Page 3

Chapter 2

Phantom

~DOLLY~

I stand at the wide opening to the balcony, velvety-soft flowers pushed aside with the back of my hand to allow me a view of the pastel planets and fantasyland constellations in the sky. My chest is bare beneath Vel’s T-shirt, which smells like him. Summer air. Fresh laundry. Soap from the men’s section of a fancy department store.

“Your boyfriend smells like laundry and soap ?”

Sarcastic. Dry. Like a panther waking from a nap. I know that voice. It has no right to be here, and it came from right behind me.

I spin to find its owner, but there’s no one. And the treehouse is strangely different from how it was before. There’s furniture suspended by vines—like in the nymphland cubiculum.

Meaning this isn’t real. It’s a dream.

“Yeah,” says that same defiant voice. “ Mine .”

“Arrik?” I try to catch him through the thick air, but my peripherals are hazy, and all I glimpse is a slinky trail of smoke listing in the corner of my eye.

“I’m right here.” I feel a single finger poke the small of my back, but when I finally turn to face him, I see nobody. But there is a presence.

It may just be Arrik’s wicked essence .

“Wicked, Master?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Rude. What are you doing here? This is my dream.”

“No, it’s not,” I say in protest. “It’s mine.”

There’s a pause. “Interesting...” An exhale of smoke breezes past my ear. “If this is your dream, then why are we in my bedroom?”

“We aren’t in your—” I glance over my shoulder only to find half the room transformed into Arrik’s strange Zen bedroom, complete with bubbling tanks and his sketch pad lying on the bed.

It proves nothing. In the real world, he’s either inside his vessel or in some new master’s bed.

“Again, rude.”

“Get out of my thoughts. Everyone is rude inside,” I say.

I know I’m not just part of Arrik’s dream. And is it just me, or does this have reverie vibes? Arrik and I haven’t shared a reverie since we untethered. So is this Beckham? Infiltrating my dreams and messing with me? Or is my subconscious making this happen... because I miss him?

“Daw,” says Arrik’s dark aura, feeling closer, more defined. “Miss you more.”

Direct, per usual.

“So, are you?”

“Am I what?”

“In your new master’s bed?”

He pauses—“Strange question for a married woman to ask”—then takes a drag of his cigarette. Its smoke adds to the already nebulous surroundings. Floating tanks of neon sprites, which Arrik supposedly didn’t kidnap, slosh around us. I still can’t quite make him out. I can only really sense his movements. He’s standing beside me. I feel my arm hairs on one side sticking out.

Arrik is a balloon.

“Did you drink before bed?” he questions.

“No, did you?” I retort. “And I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted to make sure you got there okay. We’re having a situation over here.”

“A situation involving Beckham?”

“It might be him. Messing with us. Or it’s you, the real you, out there, crashing our honeymoon.”

He’s not really Arrik. But it feels good to confide in him. I miss his sage wisdom and the security of knowing he had our backs. It was a good friendship. And it sucks that sexual chemistry got in the way.

“I would argue that Velis got in the way, but go on.”

And I could argue that I wouldn’t even know Arrik if it weren’t for Velis.

“And I could argue that maybe fate brought you to me through Velis.”

He doesn’t really believe that.

Another coil of smoke I swear I can smell, even in a dream. “So, what’s going on? Do you need help or what?”

“Velis thinks he can trap Beckham.”

There’s a long pause. “Trap?”

It’s not a question.

It’s a judgment.

“I’ll torture him slowly if he damages you after I gave you to him,” he clips.

“Who did you give to whom?” I press.

Clatter!

“Shit,” Vel’s voice swears from the outside world, where the laird’s just clanged something in the kitchen. I am acutely aware that I’m in a bed. My mind clings to the dream, though my body longs to stretch.

“Dolly?” the masculine hum of Vel’s voice pulls me closer to the light. “Did I wake you?”

This has all been a dream. Arrik’s voice is me.

“No, it’s not, Master. Wait.”

