Free Wish For Me (The Djinn Order #1) by A. Star

possible without putting our lives on complete hold and hiding out in my apartment forever.
    For dinner, we shared a pork curry dish with Thai noodles and iced tea, which is a lot stronger than most people think it is. We chatted, not even bothering to avoid the topic of his near demise the night before. It was fresh on our minds, and I for one was not about to pretend it hadn’t happened.
    “Have you told anyone yet?” I asked. “Like the Sultan?”
    Irving shook his head. “No. I do not want to worry him or panic the kingdom. There haven’t been reports of hunters for many years. My kind are convinced we have finally entered an era of peace and I do not wish to tarnish that.”
    “But you almost died , Irving. You said yourself that the hunters who shot you were skilled and know how to kill Djinn. You owe it to your people to warn them that the human realm may not be the safest place for them right now.”
    “I agree, Glory. And I will as soon as I am assured that a true threat exists. If it is only me and my Chronolier that the hunters are after, then I will protect the Djinn kind with my silence for now. If I can find the hunters before they find me, then I can eliminate them and the threat before anyone else in my kingdom finds out there even was one.”
    I blinked. “Eliminate them?”
    “Yes.”
    “As in, kill them?”
    Irving’s jaw clenched. “I will not let harm come to any Djinn if I can help it. I will destroy any threat to them without a second thought. And I may have to, Glory. I hope you understand that.”
    I snorted. “And you told me you weren’t an assassin.”
    “I’m not. Senselessly killing for no reason is not the same as killing to defend my kind. And I will defend my kingdom until death, Glory. I am sorry if this disturbs you, but I make no apologies for those that I will put down to protect my realm.”
    I sat back in my chair, taking it all in. I stared across the table at Irving, trying to get a read on him. It wasn’t hard. He was serious and meant every word he said. The hunters would die miserable deaths at his hands if they became more of a threat than to just him. I sympathized in a way. If hunters had shot me with a poisoned arrow, I wouldn’t be feeling so up to preserving lives either.
    Eventually, I nodded. “I understand.” And I did. Irving and I weren’t so different. He’d kill for his family and I would for mine. If this is what he felt he had to do, then I respected that. Besides, who was I to question his methods when I’d only just been introduced to his ways? I’d only just learned that Djinn existed while Irving and his kind had been battling hunters for centuries. I needed to trust that he knew what he was doing and not get all in my feelings because he was considering taking out a bunch of humans. They’d signed their own death warrants by attacking him first, so I couldn’t really feel too bad for them.
    The conversation had become too heavy for me, so I changed the subject. I’d planned on securing our truce that night, not arguing, and so it was time to make that happen.
    “I think we should at least pretend to be friends, you know, at least until the hunters are taken care of.”
    Irving cocked his head. “We are not friends, Glory?”
    I shrugged and drank down the last of my iced tea. “I just know that you’re not the biggest fan of humans and that I don’t make it any easier sometimes.”
    Irving sighed. “Again, my quarrel with the human race has nothing to do with you,” he said. “I feel guilty because I am to blame for making you feel as though I want us to be enemies. I do not want that at all. I harbor no confusion about what I feel for you and I do want us to be friends.”
    I swallowed hard. His wording threw me for a loop. “So you actually like me then?”
    His eyes sparkled at me. “I think my letting you put your tongue in my mouth last night proves that I like you, Glory.”
    “What? You were the one tonguing me