The pain disappeared, and memories flooded in.
Gabe.
Ty.
Scarlett and Penny.
Nora.
Gran.
I broke away and met his eyes. My Gabe. I loved him so, so much. It was as if the last few weeks hadn’t happened. But they had. Confusions swirled through my head as I tried to reconcile my two minds. I collapsed on the floor, the memories too much. The tears came then, without warning.
Gabe laid a hand on my shoulder. “Liv, what’s the matter?”
I pulled him down next to me and held tight to his hand. I stared at him, drinking in his face. These past few weeks must’ve been torturous for him. I wiped the tears away.
“I remember everything,” I finally choked out.
His eyes widened. “Even me?”
I let out a laugh-sob. “Yeah, even you.”
I climbed into his lap, needing to be near him. I craved his touch and comfort. He held me tight against him.
“Gods, Liv. I missed you,” he muttered in my hair.
The things I learned from the goddesses still floated around, but I pushed them aside. This was Gabe.
I laid my head on his shoulder, replaying all that had happened. “Why would Gran take my memories?”
Gabe didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Because she doesn’t want to be found by the goddesses.”
I snorted. Right. There was only one goddess who didn’t want to be found.
I gasped and scrambled up, pacing the room again. This was not possible. But the black cats. The other goddesses thought I was Bast. And I was definitely descended from her.
“Gabe, I think Gran is Bast.”
Gabe cocked his head as he looked at me. “What makes you think that?”
“Because she’s the only goddess who has something to hide. Plus, the other goddesses hate her almost as much as they hate the Jinn.”
Gabe studied me for a minute. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something. I found your grandmother when I was trying to get you your memory back.”
I crossed my arms. Now there was a woman I needed to exact revenge on. Though, murder might be a little extreme. “Did she say why she was so unreasonable?”
“No, but I already knew her identity. You will need to tread carefully. She’s dangerous. I don’t want you seeking her out.”
“I can’t promise you that. Bast or not, she owes me an explanation.”
I had to figure out how to put together the goddesses and the Jinn. I had my feet in both worlds. I still wanted to find the Jinn who killed my parents, and most of the rest of them were pretty evil. And as soon as I could, I’d find a way to get rid of Samir.
I looked around the room. “Can we go back to the house? I think I owe Ali and Melissa an apology.” I wanted to get as much of my old life back as possible.
Gabe creased his eyebrows. “For what?”
“Um. I attacked him with a fire poker.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him, a crooked grin on his lips.
“He’s not the only one you attacked.” He stared at me with serious eyes. “Liv, I’m still not sure I can trust you.”
“Why?” My chest constricted. That wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be so hesitant to believe me.
“Because you’ve been trying to do away with me since you arrived. How do I know you won’t try again?”
I’d never hurt him now that I knew the truth. He should know that.
I held up my hand with the ring. “Because if I wanted to, I could send you back into this vessel right now. But I’m not going to do that, because I love you, and I would never hurt you. In fact, I want to go back to that house, say hello to Ali and Melissa, and then hole up in our room and make out for the rest of the day.”
He raised his eyebrows and held me a little tighter. “Well, that certainly sounds like a plan.”
I blinked, and we showed up in my room.
Gabe stood next to my dresser and looked at me warily. “What?” I asked, slipping my hand into his and leaning into him. I couldn’t keep my hands off of him. I craved his touch.
He dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “I’m still waiting for you to attack me.”
I let out a breath. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”
“Did you forget everything you did while you had no memory?”
“Well, no.” Shame colored my face. Those things felt far away, like they were separate from me. I choked up a little. I’d tried to kill Gabe. I threw a knife at his heart, and then I stabbed him in the gut. I was a horrible person.
Rio pounced on my toe, and I picked him up and scratched him behind the ear. He purred and nuzzled my cheek. I’d forgotten him too. I glanced around my room, and tears threatened again. This was me, and it was so good to be back.
“I guess I was like a cornered house cat, you know. I felt trapped, and so I came out, claws and all. It’s going to take me a while to put things together. Can we please go talk to Melissa and Ali?”
He nodded and led me down the hall. Just before we got to the stairs, he spun and pulled me close and kissed me again. Warmth flooded my stomach. Maybe we wouldn’t make it downstairs after all. Regretfully, he pulled away and met my gaze with serious eyes. “You’re really back.”
“Yeah, I am.”
He held me tight. “I was so scared I’d lost you forever.”
I couldn’t even imagine what this was like for him. I would’ve been so lost and angry, and yet he was so patient with me.
“No way, Gabe. I love you.”
“What if that story Natalia told you was true?”
I gulped. Obviously, I believed Gabe now, but if the story had been true… just thinking of it made me sick to my stomach. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel if he’d really done those things. I knew he killed a lot of girls, but it was a compulsion. It was eons ago. The world was different then. But if what Natalia had said was true, then maybe we’d be having a different conversation. I couldn’t excuse behavior like that.
“Good thing it’s not true, so we don’t have to find out.”
Hurt flashed across his face, but he recovered quickly. My answer wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“Good thing.”
