Page 9

Chapter 7

Wishes and Kisses

~DOLLY~

Velis is in the kitchen, his body still damp from the shower, glowing bronze against a pair of white linen drawstring pants. He’s on the phone with Evaris—who is suddenly much more available now that Vel is a laird. It’s a nice change. Apparently, we’ve shifted from ‘testing our limits’ mode into ‘let’s not let the laird die’ mode, and thank god for that. By ‘phone,’ of course, I mean Vel’s infamous Ray. He’s talking into it like they’re face-to-face while eating a bowl of midnight oatmeal.

I think we should make mimosas in the morning. Pomegranate.

Velis gives me a thumbs up while remaining equally invested in his conversation with Evaris.

My feet ache from standing all night. Velis looks up, and with a small flutter of his eyes, my feet feel like they’ve never known a day’s work.

The air is cooler than the previous night’s. I pull my sweatshirt tighter around myself and gaze at the moon hanging over the cloud-covered ocean. My hair is finally long enough for cute, messy buns with loose strands falling around my cheeks.

I feel like a lot of things are happening that are connected, but I’m not smart enough to figure them out, and honestly, it’s starting to annoy me. It’s ruining our vacation.

I lean on the railing, my chin resting on folded hands. The tree-top cottage at my back is supposed to be a sanctuary for me and my genie prince, yet safety feels like a thin veil when phantom voices lurk in the trees. Into the night, I let a quiet confession slip:

“I don’t know who you are,” I whisper low enough that Vel won’t hear, “but can we stop?”

I wait, eyes closed, listening to the wind. Beyond the balcony, the cloud sea is eerily calm, no waves to break the silence.

“ You seem tired. ”

The voice comes from behind me, soft yet unmistakable, as if someone is perched on the roof just above. My body tenses, instinct screaming at me to turn around. If I turn around, he might vanish. I can’t risk that yet. Eyes still shut, I grip the railing tighter, willing myself to stay composed, clinging to the fragile thread of this conversation.

“Tired is one word for it,” I admit, my voice steady despite the apprehension bubbling inside. “My life has been chaos ever since I met Velis, and I don’t understand it because when I look into his eyes, all I ever feel is peace.”

And now, here’s a question. Why am I confessing this to a stranger I haven’t even seen, something I haven’t fully admitted to myself?

The stranger is quiet for a moment, as if considering what I’ve just admitted. “ Your life wasn’t meant to be chaos, Lolly. ”

“How do you know?” I whisper into the night.

“ Because I’ve read your fate map. ”

“You’ve got to be Beckham.”

No answer.

“Amoira? The grandfather? Jeb ?”

A soft chuckle drifts through the night. “ You’ve heard them all speak, haven’t you? Do I sound like any of them, Lolly? ”

“And what’s with the ‘Lolly’? You do know that’s not my name.”

But when he speaks again, bad chills race down my spine:

“Folly. Lolly . Dolly.”

This time, his voice is so close, it feels like he’s whispering right beside me. My fingers curl instinctively around something solid—glass, thick, heavy.

I snap my eyes open, but the stranger is gone. Only one person ever called me that sequence of names, and he died when I was a child.

A certain tossed-out vase now hangs heavy in my hand. I know it’s wrong, I know every sense is telling me to stop, but like a goddamned vampire—

My hand lifts the relic to my face.

I can’t stop. I can’t stop myself!

“Velis!” I whirl around to call for his help, and he’s already at the open doorway to the balcony, but he’s trapped, barred by a barrier of ruby light. He’s ramming against it, shouting silently, his face contorted with desperate effort.

And by the looks of it, he’s been fighting against it for some time.

The surrounding air is hazy with pinkish light.

“What the fuck is going on?! Are these my crazy valkyrie relatives come to collect?!”

I start for the wall of light keeping Velis locked inside our rental, glowing red like the gates of hell, but the bottle in my hand is heavy enough to distract me.

Fuck, I want to kiss it. It’s worse than the worst itch.

I should not be this attracted to an inanimate object, what the fuck?!

With Velis trapped on the other side of that light, it truly feels like a test of love. I see my wide eyes reflected in the vase’s fat bottom as it comes closer, its surface now tainted with a wicked, crimson sheen.

And just when it feels like it’s a test I might fail—I freeze.

Why can’t Velis summon himself to my side using our bond right now? Our bond let him reach me in the past. It let him reach me in a time pocket. It even worked inside the rigid confines of the palace. It’s always worked, like a promise. What could possibly be powerful enough to stop him now?

