When we were done, we both slipped back down into the pool to rinse off the oil.
Then I looked up at the clock. “Just five more minutes until an hour is gone,” I said. “Any final requests?”
“Final requests,” she said thoughtfully. “Hmm… Could you wish for Aisha to banish herself from The Oasis?”
River was joking, but there was a part of me that actually considered requesting that of Nuriya. Unfortunately, I guessed that that would be another thing that was off boundaries—requesting punishment or harm to be done to a member of her own family.
After indulging myself in another round of River’s sweet kisses, I led her out of the pool where we split to get dried and changed.
I found a clean pair of clothes to wear—a loose shirt and pants—and, not bothering to dry my hair, I left the changing room to find Aisha already hovering by one of the pools. I was disappointed that she was here already because I’d been hoping that I could practice summoning her with the snake band.
If it hadn’t been for the hour of bliss I had just spent with River, I would’ve let loose my anger at what she’d almost tricked me into doing. But I was feeling too relaxed and content to want to drag my mind there, so I let it go.
“You’re certainly looking more relaxed now,” Aisha said, eyeing me from head to foot, a glint of amusement in her gaze.
“Thanks to my girlfriend,” I said.
That seemed to sour the jinni’s mood. She pursed her lips, and paused for a moment before saying, “So are you ready for the visions now?”
“One moment,” I said, walking toward the women’s changing room. I stood outside the door and was about to ask River how much longer she’d be when she stepped out. She wore the same cotton dress she had taken from my bedroom and had tied her damp hair up in a bun.
We walked back to Aisha.
“Yes,” I said to the jinni. “I’m ready.”
“River shouldn’t be with you for this,” Aisha said.
The calmness River had managed to induce me into stirred.
Whatever crush this jinni had on me was turning into a serious problem. It was becoming clear that she was barely able to have a single interaction without her bias against River coming into play in one way or another.
I took a deep breath, trying to maintain my calm.
“River stays with me,” I said steadily. “I’m not letting her out of my sight while she’s in this place.”
“I’m serious, Benjamin,” Aisha said. “Another person in the room, other than you and me, will simply be a distraction.”
“River was lying with me in the same bed when I had the vision of myself as an infant,” I shot back. “I assimilated the information in that vision just fine.”
“But you don’t know how much more you might have gleaned had you been by yourself,” Aisha said, crossing her arms over her chest.
River heaved a sigh. “Look, Ben,” she said, tugging on my hand for me to face her. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll just… hang around until you’re done. If there’s even a chance—”
I shook my head. “No,” I said, “I don’t—”
River placed her hands on my shoulders. “If there’s even a chance that Aisha is right, I should sit out of this. I’ll be fine. You already made clear that I’m not to be harmed.”
“Oh, yes,” Aisha said, butting in as usual. “You don’t need to worry about River. She will be perfectly safe. Besides, if you’re really worried, I can take her to wait in Queen Nuri’s quarters. Nobody would dare do anything to her there. I’ll take her to the same room where her brother was staying.”
I paused, clenching my jaw. “How long is this going to take?” I asked. “How much do you really have to show me?”
“I suspect we will be an hour or two,” Aisha said.
“That’s not long at all,” River said, trying to reassure me.
“All right,” I said. “But Aisha, I’m coming with you to drop River off at Nuri’s place.” I need to be sure that’s indeed where you plan to take her…
“Of course,” Aisha said. “We’ll go there now together.”
The spa vanished and we reappeared in the same stately bedroom where River had been taken to meet her cured brother. River moved toward the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She offered me a warm smile. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Just go now.”
I walked over to her and kissed her cheek. Still aching with the thought of leaving her, I stepped away to allow Aisha to transport me to wherever it was she planned to reveal the missing pieces of my past.
Chapter 19: River
After Ben left the room with Aisha, I leaned back on the bed. A smile formed on my lips as I recalled the hour of sheer bliss I’d just spent with Ben. Benjamin Novak. My boyfriend. The word sent tingles down my spine. I’d never had a boyfriend, and the idea that someone as gorgeous as Ben could be my first… I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
I played back every detail of our time in that spa, every lingering kiss, every slow caress, every flirtatious comment… I felt breathless as I relived it all again. That hour I’d just spent with the vampire had lifted my heart to such a height, it was hard to believe that it would ever come down again.
The heat he sparked in me just from his mere touch, it was unlike anything I’d experienced in my life. It felt like I could never be satiated by his company. I just wanted him, all of him, all the time.