Page 25 of Bewitched By the Djinn (The Bewitching Hour #8)

Chapter

Eighteen

Ten minutes later, we’re seated in an opulent sitting room with high ceilings and intricate crown molding.

Velvet drapes frame tall windows, their heavy fabric muffling the sounds of the party outside.

The furniture is rich and antique, deep mahogany pieces with plush cushions, a marble-topped coffee table sitting between us, and an ornate fireplace with a grate clean enough to eat off of.

I sit beside Bennet on a cushy white sofa.

His posture is so rigid I half expect him to vibrate out of the seat.

Across from us, Helen perches stiffly in an armchair, her hands gripping the arms. Delores is beside her on another chair, quiet but watchful, her dark eyes flicking between us like she’s assessing potential threats.

Shortly after Helen dropped her lineage bombshell, Delores found us in the backyard and insisted everyone come inside to chat in private. Delores is petite with a button nose and blonde hair pulled back from her face in a low bun.

“Why do you think you have a mortal father?”

Helen’s fingers tighten further on the arm rests. “I don’t think. I know. Uncle confirmed it to me, months ago.”

A muscle jumps in Bennet’s jaw. “What did he say?”

“That our parents were struggling to conceive, and that it is a known recourse, for djinn to seek assistance in the mortal realm. It is not widely discussed, but whispered of in dark corners. No one else knows why I’m here.

Only Uncle, and us.” Helen glances at Delores, a flicker of acknowledgment passing between them.

The lightbulb clicks. “The swamp witches,” I blurt. Mimi mentioned they’d helped her friends have a baby.

Bennet stiffens. “You’re saying they, what, made you?”

Helen shakes her head. “No, they helped find a donor, so to speak. Our parents made a deal. A mortal man, one who carried magic in his blood, was found. Magic in the blood means they are part djinn.”

Does that mean I’m part djinn? I don’t have time to ponder the thought.

“The witches guaranteed success,” Helen continues.

“In exchange, he was given riches enough to support him and his descendants. His mother’s health was ailing and he wanted her to live in comfort for her final days.

The mortal realm, at least this part of it, does not take care of their most ill, apparently.

They would have been on the streets to pay for her treatments and medicine. ”

“Do I have a mortal father as well, then?”

“No. You were a surprise. A happy surprise. Our parents didn’t think they could conceive without assistance. And then you came along.” She offers a small, sad smile. “How were you able to find me? I blocked myself from being tracked.”

“Cassie helped me.”

I fidget in my seat. “We were able to trace your power signature to the witches, and that’s where it disappeared. We went to them for more information on where to find you.”

Helen nods. “Yes. The witches warned me there were other forces seeking me.” Her lips press together. “They warned me to keep my presence hidden with magic. I didn’t think Bennet was the ‘other forces’ on the hunt. I thought he would be back in Aetheria by now.”

His brows dip. “Who did you think was tracking you then?”

She shrugs. “I didn’t know. The witches wouldn’t say.”

“You didn’t think it might be your uncle?” I asked.

“Of course not. Uncle and I started making plans shortly after he confirmed the story of my heritage to come here, to search. Uncle helped me.”

Bennet’s brow furrows. “But he told me to bring you home. Why did he help you leave, only to send me right after you?”

She bites her lip. “I don’t know. He knows I don’t want to marry Lord Wallace. I want to be with Delores.”

Delores reaches over, covering one of Helen’s clenched hands with her own.

Oohh. That makes a lot more sense. “Is that not allowed?” I ask. “I mean, in Aetheria? Are queer people looked down on? We have a lot of homophobia here too, it’s a real problem.”

“Not exactly. There’s no real stigma against who you love. It’s not like here, not the same kind of judgment.” Helen shrugs. “But I’m a royal. The heir. I’m expected to marry someone with standing, to form alliances, to produce heirs. It’s not about who I love. It’s about duty.”

Delores’s thumb strokes over Helen’s knuckles. “But you’re not just an heir. You’re a person. And you shouldn’t have to choose between duty and your heart.”

Helen releases her death grip on the chair, turning her hand over to weave Delores’s fingers with her own.