Nothing.

“This isn’t real,” I murmur, a sliver of clarity breaking through the panic. The truth slams into me. “It’s another illusion!”

One constructed by one of Arrik’s evil relatives. Freaking obviously!

Mind over matter.

I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing myself, waiting for reality to warp and the big baddie to finally reveal themselves.

“ You’ve had a lot of wins, my Lolly girl. Don’t feel bad for getting one wrong. ” The voice is back, like a headache, and I can’t discern its intentions. “ There is something more powerful than magic. More powerful than a djinn laird’s magic. More powerful than a genie and human’s bond. The rules for which all others must bend. ”

I wait for it, assuming the answer will be—

“Love?”

“ Wrong again, my Lolly girl, ” says the voice, with finality. “ It’s fate. ”

One of those damned anchors flattens my stomach.

Fate won’t let Velis stop this?

Fate shouldn’t want to keep my soulmate from my side.

“ What are you so afraid of? Who’s the worst it could be inside that genie’s bottle? ” tempts the stranger in a haunting whisper that snakes through the trees.

I don’t have to explain myself. I want to protect myself, Velis, and our relationship.

Frustration, a feeling I never wanted to experience in this beautiful, magical place, wells in my throat, and tears I never wanted to cry on my honeymoon slide down my face.

I don’t like being forced into this.

I refuse to play along .

I run to the edge of the balcony and chuck the bottle into the greenery below, waiting for the jungle to swallow it whole.

Except, no, I didn’t.

It’s still in my fucking HAND!

“ARGH! To be quite honest with you, I don’t fucking care who’s inside at this point!” I shout into the trees, where I assume the stranger is hiding. “I don’t like being forced into things. And I don’t like our lives getting constantly trampled on! Whatever you’re trying to gain here, this isn’t the way to get me to cooperate because all you’re doing is pissing me OFF!”

“ It isn’t me, Lolly. You’re the one that can’t let go. I’m just here to observe. ”

Fuck!

Okay. Situation.

Velis, stuck inside the treehouse behind a barrier of red light.

Presumably Arrik’s genie bottle, glued to my palm thanks to FATE.

And a phantom ‘stranger’ that I swear is someone we know, here to ‘observe’ it all—and knows a nickname only my dad ever called me.

Whatever’s going on here, it feels like we may have only one option at this point.

“Velis, I wish you would freeze time!”

“ Interesting choice. ” They sound like parting words from the stranger as Vel’s flash of wishing magic lights up the night and the sound of shattering glass signifies that we’ve paused our forward march.

The bottle suddenly feels limp in my hand, and the barrier separating the treehouse from the balcony fizzles away.

Velis darts to me, simultaneously pulling me in for a one-armed sentinel’s hug and swiping the bottle out of my hand to tuck it behind his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Who was that? Did you see him?”

“No.” Velis scans the trees, pulling me closer to his chest with a bit more urgency. “I couldn’t tell what he was. He felt like... ”

I blink at him. “Who?”

“You.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was masking himself in your aura or something. I missed this part of the plan. Why did freezing time stop your compulsion?” Vel’s tone is edged with worried suspicion. “I heard him. He said fate’s stronger than magic.”

“My compulsion didn’t stop because you froze time,” I say, careful of his reaction. “I froze time because I wanted to talk to you before I went through with my decision.”

I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. It reminds me of when he made me think we were going to untether. Because deep down, I don’t think Velis is worried about a physical threat here. Neither of us are, really. I think the last twenty-four hours have been a game of distraction and avoidance. We’ve been acting like this vessel is a bomb.

Because the truth is, fate has messed with my relationship with Arrik before—specifically, when it wouldn’t allow him to grant my wish that we could never become intimate.

“I’ve made the decision to kiss the vessel,” I tell Velis, “fully acknowledging it’s probably Arrik inside. I assume that’s why it’s not fighting me anymore. There’s no point in pursuing me here. Time means nothing here. Because as soon as we unfreeze time, I intend to kiss it. I need to face him, Vel.”

Velis hears me with a mix of emotions, caught between wanting to be supportive and experiencing a flicker of selfishness he can’t shake. He stares at me a long, still moment. It’s hard for him. He’s made a point to be empathetic, and he’s been inside a lot of girls’ heads in a very intimate way. That’s the thing about these genies—they know us so well.

