Page 64 of Mistaken

Except, perhaps the Power that had brought him into being in the first place.

And that meant he could have her live here for as long as they wanted even if they did not formalize their relationship, for the elders could not interfere, could not come and tell him that he must make her his Chosen if he wanted to continue in a relationship with her.

Not that he would have hesitated. After that first kiss, he would have gladly bound her to him forever…but he also understood that she needed to come to terms with a great many things. Her feelings for him, of course, but also her reaction to his revelations, how she would need to approach her own way of dealing with the actions of his past.

He thought he knew how that would play out, and yet until she told him for certain, he could not allow himself to have too much reckless hope.

Even though he could not sleep, he closed his eyes anyway, just so he could hold the image of Sarah’s lovely face in his mind until he could see her once again.

Sleep was long in coming that night, and Sarah couldn’t pretend she didn’t know the reason why.

She’d kissed him. Kissed the man who’d kept her here for more than a week.

Much more than that, though.

Abdul was the reason why the world had changed.

Or…was he? Yes, he’d created the Heat, but as he’d told her, he would never have invented the terrible disease in the first place if that hadn’t been what the djinn wanted.

So who should she hate?

All of them? None?

She’d always been taught that hate was a fruitless emotion, that it hurt the hater more than the hated. And she’d done her best to live her life that way, not allowing petty feuds and jealousies to blossom into anything more than minor irritations. If someone had asked her five years ago, she would have been able to honestly say that she didn’t hate anyone. Not really.

For a long time after the Dying, she’d wanted to hate the djinn for what they’d done to the world and the people around her, but she’d let that go as well as the years passed, knowing she couldn’t allow that kind of poison to build in her soul if she truly wanted to move on.

And if she couldn’t hate the djinn in the collective, then she couldn’t let herself hate Abdul.

No, she knew she loved him. Every instinct she possessed told her how wrong that was, but she couldn’t deny what her soul had been trying to reveal to her for the past few days. He was kind and gentle and thoughtful, all the qualities she’d always wanted in a partner and had started to believe she would never have.

How could she hate him, when he’d made her feel alive for the first time in years?

So, all right. She loved him. What exactly did that mean? What was supposed to happen next?

She had no idea. This wasn’t like hooking up with one of the djinn. Abdul had made it clear that he wasn’t exactly one of them, so she knew she was in uncharted territory here.

But then…this was all new for him as well. He’d never been in love, never had anyone in his life. All those long, long years, he’d been utterly on his own.

In that moment, Sarah knew she would do whatever she must to make sure he was never alone again.

Chapter19

All the timeshe had been here — well, except for that first day, perhaps — Abdul had eagerly awaited the moment when Sarah emerged from her room in the morning, wanting to see her, wondering which item of the clothing he’d provided she would choose to wear.

This morning was no different — or rather, he knew he was especially anxious today, for while he thought they had settled matters between them, he could not quite rid himself of the nagging worry that perhaps she would achieve some sort of clarity in the night, and would come to him and announce that she had examined her soul and had realized there was no way in the world she could ever allow herself to spend her life with a monster such as he.

It seemed those fears had been for nothing, because she came to him in the white dress he loved so much and immediately pressed her lips against his scarred cheek, as if to let him know that she cared little for such surface things. He set down the mug of coffee he held so he could bend and kiss her in earnest, once again reveling in the sensation of her slender body against his, even with all his heavy clothes creating a barrier between them.

“That’s a great way to start the morning,” she said with a smile. “Wakes me up better than any caffeine.”

“So, you do not need any tea today?” he asked, knowing that he teased her a little.

Her smile didn’t dim. “Oh, I think I’ll still have some. Routines and all that.”

He shook his head. It had felt odd to leave his room this morning without his cloak, clad only in the tunic and trousers he always wore underneath, but he had left the hooded robe aside, knowing that Sarah would surely ask why he felt the need to cover up when she already knew what lay beneath the hood.

But he conjured her customary mug of tea for her, Darjeeling this time, and she thanked him and took a sip. Because the tea was summoned the djinn way and not made by dipping a teabag in a cup of hot water, she did not have to wait for it to cool down to her preferred temperature.

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