Tales of the Djinn: The Double (19 page)

Joseph took up his coaching position behind her. “Think about taking charge of him, like you take charge of your brownstone back home. You don’t second-guess yourself about collecting rent or whether the walks need shoveling. You just do it.”

“That’s not magic,” Elyse said.

“Magic is simply another form of control. When you believe you have the authority, you do.”

Believe,
she thought but wasn’t convinced she did.

Oh, screw it,
she countered.
Just give it your best shot.

She closed her eyes, pictured the Solomon seal, and started the chant again. Two minutes later, the air grew hot and gave a palpable little pop. Her eyes flew open. The chair was empty. Arcadius’s cinder gray smoke was streaming into the brass vase she held.

“I did it!” she exclaimed, her heart thundering madly with excitement.

“Stopper,” Joseph reminded.

Elyse readied it. She waited for the last wisp to disappear and popped in the iron plug. Supported snugly in the crook of her arm, the metal vessel vibrated.
Whoa,
she thought.
I really put Arcadius in there.

“Hm,” Joseph said, one finger across his lips.

“Hm, what? Didn’t I do that right?”

“As far as I can tell, you did, but I think he may have helped you along.”

“Helped me!”

“Not on purpose. He saw how troubled you were over making him pass out. I suspect he didn’t want you to experience hurting him again.”

“I thought his ability to change was on the fritz.”

“He’s gotten better faster than I expected.”

“Well, how am I supposed to practice if he’s doing half the work?”

Joseph rubbed his upper lip and considered. “You could try getting him angry. Or at least be less likable.”

Elyse rolled her eyes. “Too bad I didn’t try to turn him to smoke when he first met me.”

“Yes,” Joseph said, not at all jokingly. “That probably would have worked better.”

Him tacitly agreeing that Arcadius hadn’t liked her wasn’t worth getting upset about. “Shall I let him out?”

“Yes. Circle the seal three times clockwise and say the formula.”

Luckily, she remembered it. She rubbed as she recited. “If you are one who honors the Holy Name, I free you from captivity.”

The vessel shuddered. She removed the stopper and Arcadius’s cloud billowed out. In a matter of seconds, he coalesced back into a solid man.

“You helped me,” she accused immediately.

“I certainly did not!”

“You did. Joseph could tell. Are you really so . . .” She searched around for an insult. “. . . so biddable you’d
help
a measly human female order you around?”

Arcadius looked at her like she was crazy but not like he was irate.

“Okay, then you must be desperate for affection! You’re jealous of Cade having someone in his life so you’re trying to make me like you too.”

She didn’t relish saying that. She actually thought it was mean. The only rise she got from Arcadius was his head tilting to the side.

“Cade is bigger than you,” she burst out.

Arcadius’s eyebrows rose. “Bigger than me?”

“His cock,” she said, fighting not to blush with Joseph listening in. “And, trust me, I can tell the difference!”

Arcadius’s eyes slitted. “If Cade felt a need to increase his size, he’s either childish or insecure.”

“He was you when he did it!
You’re
the one who’s insecure.”

“What
are
you on about?” Arcadius asked.

Elyse heaved a sigh. “This isn’t working.”

“What isn’t working?”

“She’s trying to make you mad,” Joseph said.

“Well, it’s irritating. She should stop.”

Elyse broke into a laugh.

“Try the spell again,” Joseph said. “Irritation might be the best result you get.”

~

Joseph was a patient teacher, but even he needed a break by the time the dinner hour rolled around. Elyse succeeded in changing Arcadius a few more times, but Joseph kept claiming he was helping. Neither Elyse nor Arcadius knew how to stop this from happening, though Arcadius complained that repeatedly shifting back and forth was giving him a headache.

“I could have told you goading him wouldn’t work,” Cade said when he rejoined Elyse and Arcadius. “Arcadius’s pride wouldn’t let him admit your jibes hit home. If he’d resisted, he’d have proved they did.”

“You’re making my brain hurt now,” Arcadius said from his slump on the side of the sultan’s bed.

“Would you let
me
force you into your smoke form?” Cade asked.

“I’d like to see you try!”

Cade smiled sweetly. “I believe I rest my case.”

“Guys,” Elyse broke in. “I still need to learn to cast this spell. On an
unwilling
participant.”

