"She... she..." Jacinth wheezed, clutching her sides. "Teleportation! You have to admit, she's a genius in coming up with outside-the-box solutions."
Kieran's eyes danced with amusement at her reaction, though he maintained his carefully neutral expression.
"Oh!" Jacinth gasped, wiping tears from her eyes. "I can just see her serious face as she types all that into her spreadsheet!"She dissolved into fresh giggles, falling back among the cushions.
She finally managed to compose herself, though occasional giggles still escaped her as she brushed crumbs from her clothing and smoothed her dark hair.
"I really should get back," she said, rising gracefully from her nest of cushions. "The meeting between the shifters and vampires is tonight, and I promised Douglas I'd be there early to help set up the conference room at the clinic."
The familiar scent of jasmine and sunshine that always accompanied her wrapped around him briefly.
"Don't forget to let me know how the meeting goes," he reminded her, though he knew she wouldn't forget.
"Of course,Amri."
With a final wave, she vanished in a shimmer of magic, leaving only the faintest trace of her jasmine scent behind. The room felt oddly empty without her vibrant presence, though the evidence of her visit remained in the scattered cushions and the half-empty plate of basboussa.
Thoughts of Mandy's concentrated expression tugged at him. The urge to teleport directly to her apartment, to check on her progress with swimming and see what new additions she'd made to her endless spreadsheets, caught him off guard with its intensity.
He tamped down the impulse firmly. He was her Wish Bearer, nothing more. The fact that he found her methodical approach to magic fascinating, or that her practical wisdom often surprised him, was irrelevant.
A wave of frustration coursed through him, radiating warmth from the pendant against his chest. The connection between his vessel and its twin, worn by Mandy, pulsed with familiar energy. He could sense her general well-being through that link- she was content, probably working on one of her stories or swimming in that pool she loved so much.
That should be enough. It would have to be enough.
But the desire to visit the mortal realm, to visit her, continued to pull at him.
The realization disturbed him deeply.
Kieran madehis way back up the winding marble staircase, his footsteps echoing in the silence left by Jacinth's departure. The magical light streaming through the crystal windows cast ever-shifting patterns across his path, but he barely noticed them, his thoughts still churning.
Emerging onto the highest floor of his tower, he crossed to the balcony doors. The intricate brass handles were cool beneath his touch as he pushed them open, letting the desert breeze sweep past him into the room. His blue fire stirred within him, responding to the ancient magic that permeated the air of Qaf.
Moving to the balcony's edge, he placed his hands on the ornate marble railing, feeling its familiar smoothness beneath his palms. The endless dunes stretched before him, their golden waves rippling under the ethereal light of Qaf's enchanted sky. Here, high above the desert floor, the magical energies were more visible - sapphire threads weaving through the atmosphere, creating patterns only those with supernatural sight could perceive.
He leaned against the railing, his silvery hair stirring in the magical breeze. From this vantage point, he could see the shimmer of protective wards that enclosed his domain, their ancient magic a constant reassurance of security and stability. The view had remained unchanged for centuries, yet today itfelt different somehow. The world below was transforming, and even here in his sanctuary, he could feel the reverberations of change.
Standing here, between the two worlds he inhabited, Kieran felt the weight of his position as both prince and Wish Bearer.
Kieran turned from the balcony, pacing the length of his private chambers. The magical threads of Qaf's atmosphere shimmered around him, but his mind kept drifting to more earthly concerns. To a modest apartment in Tucson, where a woman with newly pink-and-lilac hair was probably working on her latest novel or practicing her mermaid swimming.
A sense of restlessness stirred within him. Even as he contemplated the larger implications of the shifter exposure and its impact on the supernatural world, thoughts of Mandy lingered like a melody playing softly in another room - not demanding attention, but impossible to completely ignore.
In all his centuries as a Wish Bearer, he'd never encountered a human quite like her.
Her methodical spreadsheet of potential wishes had both amused and intrigued him. Where others would have rushed headlong into making demands, she approached the opportunity with careful consideration and surprising restraint. A flicker of warmth ignited within him, mirroring his growing fascination with her unique perspective.
She dreamed of exploring ancient cities and distant shores, yet refused to consider using wealth to make such travels possible. Her romantic soul yearned for adventure while her practical mind cataloged all the reasons such adventures were impractical. She crafted passionate stories filled with supernatural beings, yet approached the reality of magic with analytical precision.
The contradictions continued to surprise him. Here was a woman who organized her entire life into careful categoriesand systems, yet filled her mind with wild flights of fancy and impossible tales. She maintained rigid control over her environment while allowing her imagination complete freedom to soar.
Most puzzling was her attitude toward the wishes themselves. Despite being a storyteller who specialized in tales of magic and romance, she approached actual magic with pragmatic skepticism rather than wide-eyed wonder. Instead of embracing the fantasy as he would have expected, she methodically dissected each potential wish for flaws and unintended consequences.
Even more remarkable was her attitude toward mortality itself. Where most humans either feared it obsessively or pretended it didn't exist, Mandy had approached the subject with her characteristic practical wisdom. He found himself pondering her words as he recalled their earlier conversation about death.
"I don't want to know when," she'd told him, those forest-green eyes clear and direct. "That's all. Not asking to live forever - that would be exhausting. Just don't want to spend my final years counting down the days."
The simple logic of her request had struck him then, and continued to intrigue him now. No desperate pleas for immortality, no demands to extend her life beyond its natural span. Simply a desire to live whatever time she had without the burden of foreknowledge.
