Forsaken (The Djinn Wars Book 5) (26 page)

* * *

S
he sat
on the edge of the bed, watching as Qadim gathered up their things and placed them in a handsome set of matched Louis Vuitton luggage. Where he’d gotten it, she had no idea. Not that it really mattered.

Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Qadim had made her his Chosen. She would be bound to him forever, would never age, would never get sick, would never…be a true human again.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

He paused, hands full with a half-folded robe of dark gray silk. Those deep-set eyes searched her face, as if attempting to determine whether she was serious or not. “Of course I did,” he said at last. “You know that I care for you, Madison. How could you possibly think that I would abandon the woman I love to the hands of that madman?”

“I — ” Well, of course she knew that Qadim would never do such a thing. Yes, there were things in his past he wasn’t proud of, things he’d done and could never erase. But those few small missteps didn’t make him a bad man. In this situation, he’d done the one thing he knew would save her, now and forever.

But at what cost?

With little care for the silken fabric, he shoved the robe into the suitcase and came over to her, taking her hands in his so he might pull her up from the bed. She expected a throb of pain as she put her full weight on her feet, but that didn’t happen. Yes, there was a slight twinge, but so much less than it should have been.

Because she was Qadim’s Chosen, and now she would heal more quickly than any normal human being ever could. She would never get sick, never grow old.

Never die.

“My love,” he said, fingers tightening on hers. “I know it is a great deal to take in. Just remember that you are safe, and that we are together. All the rest — well, you will learn to live with that as time goes on. It will become easier.”

“How do you know that?” she asked, unable to keep the fear from her voice. “You’ve never had a Chosen before, have you?”

“Of course not. But I have seen how the djinn in Santa Fe are with their Chosen. They are happy, Madison. They are learning how to share their lives. We can do the same thing.”

She held on to his hands as if they were the only thing preventing her from drowning in deep water. And perhaps they were. This was nothing she’d asked for. Yes, far in the back of her mind, she’d harbored a secret hope, but that’s all it had been. Hope. Not certainty. She knew she loved him, had never been with anyone who made her feel the way he did, but…was that enough?

Then he pulled her close, his lips touching hers, almost tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure whether she wanted to share this sort of intimacy after what she had suffered at Hasan’s hands. But as soon as their mouths met, she knew this was exactly what she needed. She needed him to touch her, make love to her, claim her again as his, now that they would be bound together for eternity.

He seemed to sense her need and fumbled with the buttons on her tunic, undoing it enough so he could pull it over her head. His hands found the clasp to her bra and undid that as well, his strong fingers closing on her breasts, stroking her.

“Yes, Qadim,” she breathed. “Touch me. Touch all of me.”

A low, heated growl at the back of his throat, and then they were both on the bed, his welcome, delicious weight on top of her as he yanked at the drawstring of her trousers and pulled those and her underwear down with one swift motion, just before his fingers slipped into her. She moaned, writhing against him as his mouth closed on her nipple and his strong, sensitive fingers found the places that needed his touch the most, stroking her, bringing her to the edge so she could fall over it, drowning in waves of ecstasy, her entire body thrumming with a wild heat centered in her very core.

Then his mouth was on her, and she cried aloud, knowing that the next climax was already building on the shimmering afterglow of the last, every nerve ending in her coming alive as he tasted her, making love to her with his tongue. And as she came, he slid into her, filling her, their bodies finding a new rhythm as he rocked harder and harder, his heavy hair falling around her face as she breathed him in, took him in as he reached his own climax, his warmth spilling into her, filling her.

The world spun. She clung to Qadim, knowing he was her center, the one thing she could always be certain of. He loved her enough to make her his for all time. How could she question that? How could she do anything except love him back, and know that everything was going to be all right?

They were joined, now and forever.

Q
adim had asked
her if she wanted to retrieve any of her belongings from the bunker, but she’d shaken her head. That was her old life. She didn’t want to drag anything from that time of worry and fear and being hunted into this new world, this new life among the djinn and their Chosen.

