ramming her free heel against the earth for leverage.
She surged to a sitting position, and came face-to-face
with the fire genie that was holding her ankle.
The smell of sulfur was stronger now, stinging her
nose. A whitish-gray curl of smoke twined up through
the cool night air between them.
From the corner of her eye, Roxy saw a tangle of
limbs that appeared to be Dagan with at least three adversaries piled on his back.
She had the thought that she’d have to take down the
genie that held her before she’d be of any help to him.
Then she took a hard look and realized that he didn’t
look like he was having any trouble fending them off.
He didn’t need her help.
206
SINS OF THE HEART
And even if he did, she had one priority. Herself.
She couldn’t let attraction or her history with him
alter that fact.Me firstwas the key to her survival.
Xaphan’s concubine tightened her grip and shook
Roxy’s leg like a dog at a bone. Her ankle felt hot, too
hot, like she’d stepped way too close to a bonfire.
“Smells like barbeque,” Roxy quipped, ramming
her knee into the underside of the genie’s chin. The
cloth of her jeans burned away in a shower of crimson
sparks, leaving a hole at the knee rimmed in blackened
denim and her bared skin stinging and blistered. “Fuck.
I loved these jeans.”
The genie’s head snapped back, but her grip on
Roxy’s boot tightened. Then her chin dropped, and she
smiled, narrowed eyes glowing a deep orange, lips
