| |
Independent Souls
—
The two guardians, Cade and Arcadius, took charge of transporting the humiliated Dimitriou—still enmeshed in the magic net—to the cell that would house him while he awaited trial. Yasmin was glad to hear the new ifrit hadn’t been able to smoke free. She liked thinking that she and Joseph—and of course Demeter—were no one to trifle with.
The task of tracking LaBass fell to Iksander, Joseph, and herself.
They found him in a storage room, down a stairway under the temple floor. The businessman had tried to run when Dimitriou did but hadn’t gotten far. A handful of ritual candles lit the space in which he sat slumped on a wooden chair. His right leg necessarily extended in front of him. Rough black metal encased his foot and shin.
Evidently, Dimitriou had spent no magic unshackling his confederate.
“Yes, yes,” LaBass said impatiently, one hand sketching a get-on-with-it circle. Though he wasn’t dark, or not yet, the flickering light turned his face devilish. “I concede. You’ve caught me. I thought I’d secure my future raising that djinni up. I never guessed the perverted bastard would ruin me instead.”
“You know,” Iksander said. “I’m not the enemy of wealth and privilege you and your cronies seem to think.”
“No, you’re the enemy of tradition. You want to narrow the gulf between high and low. To be a friend to the poor and a liberator of djinniya. You don’t even see how intolerable your positions are.” LaBass seemed weary but not repentant. His gaze fastened on Yasmin. “You’re a loss, I confess. You’d have made a wonderful addition to the cause.”
“If you weren’t a traitor, I’d say ‘thank you.’ Oh, wait. No, I wouldn’t. You’re repulsive for too many reasons on top of that.”
LaBass seemed not to register her anger. He snorted morosely. “Humor. I expect I’ll miss that for the next little while. By the by—” Now he pinned Iksander with his dark eyes. “I know things you’ll want me to confess. Prepare to bargain hard before I cooperate.”
“We’ll see,” Iksander said, no stranger to bargaining himself. “Thanks to Joseph, we know quite a lot already. You might be interested to hear we have Eamon Pappus in custody. You know, the charming fellow who recruited Joseph for your cabal.” Iksander clucked his tongue. “He’s not exactly stoic, is he? My guards tell me he was singing like a canary before the cuffs were on.”
Though LaBass tried to hide it, this, at last, caused him to look alarmed.
~
Yasmin wasn’t sure how it happened, but a short while later she and Joseph found themselves alone on the temple grounds. The mist had retreated, and a bright half-moon rode the starry sky. The grassy plateau was abandoned but for a few locals. They moved in the distance as shadowed silhouettes, magically extinguishing the torches that had helped light tonight’s drama.
It’s done then, she thought. For now anyway.
Her breath washed out on a sigh.
“Are you well?” Joseph asked.
“Actually, I’m so relieved I’m exhausted. Dimitriou had that crowd ensorcelled. I was afraid Iksander wouldn’t come out victorious.”
She felt him consider her. “You respect him.”
“He’s shown me who he is when he has no need or desire to charm.”
“And who is that?”
“A good man. Very nearly the same man as when he plays sultan. You’re like him that way. You don’t change. You’re who you are, through and through.” She laughed softly. “I’m more of a chameleon. Suit my face to my company.”
“I see your true face, I think. Through and through.” She didn’t have a chance to pick apart what he meant, because he shook himself. “It’s cool out here, and we’ve very much lost our bed and board. Where do you do wish to go?”
“Home,” she said longingly.
“To your parents’ villa?”
“I meant my apartment, but of course you’re right. My parents will want to hear what happened and see that I’m unharmed.”
“We could stop by their house, and then I’ll fly you to your apartment.”
When she looked at him, his expression was careful. “You’re not too tired?”
“No. Besides, I could pilot a carpet in my sleep.”
“I accept then. And thank you for your kindness.”
He seemed pleased by this, which in turn pleased her.
“This way then,” he said. “I nabbed a carpet from the soldiers and stashed it not far from here.”
They walked to it side by side. When their shoulders bumped from closeness, it was almost like holding hands.
~
As expected, Yasmin’s parents were glad to see her. Balu was home already, and the servants had been called back. They also seemed excited to hear about recent happenings. Hopefully, having fresh news to share made up for the curtailment of their surprise holiday.
Yasmin’s father seemed to have decided Joseph could be treated familiarly. They gathered for hot mint tea in the informal parlor, where the floor cushions were designed for comfort and not impressing guests. Balu definitely wasn’t over his big adventure. Despite their parents’ presence, he recounted Dimitriou’s downfall with great relish.
