‘He’s a fool to let you go,’ Elijah whispered, trailing his tongue featherlight over her skin, kneading her sensitive spot with the heel of his palm. Her body strung tighter, and she groaned with the tension rising in her body, feeling the shivers of pleasure all the way down to her curling toes. ‘I’d never. I’d always hunger to give you more, to satisfy this bottomless craving.’ He buried his face in the nook of her neck. ‘Fates, even your scent is enough to drive me mad.’

  With every move of his fingers inside her, she knew the urge well, but she also felt something else. The hardness of him, pressing against her hip through his trousers. Her eyes opened wide, catching on his, heavy with heat and yearning.

  ‘The things I want to do to you,’ he murmured. ‘Tell me, Keira. Tell me what you need.’

  Her lips parted with a raspy sound slipping past them. ‘More.’

  At once, he returned to his spot between her legs, and his tongue, torturously slow and steady, elicited one trickling moan and one deep-plunging tremble after the other.

  ‘Saints!’ she breathed, digging her nails into the mattress, the table, him – anything she could grab a hold of. She could feel the edge, feel it right there, each quickening roll of his tongue bringing her closer; and one final, torturous swipe pushing her over.

  Her cry was soundless as she collapsed onto the pillow, her body convulsing in ripples of pleasure. Tears gathered in the corners of her closed eyes, and she stayed still, as if her mind was struggling to gather its shattered pieces. She could feel him beside her, his breath hard and muffled as if he was laying face down against the mattress, his fingers still tight upon her. She would bruise, but she did not care.

  Then he let go and pulled down her shirt, covering her, before he moved up to share the pillow with her. His breath caressed her neck as he whispered, ‘Not everyone who can please you will be worthy of you, but anyone who is worthy of you will aspire to please you.’

  She turned to him, still half-delirious, scepticism warring against the thought of anyone else doing what he had just done, doubting that anyone else could.

  As if he read her mind, Elijah cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her, long and deep. His tongue swept her mouth in a similar way to what he had just done below, turning her legs to mush.

  ‘I shudder to think what the third lesson is,’ Keira whispered once he had let her go and she had managed to catch her breath. The djinn smiled his diabolical smile and stroked her cheek and her neck, resting his fingers against her collarbone and heaving chest. She burned for him to continue further.

  ‘That I’ll show you when you ask me,’ he murmured, ‘to break my promise.’

  15

  PEACHES

  ‘What excellent peaches,’ Elijah said, holding up a particularly plump fruit to the sun. The seller turned to him with pride, an expression that rapidly morphed into dumb shock when the djinn spoke next. ‘Reminds me of a particularly fine lady’s bum I was so lucky to hold in my hands the other night.’

  ‘Come now, Cousin, I’m sure Mr. Burton does not want to hear about your escapades!’ Keira spluttered loudly, pulling him away from the stall before pushing him down the road, her cheeks burning and ears ringing with Elijah’s laugh.

  ‘Oh, I’m quite certain he would have loved to hear all about it. In fact, I’m quite certain the whole village would envy me if they did.’

  Face entirely aflame, Keira gave him another shove, but could not help the smile stretching her lips, heating her cheeks. She was not so sure they would, but she felt certain the people of E’Frion would have one or two things to say, had they known.

  As if she could feel their eyes upon her, she warily glanced at the villagers passing them by and chewed her cheek. Most did not acknowledge them. A few tipped their hats at her. But there were some who watched from the corner of their eyes, murmuring as they passed them by. Her stomach clenched.

  ‘I thought they might talk. After what happened at the tavern. I feel like I can’t toss a rock around here without someone judging me for it.’

  ‘That’s the small-town mindset for you,’ Elijah muttered low, dipping his chin as they passed the baker and his wife out for a stroll. ‘There’s a whole world, whole realms out there, where society has progressed and evolved.’

