Stolen by Christine Pope

Author:Christine Pope [Pope, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Valentine Press
Published: 2018-04-18T04:00:00+00:00

The morning sun touched Malik’s face, bright but not harsh. He opened his eyes and took a quick glance at his surroundings, reminding himself of where he was. This was Leila’s bedroom, with the ocean sparkling bright and clear outside the windows, all trace of the previous night’s storm now gone. Next to him, she still slept, turned over onto one side with her hair spilling in its shadowy glory across the pristine white of the pillowcase.

He breathed deeply, content. Yes, their conversation had taken a darker turn the evening before, but he was still glad of it, glad that he had told her of his own losses and that she hadn’t turned away. In djinn society, for all their outward acceptance of those who took the aljar al-nawim, there was still an unspoken prejudice toward those who were left behind, as though somehow there must be something wrong with them, if their loved ones could walk away so easily.

No need to think of that now, though. He had Leila beside him, and she had proved the night before that she was willing enough to be his companion, now and forever. Their bodies had sealed the compact he’d made with the universe when he claimed her as his Chosen. And they had only reaffirmed their connection when they awoke in the depths of the night and made love again, quickly and urgently, as if they had both needed to know for certain that the other one was still there.

Their joining meant they would need to leave this place soon. With their love secure, they could move on to their permanent home and begin to make their life there. What such a life would entail, he wasn’t altogether certain; an existence planet-bound here on Earth would be quite different from the one he’d lived in the otherworld. Still, he supposed the djinn of Bel-Air and their Chosen would all find their way together, would begin to grow their own crops and raise their own livestock, rather than taking it from the four corners of the world. Lesser structures would be razed to make way for farmland, and with the earth elementals and the water elementals and the air elementals working together, this land would become far more fertile than its previous inhabitants could have ever dreamed.

He was smiling at this thought, imagining the green fields and the trees heavy with fruit, when his sister’s voice broke into his mind.

Malik! I have need of you!

What is it, Fatima? he responded, trepidation already growing in his heart. He knew that his sister would not have contacted him in such a way, and at such an early hour, if the matter was not one of some urgency.

It is Adam, she said. My Chosen. Every morning he goes out to run, but he has not returned, even though it is far past the time when he would normally do so.

You cannot sense him? Because once a djinn had bonded with their Chosen, they usually had some feeling as to where that person might be, as long as it was not too far away.

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