zahra

But Aladdin says nothing.Instead, he lowers his face and softly kisses the side of my neck, his mouth trailing up to the skin behind my ear. Goose bumps break across my skin, and I turn my face to meet his lips with mine. This kiss is gentler than our last, long and slow and restrained. It is a kiss of longing. A kiss of farewell. His hands tighten around my waist, pulling me against him. We drift in a slow circle, sending out ripples that make the floating flowers bob and dip.__ou keep so many secrets,_ he murmurs. __ could spend the rest of my life discovering you._ He tucks my hair behind my ear, his eyes devouring my face.

Your father is waiting, so fly up that mountain and through the alomb. Find Nardukha and tell him I have upheld my end of the bargain. Now it is his turn.__e stares at me, a dangerous light in his eye, and then his gaze travels beyond me, in the direction of the funeral. My hand moves to his muscled forearm, and I squeeze it

Tell me about your master.__ nod. __e is eighth in line to the throne, the son of____o, no,_ Caspida interrupts irritably. __ell me what he is like.___e is a gambler,_ I say. There is no point in lying about these things. __e is bold, but reckless. Brave, but impetuous. A man who . . . holds grudges._ Pausing, I finish in a whisper, __e would risk his life to save someone else, without even thinking twice.__aspida turns her head a bit, interest growing in her eyes. __nd he sets out on a mad voyage and sails straight into a nest of jinn.___y master is noble,_ I say with a smile, __ut I made no suggestions as to his intelligence.

And what if you weren__ a jinni? What if you were free from their rules?__ stare at him. His jaw tightens, his eyes steely with determination that frightens me to my core. A cloud drifts across the face of the crescent moon, and the courtyard darkens. Here and there, the grass is still bent where Aladdin and I danced just hours earlier. I drop my gaze and glare at it, shaking from head to toe.__on__ say it, Aladdin. Don__ you even think it._ Dread rises in me like a storm cloud, dark and menacing.Aladdin moves closer. He takes my hands. His skin is warm and crackling with energy, setting me on fire.__ have one wish left,_ he murmurs. __nd this one is for you.___o, Aladdin! Don__ speak it. Don__ make the Forbidden Wish. The cost____amn the cost. Zahra, I wish___ stop him with a kiss.Because it is the first thing I think of to stop the terrible words. Because he fills me with light and hope and deep, deep fear. Because I have been longing to for days.

When I saw you in the hall with Darian,_ he says at last, __ felt more angry than I__e felt in a long time. I was angry and . . . and afraid, that you wanted to be there, that you wanted him touching you. In that one look, I felt more than I__e ever felt with Caspida. Zahra, I think you__e right__ove isn__ a choice. If I could choose to love Caspida, maybe this would all be going differently, but I don__ think that__ possible. Not anymore.__ll the smoke inside me sinks as I stare at him. __hat are you saying?__e turns and meets my gaze squarely. As much I want to, I find it impossible to look away. The intensity of his copper gaze holds me entranced.__ think you know,_ he says softly. __r am I the only one who feels it?

You__e beautiful and wild and kind, and I can__ stop thinking about you._ A sunny, foolish smile breaks across his face. __t__ wrong and stupid and wonderful, Zahra. I didn__ mean for it to happen, but here I am. I love you.

I do, and the now-familiar warmth of his lips steadies me. He tastes of salt and the wine we shared with the others at our small farewell party.Aladdin pulls away first and lifts one of my hands to his lips, kissing the delicate henna patterns on my skin, then turning my arm over to kiss the inside of my wrist. The ship__ crew makes themselves busy on the other side of the ship, giving us privacy.__ou__e the most beautiful girl in the world,_ Aladdin murmurs. __ave I ever told you that?___nough to make me wonder if your father was a parrot.

I__ not for you,_ I say desperately. __e are so different. Our lives are a thousand and one worlds apart. It wouldn__ work. And it__ dangerous.__ut his face only brightens. __hen you do feel the same.___e are not the same__nd that is the whole point! I am not human, Aladdin. Everything that was once human in me was destroyed, and I was forged into something entirely different. I__ not here to help you__ was never here to help you, or any of my masters.__e shakes his head. __ don__ believe that.___t doesn__ matter what you believe,_ I say bitterly. __t is what it is, and it has nothing to do with what you want.__e walks around me, forcing me to face him. __ou helped me get away from Darian in the desert. You got me into the palace when you could have let them find out who I really was. You taught me to dance, for sky__ sake! You__e had a hundred opportunities to trick me and betray me, but you don__. You__e helped me when I didn__ wish for it.___ chicken doesn__ fly like other birds, but it is still a bird.___ahra!_ He spreads his hands, the wind ruffling his hair. __ou do care. I see it when you think I__ not looking.