Chapter Thirty
Liv
Gabe pulled me down the stairs and into the living room. Ali and Melissa sat on the couch talking in hushed voices. Ali jumped up and put himself between Melissa and us.
“Gabe, you shouldn’t have brought her back here.”
I grinned and crossed my arms. “Really, and why is that?”
“You gave her voice back?” Ali asked, his face full of fear. I was surprised he didn’t up and disappear.
“Yep,” I answered for him. “Scared?” I asked, smirking. I couldn’t wait to tell them.
He creased his eyebrows. “I don’t understand.”
I tapped a finger on my left temple. “Got my memories back.”
Melissa shoved Ali out of the way. “Really?”
“Yep.”
She crushed me in a hug. “If you ever try to kill Gabe again, I will personally decapitate you, do you understand?”
I wiggled out of her grip. “Yeah, I understand. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
I met Ali’s eyes and approached him. He took a tiny step back, and the fear he was trying so hard to hide floated in his eyes. I reached my arms around his neck and hugged him. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“You should be,” he said. I pulled away from him, worried, but his face had softened. “You’re not allowed near any fire pokers.”
“Noted. Though, you should know, I’m good with just about any weapon. Knives are my best.”
Melissa clapped her hands. “Oh, I want to hear all about your time with the goddesses. But maybe during dinner. I’m sure you and Gabe have a lot of catching up to do.”
Gabe put his arm around my shoulder. “Thanks, Mel, we’ll be back down in a couple of hours. You’re right. We have a lot that
needs to be said.”
Ali snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re not going to talk.”
Gabe smirked. “You’ll never know. Liv, I need to talk to Ali for just a second. If you want to head back upstairs, I’ll be there soon.”
It bothered me that he had things to say that he felt I couldn’t hear, but I shouldn’t be surprised. It would take some time before he would fully trust me again. I would feel the same way. It still stung a little.
I ran up the stairs and pushed open the door to my room. I marveled at the magic. Gabe had done a phenomenal job. I stopped and looked at my pictures. I picked up the one with Ty.
I should’ve stayed for the wedding. Then at least I’d have that memory. Even if he had no idea who I was. I wondered if Gran had wiped away the memories of everyone I knew.
I trusted her. Loved her. She was my grandmother. Someday she would have to answer for what she did.
But first, she was going to give everyone their memories back. I wanted my brother and my friends in my life. Then somehow I’d have to figure out how to intermingle my two worlds. Because I had ties to the goddesses now too.
Josie was probably worried. But I couldn’t get word to her without risking Gabe’s life. She was going to have a fit when she found out that my boyfriend was a Jinn.
Hopefully she wouldn’t sic Cupcake on him.
Some things didn’t make sense though. Like why they wanted Gabe so bad. Natalia obviously had a claim to him, even if it was twisted, but the others seemed to think Gabe was something more than just a Jinn.
Someone rapped on the door. “Can I come in?” Gabe called.
I jerked open the door and grinned at him. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into the room with a kiss. I’d missed him so much. He placed his hands on my hips and lightly brushed my skin just above my jeans with his thumb. I shivered at his touch.
I took a few steps backwards and pulled him with me. My legs hit the bed, and we both fell in a heap. I laughed and wiggled out from underneath him.
“Ali was right. We aren’t doing much talking,” Gabe said.
I propped my head up with my arm, and he moved so he was inches from my face. I really did want to talk, but he was too distracting. I rolled over so I was facing the ceiling. He laid his hand across my stomach and trailed soft kisses along my neck.
“This is so surreal.” I stared at the fake stars on my ceiling. The room was literally identical to the one I had at home. “How did you make my room appear without a wish from me?”
I thought back over the last few weeks. Gabe managed to do a lot of magic without any wishes from me. He took my voice, and he disappeared and reappeared whenever he wanted. He even made that padded room appear. Jinn weren’t supposed to be able to do magic outside of their mistress.
He didn’t bother to answer my question.
“You shouldn’t be able to use your magic without me. In fact you’ve done it multiple times. I learned a lot about Jinn at the sanctuary. You’re essentially powerless without a mistress.”
He hesitated for a few moments. “But I have a mistress. You.”
Oh, he was hiding something. “Yeah, but I haven’t wished for any of this. You couldn’t even misinterpret things I’ve done as wishes.” Especially things I absolutely did not want.
“A lot of what I’ve done could be a loose interpretation of a wish. Your voice, for example, I know you wouldn’t really want to hurt me, so I was simply preventing that from happening.”
“That’s a huge stretch. You should not be able to do things without a wish from me. In fact, don’t I have to physically say something? What are you hiding?” After being in the dark so long, I didn’t want to just have more secrets between us.
I rolled over so I could face him. He stared at me for a long time. “You mean you haven’t figured it out? I’m surprised you don’t already know.”
I thought of everything I learned about Jinn. They couldn’t do anything without a wish.
I gasped. There was only one way.
“You’re Djinn?”
Gabe let out a breath. “Yes, I am. Liv, you hold my life in your hands. You cannot tell anyone.”
I sat up. “But that’s impossible. They tried to summon you at the castle after they figured out we were connected, and nothing happened.”
