by Amy Sumida
“Bring in a corpse?” he growled. “No, I did not. There was one woman at the funeral who hadn't been a part of the family business for years. I recall Petra sneering at her in disgust. She was likely left off your list.” He chuckled grimly. “How tragic that she finally comes back into the fold only to be murdered.”
I glanced up at Cerberus, and we shared a regretful look.
“It bothers you that you murdered an innocent woman?” the jinn asked with amusement. “You slaughtered an entire family and their employees but this one kill bothers you? Petra was right; you're all idiots.”
“Before you go insulting us, perhaps you should introduce yourself,” I noted with annoyance.
Jinn never give their true names; to do so would give a person power over them. But they all have names that they go by. I wanted his because I knew his monarchs. After I killed this asshole, I was going to have words with them.
“So you can run to Prince Saif and cry foul?” The jinn smiled. “No, you will not have my name, Spellsinger. Not either of them. I have only given my true name to one person, and you monsters just killed her!” He roared the last.
“If you loved Petra then you know that she was the monster,” I said calmly. “I'm sorry for your loss, but we did what we had to.”
“You had to tear her apart?!” He shouted. “Scrape pieces of her away until she was nothing but a pile of meat and bloody bones?”
My men looked at Darc, and he shifted his stare away uncomfortably.
“She threatened Elaria,” Lucifer said as if that explained all of his actions.
“Rage and fear for my wife overtook me.” Darc was more diplomatic. “It was wrong, but it is done.”
“And it is no worse than things that Petra has done to her victims,” I added. “You live by the sword, you die by it.”
“Then you will die by the same sword, Spellsinger,” the jinn announced. “They mutilated the woman I love for you so I will mutilate you to avenge my lover. Then, I will kill them.”
All of my men, Lucifer, and Verin stepped forward menacingly.
“You will be the one dying if you come after her,” Lucifer snarled. “The things I'll do to you will make what I did to your whore look like a gentle breeze drifting across her skin.”
I glanced warily at Lucifer before stepping past the men. “You've lost someone important to you, and I can respect your pain, but you must leave now before you start something that will end in your death.”
“I will haunt you, Gods of the Fae and God of the Angels,” the jinn declared. “You will burn for what you did to my Petra!”
Lucifer roared and Light poured from his palm, streaking toward the jinn. The man went transparent with a smug grin, only his eyes remaining. They burned with the promise of retribution as Lucifer's light passed beneath them. Then those eyes disappeared as well. A tree behind the spot the jinn had been standing in disintegrated.
“Lucifer.” I grabbed his hand and pushed it down. “He's gone.”
Lucifer took a deep breath and let it out. “I am well, my vicious. Don't concern yourself with me. I have control again, I promise you.”
“Okay, you need to tell us what that means,” Banning said. “And then we need to discuss what we're going to do about the jinn. But first, you three need to take a shower. All that blood is making me twitchy.”
Lucifer lifted a brow at Banning then slid a smile at me. “A shower sounds like an excellent idea.”
“Separately!” Banning snapped. “You need to bathe separately.”
Lucifer started laughing, and I joined him out of sheer relief. The Devil was gone and so was Petra. That was cause for celebration in my book. Sure, a jinn was after us now, but forewarned is forearmed. We could handle one pesky jinni.
Chapter Forty-Seven
I stepped into the hallway out of Sarah Jane's bedroom. I'd just finished my shower and slipped into some clothes I'd borrowed from Sarah's closet. I didn't think she'd mind, seeing how I'd just helped to save her life.
“May I speak with you?” Verin pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against; the one directly across from the master bedroom.
“Son of a witch!” I hissed as I jerked in shock. “Don't do that. You scared the music out of me.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
I stared at the strange expression on Verin's face and frowned. Okay, I'd bite.
“Come on in.” I waved him into the bedroom then shut the door behind us.
Now that the RS wasn't screwing with me—so many jokes that I shall refrain from making—I didn't have a problem with being alone with Verin. I could look at him without...
Damn it, RS! I growled. You said you were going to stop manipulating me!
I did! She shouted back. I have! This is a manipulation-free zone. I swear.
You're lying, I huffed. I still...
You still what? She asked gleefully. You still find the grunter hot? Horrible word that; grunt. Doesn't really encapsulate the sounds he makes, does it? His noises are more like the sort of things you hear while having sex.
Stop, I said sternly.
It's as if he's in a constant state of arousal, she went on. Maybe he's fantasizing about you when he makes those sounds; just growling and rumbling, thinking about you whimpering beneath him. No wonder he rarely forms any real words.
Stop it, I said louder.