  ‘I wish E’Frion would as well,’ Keira murmured, pondering what sort of realms – what sort of worlds – Elijah would have seen, wishing she could have seen them with him.

  ‘I’m rather surprised at how little it has. Theveserin used to be more fashionable, even here. It’s almost like the realm has reverted in time and become more reserved… Like England, back when Queen Victoria came to the throne after George the Fourth.’

  ‘Who are they? What’s “England”?’ Keira mused, scrunching up her nose. Elijah’s lips twitched and he looked for a moment as if he would lean down and kiss her for it. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought.

  ‘I’ll take you there someday, if you’d like,’ he grinned, offering her his arm instead. She took it, wrapping herself against his side.

  ‘Gladly.’ Keira scoffed a laugh, ruefully certain in the knowledge she would never be able to leave E’Frion. ‘Let’s leave straight away, shall we?’ She beamed up at him but found that his own smile had faded.

  ‘As soon as I get my affairs in order,’ he murmured, gaze travelling past the village, towards Faerie.

  Towards the Spring Queen.

  Her mind flashed to a conversation they’d had after the second lesson, when they had talked about how they were once again even with who had saved whom, and he had assured her that she would probably get a new chance at saving him from the Queen of Faerie again soon enough.

  ‘Why are you indebted to her anyway?’ she had asked, her fingers fiddling with Elijah’s as they lay upon his mattress. They’d been talking long into the night after her second lesson, her body curled into his with the fire crackling.

  ‘I made a mistake once…it ended up costing us both, dearly,’ Elijah whispered, looking at her as if he’d rather not say more. There was a shame there which made her chew her lip, recognising it, and she recalled how quickly he had agreed to help her when she spoke of her own mistakes. Knowing a thing or two about regret, Keira had chosen not to prod further, but she kind of wished that she had now, her mind running loose with the possibilities.

  Had the Queen of Faerie done him a favour of any kind? Had they been involved? Keira hadn’t thought that she would care, but the squirming worm inside her told her that she did.

  ‘You alright?’ Elijah asked, assessing her expression.

  ‘Yes.’ Keira huffed a breath, attempting and failing at seeming upbeat. ‘I think I’ve rather had enough of this walk, though. I’d much prefer to go back to the cottage and⁠—’

  She stopped herself, but when she dared a glance at the djinn, his eyes had already gone molten.

  They had barely left the house for two days since the night at the tavern; days spent talking and practicing, passing them by with the moon and sun both. She’d experimented by herself, he’d helped her discover more things that she liked, and one time she’d even demonstrated what she had learned – with him as her audience. The way he had looked at her alone had been enough to make her come, and she’d had to bite her lip not to invite him to join her.

  Keira swallowed.

  Around them, the birds sang within the trees, and her heart fluttered with them.

  Elijah had been right.

  She had already caught herself wishing, not once, but twice that she hadn’t made him promise not to take her body; all of it aching to learn lesson number three. But she’d asked it for a reason, she reminded herself. However, much fun she was having with Elijah, he was still a djinn and August was human. What they had was still a bargain, an arrangement, while August and Thornfell were her future. And her body was to be his when they married. At least that was something she could still offer, however deep into the rabbit hole of debaucheries she had otherwise fallen.

  Still, as she looked up and saw that their feet had carried them back to the cottage, her core throbbed with the same anticipation and impatience it had done in the morning, when she’d urgently suggested they would take a day to stroll about the town. To distract herself from jumping the djinn.

  ‘Pray say,’ Elijah said as they reached the door, turning to her with a purr in his voice that curled her toes. ‘Should we have another session tonight? Just to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything during this day of abstinence?’

  Heat flooded her body, sending goosebumps along her skin and a drought down her throat, stealing her words. In her mind, they were already before the hearth, breathless, heaving…naked.

  As if he knew, the playful gleam in Elijah’s eyes – green for the day – rested upon her, until they shifted above her shoulder and darkened.

  She turned, seeing August approach, walking through the gate of her white picket fence.

