Page 36 of Jasmine's Enchanted Genie

“True, though I didn’t want to for a very long time. I’ve enjoyed thinking of you being subject to the whim of whoever held the lamp. Don’t you enjoy being forced to grant wishes?”

“You know I don’t enjoy this.” She had no other reason to trap me here than to make me suffer.

“Humans are such silly creatures. Give me jewels, they say,” she mocked. “Endless bolts of silk for my pretty dresses. A herd of the most exclusive horses. Petty possessions for those who are even more petty than their wishes.”

“They’re humans. It’s their way.”

Her gaze slid to where Jasmine slept. “Why fall in love with one of them, then?”

“You know she’s different. That’s why you employed her and then sent her to the palace. But claiming the lamp won’t give you what you want. Nothing will.”

“I want the lamp, and I’ll find a way to get it. But I don’t intend to force you to grant me wishes.”

I snorted. “That’s good because I won’t give them to you. In that, I still have some will of my own.” I’d learned how to squeak around the rules. “Why do you want the lamp?”

“What if I told you I intend to destroy it?”

“And kill me?”

“You won’t die.”

I’d be trapped forever. And if the lamp was destroyed, no one would rub it, and I wouldn’t be given even the occasional reprieve to grant wishes.

“How can I escape this trap?” I asked.

“Find someone else who agrees to take it from you.”

“You forced me. I never agreed.”

“Oh, but you did. Think . . .” The smile she gave me made frost shoot through my body.

A memory plucked at my mind. Me, a foolish young wizard attending a magical college. I’d gone drinking in a pub near the campus. Somehow, I took the wrong hall to reach the back door. Stumbling into an office, perhaps that of the pub’s owner, my eyes were sucked toward the sofa along one wall, to the naked couple entwined in a deep embrace. Cardia rode him, her arms around his neck while she whispered in his ear.

The lamp sat on the desk.

“Join us,” she’d called out, her eyes traveling up and down my frame.

“I’m sorry. I thought this was the way out.” I started backing into the hall, but a flick of her hand froze me in place.

Despite my training, I was unable to break her spell.

“There’s only one way out,” she said softly. “And I believe you’ll do nicely in that role. I’d like to shed it for a bit, though I might want it back.”

The door slammed shut behind me, and she peeled herself off the man. He slumped sideways, and he wasn’t breathing.

Naked, she stalked toward me. “I know you, Boshun. I’ve watched you.”

I tilted my head, studying her face, before I realized who she was. “You’re Cardia, the head of the school board.” One of the most powerful witches in our land. She had an attractive body, but her soul was tainted. I’d never desire her in the way she demanded.

“You have a lot of potential.” She waggled a finger my way, and a band of magic traveled from the tip, gliding down my body.

While I remained locked in place, she sauntered closer. “Join with me, and we’ll rule the world.”

“No.” At least I could make my mouth work.

With a flick of her hand, she bound my wrists and ankles and pinned me to the door.

“Witch,” I bellowed. “Release me!”

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