The elders must have spoken with Zahrias, or informed him in some way, because he was waiting when Madison and Qadim drove into town. They’d decided that was the best way to leave Albuquerque, since they didn’t know exactly where they were going in Santa Fe, and they had enough things to carry that Qadim would have been hard-pressed to take it all in one trip.

Besides, she had to be impressed with his style; Albuquerque’s stores of gasoline were aging, so he’d found an electric car for them and charged it using the energy supply he’d created for their use while living at the Andaluz. And not just any electric car, but a Tesla S.

“More than a two hundred-mile range,” he said proudly as he opened the trunk and loaded in their luggage.

“It’s only fifty-five miles or so to Santa Fe,” Madison pointed out.

His grin didn’t fade. “Even better.”

Zahrias didn’t look all that impressed when they pulled to a stop on the north side of the Plaza, across from the Palace of the Governors. Once upon a time, you couldn’t even park there, as that area used to be blocked off so that street vendors could sell their wares there, but those days were long gone.

“Welcome to Santa Fe,” the djinn leader said as Qadim and Madison got out of their vehicle.

“We thank you,” Qadim replied formally.

“Julia has put together a list of properties that might be suitable for your use,” Zahrias continued, producing a folded piece of paper from somewhere inside his robes. He handed it, not to Qadim, but to Madison.

“That was very thoughtful of her,” she said.

“We wish to see you well settled here. If there is anything you require, you need only reach out to one of us. Julia will be in contact later once you’ve made your decision.”

“Please give her our thanks,” Qadim told him.

Zahrias didn’t smile. Was he unhappy that the two of them would be living here, considering Qadim’s rather spotty past when it came to Julia Innes?

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he — or any of them — could do about that. They’d have to figure out a way for all of them to get along.

“We’ll just take a look at these houses, then,” Madison said, figuring it was best if they got on with it — and were safely out of Zahrias’ orbit for a while. She applied gentle pressure on Qadim’s arm, and he gave Zahrias a formal bow before they headed off to the car again.

Any worries that the djinn leader might have given them a list of sub-par properties out of spite were quickly erased as soon as Madison stepped inside the first house. Located just past the downtown area, it was enormous, easily twice the size of the two-story home where she’d grown up. Polished sandstone floors. Multiple fireplaces, including one on the covered patio off the family room. Granite in the kitchen, and the biggest whirlpool bath she’d ever seen in the master suite.

“I think I like this,” Qadim said, a wicked gleam entering his eyes as he ran an appreciative hand over the granite-tiled surround. “We would both fit easily.”

They probably would, even as tall as he was. “We have other houses to look at,” she pointed out.

“Why? Do you think they would suit us better than this home?”

She was hard-pressed to think that they might. Secretly she’d dreamed of living in a house like this one, but she’d known that, even though she’d been doing fairly well for herself with her art, a four-thousand-square-foot updated adobe in Santa Fe’s foothills would have been well out of her reach.

“No,” she said. “It’s incredible.” She stopped there, and sent Qadim a sidelong look, complete with lifted eyebrow. “But aren’t you going to miss the Andaluz?”

In reply, he stepped away from the bath and came to take her by the waist. His body was warm, and a welcome shiver went through her. She had a feeling they’d be christening that bathtub fairly soon.

“I will only miss it because that is where I fell in love with you,” he said. “But we will be making a new life here. And I will confess that sometimes it was wearying to manage all those stairs.”

She could only chuckle at that remark, since she knew that a djinn really didn’t need to use the stairs…unless he was trying to make a human feel more at ease. “No stairs here,” she said lightly. “Well, unless you count the steps down into the living room. So should we go back into town and let Zahrias and Julia know that we’ve made our choice?”

“No need for that,” he told her as he plucked the list of houses from her hand. “I will use this to let them know.” He tore off the section at the top, the one that had the address of the house they had chosen and the directions to it, folded it in half, and then — it disappeared.