  ‘Keira,’ he greeted her, casting a glance at Elijah. ‘May I have a word with you, in private?’

  She turned to the djinn, catching in his gaze a caution – a message – she could not quite read. She frowned and the look disappeared. Inclining his head to the both of them, Elijah withdrew into the cottage and Keira turned back to August. He was still observing the retreating djinn, a look of contemplation marring his polished face.

  ‘Did your relative not have brown eyes the other day?’

  Her heart skipped a beat. ‘I wouldn’t think so, considering they are green,’ she said quickly, then added, ‘Where’s Gianna?’

  To her surprise, he seemed to shrink a little under the bite in her voice. ‘She’s not with me. She will not be with me anymore.’

  Keira’s brows rose. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Apparently, people saw me taking you home the other night…’ Once more, his eyes flickered to the cottage behind her. ‘And it’s caused a lot of problems with Gianna’s parents.’

  Keira stilled. She had not even considered that others would have seen Elijah taking her home looking like August. Nor had she thought about the fact that August himself would know that he had not. Judging by the look in his eyes, it had already roused his suspicion that something was off, although she could tell that he did not quite know what yet. Should she tell him the truth? No. August had thought less of her after what little they’d done. She could not stand the thought of his reaction if he ever learned what she had done with Elijah. Besides, the hostility in his eyes would be little compared to what she would see if he learned what Elijah truly was, to how the whole village would react at the realisation of having a djinn amongst them. Despite being a pain in her “peachy” behind, Elijah did not deserve their wrath if they did.

  ‘That’s odd,’ Keira said, a little too lightly, feigning her ignorance. ‘Someone must have misunderstood. Have you told them it’s not true?’

  ‘To be frank, I drank a little too much and was out cold that night, so I couldn’t be certain. Besides, it led to the story about what you—about what we did, umm, that day, being brought to their attention.’

  She swallowed. If the whole town now knew what had happened between her and August in that fisherman’s hut, it was a done deal. Both their reputations were certainly ruined forever. Not just amongst August’s inner circle, but throughout the whole village. Suddenly, the many eyes she had felt upon her as she and Elijah walked through town had a whole new meaning. And if someone saw her speaking to August, it would only be a confirmation of what they now believed to be true.

  ‘I should go inside,’ Keira stuttered, and made to turn.

  ‘Gianna’s parents broke the engagement.’

  She stilled.

  ‘And Mother thinks you and I should…’ He came closer, reaching for her. ‘Come together. To save both our reputations.’

  ‘How romantic,’ Keira snapped, jerking her hand away from him.

  ‘Come now, Keira,’ August murmured, trying anew and pulling her closer to him, enveloping her in his scent of leather and rosewater. ‘You know you’ve always been the one. Mother would not permit it before. They forced me to court Gianna. But now, now we are free to be together.’ His features softened to that same imploring expression he had worn in the hut that day. It tugged at something within her, and yet there was a resistance holding her back. She turned to the cottage, but there was no sign of Elijah watching them from the windows. She turned back to August, his smile having hardened ever so slightly.

  ‘Don’t make your mind up yet. Come for a dinner with me. Yes?’ His brows slanted.

  Swallowing, Keira found herself nodding. ‘Okay. One dinner.’

  His lips lit up into a grin. ‘Excellent!’ Putting his hands in her hair, he planted a kiss on her forehead, but he did not step aside after. ‘I implore you to remember, Keira,’ he added in a whisper. ‘You can have everything you ever wanted now. Me…Thornfell.’ His nose brushed down her temple until his lips were placed over her ear. ‘Imagine what we could do in that large house, you and I.’ His thumb pulled down on her lip, leaving salt on her tongue. ‘More of what we did in that small hut.’ He winked at her.

  She almost gagged, which wasn’t really the reaction she had expected. Rather than the familiar flutter of butterflies, it felt like her guts filled with squirming worms. She watched him leave before returning to the cottage, her swarming thoughts brewing up a storm.