“He went gray,” he explained excitedly. “And scaly like a reptile, and then his nose got longer and all droopy. Actually, his nose looked like a limp man part. Which is funny, when you think about it. If his actual man part had stayed that limp, he might not have lost his followers.”
“Balu,” their mother scolded predictably.
“We’ve all seen man parts,” Balu said.
“Son.” Her father looked like he was struggling not to laugh. “That isn’t polite tea talk.”
“I’m just saying he got his. Life comes at you fast, I guess.”
This was human phrasing, but Yasmin caught the gist.
“Speaking of life coming at you,” Joseph said. “I wonder what will become of Lady Toraman.”
Yasmin had wondered that as well. Safiye might no longer be at Stefan’s mercy, but people wouldn’t soon forget she’d stood by him. The image of her robed in white like a vestal virgin atop those temple steps, providing cover for a homicidal necrophiliac, would be burned into many brains.
“Don’t we know a cousin of the Toramans?” her father asked.
“Oh, yes,” her mother answered. “Adelaide Japore, who married the glassmaker. That’s two bad matches Safiye has entered into now. I expect the Toramans will have to ship her off to another territory until her reputation recovers.”
Joseph sat straighter in alarm. “She can’t go into exile. She might need to be questioned!”
Her mother’s eyes widened. “But Lady Toraman didn’t know about the plot, or so Yasmin claims. I suppose she wouldn’t have hated landing in a throne, if it turned out that way. The Toramans always were ambitious.”
She was singing a different tune now that Yasmin’s association with her former colleague seemed unlikely to do her good.
“Once news spreads, your reputation will be fantastic,” her brother crowed. “Your first time out as a detective, and look what you accomplished!”
“Helped accomplish,” Yasmin corrected.
“Your contribution was essential,” Joseph said. “And that’s not me flattering you. Iksander will probably give you a medal.”
“You see.” Balu shoved her shoulder. “You’re medal material. Clients will line up around the block.”
Yasmin stopped blushing and brightened. “I hadn’t thought of that. Lots of clients would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
“It’d be extra nice if I could get a raise.”
Yasmin laughed. “You’ve barely worked a week. Despite which, because I’m such a nice boss, you can sleep in tomorrow. We’ll start bright if not early at eleven.”
A glimpse of her mother’s downturned mouth warned she was, yet again, about to protest Yasmin’s insistence on earning her livelihood.
“My, look at the time,” Yasmin exclaimed, setting down her tea and rising. “Joseph and I should get going.”
~
As promised, Joseph flew her to her apartment near the harbor. He landed on the roof, which she planned—as soon as she got a minute—to find lounge chairs and planters for. String lights might be pleasant too. Some of her neighbors had them, and she thought they looked festive. She was still a stranger here. A female curiosity. If she made this a little garden, then sat out here some evenings, she bet the locals would relax enough to make friends with her.
Though he could have lifted off again right away, Joseph swung off the carpet to contemplate the view. “You could put seats up here. It looks like your neighbors do.”
“I was just thinking that.”
He turned to face her smile. His expression was somber. “I suppose I should let you rest.”
“You could come in,” she offered. “If you aren’t too tired. I’ve got tea, and I believe I left the place tidy.”
He hesitated, thoughts she couldn’t read going through his head. “I . . . would like that. Though I think I’ve had tea enough.”
She cursed herself for feeling awkward after everything they’d shared.
You’ll sit and chat a bit, she counseled herself as she unspelled the lock on the rooftop door. Whatever else you and Joseph are to each other, you’re friends by now.
They trooped down the stairs together.
She was hit by a stronger pleasure than she expected as they entered the apartment. Small it might be, but this was her place: her furniture that she’d chosen, her closet-sized kitchen. Because the sitting room felt stale, she went to one of the deep-set windows and opened it. She could do that if she wanted—with or without a shielding screen.
“You know,” she said, leaning out to savor the late-night breeze, “the air around here is fine after the market’s closed. There’s hardly any fish smell left.”
“You’re settling in.”
“I guess I am.” Her right to choose asserted, she shut the pierced wooden privacy shutters. They’d come with the place, and the cutout patterns were pretty.
Calmer now, she turned to Joseph. He was perched on a cushioned chair arm, watching her intently.
“I’m not sure anyone but I would notice,” she said, “but you look a bit nervous.”
She meant to set him at his ease. After all, if she ought to be comfortable with him, the reverse was true as well.
