Page 96 of Silver & Gold

“Yeah,” Seth mumbled against Raider’s shoulder. “Him. This place.”

“Seth, you are my place.”

Seth gasped in a breath. “Oh, fuck, Raider,” he choked out, “don’t make me cry.”

“Why not? You made me cry.”

Seth huffed. Straightening, he tugged Raider around to face him, pulling him in. Raider closed his arms around Seth and hugged him tight. Then he kissed him. Desire was always there when they kissed, but this was mostly affection. Warmth. Reassurance for them both.

“Come on, Curator,” Raider said, pulling back. “Talk to me. Tell me what you found. Let’s figure shit out.”

“Goddamn,” Seth breathed, shaking his head as though marveling at something.

“What?”

A smile tugged at Seth’s lips. “I just didn’t think I could love you any more than I already do. But you always surprise me.”

Raider took Seth’s hand and tugged him into motion. “How do you think I feel every day? It’s scary, isn’t it?”

“Sometimes. But it’s still fucking beautiful.”

***

Tarjan shimmered into sight as soon as Seth finished telling Raider about the gold statue atop the cliff and the strange djinn that had appeared to him there. Tarjan’s timing suggested he’d been listening. (Tarjan’s timing usually suggested that. But then, privacy was something of a joke when everyone around you could be invisible.)

They had just reached the steps into the waterfall tower. Former library, according to Seth. Tarjan regarded them with wary golden eyes. The emeralds of his belt flashed in the sunlight. The jewels were beautiful, like his peacock form, but they couldn’t compare to the brilliant green of Seth’s eyes.

“Well?” Raider prompted Tarjan, seeing no point in having Seth repeat himself. “What about that gold statue?”

Tarjan looked disappointed. “Have you not been well cared for here?”

Guilt squirmed in Raider’s gut. “Yes. Of course. But we still have questions.”

“Jannat is safe,” Tarjan argued. “Jannat is paradise.”

Seth said, “It’s beautiful, but it’s not paradise. It has a dark history.”

“Jannat’s secrets are its own. Why should you think you have a right to them?”

Raider glanced at Seth, needing him to deal with this. Because, damn it, he agreed with Tarjan. And yet … Seth was right too. Raider didn’t like what Seth had told him of the djinn Soroush.

“Jannat isn’t safe,” Seth insisted. “Not if that statue is what I think it is.”

Tarjan’s golden eyes flashed. “The Alchemist brought his own fate on himself.”

Raider asked, “The Alchemist, as in the creator of the Alchemist’s Stone?”

“He is the only evil in Jannat, the only darkness.”

“Is he alive?” Seth asked.

“Yes and no. Living eternally in lifelessness. Preserved by the lives he took to make the Stone. Now, forever guarding it.”

“Whose lives did he take?” Raider asked.

“Five djinn. He bound them with quicksilver. He stripped them of life, of their very essences. Do you understand why this must be a secret? Alchemists would hunt us, seek to enslave us.”

Understanding hit Raider. “That’s why you don’t wear bracelets or necklaces. That’s why there’s no metal in Jannat.”