I keep my eyes clamped, but there’s nothing else. Whatever psychic connection there may or may not have been, it’s like the cord’s been cut. My eyes open to persistent daylight through cracks in fairy-spun curtains. Every morning is like morning in Snow White’s cottage here, verminous with the chirp of birds and an invigorating morning breeze that smells like paradise flowers and freshly baked scones. Indeed, there’s a spread of them, along with juice, fantasy fruit, and spiked coffee on the breakfast bar—everything my heart literally desires in this exact moment—thanks to a bronze nymph standing in a sunbeam because the sunlight always seems to find him.

I’ve noticed now that I have the luxury of time to study him. Possible it’s inherited from the Joell side of the family, but the daylight really does find him. He always has a little glow. And his ears look a little pointier than a human’s the longer we’re on this soil.

I’ve never seen a full-blooded male nymph, but I wonder if they have sharp ears.

“Would you like me to bewitch you back to sleep?” he whispers.

He’s still naked. Leaned over me with the sheet tucked around his waist like a Grecian statue come to life. He looks remorseful yet playful over the fact that he woke me. He’s waiting to see if I take him up on his offer or if he can start spouting off all the ways he’s fulfilled my desires first thing in the morning.

Such a wonderful kink. For me . He gets a rush from fulfilling my desires, and I’m almost wondering if he may be a little addicted to it, but we won’t talk about that right now because being treated this way feels really, really nice.

“I’m up.”

He kisses my forehead, and a wave of freshness slides down my skin like the waxing stage of a carwash. Maybe more like the part where the frost ices over the windshield. My body, mouth, and hair are completely refreshed, and so are the sheets and my clothes—though he left me in his T-shirt .

And he forgot the panties.

Pervert.

He and his grin are now on the other side of the breakfast bar, in the kitchenette that’s part of our suite. This entire fort is part of our suite. Many levels, with a bridge that stretches from one side to another on one of the middle floors. Stained glass windows and crystal wind chimes shaped like carved flowers. There’s a cute little reading nook near the top, which is currently serving as a sketching nook. My missing panties are miraculously returned to me as I slip out of bed and join my genie at the breakfast bar so it’s like he’s behind the counter of Fat Nat’s and I’m his only customer.

Suddenly, he’s wearing a strange little hat and starchy short-sleeved button-up, like the kind worn by a 1950s hot dog salesman. Velis looks down. “This is what you put me in?”

I love it.

“So, is this just going to carry on?” I say as he continues poking at the coffee machine because he’s trying to do normal human boyfriend things to make my normal a little more normal.

“Is what going to?”

“My desires altering your appearance and the world around us subconsciously through you?”

He cocks a grin like Robin Hood doing bad for good. “Guess we’ll see.”

He’s so cute.

I wish I hadn’t had that dream about his brother.

His voice drops into an octave he reserves for unpleasant surprises. “What dream about my brother?”

Fuck.

“Fuck,” he echoes out loud because he shouldn’t have even been inside my head.

I know he’s trying. “It was an Arrik dream, and while it wasn’t... explicit, I question whether it could have been a reverie. In this one, he was trying to convince me he was real. But all our other reveries were centered around that balcony night. And I couldn’t see him this time, only feel him. Can charm magic infiltrate dreams? Is it possible this was Beckham too?”

Velis pours some watery-looking coffee into a mug he just conjured, but when he slides the cup over, it’s got professional-grade latte art. “I’m not sure. The class of magic he and his mother are using is illegal.” The djinn comes around the counter to join me where I sit, transforming his clothing into a pair of dark joggers that accent the terrain below his navel. “Either way, I know you’re not intentionally dreaming about my brother, so you can cut that out first thing in the morning.”

I assume he means the guilt.

“Are these gold flakes?” I deflect. With an intense level of interest, he watches me drink the most delicious beverage I’ve ever drunk. “So, about that trap —” I start, hoping to dissuade him.

But it seems he’s further along with his planning than anticipated. “I’m going to go down to the beach and lift the cloak on myself and see what happens. You’ll stay here. If it’s Beckham, I don’t want him anywhere near you.”

I don’t like it. Not after the last time he faced off with that side of the family.

“It won’t be like that,” he says.

“Why not?”

“Because Evaris is going to join me. I already ordered him here.”

Surprising. Smart.

He’s learning.

“Master.”

“Hm?”

He’s pursing his lips. Bet he wants to tell me to stop psychoanalyzing him. But then he’d be admitting that he was again reading my thoughts. We’ll let him sort that one out.