Joseph shifted on his perch. “I planned to do this tomorrow, after I’d composed my thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well you invited me in tonight. I suspect more time to think would just make me more nervous.”
“More nervous about what?”
He blew out his breath. “First, I’d like to thank you.”
“That’s not necessary. Everything I did was my own choosing.”
“Yasmin.”
Though she didn’t know where he was heading, she laughed at his suffering tone. “All right. Go ahead. I’ll try not to interrupt.”
“What I want to thank you for, especially anyway, is helping me feel like myself again. I’m not even sure how it happened. I haven’t changed from a week ago. Certainly, I didn’t accomplish the magic we did alone. I’ve noticed, however, that I feel ready to face whatever I have to next. I’m not overconfident, I don’t think. Simply . . . steady inside myself.”
“I’m glad,” she said, and bit back a joke about sex being good for men’s self-esteem.
He must have noticed her amusement. “It wasn’t the sex. Or not just that. You believe in me, and you’re definitely no one’s fool. I suppose I needed to share my secrets and still be respected more than I realized.”
“Everyone needs that,” she said.
He rose and took her hands. Yasmin’s pulse jumped inside her wrists. This was more than a thank you.
“I needed it from you,” he said in a husky voice. “I wanted you from the start. You’re so beautiful even I couldn’t mistake that physical reaction. Looking back, though, I also admired you. Your skill. Your spirit. Your willingness to stick your neck out for other djinn. You’re brave and smart and, well, pretty much the definition of worthy. If what’s inside me isn’t more than caring, I don’t know what the word ‘love’ means.”
His eyes were gleaming, their golden depths taking on a glow.
Never in her life had anyone looked at her like he was.
“What are you saying?” she asked, terrified to jump to the wrong conclusion.
He squeezed her fingers and filled his lungs. “I’m saying I love you. I was an idiot not to recognize it before. Now that I do, the feeling is so big I think I might burst from it. I want you to marry me, Yasmin. I want you to do me the honor of being my wife.”
He was saying everything she’d dreamed of. Her blood surged with happiness. She opened her mouth to accept.
“I can’t,” she burst out unexpectedly. “I want to,” she added as Joseph widened his eyes in shock. “So much I can hardly believe I’m saying this. I love you too, with my whole heart and soul.”
“But—?” he said.
He’d pulled her hands to his chest. To her relief, he didn’t let her go but continued to caress them. She took courage from that and went on.
“Until I moved here to start my business, I’d never been on my own. I’d never budgeted expenses or cooked myself breakfast. I’d never been the boss of me. I think I needed that as much as you needed someone to know your secrets and accept them.”
“I hope you know I wouldn’t boss you,” Joseph said. “Or expect you to stop working. I hope we can collaborate together again some time.”
“I’m gratified to hear you say that.”
“I’m still hearing a ‘but.’”
“I haven’t had enough of this,” she said in a worried rush. “Of standing on my own two feet. Of answering to no one but myself. I still want to be with you. Really, truly, I do. I hope you won’t throw me over because of this.”
A smile curved his mouth. “So . . . you want me to be a part of your independent life.”
“Yes,” she said in relief.
“And if I expressed a preference for being your only lover, you would consider that?”
“More than consider it,” she assured. “And, um, naturally I’d prefer to be your only too.”
“I’d be honored to pledge that.”
“You could stay over here sometimes,” she added hopefully. “You know, if that was convenient. I’m aware the sultan has the right to make demands on you.”
“Your mother will go bonkers if she finds out.”
He was grinning now. Yasmin was pretty sure ‘bonkers’ wasn’t good.
“Do we have to tell her?” she inquired.
He pulled her into a laughing hug. “I see you do need more practice being your own woman. I’ll leave deciding what to tell your mother to you. I should warn you, I was somewhat forthcoming with your father.”
“My father?” She pushed back to look at him.
“The other night, when he invited me for brandy in his study. He saw you had feelings for me. I thought he’d worry less if I explained my changed circumstances regarding my doubled form.”
“You told him that?” Yasmin had trouble finding breath. “I thought you considered not being a eunuch a state secret.”
Joseph colored the slightest bit. “I didn’t want him thinking his daughter had lost her mind—falling for half a man, as it were.”
“You never were half a man, though I appreciate the consideration.” She frowned as a new thing occurred to her. “He’ll tell my mother. The first time she wistfully mentions grandchildren.”
“Won’t she keep it between her and him?”
“Possibly,” Yasmin said. “She doesn’t tell her friends everything. Still, you shouldn’t count on it.”
