Free Elemental Desire by Denise Tompkins

through his hair. “If you want to help, come up with realistic solutions.”
    She met him glare for glare as she stalked him around the kitchen. “Stubbornness is a character flaw, not a belief system.”
    “Says the woman whose chin just lifted in an argument. That’s rich, Red.”
    “Stop.”
    The merciless power in her voice drove into him so hard he doubled over at the waist. Hands on his hips, he glared up at her and bared his teeth in a nasty grin. “Getting witchy on me?”
    “You have no idea.”
    Seth tried to step toward her but only managed to wobble like a dashboard hula girl. His feet didn’t budge at all. “What the hell?”
    She paled. “I said
stop
. I have your element so you have to comply.”
    “I have to… Oh,
hell
no. You aren’t doing this to me. You are so not doing this to me.”
    “Give me your full name.”
    If he did this, if he gave her what she demanded, he was screwed. She could issue any directive and he’d have to do his absolute best to grant her what she wanted. It was a bond he wouldn’t be able to break without killing her. He clamped his mouth shut.
    “I command you to give me your full name now, djinn.” Again, her voice resonated with power.
    His mouth opened and he was speaking before he could fight the compulsion. “I am Seth Setekhis, Crown Prince of the
Ifrit
, djinn of the ancient deserts, first son of King Aganjú, beloved of all
ifritis.
” Sweat beaded in his hairline, trickling down his neck in frigid streams. “Damn you.”
    “I’m sorry.” The apology was as powerful as her every command, and he wanted to believe her.
    “If you’re sorry, return my flame.”
    “At any cost?”
    “Yes, okay? Yes,” he shouted.
    “Seth Setekhis, Crown Prince of the
Ifrit
, djinn of the ancient deserts, first son of King Aganjú, beloved of all
ifritis—
”
    Fear snaked through him with the building power behind her every word.
    “—I need you to choose life, to find your own release and retrieve your element from me at any cost. If that means you submit to me…”
    “At any cost,” he repeated numbly.
    A sad smile crossed her face. “That’s one.”
    * * *
    Eden suspected Seth would never forgive her for this when he figured out what she’d actually just done, and it wasn’t what he thought. At least he’d be alive. And as an immortal, he’d be able to hate her forever. Handy, that.
    The key point he had missed was that she
hadn’t
commanded him,
hadn’t
forced him. She’d told him what she needed. It was all true, too. She needed him to choose to live. And by choosing to live, he was exercising free will. And that was the kicker.
Free will
. He would retrieve his element by choice. Every request he perceived as a command, everything she had him do tonight would be done by asking. There would be no orders, no directives he couldn’t refuse.
    But there was a dark side to her manipulation. Because magics would be exchanged, there would be a cost. If he stripped the element from her completely, the other three elements whose sources she harbored would be catapulted into a fierce global imbalance. The only way to restrike the balance, to prevent natural disasters from wiping out mankind, would be to end her life. Fire would do the trick because, not holding the element any longer, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. Ironic that witch burning in the twenty-first century might be the most legitimate means of managing her magic. Heinrich Kramer, the man responsible for the burning of so many women during the witch trials, was undoubtedly kicking up his heels in the afterlife, touting his righteous superiority. Goddess save her, but if there were any type of justice, the man had been reincarnated as a slug.
    Fear thrummed through her, pounding out a radical drumbeat inside her chest, the percussion vibrating through her from tip to toe.
    Why make this sacrifice?
her subconscious whispered.
Why put yourself in harm’s way for a man you hardly