
I felt Doren’s fingers on my bare shoulder and looked up into his brown eyes, rich like the color of wet oak wood flecked with the copper of autumn leaves. “Should you ever forget, I will be there to help you remember.” His deep voice caressed my ears, sinking through warm my heart. His fingers slid under the strap of my dress and lifted it off my shoulder.
I looked up from the pages of the book and saw Doren across from me, studying me now with lavender eyes I knew in my heart weren’t his own, but a curse of the magic he was forced to relay for the sake of a master.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“You and I—” I started. I closed the book and held it to my chest. How could I be that brave, bold woman yet be a terrified child at the same time? How could I feel the magic coursing through me yet feel no confidence in my abilities?
Doren gave me that half grin that melted my body and stepped closer, his face inches from my own. “I made a promise that one day—”
“You would help me remember,” I finished for him. “I saw it. I also saw . . .”
I studied his eyes, the curve of his nose, how his nostrils widened, how thick his lips were, and I found myself tracing the curvature of his jaw. I wondered if facial hair might help him look his true age.
My fingers traveled over those lips, and Doren reached his hand up to take my wrist so he could kiss my fingers and then my palm.
His eyes locked on mine again.
My heart came to life in a way I’d never felt it beat. For the first time in years, had someone to care about, and someone who cared about me.
I moved my hand from his lips to his cheek, and in the same motion rose to my toes to crush my lips to his. Warmth seeped into all the cold places I’d refused to open to anyone else. He wrapped his arms around me, and the hand low on my back pulled me even closer. My chest tightened. My heart began to pound in my ears.
In that moment, I was Zenja and Guinevere. I could see Doren over me. He was shirtless, and a magnificent tattoo spread up and over his left shoulder, a wing made out of Egyptian symbols. I lifted my body to meet his and saw the hieroglyphics tattooed all the way down his spine, disappearing under the edge of his pants.
Yet I stood in the library, his body pressing me against the books of history, likely my own, in the library that no longer existed to humans.
I pulled away to gasp for breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
Doren chuckled softly and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Shut up,” I ordered, kissing him again, pulling his bottom lip between mine, my tongue hungrily sliding into his mouth to tangle with his.
Chapter 21
Doren
I pulled away this time, holding Gwen’s face gently in my hands. I put my forehead against hers and inhaled deeply. “There is so much I need to tell you.” But how could I possibly tell her everything that had been going on? Tell her what I’d discovered those past three weeks while I was gone?
Gwen’s brows pinched with worry. Her throat bobbed. “Doren?”
I realized I must have taken on a look myself.
I looked down and took one of her hands, hands used to fending for herself. I hadn’t noticed the scar that ran from her wrist to her index finger before. I wondered if it was from the car accident years ago or from working in the bar or perhaps practicing with Glupin.
“Those shadow creatures,” I started. “The monsters you encountered, those are from Taotin.” I met her gaze once more. “I didn’t show up tonight because I heard you,” I confessed. “I was following the shadow creatures, Taotin’s minions. He knows you’re back. He knows you’ve rediscovered your magic side, and he’s doing everything possible he can to find you.”
She laughed, nervousness making it higher than it should have been. “Find me? Why?”
I inhaled slowly and gave her hand a squeeze.
Gwen’s face fell, and her eyes narrowed. “Doren? What aren’t you telling me?”
“He’s trying to find you because . . .” I didn’t want to tell her. I didn’t want to remind her of that part of her life. But it was my duty, my responsibility to be the one to tell her the truth. “Because you are—”
“My darling wife.”
In one fluid motion, I pulled Gwen behind me, using myself as a shield, and my eyes narrowed on the newcomer. I knew Gwen was peeking out from my side, and when she locked eyes on him, I felt her body tense in recognition.
Taotin smirked at us.
He stood as ever the regal pharaoh he’d once been, his spine straight, shoulders rounded, and chin up. His dark eyes narrowed on me with such danger in them I knew he couldn’t have come alone.
“How are you in here?” I demanded. He never should have been able to pass through the doors. There wasn’t one to the mortal realm. How had he gotten in?
His eyes traveled down and back up. “Always in the way. Even stuck in prison. Tsk.” Taotin tilted his head, focus shifting to Gwen.
Her free hand gripped my side. From the corner of my eyes, I saw her shake her head, but the glint of coldness in them let me know she understood. She must have had some flash of memory of the two of them walking the palace grounds, at the celebrations, or something else.
“If you don’t mind, it’s time to take you home.” Taotin extended his hand toward Gwen.
I shifted her behind me further. “You can’t cause disruption here,” I said firmly. “The library and muses won’t allow it.” The library was enchanted. All magic was forbidden. I at least had that to stand on.
Taotin’s lips thinned into a disappointed line. “True. But you can give her to me now and avoid disaster later.”
I laughed at him. “Really? Disaster? In what way? I have nothing to lose, you can’t attack either of us here, and Gwen’s family is dead.”
Taotin’s lip curled into a cruel smirk. It was his turn to laugh—a sound that made me think of darkness and death. There was no light in it. No joy. Just . . . darkness. “Fool,” he said. “There are still mortals she loves. That angel boy. What was his name?” He put his finger to his chin, pretending to ponder while my blood ran cold. “Oh, yes. Collin. Darling boy. Have you ever plucked the feathers from an angel’s wings?” His smirk darkened. “The screams they make are so . . . beautiful.”
Gwen’s fingers dug so deeply into my side I had to put my hand over hers to offer some sort of reassurance.
“No,” she breathed.
“And angel feathers sell for a lot too,” Taotin added.
“Don’t listen to him,” I warned with
out breaking eye contact with the monster before us.
“If I go with you, will you free him?” Gwen said suddenly.
“Of course,” he purred.
I tightened my hand on hers and finally turned my head enough I could meet her gaze. “He lies, Gwen. That is the one thing he is best at. You and I will defeat him, but you can’t go with him. Not now.”
“But he has Collin!” Her brown eyes pleaded with me, and the look tore at my heart.
“You don’t know that,” I said reassuringly. “He is trying to get you to go with him by saying whatever he can come up with. He’s a vile excuse for a human.” I narrowed my gaze once more on Taotin.
The man’s jaw tightened, and his nostrils flared, but I saw the smirk playing at the corner of his lips. “I am the one responsible for bringing you back, Zenja my love.” His shoulders were tight, and I knew he was trying to hold back the anger I knew him so well by. “I wanted you at my side once again, where you should be. For centuries I have tried to bring you back to me, to your body. I finally succeeded, and somehow . . .” His hands flexed into fists. “Somehow this fiend found you.”
He glared once more at me, and I knew . . . I knew he would kill me when we got out of here.
“I think we shall keep you as a pet when all is said and done.”
I didn’t respond. What could I say?
But Gwen didn’t move either.
Taotin’s lip twitched. “Have it your way.” He disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.
I waited for several tense seconds, and when I was finally certain he was gone, I faced Gwen’s terrified face. “We need to get back now. You can call your friends and warn them.”
“And tell them to hide where?” Silver tears filled her eyes. “He knows Collin! How could he know about Collin if he truly doesn’t have him?”
I shook my head. “Gwen, I know. Trust me, I’ve been to his hideout. Breathe.” I cupped her pale face. “Okay, just breathe.”
She pursed her lips and drew a shaking breath. I nodded reassuringly, and she exhaled. Another three breaths and she was gaining color back into her cheeks.
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