Page 31 of Jasmine's Enchanted Genie

“Because she’s the one who placed you here.”

“And her magic will keep me bound within this gilded cage forever.”

“What can we do?” Hope I’d long since lost came through in her voice, in her palms on my chest.

“Nothing.” I said it starkly, but there was no way to free me. “I’m the genie in the bottle, and we can’t do anything to change that. You can’t wish it away. I can’t either. All we can do is treasure each moment we have together.”

I kissed her, wanting to capture the memory of her touch and feel because I was going to need it if I was going to survive multiple more lifetimes without her.

When I lifted my head, she gazed up at me with infinite sadness. It wrenched my heart from my chest.

I didn’t want our time together to be filled with mourning, though. I wanted to make her happy for as long as I could.

“I’ve never brought anyone here before,” I said softly.

“No one wished to see where you live?”

“I’m a wish maker, magicked into this role. To everyone who summons me, I’m not a real person.”

“You are to me.”

And that was why I’d fallen in love with her.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, leaving my arms to explore once more.

A gorgeous trap.

She ran her fingertip down one of the silk drapes flowing around the enormous four-poster bed, then running her palm across the bedding. “Soft. You must sleep well here.”

Never. I dreamed, and sometimes, when I woke, I cried.

“It’s a silk cage,” I said. “And I’m a captive bird who can never escape.”

“Boshun,” she sighed. “I’m sorry. I wish I could do something.”

“I don’t want to make you feel sad. I want to show you the good parts of my life. Come.” I held out my hand, and she took it.

We walked from the bedroom into my workout area.

“Look at all this.” She spun around, and while she smiled, I could tell it was a struggle. “What do you do with all of it?”

“I get bored waiting for the next person to rub my lamp, and I have enough pride I want to stay in shape, so I exercise here.”

“I can picture you doing that.”

We walked from the gym and into the adjoining sitting area, where she dropped down onto the sofa. “Everything’s soft. Perfect.”

“It was created with magic, so I suppose it would be.”

“Cordellia created it.”

“The lamp was crafted from magic far stronger than hers ages before I was sent here. She just forced me inside.”

Her smile disappeared, though it had never been reflected in her eyes. “It is a cage. You’re as trapped here in this life as I am in mine. I’ll work hard forever and never be any better off than I am right now. I accept that; it’s the lot I drew when I was born.”

“There’s always a way out.”

“If a wealthy man wanted me, I could marry him, I suppose.”

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