Last Wish by Nikki Kardnov

Author:Nikki Kardnov [Kardnov, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8

RED

* * *

Red was not sure what to make of this girl, this queen of the stars.

She’d used a wish to trick him into revealing something about himself, though if he had to guess, she already knew quite a lot. He wanted to ask her what she’d seen when he’d dropped his guard, but he was too afraid to know. His past was storied and violent. Up until yesterday, he’d been proud of it. Now he felt savage and monstrous.

She wanted him to take her to a place that made him feel.

There were only a handful of places in the world that had any real relevancy to him. Blackwater was the highest on his list, but he’d spent the greater part of his life in Europe. Two of his grandchildren had been born in the Black Forest, so that ranked high. He’d loved Venice for its beauty and its hungry, beating heart. He loved Florence because he’d helped build it.

But the place that allowed him to breathe was the Callanish Standing Stones in Scotland.

It was a place that hummed with magic, that was sacred to the world, and to him.

Because he was invoked and the world was now at his fingertips, he grabbed Cassie’s hand, snapped his fingers, and called on his jinn magic. The power roared up inside of him, beating like a bass drum in his heart. He’d been going longer and longer between deals the last few decades, trying to draw his life out as much as possible. Some lulls were so long, he started to forget what it was to be invoked, to be one of the most powerful creatures on the earthly soil.

He never wanted this feeling to end. He knew it would. It had to. And now he only had one deal left. But now, now, he was meant to enjoy it.

The bedroom at Blackwell House disappeared. The air popped, space and time opening a doorway for him. Less than a second later, his boots were on wet, grassy earth, storm clouds roiling above him.

Cassie wavered in his grasp and he pivoted to slip his other arm around her waist, drawing her in. She sucked in a breath and blinked back the tears. Transmuting was not a natural thing for humans, but the magic of the deal would help her adapt quickly enough.

“Oh my...” She closed her eyes and inhaled again. When she opened her eyes a second later, she looked around in wonder. “Where...how...is this real?”

She disentangled herself from him, leaving a pocket of cold air in her absence.

While creating illusions was within his capabilities, he didn’t want to fake anything with Cassie. “It’s very real,” he answered, his gaze on her instead of the stones. He wanted to drink her in.

She surged forward. He trailed behind.

The Callanish Standing Stones were like Stonehenge, but lesser known, the magic in the soil just a little less diluted. He could feel it now calling out for him, though he was the wrong sort of conduit. He wondered if Cassie could feel it and if she could wield it.

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