“When is Evaris coming?” I ask with a grin, reaching for a pastry with blue frosting.

“He’s waiting for me to drop my veil. I’ll know it’s worked when he’s found me. Yours will stay up. No one will be able to discern your location but me.”

“And the plan for if one of our enemies takes the bait?”

“Depends on who. If it’s Amoira, I stay and detain her while Evaris fetches my father. We figure out how she found us and use this as proof that she broke her restraining order. If it’s Beckham, I beat the living shit out of him, and then I do the same to my father for telling him where we are. And if no one shows...”

Then that vessel may have been legit.

“We’ll deal with it.” Velis looks to the spread of food he summoned from his magical genie pockets. “Let’s finish breakfast, and then I’ll get ready. With any luck, we’ll have it figured out by lunch.” He takes my cheeks and warms my mouth, holding my face affectionately after. “I’m not going to let my family or family-adjacent ruin this vacation for us.”

He shovels his eggs. The Reilhander boys have high magical metabolisms. That’s their secret, you know. I figured it out.

They aren’t bewitched to be hot—they’re super toned because they’re constantly working out. And constantly hungry for the same reason. Magic exerts energy, and they manifest it in their muscles. Some of us need to remember this while pigging out with genie boys.

Though it’s nice not to really care about what impacts this vacation might have on my body. And to feel loved and sexy and wanted regardless of the day’s bloat. We’re active. Three times in bed daily. Plus hikes. And swimming. I’ve been making him walk places with me. This island is beautiful. And there are hot springs where rare flowers grow that basically turn the water into aphrodisiacal tea.

Velis asked if he was allowed to surprise me sexually, and when I agreed, he took me there without telling me the effects.

And then he ravaged me hard.

“Maka, Master. Don’t be thinking about that when I’m out there and vulnerable.”

“Stay out of my head, and it won’t be an issue,” I tease .

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.” Velis pushes his beverage from one hand to the other. The sloshing golden juice inside is made from a leaf and is a staple of djinn breakfasts. “It’s getting harder not to respond to the thoughts I keep picking up. It’s like sitting here listening to you have a one-sided conversation with yourself. You can’t wish me not to read your desires. It’s one of my rights as your soul’s tetherer. But I’m working on an equation. To get around it.”

“How so?”

“I’m trying to sort out the math for a wish that will allow you to close the door whenever you want.”

“Like, cut you off?”

Vel’s birthday is coming up, and I’ve been trying not to think of his birthday gift all week.

Shit. I just did.

With a wink, he takes a bite of his toast. “I’m still figuring out how to justify it. I need to convince myself it’s in your best interest. It’s hard to do that when there’s danger around. So it’ll have to wait until after we deal with this. But I do want you to have space, and I can’t seem to control myself. I can’t tune it out. I’ve tried.”

I do like him in here a lot of the time, though.

“I think I can tolerate you a little bit longer,” I flirt.

A little more breakfast banter, then I clean off the counter, setting dishes into a sink that makes them disappear back onto the shelves, sparkling clean, while Velis reinspects the seams of the treehouse one more time with glowing palms to ensure no baddies will be able to get through while he’s outside. And then he meets me on the top-floor lookout point, where a panoramic view showcases the morning sun rising in a pink and blue sky. It’s crisp, the waves loud enough to hear all the way over here with the same wind lapping the flowered garland around the banister.

“Stay on the observation deck or inside. No matter what. Unlike the balconies, the observation deck is still within the protection over our lodgings. I’ll be in your head the whole time, all right?”

“Be careful. Even with Evaris here.”

“I’m always careful.”

“You aren’t.”

“I’m not. But I will be.” One more kiss and a strong embrace where I can feel him smelling me before he teleports to the beach not far from where the bottle found us yesterday. The shells are beautiful, glassy, clear, the water sparkling with hints of purple and blue in its darkest parts. Flowers are everywhere, decorating a landscape that looks like something from an inter-versal postcard.

I fold his T-shirt to my chest through crossed arms.

“ Hey. ” It sounds like he’s right behind me. “ You okay still? ”

“I’m capable of being alone, Vel .”

