I'm satisfied now, RS said. I don't have to be all graspy with the Grexer. I'd prefer you both to be happy and that means I have to ensure this plays out properly.
The world is ending, Kyanite drawled. The RS is speaking like an adult.
Fuck off, jewel-jerk, RS huffed.
Well, I suppose I asked for that, Kyanite huffed.
“Who's she calling a jewel-jerk?” Verin asked.
“Kyanite,” I explained. “They both speak in my mind, but you can only hear RS.”
Verin made a low sound of understanding and sympathy.
“She's right, though,” I went on. “We'll have doubts later if we don't make sure that this is what we want. We're not thinking rationally, Verin.”
Verin released a shaky breath. “I don't know if I can stay away from you.”
“Maybe I could sing—”
Verin growled.
“Yeah, you're probably right; more magic would be a greater risk.”
He abruptly laughed.
“What?” I asked, baffled.
“You got all of that from my growl.” He grinned. “You know me so well.”
He leaned. I drifted. We were nearly kissing when RS cleared her nonexistent throat. We jerked away from each other.
“Okay, we need to stop.” I held up a hand. “The longer we're together, the worse it gets. You're looking at me like a teenage boy with his first crush, and I'm digging it.”
Verin scowled.
“Better,” I noted crisply. Then I blinked and looked around. “Where are we?”
“My private garden in the Spring Court.”
“Damn,” I whispered.
We stood in a grove of cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Their pale pink flowers hung above us in fluffy clouds; frozen in a grandeur that was fleeting on land. Cherry blossom trees start to lose their flowers nearly as soon as they sprout, but not here. In the Spring Court, they bloomed eternally and you could feel it in the air; a sense of forever that deepened and slowed my breath. A pond spread like a mirror just past the trees on my left, reflecting faux sunlight. Black swans glided over the silvery surface and a blue-enameled bridge crossing it in a dramatic arch. The delicate, almost-almond scent of the cherry blossoms freshened the air but was often overpowered by wafts of vanilla that came from a nearby rock wall covered in orchids.
“Do you like it?” Verin asked softly as he shifted behind me.
His arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me back against his chest. It felt so natural to lean against his strength; as if we'd stood that way hundreds of times before. Damn, Vivian was good.
“It's a piece of Heaven,” I finally replied.
“I've always thought it was enough for me but the time I've spent with you has reminded me of how much I enjoy the surface world.”
I smiled to myself; my debt to his mother was paid in full.
“I'm glad. You've hidden from it for too long.” I turned in his arms to look up at him. “It's time to come up for air, Dragon King.”
“Do you realize what that would mean?”
I cocked my head at him quizzically.
His voice lowered, deepened, and softened, “There would be no obstacle between us.”
“Only the way we truly feel,” I said gently.
Verin sighed roughly and let me go.
“It will be difficult but, in the end, you'll know we did the right thing,” it hurt my heart to speak the words but I forced them out. “Because then, either way, we'll know that what we feel is real. We can't start with lies, Verin. Not even one as beautiful as this.”
Verin clenched his jaw but nodded. Then he held his hand out to me. I took it, and we went back to Slate's zone.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Verin and I were walking back toward the others—with a good two feet between us—when someone appeared behind me, grabbed my waist, and put a knife against my throat.
Verin spun toward me and snarled. The Beneathers around us froze and went quiet as they realized that something had gone terribly wrong. Again. They circled us and stared at my attacker and me just like Verin did; as if they'd strike at the first sign of weakness. Despite being surrounded, the man at my back didn't waver.
“I've been waiting for one of you to fuck up,” a familiar voice said without an ounce of worry over the looming Beneathers and snarling Dragon. “I knew this would be the best place to catch you; outside the safety of your fairy realm. But then you locked up the Zone, and I couldn't get in. I had to wait once more but the wait has paid off. The Gargoyles dropped the ward and their guard. And what did I find when I strode in unchallenged? A party. How perfect.”
I nearly laughed. If there hadn't been a blade at my throat, I would have chortled until I cried. After all the time I'd spent searching for a way to defeat this man, I didn't expect to be this easy. It was almost as if the Universe had realized how much shit it had heaped upon me and was making up for it. Well, it was about damn time.
“If you start singing, I'll slice your throat. Understand?” the Jinni demanded.
I grinned at Verin, and he grinned back viciously.
I said one word in reply but it wasn't what the Jinni wanted to hear, “Idrisanigal.”
The Jinni froze. The shock of that single word vibrated through him. It had only taken a second to wrestle control of his soul away from him.
“Release me,” I commanded.
Idrisanigal—let's call him Idris for short, that's what Petra preferred after all—dropped his arms to his sides. I turned to look at him and saw the stark fear in his fiery eyes. The fire wasn't as bright as I recalled, and I wondered if that had something to do with my possession of his name.
“You will not hurt anyone; not ever again,” I went on. “Give me the knife. Handle
