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Chapter 33

Happy Birthday, Genie Boy

~DOLLY~

Current Day

They’re all staring at me.

Alex called Velis a ‘usurper.’

Alex wants me to be with Arrik to ‘correct fate.’

Is this less about two soulmates and more about... a replaced soulmate?

They’re staring.

They’re feeling this.

They’re feeling this theory, though it may be a revelation.

Arrik was supposed to be my soulmate. That’s why my heart pounded so hard the first time I ever sat on his lap. That’s why fate keeps shoving us together. That’s why, despite my best efforts, I can’t get him out of my heart or my head.

But . . .

Velis is my soulmate in the now. In everything I’ve ever known. I committed myself to him. He was there for me as a child. We have a whole fucking history together!

My knees give way. I shatter. I crumble.

For once, Arrik doesn’t move toward me. He’s frozen, stiff, but I can still hear his heartbeat—rapid, pulsing, like a pounding echo in my ears. His eyes are sharper than ever.

I feel it.

Something close to fear because it freezes me and sets my adrenaline pumping in the same way as fear. Something close to fear, but not quite: Desire .

“Velis, I wish you would get me out of here,” I say, shivering with disbelief.

In a blue blitz, Velis grabs my wrist and disappears with me just as Arrik jumps up to reach after us. He could easily follow us, but he doesn’t.

Velis and I land in a foreign place. Outside, in a magical landscape that might be the djinn countryside. Overhead, the widely stretched boughs of a tree carry leaves that sparkle silvery blue, like frost, and embedded in the dark wood are knots resembling geodes of all colors. The field smells like honeycomb and chitters with the sounds of hidden wildlife in similar gemstone trees dotted all around.

“Dolly.” Vel’s gaze is like flames through winter.

“No.” I deny it with all my heart because I know how hard I’ve fought this, using principles to make it easier, using firsts and fate to justify an impossible choice, committing myself to further lock a door that keeps knocking against the walls I’ve built.

And Velis knows it. That night in the garden, when we committed to one another, he knew it was there, and he accepted it. I promised to snuff it out. All I’ve tried to DO is snuff it out!

I’m freaking out without saying much of anything, stumbling against the bark of the tree.

“Master.” With pain etched across his brow, Velis cups my cheeks, then kisses me, tender and deep, like all our very first times.

“Make us forget it all for just a moment, yeah?” I whisper, searching his eyes for reassurance. “I want you to have one happy moment on your birthday before we find out anything else. ”

He hesitates, his eyes softening before he gives a slight nod. “If that’s what you want.”

“I wish it.”

He blinds me, and I next stand in an unknown place, knowing I’ve forgotten something and knowing I’ve done so willingly and knowing that it’s for Vel’s sake.

And right now, my desire to keep him is loud enough to drown out everything else.

Our lips touch, and the world spins around us, like it does whenever we give in to desire and fate and love. And this time, when I open my eyes, there are creatures moving in the distance, roaming through a field of electric wildflowers. Enormous, pink, elephant-like beasts.

“Mammoths,” Vel murmurs against my lips. “They won’t notice us.”

With shared amnesia over whatever brought us here, he cups my cheeks and picks up where I left off, kissing me with more urgency than usual, like he’s seeking release after time spent apart. He backs me up against the tree, deepening the kiss with a heat that matches his need.

I pull him closer, tugging at his clothes, fingers weaving through his hair as his hand slips beneath my shirt, teasing my nipples with increasing pressure. His arousal presses through the thin fabric of his gym shorts.

In a genie flash, he has me pinned to the ground over a bed of velvety flowers that seem to thrive here in the shade. His body rocks in a motion we’ve perfected, his hips nestled between my legs. He kisses me like it’s the first time—back in my dorm room—when I told him I loved him and saw the surprise in his eyes, the way the world shifted for him, just as I ‘desired’ he would do something like this to me.

God, it feels good.

I roll with him, surrendering to his control, his teeth grazing my shoulder as his hand explores the warmth between my parted thighs. My fingers dip beneath his waistband, taking hold of him, stroking in rhythm, feeling him wet, feeling myself do the same, until we’re both slippery.

And still, he doesn’t stop.

“I’m going to come,” I whisper against his open mouth.

“Do it, baby.”

I nod, clenching my teeth and curling my toes as he uses my own wetness to fuel his efforts.

It feels so good.

“Vel, I’m gonna fucking come,” I whine into him.

He nods, drinking in my features, lost to the pleasure he’s building in me. “Yeah, you are.”

And then I do, crying his name, arching my back, opening further to accept his fingers into me. And in his arctic eyes, I see fire. Fire at the knowledge that he’s the one who’s made me feel this way. Something deep, primal, fulfilled.

I’ve seen that look on him before, but only now do I fully understand what it means for him.

I kiss him and coax his already untied waistband down his chiseled hips. He helps me the rest of the way, discarding them along with his shirt, mine, and all our other garments until we’re fully exposed to the foreign wind and that distant audience of pink elephants.

I crawl over him, anticipating the moment he slides into me. When he does, I straighten my back and begin to move, leaning to take him deeper while he holds my waist and breathes in unison with me.

“You’re fucking warm, baby.” He tastes my wrist and matches my movement, eyes periodically closing to absorb the waves of resonated desire and pleasure.

Faster.

Hotter.

I sweat.

He sweats.

His hand slides up my body, between my breasts, and to my neck, where it takes hold. He pulls me down so that I’ll meet his kiss as I continue to rock against him beneath these shimmering boughs in the floral air.

I grunt.

He growls.

And then, his hands grip my ass, holding me in place as he releases all his passion into me.

And again, I pulse around him.