“ Okay, Doll . I was on edge the first few times I was alone in the Earthen realm. This is your first time alone here. ”

True.

“ So sassy, Master, ” he says like he likes it. “ Before I drop my cloak, do me a favor. ”

“Sure.”

“ Protect my vessel. ”

I don’t know what these genies expect me to actually do in case of danger to their vessels, but I’ve come to learn it’s a compulsion and that it sets their minds at ease when I agree to it.

“Of course.”

It appears on the railing in front of me, his stainless-steel vessel swapped with Arrik’s. I take it, and my clothing shifts into comfortable leggings, high on the waist, and a cute little shirt to go with them.

It’s one of the outfits from my suitcase. I was just thinking of changing but didn’t want to take my eyes from Velis.

“Thanks,” I tell him and feel a set of lips kiss my ear.

I don’t even jump. I could be dating a ghost and be totally adjusted to it by now.

“ All right, Dolly. I’m going to drop my cloak. ”

“Wait!” I slide his vessel into the pocket of an oversized unzipped hoodie that’s just appeared on my person and run to the rail. “What if one of them shows up disguised as Evaris?”

“ You’ll be able to tell. You’re still within the protection of our lodgings. ”

“Right. Okay. So I’m lookout?”

“ You’re lookout. ”

“I’m ready.”

As Velis drops his cloaking, I don’t see or hear any difference. I know only that it’s worked when the stuffy Reilhander butler appears on the coast with that signature curl to his hair. How do I know? Because a pair of bronze binoculars recently appeared on the deck railing, along with a basket of fries because my genie wants me to be comfortable while keeping watch for his deranged family members to appear.

“ Doll? ”

“It’s him,” I confirm, peering through the binoculars. “The real Evaris.”

In a sense, I hope one of them does show up, because then it would rule out the option we aren’t discussing—that the vessel that washed up on the shore and pulled me to it like a magnet really did belong to one Arrik Reilhander.

Velis is distracted. He doesn’t respond to my thoughts. And I see him pointing out the shores to Evaris where we saw the vessel last night. This is what it would be like if I chose to block our connection.

Weird.

Like your college roommate being gone for winter break. Except my roommate is a genie, and the dorm room is my head.

“ Roommate? ” Vel’s phantom voice pops back in, having missed most of the train of thought that chugged us here.

“Never mind. Focus. What’s Evvy saying?”

“ He denies my father shared our location with anyone. ”

“No sign of anyone else yet?”

“ No. ”

“How long will you give it?”

“ Twenty minutes. ”

My heart pounds for the first five. From the observation deck, I watch Velis and Evaris down the coast, standing an awkwardly intentional distance apart. I can’t imagine what the pair of them are discussing.

“ He’s going on and on about the work I’m missing. ”

“Tell him you deserve a break and to fuck off.”

There’s silence.

“ He doesn’t believe the new lady said that. ”

“You didn’t really tell him that?! He already hates me!”

Laughter. “ I didn’t tell him that. ”

“Ass.”

I’ve noticed he can go a little longer now between saying the lie and calling it a joke. Lairds have all the fun.

Another five minutes pass.

“What’s this party going to be like tonight?” I ask.

“ Exotic, royal. Enjoyable enough to make up for missing last night’s feast, hopefully. ”

“What do I wear?”

“ I’ve got that covered. ”

Intriguing.

Despite the circumstances, the breeze is pleasant. To the side of our fort, hanging from the branches, is a hammock-like web where Vel and I already spent one afternoon reading and napping and cuddling and snacking. I’d like to do so again. The jungle hugging the back half of the dwelling is thick and magical, filled with black trunks that are more like rock than wood and a canopy dark enough to block out the day, allowing the glowing flowers of the forest floor to shine. It’s a deep and mysterious place, with vibrant fruits and flora that don’t exist on Earth.

We have so many plans for exploring it. I hope Beckham doesn’t fuck this up.

“ I’m glad you like it here. ”

I thought Vel was joking the first time he mentioned it on our trip to Aphrotica. But what better place to honeymoon than literal paradise? It’s given me time to catch up and process and start to think about my next steps in this new life where I’m the lady of a fantasy manor I don’t feel suited for at all, just because I fell in love with a boy whose bottle I kissed.