“Maybe it doesn’t have to be such a secret anymore. Magically speaking, you and I together are nearly the equal of what I was before. If Iksander were to put you on retainer, as a royal consultant, he’d seem just as defended as before.”
“You wouldn’t mind telling him the truth?”
Joseph stroked a loose lock behind her ear. “I should have told him already. I think, perhaps, I underestimated his capacity to value me as I am.”
“He won’t mind that we’re together,” she said surely.
“No,” Joseph agreed. “I think he’ll be happy for both of us.”
“I’m happy for us too. And for Balu! He’d hate if you felt awkward continuing as his friend.”
“I’d have tried not to disappoint him, no matter what happened between us. I like your brother. He’s a genuinely good-hearted, intelligent young man.”
Affection welled up inside her. That was Joseph to the core. He didn’t form connections lightly, but when he did he stuck to them.
She took his face gently between her hands. “You, Joseph the Magician, are the best man I’ve ever met.”
“Well, that can’t be true. What about—”
She kissed him to silence.
“Hm,” he said after a few enjoyable minutes. His hands slid over her in way that inspired impatience. “I suppose it would be rude to contradict you.”
“Very.” She squeezed his bottom as he was squeezing hers.
“There is, however, always room for improvement. You know, by way of practice.”
“What would you like to practice?”
Smiling, he whispered in her ear.
“All right,” she said, unable to repress an anticipatory shiver. “Let’s see how tidy I left my bed . . .”
She doubted he cared. He pulled off her clothes between kisses on their short, stumbling journey to her bedroom.
“No lights,” he said when she would have spelled on the overheads. “You’re lovely by moonlight.”
That was hard to object to, especially when he magicked his robes away. Slats of brightness from the shuttered window played over him beautifully.
She purred as she rubbed his fabulous, muscled chest.
He jerked when her thumbs stroked around his navel, and again when she pulled both hands up his rigid cock. It seemed natural to go to her knees before him, to tip him toward her mouth, to sheath her teeth with her lips, and suck him adoringly.
“Yasmin,” he moaned as she bobbed slowly up and down.
His fingers kneaded her scalp. His hold was light, but he couldn’t quite help directing her. The muscles of his thighs bunched tighter, his hips beginning to thrust in age-old motions. She loved the power she had to bring him pleasure, to wind him closer to the crucial point where he would lose control. When his breath broke at a well-aimed caress from her pointed tongue, she drew back to look up his lean body.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever been so happy.
“Ready to practice now?” she teased.
He laughed, plenty of humor but little sound in it. “Showing me how it’s done, are you?”
“I’m sure you can show me a thing or two. If you put your mind to it.”
He could. He levitated her off the floor and dropped her onto the bed.
She gasped in surprise at the sudden landing. The power he’d used to lift her tingled on her skin.
He laughed and crawled over her. “I’m done in now,” he warned. “I’ll have to do the rest manually.”
“Believe me, I’m not worried about your perf— Why are you turning around like that?”
“Oh, go on, a fine former concubine like you? Surely you’ve seen pictures.”
She had, but: “You don’t think that’s too advanced for us?”
He put his mouth on her and chuckled.
My, she thought, squirming irresistibly closer to his face. He was good at this! The pull he put into his cheeks as he tongued her clitoris sent voluptuous streaks of feeling into her sex and spine. Was she as adept as him? But maybe it didn’t matter. She knew he liked what she did. Besides, since he’d positioned them head to toe, his beautiful, throbbing cock was delightfully convenient.
She took the hint and petted it full length.
His wriggle and hum encouraged her to resume her previous activities.
As soon as she surrounded him with her mouth, a current of desire and pleasure, an infinity loop for lovers, sprang up between their bodies.
“God,” Joseph moaned against her. He took her in again a moment later, his efforts even more intense, even more effective than before.
She worked to focus on what she did to him: pulling him in, sliding him out, laving him wet and warm. His veins rose to greater firmness against her tongue, his gasps coming as raggedly as hers. She pushed up his upper leg to massage his testicles. His spine tensed for that—as if the sensations were too sharply pleasurable.
He reminded her this part of him was new.
“Don’t stop,” he rasped when she eased up. “I love that. I promise I’ll hold on.”
A promise to hold on suggested he didn’t intend to finish with them in this arrangement. That intrigued her enough to decide she’d hold on too.
They twitched with mini-quakes of almost-peaking before he turned around again.
“Me on top,” she panted, nudging him onto his back.
