aladdin

I rest my head on his shoulder, feeling his heart beating against me. I wish I could gather time around us, slowing the minutes, making them last a lifetime.__ was born on the island kingdom of Ghedda,_ I whisper. This is a story I never told even to you, Habiba. I tell it now only because I cannot bear to leave him without the truth, knowing only half of me. I raise my head and meet his eyes. __hat was more than four thousand years ago. I was the eldest daughter of a wise and generous king.__laddin stares at me, his eyes soft and curious, encouraging me to go on.__hen I was seventeen, I became queen of Ghedda. In those days, the jinn were greater in number, and the Shaitan held greater sway over the realms of men. He demanded we offer him twenty maidens and twenty warriors in sacrifice, in return for fair seas and lucrative trade. I was young and proud and desired, above all else, to be a fair ruler. I would not bow to his wishes, so he shook our island until it began to fall into the sea.__ shudder, and Aladdin draws me closer.__ climbed to the alomb at the top of the Mountain of Tongues, and there offered myself to the Shaitan, if he would only save my city from the sea._ My voice falls to a whisper, little more than a ripple on the water. __o he took me and made me jinn and put me in the lamp. And then he caused the Mountain of Tongues to erupt, and Ghedda was lost to fire. For he had sworn only to save my people from the sea, not from flame.

Everything in the world is actually connected. That means, even if we get separated, we'll never be alone

For the last few centuries, these jeweled fruits have been my constant and sole companions. The greatest treasure in all the world, as comfortless as light to the blind.

Find me, my thief.

You understand why you must go through with this marriage.___ou say you couldn__ live with yourself if anything happened to Caspida. Yet you ask me to live with myself, knowing I sentenced you to this!_ He holds up the lamp. __hat__ the difference?__ look away angrily. __he difference is that this is my choice, Aladdin.___ell, it__ a stupid choice!__ stand up. __romise me you__l go through with it.__e shuts his eyes.__romise me! Please!__e opens his eyes then, and they are filled with pain. But he nods.__ have to hear you say it.___ promise.

Women! They think it so romantic to break the rules. But what are we if we don't hold to tradition, am I right?" ~Darian

I always knew it would end like this. It always does. There__ no point in fighting it, Aladdin. It is simply the way of things.___ can__ accept that.___ou must.___ow can you just give up? How can you say that?_ His eyes light up, and he takes the lamp from his sash and grips it so tightly his knuckles whiten. __arlier, before you kissed me, I was about to wish for your freedom.__ leap to my feet. __laddin, you must not do that. You must never even think it!___hy is that so bad? You__ be free.___t__ called the Forbidden Wish for a reason!___y whom? Nardukha? Let him come. I have a few things I__ like to say to him.___ forbid it. Aladdin. If anything we have done together means anything to you, please, please trust me now. Don__ make that wish. It is the worst wish you can make. It is__t will break my heart.___hat is it?_ he asks softly. __hat is it you__e not telling me? What happens if I wish for your freedom?__ stand trembling, the words clawing at my throat, until I can hold them back no more.__ike all wishes, the Forbidden Wish comes at a price. My freedom must be bought with a death, a life paid in sacrifice. And I will not let you make that sacrifice, not for me.

I know who you are,_ he says.Something about his tone causes my heart of smoke to flicker in response, and I throw my guard up. __h? And who, O boy of Parthenia, am I?__e nods to himself, his eyes alight. __ou__e her. You__e that jinni. Oh, gods. Oh, great bleeding gods! You__e the one who started the war!___xcuse me?___ou__e the jinni who betrayed that famous queen__hat was her name? Roshana? She was trying to bring peace between the jinn and the humans, but you turned on her and started the Five Hundred Wars.__ turn cold. I want him to stop, but he doesn__.____e heard the stories,_ he says. ____e heard the songs. They call you the Fair Betrayer, who enchanted humans with your . . ._ He pauses to swallow. __our beauty. You promised them everything, and then you ruined them.

I've learned that from a war ignited by revenge, nothing can be born, but sorrow. - Aladdin

You clumsy wench__ods above! Are you trying to rob me, girl?_ The nobleman seizes my wrist and yanks it from his pocket. My hand comes up with the pipe clenched in it. I stare at him, horrified.__ . . ._____l have your head for this!_ the man rages. ____l have you whipped!_***__ got the pipe,_ I say, holding it up.He stares for a minute, blinking, and then bursts into laughter. A few curious deer stick their heads through the shrubs to see what the racket is. Aladdin doubles over, laughing loud enough to startle birds from the trees overhead, and after a moment, I start laughing too. I haven__ laughed this hard in a long, long while, and it feels wonderful. We sit on the grass and laugh until our faces are red and we__e out of breath.__ou are the worst thief I have ever seen,_ declares Aladdin.__ don__ know what you__e talking about. I got it, didn__ I?___y grandmother could pick pockets better than that! Though that__ not quite fair; my grandmother was the best pickpocket in Parthenia. She taught me all her tricks. Drove my mother crazy.

Use your wish,_ I whisper to Aladdin, opening my eyes. __lease.___f I do,_ he replies softly, ____l lose you.