Gabe creased his eyebrows. “Really?” He didn’t say anything for a long moment. He slapped a hand on his forehead.
“This is how Samir did it.”
“Did what?” I asked.
“Samir. He learned how to ignore the goddesses summons. He had a goddess hold his vessel. Djinn have to answer the summons of a goddess, but a Djinn held by a goddess is only beholden to her. I wonder who was stupid enough to do it. Anyway, that’s not important. The important thing is that the reason it didn’t work is because of you. You hold my vessel, and so the only goddess I’m beholden to is you.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Gabe
Liv and Melissa stood near the stove chatting. Ali attempted to steal chicken out of the pan, but Melissa swatted his hand and told him to go sit down. Liv chopped up veggies.
I watched her carefully for any signs of deceit. It was odd the way she acted, as if the last several weeks hadn’t happened. She’d tried to kill me on multiple occasions. What if this was an act?
Sure she believed my story over Natalia’s, but she’d been training with the goddesses for a few weeks before I took her away. She had to have some doubts. I would if I were her. Which was why I was still pretty suspicious. She and I hadn’t talked about the sanctuary, but to be fair, we hadn’t had time.
She and Mel brought the food over, and Liv collapsed in her seat with a grin. “I’m famished.”
She reached over and squeezed my hand. I’d missed her touch. But I needed to make sure everything was on the up and up.
I put the rice pilaf and chicken on my plate. “So, Liv, tell us about the goddesses.” I tried to be nonchalant about it.
Melissa pointed her fork at Liv. “Yeah, I want to know about all the fancy parties and things you guys had. Tell me everything.”
Liv chuckled and ignored Melissa, looking at me instead. “You just want to know all of our secrets.” Her eyes danced with mischief, but her words worried me.
“No, I want to know what happened.” I stared at her, looking for any clue that she might be deceiving me.
She took a bite of her food and chewed slowly. Was she thinking of what she could and couldn’t tell me? “Well, I made a friend named Josie. She’s awesome and is a bit like Scarlett. Someday I’ll have to introduce you. She has a pet cobra named Cupcake.”
Her demeanor didn’t indicate that she was trying to hide anything. But she probably learned how to be deceiving at the sanctuary.
“That sounds terrifying,” Melissa said, shock written all over her face.
“That means she’s descended from Meretseger,” Ali said.
“Yep,” Liv said.
“I’ve met her. Not my favorite goddess,” I said. If those were the kinds of friends she was making, then I should be cautious.
“Why not?” Liv asked defensively.
“Because she can poison anything. She might not know how to kill Jinn, but she could certainly make us sick.”
“Yikes,” Liv said. “But Josie’s not like that. She’s super sweet. Cupcake and Tokyo are best friends. We’ll need to go back and get Tokyo.”
“That can be arranged. But we probably won’t ever meet Josie. We might keep you around, but the goddesses are still the enemy,” I said. She needed to know she probably wouldn’t see her friends again. Plus, I kind of wanted to make her angry and see if she would crack.
“That’s not true,” Ali said. “I have friends who are goddesses. They aren’t all bad.”
I took a bite of the spicy chicken and reflected on his words. “Come on, Liv, you mean they didn’t try to teach you that we all had to be taken out.”
“Sure. But it doesn’t matter because I kno
w you. Other goddesses will come around. Josie’s not your typical goddess. I want to see her again. I have to get my cat back anyway.”
She seemed so sure of herself. It could be part of her act. I hated that I was being so suspicious, but she had to understand why I was so paranoid.
“Not right now. They’re still hunting me.”
“You’re not being fair. I won’t be stuck here because you don’t trust me.” She glared at me. There was that fire I was looking for. It was odd, but her obstinacy made me feel better. She wasn’t trying to sugarcoat everything.
“You’re right. You should be able to come and go as you please. Goddesses have more power over their magic than we do.”
She scowled. “Not me. I couldn’t figure out how to do magic.”
Ali snorted. “Really?”
I didn’t wait for her response. “We’ll teach you to do magic, and then you can come and go.” And we could follow her if necessary.
She poked at her food and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m telling you I suck at magic.”
“Nah,” Ali said. “You just need the right motivation.”
“Like what?”
“How would you like to give Ty his memories back?”
“I would love to. But I can’t do that. If Gran put that curse on him, then she has to remove it. Lianna couldn’t give me my memories back, and she’s wicked powerful.”
“But you gave yourself your memories back,” Ali said.
“Nope. That was Gabe and his superb kissing abilities.” She gave me a sappy grin.
“Oh please, don’t add to his already overinflated ego,” Ali said with a smirk.
“What I need to do is find Gran.”
“Oh hell no.” Ali’s face darkened. “Bast wants us dead, and she could take your memories again.”
Liv bristled. “No. She needs to fix what she broke. I won’t let her do that.”
I wasn’t going to let Bast anywhere near Liv. If I thought what Natalia told her was bad, Bast would weave an even more gruesome tale, and she’d do some funny magic and make sure Liv believed it.
The Glowing Sands (Sons of the Sand Book 3) Page 15