Page 39 of Mistaken

“Twice a week,” Sarah said. “I could have gone more, but even biweekly sessions were kind of expensive. My dad insisted on footing the bill for everything, but even though I was starting to actually get paid for singing and acting, he wouldn’t let me cover any of it.”

“Your family was wealthy?”

Possibly not the most tactful of questions, although Abdul guessed that humanity’s remnants must now care very little about how much they might have earned in the time before. None of that mattered any longer.

It didn’t seem as if Sarah took any offense at his question, for she replied forthrightly enough, “I don’t know about ‘wealthy.’ I mean, it wasn’t as if we summered in the Hamptons or anything. But my dad’s job paid well, and he worked so much that he never spent his money on stuff like sports cars or boats or even expensive TVs or something. Mostly, I’d just tell him if I needed something for school or my music, and he’d make sure I had it.”

An indulgent parent, clearly, someone who did everything he could to make his daughter’s life easier. Did he battle his own demons, wondering if he hadn’t pressed his wife for another child, then perhaps she might have lived to raise their daughter?

Of course, that was all pure speculation. Abdul had no reason to believe that their second child wasn’t one they had both earnestly desired. It was a tragedy, but for humans, tragedy was a way of life.

Still, he could put the pieces together, and it seemed to him that ever since the world had ended, Sarah had had no real way to truly work on her voice, to burnish it back to the way it had been when she thought a shining career lay ahead of her.

He could not wait to assist her with that goal.

So, she’d unburdened herself to Abdul…and he’d been probably the most sympathetic listener she’d had in a long time. And okay, it was true that she’d kept all this stuff to herself and hadn’t even tried confiding in anyone in Los Alamos, but still, she had to admit she was surprised by the way he’d gravely absorbed everything she had to say and hadn’t told her she was foolish for still grieving over something she’d lost years ago.

Honestly, she hadn’t even lost the thing itself, but the promise of what might have been.

She had to admit this was a new experience for her. God knows Carson Mailer had been just about the exact opposite of a good listener, or sympathetic. Or…just about anything she believed she would have wanted in a partner. She’d gotten together with him because she thought he was cute and he seemed interested, and she hadn’t stopped to think how they weren’t compatible in any way that mattered.

And, what? Did that mean she was thinking of Abdul as a possible partner?

No, that was crazy. He was a djinn and she was a human. While it was true that plenty of djinn were romantically involved with mortals, they’d selected their lovers long ago, back before the Dying.

All right, she was being just a little disingenuous there. It was much rarer, but she’d heard there were some elementals who’d hooked up with their mortal partners much later on after realizing they weren’t as indifferent to humans as they wanted to pretend.

Which still didn’t apply to her current situation. Abdul might have turned out to be much kinder than she had any reason to believe, but all the deep conversations and glorious horseback rides in the world couldn’t hide the ugly fact that he was keeping her here against her will.

Not that she’d tried very hard to escape.

Because I haven’t had the chance yet,she tried to tell herself, but those inner words sounded feeble even to her. There had to have been a moment sometime when Abdul had his guard down and she could have bolted. True, he had djinn speed — and flight — on his side, and yet she was forced to acknowledge that he was only one person. If she had somehow come up with a way to fake him out, make him think she’d zigged when she’d actually zagged, she might have had a chance.

As best she could, she tried to keep those thoughts tucked away as she dismounted her horse and Abdul followed suit. Just like the day before, they removed their mounts’ tack and rubbed the horses down before sending them off to graze and enjoy themselves for the rest of the day.

Afterward, the two of them went inside. All the windows were open, and a fresh breeze blew through the house, smelling of dry grass and sun-warmed stone. Even though Sarah couldn’t exactly explain how, she could have sworn the fresh air felt cooler coming in than it had when she’d been standing outside.

More djinn magic?

Maybe. She’d always been a fresh air fiend, and if Abdul had come up with a way to have the house stay cool even with warm winds from an eighty-degree day blowing through the place, then more power to him.

He asked her if she would like some water, and she said yes. After he poured a glass for her — one he’d fetched from the cupboard and hadn’t simply summoned out of thin air — he said, “I have something I would like to show you.”

Sarah couldn’t help arching an eyebrow at him. Most likely, it was something completely innocent, but still, when someone made a comment like that….

“I think you will like it,” he added, and again, she got the impression that he smiled behind the concealing hood.

“Then lead on.”

He indicated that she should follow him, and so she did, moving into the wide hallway that led to the wing of the house she hadn’t yet explored, the one where she assumed his bedroom was located.

Was that where he was taking her? she wondered, and a little shiver went through her.

They passed a large room that was obviously a library, with built-in floor-to-ceiling bookcases and a trio of tall windows that looked out onto the hillside below them. Maybe not quite as magnificent as the one in the Beast’s castle in the movies, but still crowded enough with books in all shapes and sizes that Sarah thought she should be able to occupy herself in there for a very long time.

However, the library did not appear to be Abdul’s destination, since he continued down the hallway, going past several smaller bedrooms that she only glimpsed as they walked by. But then he paused before he reached the end of the corridor — which terminated in a pair of double doors that she guessed was the entrance to the main suite — and opened the door before stepping aside.

“I thought this might help you,” he said simply.

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