"Good morning, wife," he rumbled pleasantly, using the title that he seemed to love.
With an even deeper scowl than before, Nadira turned on her heel, her long black ponytail flipping through in the air in his direction as she went back to pulling ingredients from the fridge.
"It's not even morning anymore," she grumbled, shutting the fridge with her hip.
"And who's fault is that?" he teased, softening his naturally deep tone until it felt like gravel tumbling over a road of velvet.
A shudder ran through her body as she thought of him using that same voice that morning in bed. For the past three nights, Idrak had laid with her as she slept. His heated body always being near no matter what time of the night she reached out to him. Hard, hot flesh would find her right back snaking through their cool sheets and hold her close, but by morning light, he was gone. The sting of his absence wasn't nearly as bad now compared to her anger that second day they had that fight out in the garden. Knowing he had lain with her all night was much better than him using her body and leaving her once she fell asleep. Though Nadira couldn't lie to herself and say that his departure in the morning didn't sting. Which was why that morning, when she felt his heat move away from her, she had reached for him, having no idea what she invoked. Her skin flushed with bright heat as she felt the bastard's white eyes watching her with unhidden mirth with that sharp toothy smile of his. Chopping up the vegetables, Nadira refused to look up at him as she recalled that morning's events. Her hand had enclosed around his thick wrist, and she had felt him pause underneath her touch. The sound of his deep chuckle was her only warning that things were not going to go exactly as she had planned. He didn't just simply join her back in bed, taking her in his arms and holding her as she foolishly wanted. No, he had pulled the covers from over her naked body and kissed her soundly, driving away the last bleary traces of sleep before covering her body with his own. After an hour, he had left her sprawled, naked, and unconscious in the middle of their bed with his seed running from between her legs. By the time she had woken up, it was nearly two-o-clock.
That would be the last time she ever gave in to her weaker need for human contact ever again.
"I would ask you the conventional question most married couples ask one another on how you slept…but I can already attest to that, can't I?"
Turning her back to him, Nadira began pulling the pre-cooked salmon from its airtight wrapping and setting it on a long white serving platter she found. Grabbing a handful of eggs, she cracked each one into a small glass mixing bowl and then added in the finely chopped vegetables. Mixing it until the eggs were a creamy, goopy consistency only broken up by the few pieces of colorful vegetables floating throughout. Setting that aside, she walked over to the large walk-in butler's pantry on the far right side of the room near the outer-wall of windows. Glancing at the high afternoon sun shining down on the row of orange and red poppies planted near the window, Nadira pulled open the closet door. Idrak had really outdone himself in here. Much like the overstuffed refrigerator, the walk-in pantry's shelves were lined with every food imaginable, nothing ever repeating. It looked as if the djinn had raided a very expensive high-end grocery store. Nadira let out a sharp little laugh at the image of that as she grabbed the bag of thick-sliced amaranth bread. Returning from the closet, Nadira quickly schooled her face as she felt Idrak's silent gaze watching her. Honestly, she was surprised the mercurial djinn was still sitting there on the other side of the counter. She expected him to have already disappeared as he usually did each day. A tiny traitorous surge of joy bloomed in her chest and Nadira nearly stumbled to a halt with a frown. No, she whispered mentally as she ignored the watchful black demon and searched the cabinets until she found the stainless steel four-slice toaster. She was not allowed to feel that way about him. She was just being desperate, she reasoned. At this point, she had been so starved for a bit of affection and attention a random vagrant could probably gain her devotion, and Idrak knew that. The demon was simply taking advantage of her need, she had to remember that.
Scrambling the egg and vegetable mixture, Nadira poured the eggs onto the four awaiting slices of toast. Garnishing each slice with a generous amount of salmon, she finally looked up to the djinn.
His white, seemingly empty eyes were staring directly at her, and she knew he was waiting for her to offer him some food.
Bracing both hands on the countertop, she leaned forward and gave him a sassy look. "And why should I cook for you?"
Even though she said this, she was already pushing him a plate across the counter. There was no way she was able to eat all of this anyway, she lied to herself. Cutting a few of the grapefruits in half, she used the metal fruit press she found and made two glasses of juice before adding a dash of sugar to each.
"I can make the food appear if you like," he began cheerfully as he grabbed the plates of food, leaving her with both glasses to follow.
Walking to the sunken sofa cushions in the living room, Idrak sat with his legs crossed and set down the food. Now from behind the counter, she could see that the wraparound dhoti he wore today was a much more intricately folded one. The creamy gold material draped across his dark skin perfectly, embroidered with a repeating orange petal shapes, each petal design was encrusted with fiery red jewels making the whole thing sparkle like the clothes of a king.
Waiting until she was seated next to him on the large comfy cushion, looking much like a faraway demon prince from a fairytale, Idrak handed her the plate with a large piece of the scrambled-salmon toast before continuing. "But would that inevitably be at someone's expense. Would you like that, my dear wife?"
Taking a crunching bite of her toast, Nadira took a sip of her juice before looking back at the djinn leaning against the couch cushions next to her with an open interested look. "Is that how your magic works?"
"That is how mine works, at least."
"Do other djinn use magic differently? Were they taught to use theirs in a different way? Are they like you?"
Idrak gave her a soft understanding smile at her flurry of questions before taking another huge bite of the toast. Eating it in two simple devouring bites, he looked back at her. "Any other human would be asking me to give them the riches of the world if they were here with me instead. But for the first time in days, your eyes light up like a child set in front of a mountain of toys and sweets all for a bit of useless information," one of his white eyes widened quizzically and Nadira could see the ridge of his hairless brow raise in suspicion.
"It's not useless," she argued, taking a bite of food. "I find it fascinating…I find you fascinating when you're not being a jerk."
Idrak let out a bark of laughter that shook his sculpted bare chest. "You flatter me wife, and here I thought the fascination between us was only one-sided."
That stupid bubble of joy bloomed larger in her chest and Nadira had to avert her gaze from his, she did not want him to see how his words, no matter how deceitful they most likely were, affected her.