It’s always twice with him.

Always.

I wait for his grip to loosen before collapsing onto him, keeping him firmly between my thighs, keeping our fates connected for as long as possible. I pant against him, my damp chest flattened against his perfect pecs, as he kisses my hairline and strokes my back.

“I love you, Lady Reilhander.”

“I love you too, alien boy. Always.”

Something deep inside me flinches.

“Fuck. That was not the right choice,” I realize as soon as the haze of lust clears, leaving me half-naked in the wilds of Makaya. Slowly, I recall the selfish thing I did to our memories before this happened. I had no right to force that decision on him.

Velis sits beside me, elbows resting on his knees, staring out at the horizon. His shirt is back on, though it clings to him in places, the sheen of sweat catching the fading cotton-candy light. His face is half in shadow, the rest illuminated by the baby pink backdrop of distant mammoths grazing peacefully, unaware of the chaos brewing between us.

“Why do you say that?” His voice is steady, but there’s a quiet question there that unsettles me .

I push myself up beside him. “I shouldn’t have forced that decision on you. I’m not a fan of taking people’s memories.”

“I’ve taken yours.” He shrugs, unbothered. “And you did it to fuck me, so.” He grins slightly, looking like an athletic Prince Charming, his posture relaxed even now.

He’s so damn cute.

I feel like scum.

“Why?” he asks, his crystal-clear gaze hitting me in that way that always makes my defenses crumble.

“I feel like I’ve brought something horrible into our relationship.”

“I did say I felt undeserving of you. Guess now I know why.” He suddenly clutches his chest, the impact of my reaction thrashing him, and he lurches forward. “That was a bad attempt at a joke,” he squeezes out, his voice tightening, his eyes narrowing up at me. “Master, do you actually think I’m worried? About Arrik?”

It’s not the question I expected. How could he not be?

“Look, I don’t know what the solution is here. And I don’t know if finding out I’m your replacement soulmate will eventually sway your mind, but...” His eyes drop to my chest, where my heartbeat pounds loud enough for us both to hear. “This isn’t a surprise to me, Dolly. I’ve been preparing for this.”

It’s like he’s just told me I’m part-merperson. “You’ve been preparing for Cupid coming to kill you and Arrik being my first soulmate, allegedly ?”

“No, I mean this. The day you realize you’re in love with him.”

It’s that dream’s fault. I’ll bet anything he can smell it on me.

“I’m not in love with him,” I deny sharply.

Above, the sky is a swirling vortex of twilight hues, with streaks of neon pink and deep indigo, the coolness of evening settling in. Velis stares into it.

“We feel everything, Dolly. More than you realize. Often before you do. I felt it almost immediately after you two tethered for the first time. That’s why I was so pissed at him, why I insisted on keeping you two apart. But you were so fucking lonely, and I couldn’t be there for you. I realized it was selfish to deprive you of your only friend. I’m the one who first encouraged him to check in on you. I felt you two growing closer, but... you were happier. It was a choice I made, knowing the consequences. It was my fault you two tethered in the first place. And he became a lot more tolerable the more time he spent with you.”

Sometimes I forget Velis is just as in tune with me as Arrik is.

“Some of us like to show off and blurt out your feelings. Others think you’re entitled to your privacy, acknowledging this situation is not normal.” He gestures earnestly, almost casually. “I don’t think it’s avoidable anymore. You’re going to have to have a discussion with him. Hear him out. And make a decision. We’ll deal with the cupid. Don’t let that sway you.”

Now he wants me to let Arrik—what, confess his feelings?

“I thought you said you weren’t worried.”

“Tell me, Dolly Jones—” He leans in, giving me his scamp-like grin and the full force of his unvarnished honesty, fully aware of how much it would hurt to be wrong. “Why would I be worried? Your feelings for me haven’t changed. Even as I felt you drift closer to him, I never doubted what we have. You’ll pick me. You’ll always pick me. Because, lucky for me, you love me more. If I have twisted fate to thank for that, fine. But even if fate had given you to him, I would have fallen in love with you. I’d have been a jealous motherfucker, but I don’t think I could have been around you and not grown to love you. I would have ended up the other man.”

It’s the same thing Arrik said in my head last night.

“I feel like this is all my fault,” I whimper, finally voicing the turmoil swirling inside. It’s like I’m a genie trapped in my own bottle, like I need to find a way to make everyone happy, now that I’ve let them both come to love me.

“No, it isn’t, Master. And no, you don’t need to make everyone happy. Make yourself happy.” He withdraws slightly, his eyes—windows to the truth of his soul—meeting mine with an intensity that leaves no room for doubt. “But... you should know, if things go his way, I’m not sticking around to play the brother role like he does. I won’t. I told you once to only pick guys who choose you first. Same goes for me. I can’t be second to him.”

I wouldn’t expect anything less.

I lean my head on his shoulder, and we sit there long into the night, watching the meadow fill with a rainbow of fireflies—or maybe they’re pixies—until the moment feels right to whisper, “Would you like your present, my laird?”

He knows I have nothing on me. But I knew I’d have to think outside the box.

“Okay,” he says with a goofy, Velis grin.

“I wish, Velis Reilhander, that you would form yourself a ring to wear on your fourth finger—”

His eyes flare bright.

“—And I wish you would pull directly from my soul to form it.”

Even through the light, his eyes widen, but there’s nothing he can do to stop it. I give him a long drink of my soul, watching as his hidden hunger is momentarily sated and seeing the glow of the ring left on his finger in the aftermath.

“Thank you, Master,” he murmurs, his voice a soft rumble that vibrates through me at a frequency I feel I was born to resonate beside.

“Happy birthday, genie boy.”