I don’t want to take advantage of that. I think he should be selfish. He has every right to be. But—

“Yeah, about that,” he cuts in. “I kind of gave up on being ‘selfish’ the day I asked you to marry me, Dolly. I’ve been avoiding that object because I felt your fear. I wanted to protect you. The fact that you’re scared makes me worried. Him coming back into the picture would be a pretty fuckin’ big burden on you, especially after everything you’ve been through since meeting me. I just wanted you to have some peace.”

Velis may not have all the experience of his brothers, but right now, his aura feels bigger, warmer, and more protective than ever.

“I think I still have time to back out,” I say, “but if I do, we need a plan. Like, now. Because once we unfreeze time, I won’t be able to stop myself.”

I don’t need to tell him I’m sure it’s Arrik inside after holding the bottle. I’m sure he can sense it too.

“There’s still a chance this is voluntary,” I add. “And even if it’s not, something bigger is going on. Either way, it’s time we find out what Arrik’s doing here.”

Velis knows I could have left him for Arrik at any moment since I met him, and Arrik would’ve been into it. He knows I’m here by choice. Velis knows where I stand. He knows I love him.

“Yeah.” He reaches behind his back to reveal the vessel. “Do it. Let’s get it over with.” Walking to the far end of the balcony, he leans against the rail, crossing his arms as if bracing himself. In his pajamas, with his strong jaw and piercing gaze, he looks like he belongs on a magazine cover. He waits, watching as I prepare to set the turquoise vessel to my lips.

The moment I lift the vessel, it hits me that this could be opening something big. There’s a chance I’m about to unleash something dangerous. It’s possible that on the other side of this kiss, I’ll have a second hook in my weirdly shiny soul.

At the end of the day, we could use Arrik’s help to figure out what’s going on.

Velis nods, knowing I’m still trying to convince myself as much as him. “It’s fine, Dolly,” he says with the maturity of a man ready to fight. “I don’t blame you for this. I’m prepared to deal with whatever he’s done.”

My heart pounds in my chest like I’m sprinting toward something I’m not ready for .

Still in my loungewear, with the night wind completely still in our stasis, I clutch the cursed vessel that’s now marked me twice for two different Reilhander brothers. I look to the sky and fate, wondering what’s in store for me after I finally give in and kiss this stupid bottle for the second time.

“Okay, genie boy. I wish you’d unfreeze time.”

All the anticipation in the night air swells as time unfreezes, a burst of life entering the stream we were hiding in. I bring the vessel to my face, feeling an irresistible attraction to it in a way I’ve never felt toward an inanimate object before, and slide my cheek against the smooth glass.

Visibly frustrated by this compulsory genie-bottle bond, Velis swiftly pivots and grips the rail. “Ignore me. Just do what you have to do. I can feel the compulsion—it’s just hard for me to watch,” he says, his voice strained. “I don’t blame you.”

He keeps reassuring me because he senses my guilt.

Because he knows that, of all people, I’m especially sensitive to feeling like a cheater. I’ve always wanted to prove I’m loyal, to show that I wasn’t inviting the attention I got. I’ve always tried to make my intentions clear from the start so there would be no mixed signals, no mistakes.

Why is this happening to me?

My mouth rolls to meet the groove of the bottle. Genie smoke erupts, and I feel fingers slide into my hair at the nape of my neck as his body forms against me in a cloud of smoke. So warm, so solid. His lips are hungry on mine.

Before I can see him, I fall limp into his arms, catching a huff through his nostrils followed by a raspy, “I knew it.”

One of the last things I register is Velis shouting as the sound of rustling fills the air, followed by a voice I don’t recognize barking, “Get on the ground and put your hands behind your heads!”

“Fuck, Velis,” Arrik mutters, freshly released, as my body and consciousness melt in his arms. “What did you two do now?”

The world goes dark .

But not before I see a burst of red light form a dome over the balcony deck of our treehouse.

Never a good idea to get eye-level with your kitchen floor. You find all sorts of treasures hiding under crannies and betwixt nooks.

I blink.

Blink. Blink.

I see an eraser, a spill mark, a hair cluster, and... feet.

No, not feet this time. Hands. My own. Lifted to shield my eyes from the dim light of dawn, struggling to break through the thick clouds overhead. The air tastes heavy and damp, like a storm is brewing, and the ancient floorboards beneath me are slick with the wet of the tropics.

I bolt up from the deck, not totally remembering what happened—until I see the bottle on the wooden floorboards beside me.

The sight of it makes my heart thud loud in my ears.

I kissed that bottle. And I unleashed Arrik.

While I was already tethered to Velis.

What does that mean? Why is my heart pounding so fast? And is he here? And where is Velis?!