Tales of the Djinn: The Guardian (36 page)

“You must be exhausted,” he said. “These last
few days have been eventful.”

Eventful
was one way to put it.

“I don’t want to sleep,” she confessed. “Now
that I’m not fearing for my life, this seems too cool to miss out
on.”

“You should try to rest. We have hours of
flight time left.”

She looked at him. Little striations in his
eyes were glowing. Despite his casual manner, he was jazzed by
their escape too.

“Would you like me to . . . lie down with
you?” he asked.

She knew he meant just to rest. The rug
wasn’t big enough for anything private.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” she said, glad he’d
offered. “You’re way warmer than I am.”

They wriggled down a bit awkwardly with
Arcadius behind her. He let her use his lower arm for a pillow
while the other draped her waist.

“Okay?” he asked.

She nodded and hugged his forearm to her. He
fit them together better by shifting his legs into the bend of
hers. His body heat was like hot chocolate for her psyche. Joseph
and Samir were at the opposite end of the carpet, far enough that
she couldn’t make out their hushed conversation, only that they
were having one. The wind rushed steadily above them, proof they
actually were flying through the air.

“Are
you
cold?” she thought to ask
Arcadius.

“Being near you has a tendency to warm me,”
he said wryly.

She smiled, belatedly noticing an extra ridge
of hardness pressing her bottom. In a way, that was comforting too.
“If I were meaner, I’d squirm.”

“I appreciate your restraint,” he said even
more aridly.

Emotion welled in her as she grinned. Maybe
it was the result of all they’d been through, but she felt so much
for this man: attraction, gratitude, admiration. Her irritation at
his highhandedness fell away. So she didn’t know all his secrets.
In that moment, she thought she knew what mattered. He deserved to
be told what he meant to her.

“I love you,” she said softly.

Arcadius stopped breathing.

“I know,” she said. “You don’t feel the same,
but we escaped death together. Just this once, you can stand
hearing it.”

“‘Just this once,’” he repeated in an odd
tone.

“Sometimes you gotta say it,” she informed
him.

Losing her dad and David had taught her that.
Whatever Arcadius felt, he didn’t seem bothered by her words. His
strong arms pulled her closer into his warmth. She closed her eyes,
strangely satisfied with herself.

Being brave was good, no matter what you were
being brave about.

WHEN morning broke, they weren’t over land
anymore. Arcadius recognized the slight turbulence of the
Gulfstream bumping under then. Elyse slept on peacefully. Reluctant
to disturb her, he took off his outer robe, draping it over her
before he got up. The particular sights they were flying over she
didn’t necessarily want to see.

Joseph wished him good morning from his post
at the control stick. Samir had conked out and was curled up in a
cloudy ball in one of the rug’s corners. The sun was brighter than
it got in the human world, the edges of everything he saw razor
sharp. Longing futilely for coffee and a bagel, Arcadius peered
over the carpet’s safety wall.

Far beneath them, the mist that filled the
In-Betweens of the Qaf swirled like a restless animal. In some
places, the fog was dark. In others, it sparkled as white as snow.
Though it resembled a cloud layer, no one could swear it was.
Crossing In-Betweens in smoke form was the equivalent of a human
swimming the English Channel. Few djinn possessed the strength.
Those who fell disappeared forever and couldn’t bring back reports.
The popular theory was that the mist was the same stuff that
surrounded mirror spaces.

Naturally, no one knew exactly what that was
either.

“I suppose Elyse wouldn’t want to sightsee
this,” Joseph said, his thoughts on the same track.

“No,” Arcadius agreed. “She’d find it
unnerving.” When he squinted, he thought he spied mountaintops
breaking through the mist in serrated teeth. “You made good time.
That looks like the next Qaf island.”

“This is an excellent carpet. I suspect we’re
lucky Zayd didn’t actually mean for us to take it.”

Arcadius hummed in agreement and scratched
his cheek. He hadn’t shaved in too long.

“She saved our bacon,” Joseph said after a
little pause. “I wasn’t sure she could.”

“She’s brave,” was the only response Arcadius
came up with.

