Wish For Me (The Djinn Order #1) (21 page)

“Glory,” Elena said, holding out her hand. It was the first time she’d spoken. “Come over here with us, please.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “No. Somebody tell me what’s happening here. Mom, put down the freaking crossbow already!”

“I will do no such thing,” Mom snarled. In fact, she raised it higher and took an anxious step forward.

“One more move, hunter, and I will end you,” Irving growled, his body simmering with power. “Your death is well overdue.”

What the fuck?
“Irving! Don’t threaten my mother! Mom! Put the bow down!” Neither of them backed off or paid me any mind. I looked to Elena for help, but she just shook her head at me, drawing the battle line clear as fucking day. She was siding with her sister. Against Irving. Against
me.

I made a split-second decision right then, one that I had been trying to avoid since the moment I’d realized I’d already made it. It was the reason I’d turned the night I’d spent with Irving into nothing more than a fling. I was scared then. Of what that meant for me and how my life would play out from that point on. I was afraid of the future staring me in the face and my first response had been to flee. But I wasn’t scared anymore.

I knew what I had to do.

I chose Shrinelyn. I chose
Irving.
I wasn’t sure if this was love yet, but I still chose
him
.

I laced my fingers with his and braced myself for whatever came next.

My mother’s fatal glare grew even more savage. “What are you doing, Glory?” Her voice was barely audible with the fierce wind blowing, but I didn’t need to hear her. The hurt in her eyes was unguarded and screamed at me with betrayal.

“I can’t let you hurt him, Mom,” I said, looking up at Irving. “He’s mine and I can’t let you hurt him.”

Irving’s eyes met mine and for just a moment, the world around us ceased to exist. His face remained expressionless, but I could
feel
his magic expand and surround me, cradling me and warming me until I tingled all over. I felt brand new, like I’d been given a new body, a new life. I was safe, adored, and forgiven. With those three words, I was forgiven, and for just a little while, my life, my world, was
perfect
.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Glory,” Elena spoke up, breaking the silence. Her long brunette hair whipped around her face, but behind those silky locks, terror ruled her expression.

“I know exactly what I’m saying. I care about Irving, and I won’t let you two hurt him.” I lifted my chin. “Or any other Djinn.”

“You would choose this parasite over
us
? Your
family
?” Mom hissed, her accent thick and angry. I was pretty sure this was not how she had seen this situation turning out. But what had she thought? That I would follow her and Elena without question, join the League without any protest, turn against Irving and the Djinn kind simply because I was her daughter?
Never.

“I wish I didn’t have to choose,” I said. “But I can’t let you do this! I can’t let you continue to hunt innocent Djinn and execute them just because you think that’s your purpose in life!”

My mom’s feral laugh pierced the night. “Innocent? A Djinn? An
Amir
? There is no such thing! Whatever they’ve told you, Glory, don’t believe it. The Amirs may be royalty, but they don’t deserve your trust.” Her eyes narrowed even further. “And they damn sure don’t deserve your love.”

I wasn’t trying to hear what she was saying. “Mom. Please. Put the bow down. You don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve been waiting many years to capture Irving Amir.”

“No,” I said. “There has to be another way we can work this out!”

Mom shook her head. “There is no other way, Glory. I am the predator and he is my prey. Your choosing him will not save him. You have only condemned him
and
his kind.”

“No!”

“Glory…” Irving’s voice caressed my ears with its gentleness. “Please…go…”

“I’m not leaving you,” I snapped. “You’re mine and I’m not going anywhere.
Ever.
” When he didn’t respond, I turned back to my mother and her crossbow. “Please, Mom. I’m begging you. Don’t do this.”

“I have to,” she said, her voice clear and sure. “I cannot let this happen. Not again.”

She hit the trigger and let her arrow fly.

Without a second thought, I stepped right in front of it. The arrow pierced me right in the chest.

Being shot wasn’t nearly as brave and heroic as the movies made it seem. It was sheer agony, and if I hadn’t angled my body to brace it for the blow, my mother would have shot me in the heart. She’d been going for the kill. She wanted Irving dead.

Why?
I wondered as my knees gave out and my body collapsed to the ground. My thoughts were a hazy, pain-filled mess and I couldn’t put it all together. The League couldn’t be the master of a dead Djinn. So why would my mom attempt to kill Irving? What couldn’t she let happen again?

It took a minute, but the pain soon became the only thing I could concentrate on. My chest blazed from the puncture wound outward to the rest of my body. I was nauseous and I could feel my body jerk as I began to eject the contents of my stomach. The corners of my vision clouded over and I felt my heartbeat start to slow. Mom had missed my heart, but I was going to die anyway. At least, I hoped I did. That’s how much pain I was in.

Irving was shouting, Elena was hysterical. Mom was silent. I couldn’t hear her voice, but with death approaching fast I couldn’t be sure about anything. I imagined she was crying and pleading with the powers that be for it not to be true. She hadn’t just shot her daughter. She hadn’t just killed me.

But I was going to die. There was no avoiding it. All I felt was cold, even in the arms that were holding me. I hoped they weren’t Irving’s arms. I didn’t want that to be the last memory we shared. I didn’t want to take my last breath while he held me and have him be the one to witness my eyes close for the last time.