“Love it, Vel.”

Knowing he can feel it, I pull a finger down the side of his modern, practical genie bottle that used to belong to Arrik. I still haven’t been inside.

“ If I were a djinn with a master like you, that’d be the first thing I’d do. ”

The voice—familiar, suddenly echoing through the ‘protected’ observation deck—stops me cold. It isn’t Arrik, and it isn’t Velis.

I crane my neck, heart pounding, certain I just heard someone in the branches around our flower-covered treehouse.

In a pop, Velis appears in front of me, bringing with him a gust of wind and a splash of seawater. He pushes me hard behind him, his body a protective shield. “What is it?”

“I wish that anyone hidden around us would be revealed!” I command.

The light from his eyes is bright enough to douse the entire fort.

There’s no one in the branches, below, or above.

But for good measure—

Velis throws a bolt of lightning from his fingertips that crackles through the surrounding trees. I expect a thousand birds to fall dead, but none do. His magic must have been precise.

He turns to me, eyes searching for any sign of harm. “What happened?”

“I heard a voice.”

“Whose?”

“A guy’s. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint whose it was. Not one of your brothers. I know that sounds strange. I guess that could be charm magic too, right? ”

Velis holds his mouth tight for a long minute. “Maka damn it! Why won’t these shitheads leave us alone?! There are no breaches here. Evaris verified it. But he brought up a good point. You’re an ex-master of all three of my brothers. Some bonds penetrate magic. He ridiculed me for even taking you here.” Velis begins fretting to himself, but there’s one thought pulsing in me.

“We can’t go home yet,” I blurt.

Velis stops. “Who said anything about going home?” He draws me closer. “I told Evaris we’d take our chances. I’m not letting us become bound to that manor. Whoever it is, they’ll reveal themselves once they’ve finished playing with us. Until then, we ignore them, and I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Good job, Vel.

This is the happiest I’ve been with him, and I want more of his time. We haven’t gotten to date much. And after everything we’ve been through, I think I get to be a little selfish.

He laughs. “Why did you think I would return home? I’m about ready to never return home. How hard is human work? Do healers make good money?”

“How are you with blood?” I ask.

“Why blood?”

As I thought, his healer degree wouldn’t fare well in an actual hospital, where scalpels are used in place of magic.

“Who said I wasn’t using magic?” he says.

Oh. Well. In that case.

“You could be anything if you get to use magic. Physicians make bank. And you’d look exemplary coming home every day in scrubs. But could you really give up all this? I’m not sure I could, as much as I miss a normal life sometimes. This is the stuff of fairytales.”

“It’s humorous the things you think of as fabled. Magic impresses you so much.” His mouth remains closed as he whispers, “ Meanwhile, my heart still races every time you catch my eye. ”

“Velis.”

He falls backward and takes me with him, dropping us into the hammock outside hard enough to send out a few of those birds I anticipated earlier.

He must have felt my desire to return here.

The morning sun comes through the leaves, forming shadows on Vel’s face and shining light on his playful eyelashes. The wind tastes like honey and lavender. Every morning, it’s like a different sweetened tea.

“I like you in this,” I tell him.

He looks down at his unbuttoned linen shirt and then touches the rim of his white, backward baseball cap. “I was going to ask what this is.”

“Shhh.” I draw a hand down his face and drag his bottom lip. “My vacation beach Vel fantasy.”

I rest my hand on the bulge in his shorts.

His grin quirks, eyelashes closed to the sunlight like a golden nymph prince. I hate to say it, but he is indeed cute enough to endure all this other bullshit.

I love him so much.

“Velis,” I whisper.

His eyes flirt open and give my stomach a tickle. “Yes, Master?”

“This ‘clothes changing’ thing. Has this ever happened with any of your other masters?”

He suppresses a chortle. “No. It’s a you thing. And you’ve done it with the others as well. At first, I thought Beckham was making some kind of statement, but then it happened to Arrik too.”

I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“I mean you affecting our appearances. Arrik’s tattoos started gaining color, apparently because of your desires. I don’t know what the fuck’s with Beckham, but every time he’s around you, he looks like a human douchebag.”