He smiled and breathed hard while she swung on top of him. “I’m all yours, beloved. Use me as you will.”
What she willed was to slide him slo-ow-ly inside of her.
“Mmm,” he hummed, once his thick, thudding cock was fully embedded.
She was on her knees, wriggling just a little—the better to enjoy her seat on his hard saddle. His glowing eyes crinkled with a smile as he squirmed similarly beneath her. His hands caressed her bare upper arms, spreading excitement throughout her entire body.
“Wouldn’t you like to come closer?”
His tone was polite, his expression teasingly suggestive.
Yasmin came down on her elbows. “Closer like this?”
He kissed her in answer, the motions of his tongue tempting and delicate. She shivered with rising pleasure. Her breasts had settled on his chest, and she suspected they both liked that. This time, when her hips wriggled, they seemed to do it by themselves.
“I’d like to thrust in earnest now,” she confessed.
His eyes fired, his pelvis lifting as he swelled fuller inside her. “You’d make me happy if you would.”
His hands slid around her hips, gripping them just hard enough to share control with her. She pushed upright again to ride him, vigor seeming what they both craved. He moaned at her careful upward draw, and again for her downward push. Her walls clasped his penis in soft tight warmth, the crazy pulse inside her matching the crazy pulse in him. Sensing the time for restraint was over, she planted her palms on his pectorals and gave him everything she had.
Their cries rose together then.
“Yes,” he urged, hips shoving up off the bed at her.
She flung her head back and rolled on him harder.
She had no words, only groans and gasps as their mutual urgency rose. He palmed her breasts, her waist, then focused on the apex of her feeling at the top of her pussy lips. Her approaching climax threatened to overwhelm her. He made being on top seem easier than it was. Working herself on him felt distractingly wonderful. As wound up as she was getting, directing her thrusts for both their benefit was difficult. It didn’t help that his chest was sweating. She had to dig in to keep her grip.
He must not have minded. He cursed with pleasure through gritted teeth.
“God,” he choked out. “I’m going to explode.”
They went together, clamping tight, shoving deep. Heat rushed powerfully into her as her body shuddered with ecstasy. The spasms were white-hot sweet. She felt them most in her sex, but the honeyed tingles spread outward too.
She sighed long and low in the aftermath.
When she opened her eyes, he was smiling up at her.
“What?” she asked, because he appeared to be holding back a laugh.
“I think I’m not the only one who’s getting more confident.”
A blush joined the heat already basting her sweaty cheeks. She tossed her head loftily. “You’re an acceptable practice partner.”
“Just acceptable?”
“I’d go as far as inspirational.”
He gave in to the laugh and rolled her under him. His strong limbs were warm and loose. “As it happens, I find you inspiring too. Give me a minute, and we can practice more.”
The lovemaking that ensued was calmer but quite enjoyable.
“I love you,” she said, snuggling into him afterward.
He smiled as he kissed her brow. Her long hair spilled across them in lieu of a blanket. “I shall always endeavor to be worthy of your esteem.”
“Shall you?” she teased in response to his formality.
Against her temple, his smile broadened. “At the least, I’ll make you breakfast in bed tomorrow.”
“Good enough.” She rubbed his chest before kissing it. “I’m sure I’ll enjoy waking up to that.”
The assumptions behind their joking pleased both of them.
“Yasmin?” he said a moment later.
Something in his voice made her go up on one elbow. The bedroom was dim, but a soft gold glow burned behind his eyes. When he didn’t speak, she ran one fingertip down the side of his somber face. Was his expression a little shy?
“Tell me,” she said reassuringly.
He swallowed before he did. “You make me feel like I finally have a home . . . a connection rather than just a room whose door I shut behind me at the end of the day. Everyone I know seems to have those ties, or if not, the hope of them. You make me believe I can belong somewhere.”
Her eyes stung as she stroked his cheek. “You belong,” she said huskily. “I hope you’ll belong with me even if I haven’t said ‘yes’ yet.”
“Yet,” he repeated, his mouth curving. He was a man, all right. The smug triumph in his tone left no doubt of it.
“You can count on me,” she said, rather than roll her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He heard her seriousness—and the echo of his own words. When she lay down again, he rested his head against her breast. She hugged him lightly, and his hand caressed her hip. The comfort the gestures brought was new.
This is love too, she thought. This desire to soothe each other.
“Excellent,” he said sleepily, his lashes tickling her skin as his eyelids shut. “Someone has to eat that breakfast I’ll be cooking . . .”