“Where did it go?”

“To the home of Zahrias and Julia.”

She didn’t ask how he knew where that was, since he’d already told her it was at their home that he’d met Ahmar and his Chosen, where the plans had been formulated to steal Madison away from Hasan. It was still difficult to grasp that he could send objects whizzing from place to place in an instant, but she supposed if he could make himself blink from one place to another when he traveled djinn-fashion, then it was logical to expect that he could do the same thing with inanimate objects.

Madison followed him out to the driveway, where he’d parked the Tesla. They hadn’t pulled into the garage because they hadn’t known for sure how long they were going to be here, whether they’d decide the place wouldn’t suit them after all. It turned out that the garage had been empty; she didn’t know if the lack of cars and the utterly pristine state of the rest of the house was an indication that the owners had not been here when the Heat swept through the population, or whether Julia had some djinn helpers make sure all the houses on her list had been cleaned out and made ready to move in.

The enormous closets swallowed up the meager assortment of clothing they had brought, but Qadim had only smiled and said he would conjure many more outfits for her, one for each day of the month, if that would help to make things feel a little less empty. Again she could only shake her head at him and tell him she didn’t think that would be necessary.

However, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be surprised if she woke up the next morning and found all those closets filled — and the drawers in the dressers and nightstands in the master bedroom.

She was inspecting the contents of the kitchen pantry when she heard the sound of a large truck pulling up into the driveway. Qadim, who’d been inventorying the tableware in the cupboards, said, “That is probably Julia. Zahrias did say she would be out to bring us some necessities, once we’d decided on a house.”

“Couldn’t you have just blinked it here instead of making her drive all the way out to the house to see us?”

“Perhaps. But I have a feeling she wanted to come.”

“And that’s not going to be weird?”

His eyes met hers. “Why should it? She means nothing to me, except as someone who is part of the community we’ve just joined. But if you think it will be awkward, I can go outside. I’ve been wanting to inspect the swimming pool anyway.”

“It might be better.” Was that a cowardly thing to say? Maybe, but it did seem as if it would be easier to meet with Julia if Qadim wasn’t hanging around.

“Of course, my dear.” He let himself out the French doors that opened from the breakfast nook onto the patio, then moved out into the open area where the swimming pool was located. It was empty but clean, which meant someone must have removed any dead leaves that had been collecting in it for the past year.

The doorbell sounded, and Madison headed toward the entryway to answer it. When she opened the door, she saw Julia standing there holding two straw market baskets.

“Housewarming committee,” she said with a smile.

“Wow, thank you,” Madison replied, taking one from her.

“No problem.” A little glint entered the other woman’s deep blue eyes as she added, “I like the Tesla.”

“Oh.” For some reason, Madison felt herself flush slightly. “We decided that an electric vehicle was probably safer.” She hesitated, then said, “I’m surprised more of the Santa Fe group doesn’t drive them.”

Julia didn’t seem fazed by the comment. “We actually discussed doing that, but even though djinn energy may seem unlimited, it really isn’t. Everyone came to a unanimous decision that we’d rather have air conditioning and electric lights than using all that power to run electric cars. That beast I’m driving” — she jerked a thumb toward the front of the house, where Madison could just barely spy a big black truck parked in the driveway — “was actually someone’s project. It’s been converted to run on cooking oil. We’re actually thinking of doing that to more vehicles, especially if we can get some of the brain trust from Los Alamos to give us some pointers.”

From the way Julia talked about that town, it sounded as if the survivors there were on fairly good terms with the djinn and the Chosen in Santa Fe. Madison hoped she’d soon begin to figure out how this strange new society really worked.

“That does sound like a good idea,” she said, then continued, “Thank you so much for finding this house for us. It’s spectacular.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.” As Madison stepped aside, Julia came into the entryway and looked around with some approval. “I love how the djinn can make such short work of cleaning. One snap of the fingers, and it looks as if you’ve had an army in.”

“So that’s how you did it.”

