Page 60 of Mistaken

The real question was whether she’d be able to keep it down, despite her current hunger.

However, she maintained her silence as Abdul poured some wine into her glass, then into his. Another moment passed while he dished up eggplant parmesan for both of them, and afterward, she placed some salad on her plate before handing the bowl over to him.

He took it from her with a brief nod, then helped himself to some and set the bowl back down a ways away from his plate. With that settled, he reached for his glass, lifted it, and paused.

“I will not propose any kind of toast,” he said. “But I will say that I am glad you decided to eat.”

About all Sarah could do was nod. Because she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, though, she decided to ignore her own glass of wine for a few minutes and instead have some salad and a few bites of eggplant first.

The salad was crisp and fresh, the tomatoes like little bursts of summer when she bit down. And the eggplant parmesan had to be the best she’d ever eaten, the eggplant itself rich and mellow, its crumb coating baked to perfection, with cheese melting over it and tomato sauce so tasty she knew Abdul must have made it from scratch.

Now the real trick would be keeping it all down.

Her stomach seemed fairly quiescent, though, telling her that everything seemed to have mostly settled now she’d had more time to absorb Abdul’s hideous revelations from earlier today. Somewhat more encouraged, she broke apart one of the rolls and spread a little butter on it, and after a few bites, she thought it might be safe to finally drink some wine.

It was rich and fruity but not sweet, a good accompaniment to the food they were eating. For the first time, she realized he’d put music on in the background, quiet classical guitar that kept the room from being dead silent but wasn’t at all intrusive.

He seemed to understand she didn’t want to talk at first, so at least five minutes or so passed before he ventured to speak again.

“I did not wish to hurt you.”

Sarah set down her fork, then shifted so she was forced to look at him.

Then again, what was the point, since that stupid hood hid his face from her and she couldn’t begin to see what he might be thinking?

“Take off the hood.”

His entire body went rigid. “I do not see the point of that.”

“I do,” she retorted. “I want to see your face. What are you hiding from? The secret’s out, isn’t it?”

One long, hideous moment, during which he only sat there, unmoving. The only way to tell he was even alive was the subtle rise and fall of his chest under the heavy black cloak.

Then…at last…he reached up and dropped the hood. Dark eyes glittered at her under straight, angry bars of brows.

“Are you satisfied now?”

“I am,” she said, and realized she was telling the truth. Yes, those scars weren’t so pretty, but they couldn’t hide the long, strong nose or the high cheekbones or the determined chin with its scruff of black beard.

Then again, what difference did it make that he would have been drop-dead gorgeous if it weren’t for those scars? He was a monster, right?

He blinked. Yes, his eyes were brown, but in the light from the dimmed chandelier overhead and the flicker of the candles on the table, they also reminded her of a fine amber beer.

“Then I am glad I could accommodate your request.”

Without looking at her, he picked up his glass of wine and took a large swallow, followed by another. This might have been alarming to Sarah — the last thing she wanted was to be forced to deal with him if he got drunk — except she knew djinn weren’t generally affected by alcohol. They could get a little elevated if they drank enough, but it would take a lot more than a single glass of wine, or even two or three or four.

Whereas she knew she could be affected, which was why she also drank some of her chianti. It was barely enough to blur the edges, but she still thought it helped.

A little.

“So…what now?” she asked, and he glanced over at her, clearly surprised by the question.

“I do not know what you mean.”

“I think it’s obvious enough,” she said. “You told me what you did, but you’ve also made it clear that you won’t allow me to leave. So, what…did you think we were going to go back to the way things were before this morning? It’s kind of hard to forget something like that.”

His jaw tensed. As far as she could tell, he didn’t seem to be doing much to conceal his reactions…but then she realized he might not even know how. After all, he’d spent a very long life hiding behind that hood. He wouldn’t have the same defense mechanisms that most people did.

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