Forsaken (The Djinn Wars Book 5) (24 page)

She shut her eyes, and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

* * *

M
adison slept
. Qadim wished he could do the same, but despite the weariness that had invaded his limbs, he did not know if he could abandon himself to oblivion. Not while Hasan was still out there. Qadim knew that Ahmar would not have stayed to see that particular battle through to the end — he had his own Chosen to worry about, and besides, this was not his fight. He had only provided a necessary diversion, nothing more. He would have left as soon as he was sure Qadim and Madison had gotten safely away.

Whether Hasan would dare to come here…Qadim wasn’t sure about that. Something in his friend’s mind had come unhinged, that seemed clear enough, but he might still possess enough instincts of self-preservation to decide this fight was not worth the effort. Then again, he had devoted a significant amount of energy to making sure that every single mortal he’d encountered was wiped off the face of the earth. That he hadn’t done the same thing to Madison was deeply troubling. Of course Qadim was relieved beyond measure that she had escaped relatively unscathed, but this reprieve would count for little if it only meant Hasan would make it his life’s work to ensure that she, too, did not survive in the end.

Not while I live and breathe,
Qadim thought then, touching her knotted curls — but gently, so she wouldn’t awake. This fiercely protective instinct surprised him, for he had certainly never experienced it before. Was it only that Madison was a mortal, and so did not possess the sorts of powers that would help to keep her safe? And yet somehow she had survived being the captive of an angry and vengeful djinn, had even managed to escape him, if only for a few brief moments. Still, that was an achievement not many humans could claim as their own.

Or perhaps it was because he had never loved any of those women from his past, and he knew now that he loved Madison, loved the sound of her voice and the way she would tilt an eyebrow at him when he said something particularly outrageous. Loved the talent in those fine, long-fingered hands of hers, loved the way her hair spread out on the pillow as she slept. Loved the long scar on her arm, where she’d told him that she’d broken a bone as a child.

He’d never understood love before. Attraction, yes, the delicate dance that brought two people into one another’s orbit, culminating in an entirely different type of dance, usually horizontal. But he had always wearied of those women, or they of him, and they had parted with few regrets on either side. He had seen friends swept into passionate affairs that resulted in centuries-long commitments, and yet those relationships had never lasted for all time. Indeed, he had begun to think that love must be a construct of humanity, something they had invented to give meaning to their all-too-short lives.

He knew better now.

And he knew what he should do. He only feared he did not possess the courage to take that final step.

* * *

“
M
adison
.”

She opened her eyes, saw Qadim staring down into her face. What time was it? The place had the peculiar, indistinct blurry darkness of a hotel room with the blackout curtains pulled shut, so she really couldn’t guess at the time of day. “Is it morning?”

“Yes, my dear. Quite late in the morning, and we have visitors.”

That announcement made her sit up straight, heart beginning to pound. “Not — ”

“No,” he said at once. “Not Hasan. A delegation from Santa Fe.”

“What are they doing here?”

“I suppose that is what they wish to tell us. I informed them that you were still in bed, but they said they would wait.”

That comment sounded ominous. But she knew that burrowing under the covers and trying to go back to sleep was not an option. “I need to shower, and my hair is a disaster — ”

He smiled. “Madison, you could never be a disaster. But I understand how you might want to feel a little more freshened up, as it were. I will offer them something to drink, and in the meantime you can prepare yourself. Just come down to the lobby when you’re ready.”

Then he bent and kissed her on the cheek, and let himself out of the suite. Madison pushed herself out from under the covers and got up, letting out a hiss of pain as her full weight hit her battered feet. They would heal eventually, she knew, but the interim was not going to be a lot of fun. Thank God those little jeweled sandals Qadim had procured for her were so light and open. She thought she should be able to slip them on over the bandages.

He’d brought up her things — toiletries, a change of clothes, fresh underwear. Amazing how thoughtful he could be. Once upon a time, “thoughtful” was probably the last adjective she would have ever applied to a djinn. She knew better now, though.

After peeling off the bandages and disposing of them in the trash, she climbed out of her clothes and into the shower, reveling in the sensation of the hot water beating down on her. If only she could stay in there for hours and hours. But she knew people were waiting for her, so she hurried through washing her hair and soaping away the residue of her encounter with Hasan al-Abyad. When she got out of the shower, she felt much better, if not completely herself yet.

That, she feared, would require much more than a ten-minute shower.

Fresh bandages for her wounded feet, then the world’s fastest primp, with moisturizer quickly followed by some mascara and gloss. About all she could do with her hair was towel-dry it within an inch of its life, then scrunch some anti-frizz serum into it.

Qadim had also fetched a clean pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt for her. Madison hesitated over the pile of fresh clothes, then shook her head and went to the closet, hoping that he’d thought to bring up some of the djinn-style clothing as well. Sure enough, several pieces hung in the closet, so she chose a tunic and pants in deep green silk with pale gold embroidery, and put those on. There was also a pair of gold sandals sitting on the floor of the closet. She grabbed them and headed over to a chair so she could gingerly slip them on over the gauze pads on the soles of her feet.