“You mean his trendy little jackets and stupid beanies that make him look like a hot hockey player? That’s not how Beckham always looks? ”

Velis laughs. “He’s always in wannabe laird’s attire. Always shaven. And his hair is shorter.”

“Huh,” I murmur, thinking back. “I noticed Arrik’s colored tattoos, but Beckham surprises me. I did see him in a white suit like yours in your father’s office once. Is that what you mean by laird’s attire?”

“Yeah, that’s the look,” Velis replies. “Arrik told me all three of them felt a connection to you the first time they saw you. Maybe it’s related to that. Maybe destiny was using them to get you to me.”

“When did he tell you that?” I ask, curious now.

“Near the end,” Velis says.

I muse, “Arrik also told you a lot of things he didn’t tell me.”

“They’re all just things he wanted you to know, but he preferred they come through me. I believe he was trying to slow you down from growing closer.”

That stings a little, but I say softly, “He’s a good guy. And he’s smart. I miss him as a friend.”

“I know,” says Velis, with a hint of reluctance. “The dickhole has a way of weaseling in.”

We need to stop finding our way back to Arrik. “I was going to ask if this ‘clothes changing’ thing—if other things are going to start to happen like that that we can’t control.”

“Maybe.” He tosses out a shrug. “Everything is new with you. Are you hungry?”

My answer to that question is usually yes. He gives the universe a bro-nod, and a platter of various dips, chips, breads, and spreads appears, floating on a platter before us with a side of fruit and cheese.

Oh my god. I love this boy.

“I didn’t do this all myself,” he confesses, snagging a grape. “I consulted a few manor maids in preparation. I’ve never taken a woman out in seclusion this long before.”

Because, when you’re a noble, you never truly live in seclusion with your wife. I’m finding this solitude is rare, even for djinn couples who live together.

“Do you like it, Vel? Being alone with your secret human wife?”

His eyes drill into me with the intensity of a soul eater. He takes a moment, then says, “I like it.”

The wind rocks us back and forth, cloaked beneath layers and layers of protective spells yet not at all stifling the breeze.

“I’m excited to see the palace,” I murmur.

“I’m more interested in the social dynamics,” the new ambassador replies, his chest vibrating against me.

Very laird-y. “How so?” I ask.

“Our alliances with them are relatively new in djinn history. We covered it in my ethics class. It’ll be interesting to see it in practice.”

“Why do they need your alliance? Are the Celestials a prey race too?”

“Paradise is always under attack.” Noticing my skeptical gaze, he quickly adds, “Not by us. The djinn once offered the Celestials sanctuary in the Earthen realm, which is under Makayen protection, just like here. It was a countermeasure to prevent their extinction.”

Protection . I wonder how much of Vel’s understanding of the world is sugar-coated exploitation. Djinn are clearly disproportionately powerful, and the lines seem blurred, with controlled narratives about how they obtained these so-called ‘partnerships’ with vulnerable races—like poor, delicious humans and nearly extinct Celestials.

Vel’s staring at me like I just told him the government is run by lizard people. “I should probably get you a history tutor.”

“That would be wonderful, actually.”

The hammock sways gently, and as my eyelids grow heavy, it’s easy to find serenity in the moments between our chaos. Our matrimonial chaos.

“Music, Vel?” I murmur against him .

Suddenly, my favorite song pulses in the air around us, like it’s coming from everywhere at once. He always makes it feel like we’re living inside the music. And when the song changes to my next favorite song, it’s almost like I can feel the notes dancing along my arms and swirling in the air, skating along my navel exposed by the breeze.

“Does that feel good, Master?” he whispers.

I nod and receive his kiss.

I’m proud of us for holding our ground and defending our vacation. I’m proud of us for remaining committed in the face of unknown fate and the unexpected arrival of Arrik’s newly bequeathed bottle.

It’s with feelings of safety and comfort that I fall asleep, one leg strewn across him and his hand on my ass, as we nap the day away in a slumber influenced by a persistent sun and a magical, paradise beach.

And somewhere in the warm, basking depths, I hear a voice.

“ I’d be careful where you let him sleep, my Lolly girl. ”

I snap my eyes open and shake Velis awake, searching the trees beyond our protective bubble for the owner of this phantom voice.

But again, there’s no one.