Page 82 of Bewitched By the Djinn
“I’m glad it was with you,” he whispers. “My first.”
We lie there in silence for a while, skin cooling, hearts slowing.
Eventually, he shifts so we’re on our sides, facing each other. One of his hands finds mine under the blanket, fingers curling together. He brings them to his lips and kisses the back of mine, then holds it there, against his chest.
“You’re thinking,” he says, voice low.
“I always think.”
“Loudly.”
I huff a laugh, then fall quiet again. “What if something bad happens tomorrow?”
His thumb brushes over my knuckles. “Then we’ll face it. Together.”
My throat tightens. I don’t saywhat if we don’t come back. I don’t saywhat if we do come back and then I never see you again.I nod and press my forehead to his.
We fall asleep like that—tangled together, warm and quiet in the dark.
Tomorrow, we’ll step into danger and I’ll deal with the fact that we did what we did with no magical excuses.
Chapter
Twenty-One
When I wake up, Bennet’s side of the bed is empty and the sun is just beginning to rise, casting pale light through the window.
I stretch, muscles deliciously sore, and the memories come flooding back—his mouth against mine, the brush of his breath, the heat of his palms on my bare skin.
Yummy.
But also complicated.
I draw the blanket tighter around me, staring at the ceiling as the weight of it settles in. What happened between us last night... it was real. And I don’t know what to do with that.
I can’t pretend it meant nothing, no matter how badly I want to keep things simple. But I’m also not ready to deal with what it might mean. Not when the world is on fire, and everything we’re walking into could tear us apart.
We come from different worlds. He’s light and power and magic, and I’m just trying to hold the pieces of my life together with duct tape and late-night panic attacks.
And maybe that wouldn’t matter if I weren’t already cracked open by too much heartache.
I’ve given up most of my hopes and dreams. College. Travel. Friendships. Sleep. I traded the future I once imagined foran endless parade of school plays, little league practice, and doctor’s visits.
My choices haven’t been my own since the day my parents disappeared. Until Kevin and Jackie are grown, I don’t get to be selfish. I don’t get to want things just for myself.
Bennet is amazing. But he’s also a prince. A man raised on duty and sacrifice. He didn’t hesitate to chase after his sister the second he thought his realm was in trouble. He belongs to his people and his very different world.
I can’t live in Aetheria. I can’t disappear and leave my siblings behind. No matter how much I want to fall into his arms and never come back up for air, I won’t be the reason they lose another parent.
Now, with Bennet, I’m terrified.
Terrified that even if he wants to stay now, something will change or take him from me later. That love, no matter how fierce, isn’t enough to make people stay.
Maybe when all this is over, we’ll go back to our worlds like nothing happened. Maybe we’re just a moment. A beautiful, bright thing that burned fast and hot in the dark.
If that’s all this is, I’ll take this time and lock it away, and when the fear creeps in, when everything else gets too big, I’ll remember the stolen moments we had.
I’ll take what we have, and leave the rest.