Gold glinted from the nightstand. Madison couldn’t remember seeing them there before, but when she went in for a closer look, she realized that the golden glint had come from a pair of earrings and a set of matching cuff bracelets. She slid them all on, then gave herself one last glance in the mirror. Considering everything she’d been through the day before, she didn’t look half bad.

Because her feet hurt so badly, her progress down the hall wasn’t nearly as swift as she would have liked. And the thought of all those flights of stairs….

But Qadim had taken pity on her, because when she got to the end of the corridor, she saw that the door to the elevator stood open. They hadn’t used the elevator very much in the past, and so she uttered a silent thank-you that he’d remembered to send it to her now.

Madison got in the car and pushed the button for the ground floor. The elevator descended slowly and seamlessly, making her almost forget that it was currently powered by djinn energy and nothing else.

The sound of voices greeted her when the elevator doors opened. She’d become so used to hearing only one person speak at a time that for a second she hesitated, a little overwhelmed by the noise.

Then Qadim was hurrying over to her, his robes billowing as he approached. He held out a hand. “Madison, my dear. Is it very difficult to walk?”

“I can manage,” she said.

“Then let me introduce you to our guests.”

She nodded and did her best to smile, although the thought of having to meet a group of unfamiliar djinn so soon after her confrontation with Hasan was rather daunting.

There were four of them — but they weren’t all djinn. The darkly handsome man with his hair pulled back from a proud-boned face…he was obviously djinn, as was the exotically beautiful woman with a fall of raven-dark hair and big striking green eyes circled in kohl. However, the Hispanic man standing next to her, while movie-star gorgeous, was clearly human, as was the blonde woman who looked up and smiled as Madison and Qadim approached the group.

Something about her seemed familiar to Madison, although she couldn’t think how that could be possible. She didn’t remember ever meeting her, but….

“Madison,” Qadim said, “this is Zahrias al-Harith, leader of the Santa Fe djinn community, and his Chosen, Julia Innes. And this is Miguel Cervantes, their healer, and his partner, Aliyah. When they learned of how you’d been injured, they thought you could use some assistance.”

“Um…thank you,” Madison replied, taken aback, both by the offer and the realization that she’d heard the woman’s name before. Julia Innes, whom Qadim had once hoped might be his. Madison forced that thought away, telling herself that he had moved on.

Anyway, she couldn’t deny that her feet did hurt like a bitch, and she hoped she hadn’t gotten anything nasty in any of those cuts, but….

“It’s all right,” Miguel said with a bright, flashing grin. Clearly, the djinn had made sure their Chosen were just as handsome as they were. “I’ve got EMT training. I just want to check and make sure everything’s been cleaned out properly. When was your last tetanus shot?”

“Two years ago,” she replied, thinking how incongruous that exchange had been. She might as well have been in her local urgent care center.

“Maybe if you sat down in one of those chairs over there?” Julia suggested. Her voice was low and sweet.

Again Madison got the feeling that she’d seen her somewhere before, but even though she racked her brains, she couldn’t come up with a likely explanation. Maybe it was only that Qadim had spoken of her, nothing more. So Madison just nodded and hobbled over to one of the lobby chairs, while Miguel sat down on the table in front of her, carefully avoiding several glasses of water that had been placed there — for Qadim’s guests, she supposed. For the first time she noticed that he had a black leather doctor’s bag leaning up against that table.

“Prepared, I see,” she said.

“I figured it couldn’t hurt. But I’m afraid some of this probably will.”

“It’s all right,” she told him. “I’d rather it hurt now than hurt worse later.”

Miguel lifted one of her feet and very gently took off the sandal she wore. The bandages followed, while Madison did her best not to grind her teeth. As he worked away, swabbing the area with some kind of high-powered antiseptic liquid, she made herself concentrate on the conversation the two djinn and Julia Innes were having with Qadim.

“…no sign of him at all?” Zahrias inquired.

“No,” Qadim replied. “It has been quiet here.”

“Well, that’s something,” Julia said. “Isn’t it?”

Zahrias’ shoulders lifted slightly. “Perhaps. Or perhaps he is merely licking his wounds and planning his next assault.”

“That’s what I fear,” Qadim said. His voice was pitched low, but Madison could still catch every word. “I have done my best to ward this place against him, but that sort of thing is not my talent.”

“Which is why I thought I should come,” said the djinn woman, speaking for the first time. “Hasan is my cousin, and if someone of his blood draws the wards, they will be far more effective.”

Madison tried not to startle at that revelation. So this woman was related to Hasan, but would still work against him?

None of the others seemed particularly surprised by her statement, although Qadim did smile before saying, “That would be most appreciated, Aliyah.”

The djinn woman nodded and headed off in the direction of the front doors. To set the wards? Probably, although Madison didn’t have any real idea of what that even meant.

“Other foot,” Miguel said, and once again she startled.

“What?”

“I’m done with this one,” he said with another one of those white-toothed grins. “Time to move on.”

“Oh, right.” Madison lowered her right foot and offered up her left. As her newly bandaged foot touched the floor, she didn’t wince quite as much as she had previously. Maybe the bandages he was using were thicker and softer than the ones that had come from the hotel’s first aid kit.