My final breath came and it was excruciating, but I was so happy my body would soon find relief. I finally heard my mother’s voice and she was indeed crying. Screaming and crying. Her grief let me know it was the end and I was free to let go.

Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Elena. Goodbye, Irving.
Damn. Life was so unfair.

Voices faded. So did the light.

And then all there was left was darkness.

Nagi’s ever-comforting chirp was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. Death was bliss, but why wasn’t it quiet anymore?

I’d spent an indefinite amount of time in a state of peace that had suddenly been interrupted by Nagi. What was she doing on this side? She was a mechanical bat and she couldn’t die. I immediately panicked, thinking that her appearance was in some way connected to Irving. Had something happened to him? Had he come to this side because he was…

“Irving!” I screamed.

I shot up in bed, my eyes searching the semi-darkness for my Djinn. I blinked several times, surprised not to be surrounded by the white light anymore. I was in a room with four white walls covered in various framed photos of inked designs and hardwood floors. There was furniture, a television, and then there was the jeweled vase—
Irving’s Chronolier—
sitting right there on the nightstand.

I couldn’t even believe it.
I was in my room.

I was home. Boston, Massachusetts. In the apartment I shared with my best friend in the world, Ashlyn. A chair was sitting beside my bed and from the position of it, I could tell whoever sat there had been watching me sleep. Next to Irving’s Chronolier was an uneaten ham sandwich and an unopened bottle of soda. The soda wasn’t cold so it couldn’t have been for me. I could only surmise that whoever had camped out beside my bed had done so for a very long time without eating or drinking. Why?

There was another chirp and I looked toward my bedroom window. Nagi sat on the windowsill watching me with those onyx eyes. She flapped her little leather wings when our eyes met as though giving me confirmation that she was real and happy to see me. And then I noticed there was something clutched in her steel claws. I blinked so I could focus on it and saw that it was my necklace. The one that held the key to Irving’s Chronolier.

Somehow, that triggered something in my mind.

Memories flooded my brain.
Irving
. Djinn. An automaton. A motorcycle. Shrinelyn. A castle. Airships. The Hindu Kush.
Hunters.
Elena
.

Mom.

I gasped as it all played out in my head.
My mother had shot me.

I grabbed my chest, practically ripping the shirt I was wearing. I yanked down the collar and lowered my eyes to examine what I was sure would be a nasty reminder of what my mother had done to me.

I found nothing but smooth, scarless skin. Tears pricked my eyes. I was alive. I was healed.
I wasn’t dead.

How had this all happened?

“Glory?”

I looked up and found Irving standing in my now open doorway. A tear leaked from my eye and ran down my cheek. I wanted to swipe it away, but I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed by the sight of him. Surprised that was he dressed as a human. Stunned that he still took my breath away. He was the most beautiful being in existence and I had never been happier to see him.

“You’re awake,” he said. He came forward and set the glass of water he held on my nightstand. Then he was sitting next to me. I reached out for him and when my hand found his face, I sobbed. Irving was real. He wasn’t dead and neither was I. How could this be?

“Have long have I been—”

“Three days.” His fingers brushed my cheek. “You were gone for three days.”

Gone,
he’d said. Not sleep, not unconscious.
Gone.

“I love you,” he muttered, turning his head to kiss my fingers. “I love you.”

My only reaction was to just pull him to me and hold him like I would never have another chance to do so. I wished that we could have just sat there in silence, wrapped in our emotions. But that couldn’t happen. Not after what we had been through.

“Where’s Ashlyn?” I asked. I kissed him then waited on his answer.

“The hunter, I mean, Elena told her that you were sick and it was very contagious. She agreed to find other lodgings, but she is very worried about you. Please call her the moment you are feeling up to it.”

“Of course.” I didn’t like the idea of Ash being stressed out because she thought I was sick. But I realized it was better than her finding out I was dead.

“And how are Elena? And…my mom?”

I felt Irving stiffen beside me. “They were both very worried about you. Elena and Madeleine are resting right now.”

Madeleine.
That was my mother’s real name. For all these years, she’d been lying to me. If she’d lied about something as simple as her name, then who knew what else she’d lied about.
She
was a lie. She was a stranger and I didn’t know how to feel about her anymore.

“Mom shot me,” I said. It was so matter of fact that I wondered if my memories were playing tricks on me and I’d only imagined my mother had shot me. But then Irving spoke and shattered that illusion.

“She did not intend to,” he said. “You stepped in front of the arrow.
Why
did you step in front of the arrow?” His tone was almost chastising, but I didn’t care.

“I couldn’t lose you,” I replied, cradling his hand to my face. “I couldn’t lose you. You’re everything to me.”

“Glory.” I reached for his other hand and he let me take it. “You cannot do something like that again.
Ever.
Do you understand? You cannot save me again. You only get one chance.”

I ignored his foolish chatter. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for Irving, including dying for him.

“Glory, you—”

“Kiss me, Irving.” I looked up into his amethyst eyes. “Don’t speak anymore. Just kiss me.” He seemed to understand what I needed, and he obliged me, sliding his hands to the back of my neck and giving me the kiss he knew I wanted. Deep, hot, and passionate.

Like always, I drowned in his kiss, never even once attempting to come up for air. With every thrust of his tongue, I knew he was real and that he loved me. I knew I would do anything to ensure we were never torn apart again. Not for three days. Not even for one.
Never
.