Bound to Seduction (14 page)

A voice inside the room called, “Come in,”
so Mira turned the handle and stepped into the cramped office on
the University of Florida’s campus.

The woman with auburn hair and wire rimmed
glasses at the desk near the window looked up from her computer.
“Can I help you?”

“I’m Mira Dawson. We chatted via phone and
e-mail.”

Claire Sampson’s eyes widened, and she
pushed out of her chair with a smile, holding out her hand in
greeting. “Oh my gosh, it’s so great to meet you in person.”

Mira shook the other woman’s hand—or hands,
as the woman closed both of hers over Mira’s—and felt the first
real smile since the accident slide across her face. “You too. I
wanted to come and thank you in person.”

“No thanks needed. If anyone should be doing
the thanking, it’s me. You provided me with incredible research.”
As if realizing she was still holding Mira’s hand, she quickly let
go and motioned to a chair next to her desk. “Please, sit.”

“Thanks.” Mira lowered to the seat, set her
purse on her lap.

Dr. Sampson was tall, close to five ten, and
she had the prettiest blue eyes. As brilliant as polished
sapphires. But the glasses, the loose-fitting slacks and white
blouse with what looked like a mustard stain on the buttons and the
smudge of ink across her cheek screamed nerdy professor to
Mira.

She smiled again, more relaxed than she’d
expected. The fact Claire seemed as dedicated to her job as Mira
had hoped, settled her nerves. If she’d been some stuffy,
know-it-all professor, Mira would have felt intimidated.

“I know it must have been extremely
overwhelming for you,” Claire said, “but…wow. I can’t wait to hear
all the details.”

They’d chatted via phone after the incident,
but Mira hadn’t been ready to give away the nitty-gritty then.
She’d still needed time to absorb what had happened. But she owed
Claire because she’d been the one to help her. And that’s why she’d
made the trip all the way to Florida so they could talk in
person.

As Claire pulled out a tape recorder, Mira
took another deep breath and launched into the entire story. From
the moment she’d met Tariq until she’d been pulled from the water.
And as Claire listened, those gemlike eyes grew wider and more
excited with each juicy detail.

“Amazing. Completely amazing,” the professor
said when Mira was done. “I’ve always suspected that djinn are just
like us—that there are good and bad ones and that they live by free
will—but your story is the first that actually confirms this for
me.”

There definitely were good and bad, and just
as she’d done every hour since that day, Mira wondered where Tariq
was, if he’d found his brothers, if he was happy now that he was
finally free.

She shook off the thought because she knew
dwelling on where and what and how would only drag her down. And
even though she loved him, she knew he’d only been with her because
of the curse. She’d hoped and prayed that he’d come to her on his
own now that he was free—he’d said all djinn could cross between
realms, so she knew he didn’t need the opal to do so—but so far, he
hadn’t. And that was the other reason she needed to emotionally
recover from everything that had happened—because she missed him
more than she’d ever missed anyone in her whole life.

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,”
Mira said. “Why didn’t the sorceress’s energy kill me? It was
strong enough to blow a hole in the side of the boat. How come I’m
not dead?”

Claire looked at her as if it were totally
obvious. “Because you were pure of heart.”

Mira frowned. “I’m not pure of heart. I
wished to be desired by a man. That doesn’t make me pure. Heck,
that’s about as selfish a wish as anyone can ask.”

Claire
smiled as if she were explaining things to a child. “I didn’t say
you were pure of heart in the abstract way. I said when you
sacrificed your life for Tariq’s,
at that moment
, you were pure of heart. It doesn’t mean that you
were before or even that you are now. It just means you were when
it mattered most. The sorceress’s magic couldn’t touch you then
because it’s laced with evil. Evil energy can’t destroy something
that’s pure.”

Mira considered that for a moment. “So
you’re saying I’m not special.”

Claire’s smile widened. “Special in the fact
that you stood up to an extremely magical entity and lived? Sure.
Special in the fact you could do it again? Probably not. I hate to
break this to you, Mira, but you’re just like everyone else on this
planet. Normal and very unmagical.”