Elyse
was
brave, and smart, and
totally too pleasurable to be around. Given his previous dearth of
romantic attachments, she was also probably the only woman he’d
ever love. His memory of her saying she loved him brought waves of
heat into his chest. He didn’t know what she meant by it. She’d
said it lightly. Maybe she’d love anyone she shared an adventure
with. Maybe she could have said the same to Joseph. Arcadius didn’t
know and wasn’t prepared to ask.

She
couldn’t
love him like he loved
her.

Their experience at the portal proved it . .
. unless her emotions had grown since then.

He shook his head. If she really were in love
with him, it would be both amazing and terrible. He’d have so much
more to lose, and likely would lose it after she learned the truth
about how he’d schemed to exploit her emotions. Even if a miracle
happened and she forgave him, he wouldn’t be able to stay with her,
not if he and Joseph saved their city the way they were trying
to.

I won’t exist
, he thought.
Not as
the person I am right now
.

He pinched the bridge of his nose,
contemplating a future without Elyse. Would he mind when he
rejoined his original self? Would he appreciate what he’d lost?
He’d never heard of djinn accomplishing what he and Joseph had—what
Iksander and Philip had accomplished too, God willing. This was
uncharted territory. Maybe he’d fall into his old routine like he’d
never left. Serving his sultan. Guarding his city. Being the same
responsible, half-alive person he’d always been.

The life he was living now would seem like
the dream.

Then again, he’d be lucky if he got the
chance to feel that way. Saving their people was hardly a done
deal. He frowned at that realization, beginning to get a headache
from his conflicted thoughts.

“You love her,” Joseph said.

“What?” Arcadius’s attention jerked back to
the other man.

“That’s why the portal in the mirror space
worked at all, because her not loving you broke your heart. Your
energy powered it.”

Joseph said this calmly, his gaze on the
landmass steadily growing larger ahead of them. Arcadius’s heart
gave a little skip. That wasn’t any island. That was their portion
of the Qaf. They were almost home.

“My feelings for Elyse aren’t important,” he
said.

Joseph seemed to think they were. “She cares
about you.”

Arcadius put his hand on Joseph’s shoulder,
unable to respond. For no reason he could pinpoint, Joseph seemed
taller. When Arcadius was himself again, would he go back to
thinking of Joseph as he had before: a servant he admired and was
fond of but not an actual friend? Joseph
was
Arcadius’s
friend, as much as Iksander or Philip. In truth, maybe he was a
better one.

“I suppose we can deal with personal matters
after we help the city,” Joseph said. He gnawed his lip, probably
unwittingly.

Arcadius concluded he wasn’t the only one
worrying about their next challenges.

~

Elyse opened her eyes and said, “Shoot.”

She lay in a small but comfortable bed with a
light blanket pulled over her. Sunshine poured through the narrow
windows that lined the unfamiliar room. The air that drifted in
smelled of flowers, the temperature around seventy. None of this
was reason to complain. She was just annoyed she’d slept through
the rest of the magic carpet ride.

She sat up and pushed off the covers. She was
alone in a stone dormitory—or maybe a troop barracks? Everything
was spic and span. All the other bunks were made. She wondered if
Arcadius has slept in one.

So long, bitches
, someone had scrawled
in black paint on the whitewashed wall.

“If I knew who’d done that, I’d have him
dishonorably discharged.”

Arcadius’s tone teetered between joking and
serious. He leaned casually in the doorway at the room’s end, one
wide shoulder propped on the wall. He’d changed into tan trousers
and a loose white shirt with the tails tucked in. Weathered army
boots clad his feet, and he’d strapped various knife harnesses
around him. This outfit didn’t look borrowed. Everything fit as if
it belonged on his body. He reminded her of a mercenary, dressed
for some dangerous assignment. Only the gems glinting on his knife
hilts were out of place. A human soldier would have worn bullet
bandoliers. Maybe djinn didn’t do handguns?

He’s the sultan’s commander
, she
recalled.

“Where are we?” she asked, disconcerted by
seeing him this way.

“Fort Faithful. Just outside the city
walls.”

“Your city.”

“Yes.” His handsome face was unreadable.