“I don’t know why Uncle told you to come fetch me.

He gave me the lamp to return to Aetheria with once he was able to scuttle the marriage.

I was going to use it myself to come home because we weren’t sure how strong my magic would be here and if I would be able to generate a portal back.

That’s the only reason I used it on you, to send you home. ”

Bennet shakes his head. “Except the lamp didn’t send me to Aetheria. It took my powers and trapped me. If it wasn’t for Cassie, I don’t know how long I might have been stuck in there.”

Helen’s face drains of color. “I—I didn’t know, I swear. Honestly, I had no idea that would happen. I wouldn’t have used it if I had.”

Bennet doesn’t say anything, but the silence stretches through the room as the weight of everything that’s happened sinks into place.

Their uncle orchestrated so much of this.

It’s like he’s been moving pieces on a board, playing a game none of them knew they were a part of.

Did he mean for Helen to get trapped in the lamp when she attempted to return?

Did he send Bennet right after her, to be stuck here on a fool’s errand or knowing Helen might use the lamp on him?

Were the ifrit meant to find him—just in case?

Why? So he can take over in their place?

“This isn’t a normal spell. It’s a curse,” Bennet finally says. “We are tied together.”

Helen straightens, like she’s ready to latch on to something she can fix. “Maybe I can help with the curse. With my magic.”

Bennet nods slowly. “Yes. We can have you test it, but later. First, tell me why you came in search of your mortal father.”

“I wanted to know where I came from. I’ve always wondered, since the moment I realized the truth, and I intended to come here as soon as my duties allowed.

Then Uncle convinced me this was the perfect time.

I could leave and find my father, and in the meantime he could sort out the impending wedding, take care of everything at home.

” Helen searches his face. “I would never hurt you. I wasn’t intending to leave forever, I was going to return.

You understand why I could not marry Lord Wallace. ”

He blows out a breath. “I am beginning to.”

Helen straightens, her mouth twisting. “You honestly didn’t know? About Delores and me?”

Bennet rubs the back of his neck. “How would I?”

She rolls her eyes. “I don’t know, maybe the fact that we’ve been in each other’s pockets for months, or that one time you walked in on us leaving the bathing room together and holding hands?”

“Women are always doing those things.”

She gives him a pointed look. “Kissing in dark corners?”

Bennet rubs a hand down his face. “Okay, okay, I should have known.”

Helen and Delores exchange a glance and burst into laughter.

A reluctant smile tugs at Bennet’s mouth and then he laughs too. With the humor, the tension in the room finally breaks, dissolving like steam.

After a moment, Bennet leans forward in his seat, elbows on his knees. “Will you tell me about him? Your father?”

Delores squeezes Helen’s hand and then stands. “Cassie, would you like something to eat or drink?”

Reading between the lines, I stand. “Absolutely. I would love to see more of the house, it’s beautiful.”

“Yes. Come right this way.”

I follow her to the door. She eases it closed behind us and gives me a knowing smile. “The tension in there was thick enough to swim in.”

I let out a laugh. “That’s one way to put it.”

She slips her hand in my arm with a sunny smile. “Come. There is a lack of magic in your realm but the kitchens are marvelous. You must tell me what is going on with you and Bennet.”

I swallow. “Um... what do you mean, what is going on?”

“You smell like him.”

Of course I do. We spent most of the night wrapped around each other and then he rubbed his face against me like a contented house cat marking his territory.

“It’s nothing.”

“Right. The bond and the flirting and the intense looks. Nothing at all. Bennet has been so sheltered and closed off his whole life, I’ve often wondered who would be the one to break through his walls.”

I wave a hand, heat creeping up my neck. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just the curse, you know? We’ve been basically tied together since I freed him from the lamp. Not that there’s been any actual tying up—we’re not like that. There’s nothing happening here, is what I’m saying. Nothing at all.”

No wild orgasms in the swamp. Nope.

“Right. I understand. Nothing going on.” She nods solemnly—then bites her lip, failing to hide her smile.

We step into the kitchen, and my mouth falls open at the sheer extravagance of it.

White marble counters stretch for miles, their surfaces gleaming under the recessed lighting.