Mira chuckled. Unmagical was fine with her.
She’d had enough magic to last her a lifetime. “I can’t thank you
enough. For helping me. For all the research you did. For finding
those spells in the Key of Solomon—”

Claire clicked off the tape, glanced toward
the door, and lowered her voice. “About that…let’s keep that under
wraps. I had to go to great lengths to find that text, and between
you and me, I wasn’t even sure it would work. Since it did…well, I
don’t have to tell you there are numerous people who would want
that kind of power if they knew about it. In fact, I’d appreciate
it if you and I never speak of it again.”

Mira nodded slowly, unsure just what Claire
was getting at. But she understood that kind of power in the wrong
hands could do nothing but harm.

“The only regret I have,” Mira said, “is
that I lost the bottle. I’m afraid of what will happen to it.”

Claire sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“Unfortunately, I’ve a feeling it’ll eventually turn up. But it
could be years before that happens. And the good news is…that’s not
your worry. If someone does eventually find it, the sorceress will
be more focused on that person than on finding you because the opal
will most likely be bound to them. So long as you keep all of this
quiet, you’re safe. And speaking of you… How are you
doing…really?”

Mira knew Claire was asking how she was
doing emotionally. And a host of feeling washed through her, none
of which she wanted to linger on too long. But she appreciated the
fact the woman had asked. “I’m fine. I lived, right? I won.”

“What about Tariq?” Claire asked
quietly.

Mira’s heart pinched. “I’m just glad he’s
finally free.”

A knowing smile spread across Claire’s
ink-smudged face. “You are a rotten liar, Mira Dawson.”

Smiling herself, Mira pushed out of her
chair. She liked Claire. In fact, all this magical stuff aside,
Claire was the type of person Mira could see herself being friends
with. She held her hand out. “I’ll get out of your hair and let you
get back to work. Thank you so much for everything.”

Claire waved off her hand and instead
wrapped her arms around Mira in a tight hug. “If you need anything,
I’m only an e-mail away.”

Tears stung Mira’s eyes as she nodded.
Knowing her emotions were dangerously close to the surface, she
said goodbye and let herself out.

When she stepped into the midmorning
sunshine, she drew a deep breath of humid Florida air. Claire was
right. It could be years before anyone even found that bottle. She
couldn’t spend her life worrying what was around the next corner.
If her time with Tariq had taught her anything, it was that she was
a vibrant woman with a bright future ahead of her. It was far past
time she stopped hiding behind her job and started living.

She moved down the steps of the history
building and onto the sidewalk. Ahead, a man pushed up from a bench
sheltered by a large oak and looked her way.

Her heart jerked, and the air rushed out of
her lungs on a wave. One corner of Tariq’s lips tipped up in the
most devastatingly handsome smile. One Mira felt all the way to her
toes.

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” she breathed,
running toward him.

She threw herself against him, hardly able
to believe that he was here. His arms closed around her back, his
warm, solid chest pressed against her front, and then his face was
sliding into the hollow between her neck and shoulder, his breath
warming her from the outside in.

“Oh my God,” she said again, still unable to
believe he was real. “You’re here.”

He eased back, smiled down at her. “You are
a hard woman to find without magic.”

He
leaned down and kissed her before she could ask what he meant.
Before she could
think
to ask.
And then his lips were against hers, his tongue sliding into her
mouth, his arms tightening around her until he was all she saw and
heard and felt…everywhere.

Her head was spinning when he finally broke
the kiss. “How did you…? What happened when you…?” Tears burned her
eyes. “I was so afraid you were mad at me about what happened and
that’s why I haven’t seen you.”

He
brushed a tear from her cheek she hadn’t known had fallen. “I
wasn’t mad,
hayaati
. I was
afraid. For you.”

Hayaati
. She’d
finally looked up the word, knew it meant ‘my life’. “I knew you
would be. That’s why I didn’t tell you what I had
planned.”

