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

suggestion.

    * * *
    T he next morning , Madison judged her shoulder in good enough shape that she thought she should be able to take a shower. Washing her hair one-handed would be a little tricky, but she figured she could manage. Anyway, she wanted to get cleaned up, and a quick inspection of the bathroom showed that it truly was, as Qadim had claimed, well stocked with toiletries — shampoo and soap and toothpaste and anything else she might need. There was even replacement clothing in the dresser, underwear and jeans and several T-shirts.
    Nothing fancy, though, nothing frilly. Apparently the djinn wasn’t going to pull the standard movie-villain maneuver of making his captive dress in something provocative so he could thoroughly ogle her before getting down to business.
    But Qadim wasn’t a villain. At least, Madison didn’t think so. Unless he was the type of villain who liked playing the long game.
    If he was, she didn’t think there was too much she could do about it.
    Even so, she made sure both the door to her suite and the bathroom door were securely locked. Whether that was enough to keep out a djinn, she had no idea. Probably not, but again, she was just a human female with a dislocated shoulder; her options were fairly limited at the moment.
    Slipping out of the sling and then out of her T-shirt was a lengthy process, one that had her gritting her teeth in pain and wishing that she’d downed a few more ibuprofen before beginning the procedure. Once she was in the shower, though, the hot water helped to ease some of the discomfort. She wouldn’t ask how there was hot running water when the entire planet’s infrastructure was completely broken down. More djinn magic, she supposed, the same kind that conjured up all the correct ingredients for chicken korma and vegetables and rice. She’d brushed her teeth the night before, but she could still taste that meal, the first thing she’d had in a year that wasn’t made from canned or frozen or freeze-dried ingredients. It had been sublime.
    Qadim hadn’t mentioned anything about breakfast, but it was early still, the sun just barely over the horizon. Normally, she didn’t get up quite this early, but she’d gone to sleep at barely nine the night before. And despite the way it still ached, she could tell her shoulder had improved that much more while she rested. A few more days, and she’d probably be as good as new.
    And what then? she thought as she awkwardly towel-dried her hair with one hand, then scrunched some gel into it. Is Qadim just going to let you walk away?
    Maybe. Hopefully. And walking was all she’d be able to do, since she was pretty sure her bike was now out of commission.
    She still hadn’t quite figured out what Qadim wanted from her. He hadn’t behaved like a man who was sexually attracted to a woman. But then, how would she even begin to guess the way a djinn might act in that situation?
    Frowning, she finished getting dressed before slipping her injured arm back into its sling. The toiletries supplied hadn’t included any makeup except some tinted lip balm, so Madison spread some of that over her lips. Her reflection still looked tired, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. It wasn’t as if she was trying to impress Qadim.
    Tying her hiking boots with one hand also proved challenging, but eventually she had herself more or less together. What she should do next, she really didn’t know. The djinn hadn’t told her she couldn’t venture forth from her room. On the other hand, maybe he’d thought she was still banged up and sore enough that she’d want to stay in bed. Other than her shoulder, though, she was doing better than she’d thought she would. The bathroom mirror had revealed some lovely bruises beginning to show up, including a spectacular blue and purple specimen on her knee, but the aches weren’t nearly as bad as she’d feared they would be.
    Besides, she wanted to see if he’d wrought any of the same