“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.”