“We’ll have to work on your communication
skills. But to answer your other questions… After you freed me from
my chains, I was sent back to my realm. I was still weak from the
iron, so it took me a while to recover. But when I did, I went
home. I saw my father. My mother. I cannot tell you what that meant
to me.”

That space around her heart warmed when he
spoke of family.

“We knew when you trapped Zoraida. The Ghuls
fell into a state of disarray. Since then, our army has been able
to get an upper hand, and the Ghuls have been driven from our
kingdom entirely. We have you to thank for that.”

Her heart warmed even more, but she
remembered Claire’s comments in the office and wanted to make sure
he understood. “I wasn’t trying to save anyone but you.”

“
I
know,
hayaati
, but you
saved a kingdom just the same. We—my entire tribe—are forever in
your debt.”

A thrill rushed through her. A thrill she
wasn’t sure what to do with. “What about your brothers? Are they
happy to be home as well?”

Tariq’s expression shifted from soft to sad.
“We can’t find them.”

“Oh, Tariq…”

“They both wore opals like mine. They’re
still bound to the Firebrand opal and Zoraida as I was. We don’t
know where they went.”

That thrill she’d felt moments before
withered and died. And the consequences of what she’d done spiraled
through her. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I put my necklace in the
bottle. That’s how I trapped the sorceress. But the bottle slipped
out of my fingers into the river, and I couldn’t reach it. I didn’t
realize—”

“
Shh…”
He placed two fingers over her lips. “It’s okay,
hayaati
. No
one’s blaming you. Zoraida enslaved my brothers, not you. You have
nothing to feel bad about. You freed me. You freed my kingdom. And
you gave me a chance to someday free my brothers.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Your spirit was stronger than most females
Zoraida sent me to corrupt. That’s why she needed your soul. It
would have fueled her powers that much more. But it was your
strength that drew me. I felt a connection to the stone—through
you—I never felt with anyone else. And even though I was no longer
bound to the opal after you freed me, I sensed when you were
released from its hold. We have djinn searching for the necklace.
It will be found. And so will my brothers.”

“What about the sorceress?”

“When we find the bottle, we’ll figure out a
way to contain her.”

It sounded logical. And she knew with all
the magic in his realm, if anyone could find a way, it would be
him. Then she remembered his first words.

“Why did it take you so long to find me?”
she asked. “What did you mean, ‘without magic’?”

That toe-curling smile warmed his lips
again. “I asked my father to let me come back here, to search for
the necklace myself. To be with you.”

Her heart leaped, and tears stung her eyes
all over again. “You did?” she asked on a whisper.

He nodded. “There’s a catch, though. The
longer I stay, the more human I become. My magic will fade until
it’s finally gone. I figured I should get used to being human, so I
tried looking for you without it. But I didn’t expect to look for
you clear across the country. I eventually gave up and used just a
little. I needed to find you.”

She could barely believe what she was
hearing. “You mean if you stay with me, you’ll eventually lose your
immortality?”

“Djinn aren’t immortal. We just live a very
long time.”

And he was giving that up for her. Those
tears burned hot all over again. “Why would you do that?”

“
Do you
really have to ask?” He cupped her cheek. “Losing my magic is a
much smaller sacrifice than what you were willing to give up for
me. I would rather spend one human lifetime with you than a
thousand without you. You complete my soul—a part I didn’t even
know was missing. I would go through all of Zoraida’s torture again
just to end up with you here, right now. Mira…
hayaati
…I love you.”

Mira’s chest was so tight she could barely
breathe. She threw her arms around his neck, held on with
everything she had in her. She’d wanted to be desirable. She’d
wanted to find a love that would last the ages. She had. It just
hadn’t been at all what she’d expected.

“I love you too, Tariq. I—” She couldn’t get
the words out. She couldn’t do anything but hold on for the rest of
her life.

He chuckled against her neck. “Oh, I’m glad
to hear that, because I’m going to need you to teach me all about
life in the human world. I think I’ve a lot to learn.”