Harley Merlin 12 by Bella Forrest (story books to read TXT) 📗

We can be the Smiths in that scenario. I don’t need my own baby. I genuinely don’t. This isn’t a lie to make you feel better—as long as I have you, and we have kids around us someday, I’ll be the happiest woman alive. So don’t you give up on us, because I won’t want any of that without you to share it with.”

Time to heave up whatever you’ve got in that stomach, I chimed in. It wouldn’t have been right to just let them have a sappy moment. That wasn’t my style.

Raffe chuckled. “Kadar wants to barf.”

“Well, Kadar can shut his trap for a while. He’s caused enough fuss tonight, and he’s not ruining this for me,” she replied, which made me grin. I liked her sass.

“Do you really mean it?” Raffe focused his attention again.

She nodded. “I really mean it. I want you, and whatever family we end up with. I don’t give two hoots that they won’t share our genes. Between us, our babies would probably be crazy, anyway.”

“Then… I believe you.” Raffe tilted her chin up. “I won’t try and push you away anymore. And I won’t keep wishing things were different, though it might take me some time to fully come to terms with it.”

Attaboy! I cheered.

“I love you,” Santana breathed.

“I love you more. I don’t ever want to be without you, either.” Raffe leaned in and kissed her slowly, prompting me to connect to his nerve endings so I could feel what he was feeling.

She sank into our arms and pressed close, matching the passionate rhythm of his kiss. Her arms looped about our neck, and her fingertips ran through our hair. Giddiness pinballed through our shared veins, while the warmth of her chased away the icy chill of the desert, leaving a contented glow.

For a fleeting moment, no barrier separated me from Raffe. He was me, I was him, and we were kissing the woman we loved. And I found myself thanking the djinn who’d bound us together. Without this curse, I would never have known what it felt like to love and to be loved.

Thirty

Raffe

We couldn’t stay out in the desert forever, much as I’d have liked to kiss my love until the sun came up. I’d had some sense knocked into me by Kadar and Santana. Just because severing ties with Erebus didn’t benefit me, per se, didn’t mean it wouldn’t benefit the djinn. They deserved freedom. It was selfish of me to wallow in my personal gripes, when they had the possibility to end their collective enslavement to their creator. Even if it meant Kadar wound up weakened, too, without the independence payoff the others would receive.

Feeling much better than I had, I returned with Santana to the oasis. And it looked as though our timing couldn’t have been better. The various djinn had all returned to the center, though they still muttered amongst themselves.

“Which way do you think they’ve decided to go?” I whispered to Santana.

“Hard to tell,” she replied.

I’m going to say fifty-fifty, which means another tedious few hours of pointless discussion, Kadar interjected. They’ll come back again, and again, and again, until they have the majority that Safiya clearly wants. Politics are the same with every advanced species.

Zalaam made a beeline for me, leaving the gathering of what I presumed were Qareen—the type of djinn Abdhi had mentioned Kadar might be.

“Leonidas urged me to follow you, but I convinced him to give you some peace and quiet to attend to your thoughts,” he said. “Although, I feared you would not return in time to hear the verdict.”

“I needed a moment to have some sense kicked into me, that’s all.” I flashed Santana a grin, which she returned. “Where do you stand on all this?”

Zalaam puffed his chest out. “Actually, there have been many persuasive arguments while you were gone. And, I hate to say it, but I think I may be coming around to the idea.”

“Seriously?” Santana blurted out.

“I am quite serious, yes. I merely hope it does not get us all annihilated.” Zalaam’s red eyes flickered with concern. “But, as many of my fellow djinn have hammered into my brain, even so a swift annihilation would be better than enduring a slow, unavoidable death. Perhaps this sickness is making me lose grasp of my faculties, but I have begun to agree. I will not spend my last days wasting away in a coven infirmary. It lacks dignity, and if we are to die, a djinn must die with dignity.”

“That’s a noble sentiment.” I glanced at the rest of the djinn, trying to gauge which way they would swing. It really was impossible to tell.

“The two of you seem alarmingly happy, despite our dire straits,” Zalaam commented, scrutinizing Santana and me. “That must have been quite the epiphany you had out there.”

Ah, is that what the old folks call it? Kadar joked, making my cheeks flush.

“We had a lot to discuss,” I managed to say, burning with embarrassment. “And we managed to resolve our problems.”

“Ah. I had no idea there was trouble in paradise.” Zalaam’s lips curved into a smirk.

“Not anymore,” Santana cut in. “We’re peachy.”

Zalaam nodded, still smirking. “I am pleased to hear it. I do not think Leonidas could have abided a mopey son had things gone awry. And he has a great deal of respect for you, Santana—I am sure he will not mind me saying so. We would not have wished to go through this rigmarole with some other young lady, on the slim chance Raffe ever managed to dig himself out of his pit of despair to attract another mate.”

Santana stifled a giggle. “Good to know.”

“It surprises me that Raffe is not as competent with women as his father was during the prime of his youth,” Zalaam went on, making me wish for quicksand beneath my feet. Kadar cackled internally. “Though perhaps that is more a failing of Kadar than Raffe. The animal magnetism often rests