Free Forsaken (The Djinn Wars Book 5) by Christine Pope Page A

ailments.”
    Must be nice, she thought. She filed away the information that djinn could be hurt for possible use at a later date. Not that she’d necessarily want to hurt Qadim, but…just in case.
    “She was in and out of the hospital for treatments. They made her as sick as the cancer. My father was just trying to hold things together — he had a high-powered job and needed to stay focused — so I did what I could to help out. That included trying to feed everyone.”
    “Even though you were just a child?”
    “Kids younger than I was have suffered a lot worse.” Poverty, and starvation, abuse and neglect. At least Madison had never gone to bed hungry, had parents who loved her. Her mother’s final words had been a whispered I’m so sorry, as if it was her fault that the cancer had risen up out of nowhere and consumed her. A few burned fingers and botched stews couldn’t really compete with that.
    And there was Qadim looking at her with compassion in his eyes. As if a djinn could possibly understand what she’d gone through. She didn’t want him pitying her.
    “That was almost seventeen years ago,” she said, knowing he most likely could see right through the brittleness of her tone. “I’m over it.”
    His silence was eloquent, seeming to indicate he didn’t believe her…but that he also wouldn’t contradict her. At last he said, mouth lifting slightly at one corner, “Well, you can be reassured that I will not expect you to cook.”
    She offered him a tentative smile in response. With an injured shoulder and an uncertain future ahead of her, what else could she do?

Chapter Five
    S o much pain . It seemed that Madison Reynolds had suffered a good deal in her short life, even before the Heat had come along and swept away everything.
    But Qadim could tell she didn’t want to discuss the matter further, appeared sorry that it had come up at all. He let it alone, and after they had finished eating, he quietly told her that she would find any toiletries she needed in the bathroom, then left her to retire for the night. She’d looked very weary by then, her fine green eyes smudged with shadow. The day had been difficult enough for her without him bringing up unwanted memories.
    She had spoken with him, though. That was something. She could have eaten in stony silence, refusing to acknowledge his conversation. Perhaps it was only that she’d been alone for so very long that any kind of interaction was its own gift, even if said interaction involved speaking with one of the race who’d been responsible for the destruction of her world.
    Still, her openness was hopeful. It meant he might have a chance.
    A chance for what, he wasn’t sure. His body told him that was easy enough — a chance to bed her would be a wonderful thing. He could wait until she was fully healed and see what happened.
    Yet….
    Something told him he wanted more than that, which was foolish. He’d always been one for casual liaisons, a few weeks or nights or even years of pleasure before moving on. If he became intimate with Madison, what would that mean, precisely?
    As he’d told Hasan, he had no interest in claiming a human as his Chosen. To be tied down to one woman forever? Any of his former lovers would have laughed to hear of Qadim al-Syan ever contemplating such a thing.
    Also, he might have been misinterpreting what he’d seen in her face at dinner, but before the conversation had turned deadly serious, he’d seen a flush in her cheeks, had noted the way her breasts rose and fell under the shapeless T-shirt she wore. He had enough experience of women to know that some sort of arousal had moved through her, even if she’d pushed it away. Surely she must be feeling deprived after living alone for so long. What was wrong with sharing some pleasure, even if that pleasure must eventually come to its end?
    Nothing at all. And once she was fully healed and capable of such things, he would see how amenable she was to the