  In the kitchen, Elijah leaned against the countertop, turning a peach in his hand.

  She eyed the fruit and felt the familiar flutter of wings and pounding of yearning in her body. She did not know when he had taken the fruit, much like she did not know when he had taken some of her affections for August. It made her bristle. ‘Ought you not to have paid for that?’

  ‘Ought you not to have made him pay for what he did to you?’ asked Elijah, taking a bite, turning the fruit over with his tongue. She felt her own mouth water.

  ‘That is none of your business.’

  Elijah scoffed, anger flaming his already apparent irritation.

  ‘It’s only a dinner, what do you care? This is what we’ve been working towards!’

  He kicked off the bench and strode up to her, cloaking her in his shadow. ‘This is not—’ he started, but then caught himself. His muscles tensed at their close proximity and his breathing raced with hers. She could have sworn she heard his heart galloping in his chest, their heaving moans from nights past echoing in the quiet room.

  ‘Fine,’ he snapped, bringing the fruit to his lips again. He nibbled it slightly and ripped some of its flesh with his teeth. Juice coated his lip, beckoning her to lean forward and lick it off. She could not take her eyes off him. ‘Enjoy your dinner.’ He stepped aside, leaving a cold space of air.

  But she was not going to let him off that easily. ‘I don’t understand you. You should be relieved.’

  ‘Ecstatic.’ Elijah shrugged, clenching his jaw.

  ‘Your end of the bargain is practically over!’

  ‘And you’ll be owing me a favour,’ he said, sauntering into the living room, before he turned back on her, holding out his fruit. ‘That said, should you not find dinner to your liking, you know where to come for dessert.’ He winked and took another bite. ‘I’ll even serve it to you for free.’ Then he tossed himself onto his mattress and out of view.

  Groaning, Keira rushed upstairs and slammed the bathroom door closed, throwing herself upon the edge of the bathtub to grumble.

  No sooner had she sat down though, before her eyes slid over the porcelain object and her mind wandered to an image of her and Elijah in it together, naked and wet, surrounded by foam. Her on top of him, rolling her hips like she did when she went riding, and his head leaned backwards, lips parted, moaning her name.

  She cried out and leaped off the tub, shattering the illusion in the progress.

  Panting against the ebbs and flows of desire coursing through her body, she grabbed the sink and stared at herself in the mirror, her pupils dilated, nearly erasing all the golden-grey of her irises.

  What was happening to her? Was she falling in love with Elijah? No, it couldn’t be. She loved August, always had. Always would. Had the djinn put a spell on her? She had to admit, after all this time, she still knew very little about how the djinn’s magic worked or even about the djinn himself. But would Elijah do that to her? She doubted it. She…trusted…that he hadn’t.

  Finally, Keira remembered what Isolde had said. How sometimes, one would fall in love with the idea of a person, rather than the person himself. That’s what’s happening, Keira sighed. She was smitten by Elijah; yes, she could admit that, but it was only the idea of him she enjoyed. The idea of the pleasure that she had already come to associate him with. It was merely a feeling she was drawn to, not the djinn himself. There was no future with a djinn, like there was with August. No chance for that life with a happy, quaint family she had decided upon for herself. There was only lust. And once she knew what to do, once she got a grip on all his lessons, the bodily experience would be exactly the same with August.

  As she kept telling herself these words, her pulse slowed and her breathing steadied, and she had almost managed to collect herself when Elijah’s voice rose from the floor below.

  ‘If you’d like to do something with that pent up frustration of yours, we could always change the dessert into an appetiser!’

  16

  LIES SERVED

  Despite his evident annoyance with her, Elijah offered to walk her to the tavern and would not hear a word of her objections assuring him that she was perfectly capable of walking the short stretch by herself.

  ‘It’s not that long since someone tried to take advantage of you while you were on your own,’ Elijah said. ‘I’ll walk you.’