Cade pulled her against him into a hug. Although Elyse appreciated his support, they had a limited amount of time for her to get this right.

He stroked her curls, his hand coaxing her to look up at him. His smile was wonderfully affectionate. “Sweetheart, I don’t think Arcadius is the participant we need to work on.”

“No kidding,” she responded, her frustration spiking past the boiling point. “I’m the one who’s fucking up.”

“Ah,” Arcadius said as if he suddenly understood something she didn’t.

“Don’t
do
that,” she demanded, dangerously close to tears. “I’m honestly trying.”

“Elyse,” Cade said, drawing her attention back to him. “Do you remember our first morning here, what you said when we made love in the bath?”

“I’m sure I said a lot of things.”

Her tone was grouchy. Cade’s vibrant eyes crinkled. “You said one day you were going to take me in the ass. I think you need to do that . . . but not to me.”

“No-o,” she denied at the same time Arcadius said, “I beg your pardon.”

“You need to assert command,” Cade explained, ignoring Arcadius. “Without hesitation or apologies.”

“If you’re so interested, have her do it to you!” his original huffed.

“I can’t force him to do that against his will,” Elyse said.

“You won’t have to. He understands how important this is and he’ll . . . like you commanding him. He just won’t like that he likes it.”

“Speak for yourself!” Arcadius snapped.

Elyse glanced at him. His face was flushed, his nostrils flaring with anger. His expression wasn’t dissimilar to arousal. And Cade was in a position to guess at his secret kinks.

“I don’t know,” she said unsurely. “I wouldn’t know how to take charge of him.”

“You’ve done it to me.”

“Only sort of.”

“More than sort of. Don’t you remember when you tied me up and rode me?”

She flashed back to the tent in the Bedouin camp, suddenly warm underneath her clothes. That had been fun, but Cade was talking about really pushing Arcadius’s limits, and that made her uneasy. “Will you help?”

Cade shook his head. “If I tell you what to do, it undermines the point.”

“Don’t I get a say?” Arcadius broke in.

His arms were crossed, his upper lip twisted into a handsome sneer. Awareness clicked inside Elyse’s mind. If she was going to do this, now was the time to start, before Arcadius realized she’d never push past his limits, only right up to them.

“No,” she said. “At the moment, your say isn’t important.”

Arcadius’s eyes widened. She didn’t give him a chance to speak.

“I think you
will
have to help,” she added to Cade, deciding she might as well push him too. “Not to give me ideas. I have plenty. It’s just some of the things I want to do to him require muscle.”

Cade’s jaw fell.

“You ought to say ‘yes, mistress,’” she pointed out. “If he has to answer to me, you should as well.”

Arcadius snorted out a laugh.

“This isn’t a game,” she said, firm and calm. “I expect both of you to obey me.”

Arcadius blinked.

“Answer me appropriately,” she insisted.

“Yes, mistress,” he responded.

“Yes, mistress,” Cade echoed a beat later.

They didn’t mean it yet. Nonetheless, a little thrill went through her, unexpected and intoxicating. These men were more powerful than she was—in every way, she would have said. They had more mass, more muscle, certainly more experience with magic. They’d commanded armies and devised winning strategies. Both possessed the sort of beauty that turned heads. Elyse was petite and had only a female’s strength. Aside from that, she was a passably attractive, passably smart, small-time human landlady. Just this once, though, maybe she had an opportunity to outthink them.

Fake it till you make it
, she told herself. Chances were, her two commanders had never heard of that.

Channeling her inner dominatrix—and hoping she had one—she put her fists on her waist. “Does Iksander have a toy drawer?”

“A toy drawer?” Arcadius was confused.

“Sex toys,” Cade explained to the less traveled him.

“I can call down to the harem if he doesn’t,” Elyse said. “I expect they have all sorts.”

“He might have one in the closet,” Arcadius answered, his tone bemused. “Perhaps in the large wardrobe?”

“I’ll check,” she said. “You two have your clothes off before I return.”

“Both of us?” Cade was startled.

“Both of you,” she confirmed. “If I’m taking charge, I’m not doing it halfway.”

She smiled to herself as she crossed the large bedroom. Cade and Arcadius’s expressions were priceless.