“It does make life easier.”

“I was just back in the kitchen. I assume that’s where most of this goes?”

Julia nodded. “We left all the nonperishable stuff but cleaned out everything else. I know that Qadim could probably bring in anything you needed, but it seemed neighborly to offer you something from our stores.” By then they’d reached the kitchen; she set her basket down on the granite island, then looked around. “Is he here?”

“He’s outside.” Madison put the basket she carried down next to Julia’s. “He wanted to look at the pool.”

Julia’s dark gold eyebrows lifted, and one corner of her mouth quirked. “Is that the only reason he’s outside?”

“Well….” For some reason, Madison hadn’t really expected the other woman to be so forthright. But if she wasn’t going to dance around the issue, then Madison thought she’d better not, either. “We thought it might be a little awkward at first, so that’s why he’s not in here.”

At first Julia didn’t say anything. She lifted a net bag filled with apples from the basket she’d been carrying and placed it in the bowl on the counter. Despite her current uneasiness, Madison couldn’t keep her mouth from watering at the sight of those apples. It had been a long, long time since she’d last had one.

“You really don’t need to worry,” Julia said at last. She turned back toward Madison and smiled. “I saw how Qadim acted back at the Andaluz. He barely looked at me. Whatever he thought he might have felt when he met me — it’s gone. He cares about you, Madison. Even Zahrias knows that.”

“Zahrias didn’t seem very happy to see us.”

“Oh, well.” A shrug, and then she said, “I think he was more worried about Hasan al-Abyad still being out there somewhere.”

Zahrias and the rest of us,
Madison thought, fighting back a grimace. “We’re not exactly thrilled about that, either.”

To Madison’s surprise, Julia reached out and patted her arm. “Everyone knows to keep watch. And Zahrias also let me know that the elders had contacted him, and had told him to reach out to them immediately if we catch even a whiff of that al-Abyad character anywhere near Santa Fe. It sounds like they put the fear of God in him — threatened him with banishment to the outer circles if he comes within a mile of you or Qadim.”

“‘The outer circles’?” Madison repeated. “What are those?”

Julia’s shoulders lifted. “I don’t exactly know for sure. The djinn equivalent of jail, or Siberia. It’s bad. A human can’t live there — well, a human can’t really live in any part of the djinn world, but the outer circles are supposed to be far, far worse. It’s not an idle threat.”

No, from what she’d seen of those elders, they meant business. And the djinn apparently followed their edicts, so really, Madison supposed she and Qadim were about as safe as they could be. Also, while this house felt sheltered and private, it was less than five minutes to the plaza from here. They could be among friends in no time, especially traveling the djinn way.

Friends. There was an idea. She’d thought she was going to spend the remainder of her life alone in that bunker under Clay Michael’s house, and yet here she was, living with a man who apparently loved her so much he was willing to spend the rest of his incalculably long lifetime with her, and living in a place where she could be part of a community again. It would take some getting used to, but she was very much looking forward to all of it.

The French door opened then, and Qadim entered the kitchen, his hair blown by the wind, looking every inch the refugee from a biker gang, what with the jeans and the boots and the brown T-shirt with the legend “Desert Mountain Distillery” emblazoned on the front. Sometimes Madison wondered if he’d adopted that look on purpose.

But she had to admit that she kind of liked it.

“Hello, Julia,” he said.

“Hi, Qadim.” So casual. But Madison could tell it wasn’t an act. Whatever might have happened between the two of them previously, it wasn’t going to affect Julia and Qadim going forward. “I was just telling Madison how the elders had put the fear of God in Hasan al-Abyad, and so I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“Good. I suppose it was too much to hope that they would put him out of his misery for his crimes.”

Julia shifted her weight from one foot to the other, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “I didn’t think they did things like that.”

“They don’t. That is, they will banish a person, which in its way is worse than death. But still….” He let the words trail off, then gave an eloquent shrug. “At any rate, thank you for that information, and thank you also for this house and everything in it.”