We should call it spexing from now on instead of grunting. Speaking and sex in one. Or grexing; sex-grunting. Yes, I like that best; grexing it is. Spexing sounds like something you do to get to the top of a mountain.
Shut up! I screeched in my head.
Touchy touchy. RS laughed. Sounds like you need a good shag with some grexing.
Enough! Kyanite snapped. You never know when to leave it be, RS.
I was just making a point, she grumbled.
I got it, I snapped.
I pushed away my attraction—not so hard to do with RS squawking in my head—and focused back on King Verin. He stood in front of the bed—that was unfortunate positioning—and stared at me as if he were about to pull out a sword and fall on it for me.
“Are you all right, King Verin?” I asked softly.
Verin shifted uncomfortably.
“Your Majesty?” I prompted.
He closed his eyes in regret and... was that embarrassment?
He is sooo pretty when he blushes, RS sighed. All that manly goodness tinted pink. What do you call that notch in his chin? Is there a word for it, because there should be one. Like “kissable crevice” or “desire dent.” It looks as if he got smacked by a sword there, and all I want to do is kiss the boo-boo and make it better.
Shut up! Kyanite snapped.
“What the hell is happening right now?” I asked in bafflement.
The thing was; I wasn't sure if I was more baffled by Verin's behavior or my response to him. All those days we'd spent together, waiting for the assassin to show, and I'd never noticed that I was still attracted to him. How was that possible? Had I ignored him that studiously? Unless RS was lying.
I'm not lying!
“I...” Verin cleared his throat and studied his shoes. “I've heard stories of you. Of your abilities. Rumors say that you were once a goddess.”
“Yes. That's true. Wait... rumors?” I blinked. “There are rumors about me underwater?”
“Water spreads tales faster than air.” He flicked his gaze up to mine. It was no longer cold. In fact, the ice had melted into bright blue, just a few shades darker than turquoise. “I've heard that your Goddess magic lures men to you and that you have a spell inside you that binds them to you once you've seduced them.”
I gaped at him. Processed. Choked on my conclusions.
“Are you fucking serious?!” I shrieked.
Movement came from outside the door then it was thrown open. Banning filled the doorway, eyes glowing with menace. Behind him stood the rest of my lovers.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Bann demanded.
>
“We're fine. Give us a few minutes.” I went to the door and closed it on Banning's startled face. Then I turned and faced Verin.
Verin cleared his throat again but his voice remained in that deep rumble. “I thought you were... the way you looked at me while you laid there naked... and then I felt... oh, fuck!”
I burst out laughing. Verin, however, scowled deeper.
“I'm sorry,” I apologized. “I didn't mean to laugh. It's not funny.” My mouth wouldn't stop twitching.
“I thought you were enchanting me,” he admitted. “Luring me into your... family against my will.”
“I wasn't. Even if the collar hadn't been suppressing my magic, I don't have that ability.”
“I'm beginning to understand that now,” Verin said dryly, his features stretching into annoyed lines. “It seems that my feelings for you were my own.”
“It seems so,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable. Then, in revelation, I whispered to myself, “The collar was suppressing my magic.”
Fuck! I screeched in my head as my thoughts tumbled wildly.
I had met Zhavage and Verin before Torin had removed my collar. Zhavage had barely affected me. I had appreciated his stunning body, sure, but I hadn't desired him. But I'd been attracted, deeply attracted, to Verin from the start. Despite his behavior. We'd both been laboring under false assumptions; he had believed I was enchanting him when I was actually powerless, and I had believed that the RS was enchanting me when she had been powerless. Sweet stones, our feelings had been genuine.
That's right, sweet-lips, I didn't have anything to do with the way you reacted to the hot grexer, RS announced smugly. Not initially, at least.
What does that mean? I asked warily.
I'm not a complete dick. I take my cues from you, RS said petulantly. I can feel the possibility of you loving someone.
You can what?!
The potential, she explained. With you and Slate it was Godzilla-sized.
You're saying that every man you've...
Every man who I've shined up a bit in your eyes has had great potential to become someone you could love forever, she finished. I don't want us bound to some jerk who's not going to make you happy, El. I pick them for a reason. Just think of me as a magical, invisible matchmaker.
“Elaria?” Verin was staring at me strangely. Maybe because I'd been standing there silently for so long.
“Sorry.” I shook my head to clear it. “You were saying?”
“The way you looked at me that day.” He ran a hand back over his hair. “Why?”
“Why?” I squeaked.
Yes, why, Elaria? RS taunted.
Shut up! Kyanite snapped. You've made your point. Don't be spiteful.
Sorry, RS whispered.