It__ not too late,_ he says. __ahra, I____h._ I lay a finger across his lips. __on__ say it. You will marry Caspida, and you will learn to love each other. You will live a happy life, long after my lamp has passed to new hands.___ won__ make my third wish,_ he says. __hat__ the answer! If I don__ make the wish, you can stay here in the palace for as long as you want. You__l never have to go back to your lamp. We can fight off anyone who tries to take you from me.

And as you see, poor Idris was...persuaded,shall we say? Yes,persuaded to tell me about Tyre and his own route back to Al-Kal'as from there. Faysal, reveal to her his pain." The Captain of the Guard dragged Idris forward. Faysal then ripped away his shirt, and Aminah gasped. Angry scars laced his bare chest, some of the burns still crusted and weeping. Tears tumbled down Aminah's face, but Idris did not raise his head to see them. "Forgive me" he mumered.

Don__ you understand? It__ forbidden, Aladdin! We jinn must abide by many rules, but first among them, most important of all, we must never fall in love with a human!__e catches his breath, swallowing hard. __nd do you always follow the rules?_____ Casting my gaze skyward, I draw a deep breath, searching for words among the stars. __t__ not about that. Do you know what kind of destruction we would cause? Have you not heard the story of your own people, how their city was destroyed, how thousands died? It was not hate that sparked the war between your people and mine, Aladdin. It was love. I held hands with Roshana the Wise and called her sister, and those words set our world on fire!__here it is. My greatest shame, laid bare. The truth lies between us like broken glass. Surely now he sees what I truly am: a betrayer, a monster, an enemy. Aladdin stares at me, his face softening.__hat wasn__ your fault,_ he says. __oving someone is never wrong. And like you said, it__ not a choice. It just happens, and we__e all helpless in its power.___hat doesn__ change the fact that the consequences are disastrous. As the poets say, shake hands with a jinni, and you shake hands with death.

I feel shock splinter through him, his body going rigid. Then he relaxes, melting into me, stepping forward until I am caught between him and the wall, the torch crackling beside me. His hands slide down my back, over my hips and thighs, leaving a trail of fire. His heart beats fast enough for the both of us, its thunderous pulse echoing through me.I bury my hands in his dark hair, fingers knotting around those thick locks. Desire pulls at my stomach, and I lean into him, lifting one leg and wrapping it around his waist. He lifts me, and my other leg coils around him, my skirts sliding up my thighs, my back pressed against the column.His lips are soft and warm and gentle, underlined with barely restrained urgency. I cannot get enough of him. I pull his kurta over his head and let it fall on the floor. I press my hands against his bared chest, feel his heart against my palm, his lungs rising and falling. His shoulder is knotted with the scar from the arrow he took for me. He kisses me again, this time more strongly, and I run my hands down his jaw and neck, over his shoulders, the taut muscles of his back.He turns, without letting me go or breaking our kiss, and we tumble onto the soft divan. Aladdin holds himself over me, his abdomen clenched and his hair hanging across his forehead. His lips wander downward, to my chin, to the curve of my jaw, to my neck.My hands are ravenous, exploring the planes and angles of his body. His fingers find mine, and our hands knit together. He raises them over my head, pressing them into the pillow beneath my hair, as his kisses trace my collarbone, and then he sinks lower, parting the buttons of my dress and pressing his lips to my bare stomach.I gasp and open my eyes wide, my borrowed body coursing with sensations I have never felt, never dared to feel, never thought I could feel.__laddin,_ I murmur. __e shouldn__ . . .___h._ He silences me with a kiss, and I lift my chin to meet him. A warm wind rushes through my body, stirring embers and setting them aflame. I don__ want to stop. I don__ want to think about consequences. I only want Aladdin, everywhere.

He makes a face and tosses the flower at me. It lands on my cheek, and I pick it up and twirl it between my fingers. I could lie out here all day, not moving an inch, feeling the sun above and the grass below. With a contented sigh, I stretch my arms wide, raking the grass with my fingers__nd find myself brushing Aladdin__ hand with my own. I pull it away quickly, my cheeks warming. He laughs a little.__ometimes,_ he says, __ forget you__e supposed to be four thousand years old. You act as shy as a girl of sixteen.___ do not!_ I sit up and glare at him.He grins and shrugs, sliding his hands under his head. There are bits of grass stuck in his hair, and after a moment__ hesitation, I reach over and flick them away.Aladdin watches me silently, his throat bobbing as he swallows. I drop my gaze.

Why do you care what happens to her? I thought we humans were vapors to you, here today and gone tomorrow.___aspida is . . . different. She reminds me of someone, someone I__ give my life for if I could.___he queen?_ he asks. __he one who died?___oshana. My dear Ro._ My voice is soft as a ripple on the water. __he once ruled the Amulens, and Caspida is her descendant. She has Roshana__ strength of spirit, and I cannot look at her without thinking of my old friend. If she were to come to harm on my account . . . I could not bear that through the centuries._ I already carry a mountain of shame, a constant reminder of that day on Mount Tissia.Aladdin lifts a hand and brushes the hair back from my face. __ou truly are remarkable, Zahra of the Lamp.

Have I told you I love you?" he whispers.I smile. "Not since this morning.""Unforgivable. I will tell you every hour of every day.