“We made it then.” She hopped off the bed
she’d been sitting on.

“Bathroom is that way,” he said. “Joseph
activated the water.”

The bathroom was dormitory style as well:
bright, clean, with airy ceilings and smooth stone floors. She used
the facilities and washed up at a spotless sink. When she looked in
the mirror, her hair was hopeless—curls exploding every which way
in corkscrews. A week with her flatiron wouldn’t have helped it.
She supposed flying carpets were like convertibles that way: fun to
ride in but hell on the coiffure. On the bright side, her face was
fine. She looked less tired than she had in months, and she’d
gotten a little tan. Her formerly pale cheeks were pink.

Okay
, she thought.
I can live with
this
.

“Where is everyone?” she asked as she came
out again. “Doesn’t a fort imply soldiers?”

“Theoretically,” Arcadius said. “But there’s
no one to guard right now. Anyone who wasn’t caught inside the city
walls has left—probably weeks ago. They’ll have gone to the
provinces, I expect.”

“There’s no dust.”

“The spells to keep it out are still
functioning. Fortunately, the food stores are also protected. The
local monkeys have been trying to break in.”

His lips twisted. This place’s abandoned
state upset him, but he was trying to disguise how much. She went
to him and touched his arm. To her surprise, he gathered up her
hand, squeezed her fingers, and brought her knuckles to his mouth
to kiss.

She guessed that settled the question of
whether her saying
I love you
bothered him. He looked down
at her from his greater height, his mesmerizing eyes probing hers.
His expression didn’t give much away.

“You should probably tell me what we’re up
against,” she said.

His laugh was soft and ironic. “That was my
plan. Let’s take a walk, and I’ll lay it out for you.”

He kept her hand in his as they left the
barracks. A bright warm day awaited them outside. Lush flowering
trees softened the two-story stone buildings. The emerald grass was
overgrown but not weedy. Birds sang in random choruses. When Elyse
looked up, a cute little monkey perched on a nearby branch widened
its eyes at her.

“This way,” Arcadius said, pulling her along
a tidy path. He was leading her to a lookout point. The fort was on
a promontory above a harbor, with its own thick wall around it. The
sweet warm air seemed to sparkle, the colors brighter than she was
used to.

Everything is so pretty
, she
marveled.

They climbed steps to a curved platform. A
large black cannon stuck out a parapet in the wall.

“There,” Arcadius said, indicating the same
direction as the gun’s muzzle. “Within those walls lies the
Glorious City.”

Elyse’s breath caught in wonder. They were
about a mile away, and Arcadius’s city was really big. Its mostly
white buildings sprawled over three massive hills, between which
thick fringes of palm trees grew. Dreamy minarets poked up
everywhere, plus church spires and huge gold domes whose curves
appeared to be gilded with genuine twenty-four karat leaf. Red clay
roofs predominated, giving the place a consistent, Mediterranean
look.

“Wow,” she said, leaning over the wall to see
better. Those big green spaces were probably city parks. Wide
avenues suggested main thoroughfares, but mazelike backstreets
abounded too. The scene was a travel poster for an exotic vacation
spot, one where the sky was always blue, the clouds well mannered,
and the temperature perfect. A sparkling turquoise river cut across
the metropolis, lovely little bridges arched over it.

“It reminds me of Istanbul,” she said,
recalling a teenage trip there with her father.

“Yes,” Arcadius agreed. “That is the human
city easiest to travel to from ours.”

She turned to him. He was gazing at the
capital and for once his expression hid nothing. Elyse thought
she’d never seen anyone so sad. Tears glittered in his gorgeous
eyes.

“What happened here?” she asked softly.

“Look at the avenues,” he said. “At the parks
and the public spaces.”

She looked. “Nothing’s moving. Well, the
palms are swaying in the breeze but I don’t see traffic or
pedestrians.”

He pulled a pair of binoculars from a pouch
he wore on his hip. “Look again. Your vision isn’t as sharp as
mine.”

She put the lenses to her eye sockets. Either
the focus accidentally suited her or it adjusted magically. She
found the biggest park she could. A number of inexplicable white
objects sprang into view.