The Seven Kings of Jinn

For a moment Jai said nothing and when he leaned into her, her breath caught, her heart crashing against her ribs. He was going to kiss her! He’s going to kiss me!

The excitement fizzled out into something deeper as Jai pressed his forehead to hers, his green eyes seeking something in hers. Frozen, afraid to move, to talk, to break the moment between them, Ari merely waited. For what, she didn’t know.

Jai eventually pulled away. “I’m fine. You?”

“I used the telepathy to command him.”

“Good thinking.” He coughed again, a spittle of dirt landing on his hand. He grimaced, groaning as he eased onto his feet and held out a hand to help her up. “We need to return.”

Ari frowned, swaying into him as his arms banded around her. “Do you have the energy?”

He nodded, the color still frighteningly absent from his cheeks. “We have to make sure Derek is okay.”

She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to reach up and tug his lips down to hers so she could kiss him with everything she felt for him.

But she wouldn’t.

Not yet.

Chapter 25

One plus one equals two walking away

It was a miracle they made it back to Sandford Ridge in one piece. The flight had been slow because Jai was still suffering from the effects of having desert try to kill him from the inside out. When they touched down on solid ground, they both wobbled, clinging to each other for balance. Smiling abashedly, Jai made sure she was steady on her feet before putting some distance between them. Ari would have taken the time to frown, but as she glanced over at the hospital, the need to see if her dad was awake was far more compelling than whatever was going on with her and Jai. Ari nodded tightly at Jai and moved to head into the hospital. His hand on her arm stopped her and she turned back impatiently. He tugged her back into the shadows of a skinny Buckeye planted next to a large sign with the hospital name on it. Following him behind the sign, Ari sighed. What?

“Your clothes.” He gestured to her torn and dirty appearance. “Conjure something clean so people don’t ask questions.”

Focusing took a lot of energy she didn’t have, but as Jai's magic rippled around him, transforming his ragged appearance, Ari conjured a fresh T-shirt and jeans, too. With a quick glance to make sure no one had seen them, she strode out from behind the tree and dashed across the ER line to the hospital entrance. She barely looked at anyone as she hurried along the corridors and into the elevator that would take her to ICU. Jai kept pace with her, quietly supportive, as her adrenaline shot her body into the stratosphere. Her heart beat out of time with her steps, her limbs not quite able to keep up with the speed of her pulse, and as she neared the nurses’ station it almost exploded when her father’s nurse, Lucy, came out of his room, her eyes widening as they caught sight of Ari.

Her pretty face blossomed into a bright smile, and Ari choked on a sob. Jai’s hand pressed against her lower back as the nurse came toward them, and the delicious warmth of his touch relaxed her.

“Ari, he’s awake,” Lucy announced happily. “He woke up an hour ago and the doctors are doing tests just now. You’ll be able to see him soon, I promise.”

“Is he going to be alright?” she asked dumbly, knowing for a fact that he would be. But wasn’t that something a normal relative would ask?

Lucy bounced her head cheerfully. “It’s looking good. His vitals are great and there is no sign of brain atrophy. The doctors just want to make sure they haven’t missed anything and to ask your father some questions. He’s kind of a medical mystery.”

Ari gave her a weak smile as Lucy gestured for her and Jai to take a seat in the small ICU waiting area. “I need to call Charlie. Do you have a cell?”

“Ari,” he whispered, leaning into her, “You can conjure one.”

Grimacing at her absentmindedness, Ari nodded. “Right.” Making sure no one watched, Ari tucked a hand behind her chair and let her magic create a phone with Charlie’s number in it. Feeling the solid object take shape in her hand, Ari took a moment to ponder the weirdness of her life.

Yeah, Ari, making a cell phone appear out of thin air is so much weirder than being eviscerated by a wind demon older than Jesus Christ.

She shuddered, not wanting to think about the fact that she now knew what parts of her insides looked like. A bubble of bile rose in the back of her throat and she gulped for air, jerking the cell up to her ear.