A massive island sits at the center, its top covered with an array of food, trays of fresh fruit, imported cheeses, and delicate pastries that are too pretty to eat.

There’s a double-door fridge that could probably hold an entire grocery store inside, and state-of-the-art appliances line the walls, their polished steel surfaces reflecting the golden glow of the lights overhead.

“Tell me how it all happened, the lamp and Bennet and finding us?”

I settle onto a stool at the island and give her the short version of everything that’s happened over the past few days, finding the lamp, releasing Bennet, the search for Helen and being chased by ifrit.

“Ifrit? Here?” She taps her finger on her chin. “It’s all so bizarre, isn’t it?”

“No ifrit followed you and Helen?”

“No. But Helen did mask our presence. How did they find you, I wonder?”

“I have no idea.”

She quickly describes their adventure so far, which is much less dramatic than Bennet’s and mine.

They’ve basically been hanging out here since they found Helen’s father, meeting Helen’s extended family and helping prepare for the birthday party—it’s for the daughter of one of Helen’s half-siblings who just turned one.

“That must have been strange for her, discovering she had other siblings.”

“Four of them.” Delores pours water into a beveled glass and slides it to me. “Three sisters and a brother. Two of the sisters live here in town, one is overseas, and the brother is off at school.”

We snack from the platters of food as she tells me about their arrival. They weren’t sure what Helen’s father would think, if he’d reject her or want nothing to do with her. But to their surprise, he was welcoming.

“He doesn’t know about Aetheria or djinn or any of it.” Delores lowers her voice. “He thought he was just helping out by donating some of his essence to wealthy people willing to pay. He had agreed to not seek her out.”

I pop a grape in my mouth. “What did she tell him?”

She leans against the counter. “The truth, mostly. That her parents passed and she tracked him down through the agency that arranged it. His wife died a few years ago. He was happy she came to find him. He had always wondered if anything had come from his donation.”

Right then, a man walks into the kitchen, the same one from earlier who handed off the gift.

Delores beams. “Mr. Landry. This is Bennet’s lady friend, Cassie. Cassie, this is Mr. Landry, Helen’s father.”

Lady friend?

“It’s nice to meet you.” I wave.

Helen’s father chuckles. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m so glad Helen’s brother was able to make it. Thanks for coming out today. Help yourselves to anything you like.” He gestures to the food. “We always over cook. I came in to grab more drinks for the kids.”

We make idle chitchat for a minute and then he disappears with a handful of juice packs.

“What do you think of their uncle Hugh?” I ask, when we’re alone again.

She makes a moue. “I’m not sure. He’s always seemed like he has their best interest at heart, but now I wonder. It doesn’t make sense though. Why would he do all this work to get Bennet and Helen out of his way? For power? How would their disappearance do anything but cause a crisis?”

I drum my fingers on the countertop. “Chaos is a ladder.”

“I suppose that’s true. But what does he want that he can’t already achieve with his proximity to the throne?”

I shrug, then double over, clutching my middle.

“Cassie! Are you okay?” Delores is at my side instantly, a gentle hand on my back.

Black spots swarm my vision. Damn. This is not the charged arousal I’m used to. This is actual physical agony, like when we were too far apart. “Bennet,” I manage to choke out.

Panic claws at my throat. What if he’s hurt? What if one of the ifrit came into the house and took him, and he can’t fight back because of this—this bond that keeps twisting tighter?

The pain recedes suddenly, like a balloon deflating.

And then Bennet appears in the doorway, his grip white-knuckled on the frame. “There you are.” Relief bleeds into his voice.

“You felt that?” I ask, still breathless.

“Yes.” His chest rises and falls heavily. “Our bond is strengthening. Helen wants to see if she can break the curse.”

“Now?”

“Yes. The sooner the better. Then you can go home to your family, and we can make plans to return to Aetheria.” His voice is measured and calm, his expression carefully blank.

Something inside me screams in protest. But no. That’s not right.

This is what we wanted, right? To break the curse. To go our separate ways.

But as I follow him back to the sitting room, a hollow ache blooms where the scorching pain once resided.