Page 65 of Concluded
“I wish you to be exactly as you are.I’m the opposite of sorry.Just… bewildered, I guess.But hey, if we’re both destined to live a life of weird, at least for once the weird can be good.Spectacular, in fact.”He waggled his eyebrows.
“You know, I made love charms a couple of times.Didn’t want to because it’s creepy, but I was broke.Anyway, they sort of worked at first.But pretty soon….One client came back a couple months later, looking like she’d aged years.She said the guy fell for her, all right, but pretty soon they had nothing but shrieking arguments.So she left him, but now he was stalking her.”
“Jesus.”
Dee winced at old regrets and moral failings.“She told me that all her previous feelings for him had changed—like a chemical alteration—and now they were, well, synthetic.Like that artificial banana flavor.”
“What did you do?”
“I let her wish the other wish away.For free,” he hastened to add.“And it helped.He stopped stalking her.She felt less torn up.It definitely wasn’t a happy ending, though.They both had to live with what they’d done.”
Achilles was silent for a while, although he gave a small smile when Dee toyed with his tangled curls.Finally, he sighed.“If you’re implying that what we have is influenced by magic, I wouldn’t argue, although I have no clue how.But even if itismagic, it’s not like your love charm.I can feel this—feel you—in every cell of my body.And it feels right.If magic got us here, well, I’m fine with that.I don’t understand jet airplanes and I know they sometimes fall out of the sky, but when I have to get somewhere far and fast, I’m happy to use ’em.”
“It feels right to me too,” Dee assured him.“I just felt like I ought to say something.Caveat emptor?”
“I don’t own you, Dee.”
Dee looked at him earnestly.Imploringly, even.“But you could.I really, really wish you did.”
Achilles’ smile was blinding.“Always, your wish is my command.”
Sex the second time was even better than the first.And the third time, late that evening, was somehow even better.So good, in fact, that Dee seriously thought it might kill him.It would have been a very happy ending indeed.
CHAPTER27
The following morning, Marek took one look at Dee and Achilles and burst out laughing.“I thought that Dee was meant to be resting yesterday.”
Achilles blushed, which made him feel ridiculous, and pretended to be fascinated by a framed print hanging in Marek and Clay’s living room.It showed a vast ghostly army marching across a field toward a large stone building.
But Dee simply chuckled.“I slept.In between.”
Achilles turned to Charles, who was watching closely from the armchair, Tenrael kneeling beside him.“Yeah, I know it’s not very professional.”He lifted his chin.“But I don’t give a shit because?—”
“It’s fine.It’s good, in fact.Intimacy is one of our greatest weapons.”He stroked Tenrael’s feathers, and Tenrael nearly purred in response.
Dee, who looked slightly triumphant, took Achilles by the hand and towed him to the couch, where they sat pressed close together.Marek took a seat at the other end, while Clay leaned against a wall, muscular arms folded.“The good news,” Dee announced, “is that I’m fully recharged.More than.I feel like I’ve beenturbocharged.And I’m in the mood to grant wishes.”He bounced up and down like an eager kid.
Actually, he’d been bouncy all morning, first waking Achilles with a blowjob and then practically ping-ponging off the walls while he waited for Achilles to shower and dress.Unlike Achilles, Dee hadn’t needed any caffeine when they made a quick breakfast stop.Achilles, while somewhat more sedate, was feeling pretty buoyant himself, like a hot air balloon barely tethered to the ground.
“I’m going to need a couple small items to use as charms.”Dee sounded like a stage magician.
“In a moment,” said Charles solemnly.“I want to share some developments first.”
Achilles tensed, not liking the sound of that.“Is Ish doing okay?”
“He’s much the same.Dee, I asked Afolabi to do some more research on djinn.”
“I thought she had a zillion more important things to worry about.”
“She’s… very busy.But you did a great service for us—forme—and it was important to thank you.”Charles gave a half shrug.“And if you choose to remain with us, it would behoove us all to know more about your capabilities.”
He probably also wanted to know about Dee’s weaknesses but was wise enough to not say so.And Achilles wasn’t about to butt in.
“Did she learn stuff?”Dee’s tone was light, but Achilles could feel his tension.
“A bit.Most of what’s recorded is folklore, so it’s hard to know how deeply it can be trusted.In general, it appears that djinn are inclined to become subservient to humans—to a particular human.”
Dee nodded.“We want a master.”