The absent sultan didn’t have a toy drawer. He had what looked like a pirate’s treasure chest with straps. She found the thing at the rear of the large wardrobe Arcadius had suggested looking in. She had no idea what some of the contents did. The symbols carved and painted on them suggested they might be magical. A box within the box held a selection of dildos whose function was obvious enough, despite being unusually decorative. The unguent jars also seemed self-explanatory. Deciding it was best not to leave anything behind, she carried the entire chest back into the bedroom.

The men were naked. Cade sat on the side of the mattress, hands braced on his knees, trying to look casual. Arcadius stood by the heavily gilded footboard, his mood stubborn and angry. Neither had an erection but something about the way their cocks were hanging—the slightly greater thickness of the shafts—made her think they’d be easy to arouse. It amused her that she had no trouble telling them apart. They were as alike as twins but each man inhabited his body differently.

“Good,” she said, slightly breathless from lugging the heavy box. She dropped it on the bed and tipped up the lid.

Both men leaned in to see. Presumably they knew what the unidentifiable items did.

“That’s a lot of toys,” Cade observed.

“Iksander does have his quirks,” Arcadius agreed.

“What’s this?” she asked, pulling out a tangle of dog collar-ish leather straps.

“An outfit,” Cade said. “You recite the spell and it fits itself to you.”

She looked to Arcadius for confirmation.

“He isn’t lying. That’s what it does.”

“Is it for a woman or a man?”

“Either,” Arcadius said. He was braced and trying to hide it. She sensed he didn’t want her to order him to put it on himself.

Pick your battles,
she thought. She stroked a length of the leather harness. It was dark brown, sturdy, and broken in. Arcadius’s gaze followed the movements of her fingers like he was hypnotized.

“How do you think I’d look in it?” she asked softly.

Her answer came in the sudden flush that washed up his cheeks. The color deepened when he saw her notice it.

“Well,” she said on a low chuckle. “You’d better tell me that spell, hadn’t you?”

He pointed to the place where the incantation was stamped onto a strap.

“I expect I take my clothes off first?”

“Yes,” he said throatily.

The men watched as she disrobed, neither trying to hide his fascination with her body. Their genitals filled and jerked, at least half-mast by the time she finished. That was good for her confidence. When all her garments were pooled around her feet, she lifted the harness and read the words.

Garb me,
the enchantment said,
if it pleases the Source of all pleasure.

The magic must have been coded into the straps. She only had to recite the incantation once and the leather slapped securely but not hurtfully around her.

The harness fit as if it were designed for her. One strap covered her contracting nipples, while others tilted her small breasts upward. Bands circled different portions of her body: her waist, her arms, her thighs and knees and ankles. Apart from the leather strips, she was bare.

Their constriction was weirdly empowering. She felt like a perverted gladiator—and probably looked like one. A
V
of leather drew attention to the triangle at her groin. The straps passed between her thighs and around her butt, tightening beneath her cheeks so that they were lifted up. She was sharply aware of her various erogenous zones. The men’s awareness of them seemed sharper too. They were more erect than before. The spots where Cade’s fingers gripped his knees had paled.

Seeing that, Elyse’s pussy went soft and wet.

“Well,” Arcadius said, rubbing his chin in bemusement. “That outfit certainly suits you.”

“It suits you,
mistress
,” she corrected.

“Mistress,” he conceded, inclining his head. He remained a bit sardonic. Elyse would have to address that.

“Get on the bed,” she ordered. “Stretched out on your front.”

“Me?” Arcadius pointed to himself.

“Yes, you. You’re my subject. He’s just my assistant.”

She’d said she needed Cade’s muscle, but Arcadius moved into position without being urged further. Perhaps he wanted to avoid wrestling with himself.

She noticed he had to lift his hips to settle his hard-on beneath him.

“Arms up and out. You may look at me but don’t speak.”

He almost did speak, but pressed his lips together at the last moment. His reaction seemed irritated, which she told herself was an improvement. He was beginning to take this seriously. She dug two chains out of the treasure box. Their rattle caused him to jerk reflexively. The sultan’s carved and gilded bedframe seemed too fancy to risk damaging it. She used the spells she found on the chains to anchor them to the floor instead. The opposite ends of the links held rings. She tossed one of these to Cade. He caught it without fumbling but looked surprised.