I cleared my throat before I answered, “Why does any woman look at a man like that? I was... appreciating the view. Plus, you had just pulled a white-knight and rescued me. That tends to up the hotness level of any man.”
Verin smiled. It made his face into a work of art. The Sun came out and little fat angels sang. It was fucking glorious.
I think I'm in love, RS whispered.
“The appreciation was mutual,” Verin said. “Especially since you were giving me a far greater view than I presented you with.”
“Well, I did catch a glimpse of all of your greatness when you went diving in the Gargo pool,” I said flippantly then I blushed. “That may have sounded flirtatious so let me follow it up with something more concrete.”
“You're not looking for another lover?” Verin asked with a smirk.
“No, I'm not. I kinda have a full plate.”
“Indeed.” He chuckled. “And I'm not interested in squeezing onto that plate. Plus, there's that whole sea and land thing separating us. As much as I'm drawn to you, I don't think we'd be compatible.”
“A bird can love a fish but where would they live?” I asked coyly.
He made a sound of agreement. I refuse to call it grexing.
I let out a relieved breath. “Good. Friends then?”
“Friends,” Verin repeated.
Then something occurred to me. “Why did you help me if you thought I was trying to ensnare you with my magic?”
Verin made a long, growling, beleaguered sound before saying, “Zhavage.”
“You helped me because of Zhavage?”
“He insisted that I had misjudged you.”
“And you trusted him enough to get close to a woman who could potentially enchant you?” I asked in shock.
“No,” he admitted uncomfortably. “We made a wager.”
“You bet on whether I would forcibly make you my lover?” I asked, aghast.
“No. We bet on whether you would try.” Verin grinned viciously. “I intended to bring Zhavage proof of your...”
“My?” I lifted a brow at him teasingly.
“Your sinister seduction,” he finished with another of his epic smiles. Then he went serious. “May I share something private with you in defense of my behavior?”
“More private than what we've just discussed?”
“Far more.”
“Of course. I promise not to repeat anything you confide in me.”
“My mother was taken into my father's harem against her will.” Verin paused, his jaw clenching. “My father used magic to enslave her. When he was tired of her, he released the spell, and she went mad. I had to...”—he closed his eyes briefly and let out a long breath—“I had to kill her.”
“Fuck,” I whispered in horror.
“So, you can see how a similar situation would bring up... a violent response in me.”
“Yes, I can... wait; Dragons have harems?”
“Dragon Kings do.” Verin winked at me then sobered. “Although, I've never... I can't be like him. I refuse. I had his harem rooms destroyed.”
“I get it.” I nodded. “And you're forgiven, of course.”
“Perhaps wait until I ask for forgiveness to grant it.”
I blanched then blushed.
“I'm teasing.” Verin took my hand and smiled softly. “Please forgive my assumptions and brutish behavior, Your Majesty.”
“Forgiven,” I said again. “Please excuse the behavior of my men and me.”
“Forgiven and admired,” Verin said. “Your husbands and consorts defend you as they should. What impresses me the most, though, is how ferociously you defend them.”
“They're my life.” I shrugged. “I defend them as I would myself. In fact, they mean more to me than life.”
“That is as it should be too,” Verin murmured and slid me a look even hotter than the one he'd given me when we'd first met.
“Friends don't look at each other like that,” I chided, trying to sound teasing but ending up breathless.
“It's just a look, Your Majesty.” He smirked.
“We almost went to war over one of your looks,” I reminded him.
Verin grunted and for the first time, I found it charming.
Chapter Forty-Eight
After Verin and I exited the bedroom, I had to turn around and go right back in with my men, who demanded an explanation. I told them everything except for my continued attraction to King Verin. It was irrelevant and would only make them worry. Whether RS had inspired my desire or not, didn't matter; I wouldn't act on it. It's called commitment.
After I was done assuaging their curiosity and stroking their egos—among other things—we joined Lucifer, Raphael, Cerberus, and Verin in Sarah Jane's living room; a modest space of simple furniture and bluebird wallpaper. The larger-than-life men filled the room, making it seem smaller than it was. I perched on the edge of the cotton-covered couch between Banning and Declan, the rest of the men ranged out around us on overstuffed armchairs and wooden seats brought in from the dining room. All except for Slate; he stood and paced restlessly.
“I'll pay a visit to Prince Saif,” I announced. “He'll be happy to help after we took care of his goddess for him.”
“That guy seemed pretty confident that Saif wouldn't know him without a name,” Gage pointed out. “And he has reason to be. What do we have on him other than the fact that he has bad taste in women and burning eyes that are common to all Jinn?”
“You never know.” I shrugged. “Maybe Saif will have heard of a jinn who shacked up with a satyr.”