Queen of Shadow and Ash, page 23
“I can’t,” he pleaded with her, nothing like the man she had come to know and dislike. He appeared so much older than he used to. “Only I can order Teruze to allow me to unleash Jai, but the White King promised he would destroy my entire tribe if I willingly freed Jai. I know I have made decisions you don’t agree with regarding Jai. I know my son and I are not close, but Ari, I would never wish that kind of hell on him. Trapped in a bottle, it’s darkness. Nothing but maddening darkness. For weeks. I… I’ve been waiting for you or the Red King to show up and order me to release him. It’s the only way around my oath to the White King. Ari.” He pinched her arm desperately. “He’s still my son. Believe me when I say I never wanted this. Order me to free him. Command me!”
“I can’t,” she snapped. “Asmodeus ripped the seal from me. He has it now.”
“WHAT?” White’s bellow roared around the entire mansion as he stepped out of the cloak, advancing on Ari with dark questions in his eyes. For a moment, she was stunned. She hadn’t felt him hiding there, and then she realized she was no longer the seal. She no longer had the gift of detecting jinn hiding in the cloak. Shit! “I wondered what this trick was, why you were pretending not to feel me hiding in the cloak. What is going?”
Luca attempted to stand between Ari and White, but the jinn king looked at him as if he was a mere bug, sweeping his hand out in the air to send Luca crashing against one of Nicki’s ugly portraits. Nicki made a choked sound of distress as she rushed to Luca’s side and Ari barely registered White’s proximity as she waited for signs of life from Jai’s dad. When he groaned, Ari sagged with relief. When she freed Jai, the last thing she wanted to tell him was that his dad was dead.
Ari turned to face White. A sense of relish, of triumph, overwhelmed her as she took in her real father’s rage. The cool, carefully blank expression he’d adopted as a perennial mask had finally slipped. He was feeling something.
Good.
He’d taken so much from her.
It was nice to see him bested.
Feeling as though she was standing under the heavy breaths of a dragon, Ari tried not to flinch when he took another step closer. “They played you all along,” she taunted him softly. “Azazil told Asmodeus to let Sala seduce him because he knew what you planned and he wanted you to do it.”
“Liar,” he snarled, but something flickered in the back of his eyes, as though he’d heard this all before. “Why would Azazil want the seal in human form?”
Tired of his dementedly stubborn blind faith in Lilif, Ari wondered if the truth would finally knock some sense into White. “Lilif really does want the After. I should know. The seal, it’s really your mother’s essence. The thing you’d been looking for? You had it all along until you used it to impregnate my mother.”
His eyes narrowed and Ari waited a moment to make sure he wouldn't lash out at her before she continued.
“Azazil thought putting Lilif’s power into a jinn through natural birth might bring forth a jinn with her power, but lacking in her madness. That it would somehow bring the old balance back. Instead, it backfired. I started getting these visions. They were Lilif’s memories. Her essence, it’s not just her power. It’s actually her. And she was trying to take control of my body. And these memories… I saw you. She played you. She let—” Ari choked off as his large hand wrapped around her throat. She clawed at it in panic as he lifted her off the ground, her weight nothing to him as he held her close.
“You lie,” he hissed. “They’ve poisoned you with their lies. Planted seeds, visions, doubts.” He shook her like a rag doll and Ari felt her eyes roll back in her head. “Command me to do something.”
How could she? She gasped, her nails biting into his hand, her legs kicking out at him.
Abruptly he released her and she collapsed onto her knees, coughing and spluttering as she tried to draw breath.
“Command me!”
“I can’t,” she managed hoarsely.
“Command me, Ari!”
“I command you to shut the hell up!” she yelled, her voice cracking on the words.
They were all silent, and Ari chanced a glance over at Luca and Nicki. Luca was on his feet now, Nicki standing protectively by his side. Ari caught the turmoil in his expression. He wanted to help, but doing so could harm his tribe. She gave a tiny shake of her head to let him know she wanted him to stay out of it.
“It didn’t work,” White responded, his voice hushed with disbelief. “It didn’t work.”
As he stood there aghast, Ari considered the quickest way past him to the treasure room. Just as she was gathering her nerves to zoom by him, White turned his gaze on her, his eyes opaque with steel.
“Then you are of no more use to me,” he announced softly, but the words were laced with the quietest fury Ari had ever heard.
The threat lanced through her and Ari quickly threw up her hands, summoning her power just in time to block the bolt of magic he shot at her. It bounced off the cushion she’d created and Ari sped back from him at jinn speed.
He was faster.
As she took corporeal form, the blurry trail of smoke she’d become solidifying back into her, a hand wrapped around her throat again and Ari’s eyes popped wide as White slid her body up the entrance door of the mansion, her body dangling helplessly. There was nothing in his eyes. Nothing at all.
Ari forced her magic through her fingers as she gripped at the hand choking her, sending a sharp knife-like pain into his hand, down his arm and into his body—little spiders of virulent energy aiming for his heart. She was sweating from the energy it took to shoot all her defensive magic into him, and yet it had no effect. She felt her magic flame out as his far more powerful abilities overwhelmed it.
He was an immortal jinn king after all.
And she was going to die.
Ari refused to cry. She wasn’t going out that way. Not after everything he’d done. He deserved, even if she was the one dying, to feel as if he’d lost.
Checkmate, she telepathed loud and clear to him, her voice filled with a strange mixture of smug acceptance.
As they gazed into each other’s eyes, as she gazed into the face of her monstrously cruel father, as her breathing grew more strained, and black spots started pushing in at the corner of her eyes, Ari could have sworn the emotionless bled from his eyes. They widened a little, as if recognizing her.
His grip loosened and Ari felt a rush of air drag down into her windpipe just as an explosion of flames could be heard behind them.
White flinched, his body jerking, his hand unclasping from around Ari's throat as he made a guttural sound of distress. Ari crashed to the ground as White whirled around above to face his attacker. Coughing, struggling to draw in air down her swollen throat, Ari looked up through the curtain of her hair and froze in absolute dismay.
Sala.
The power of the haqeeqah in Sala’s hands whipped her long dark curls behind her, snapped back the silk fabric of her blue dress. Her eyes were feral on White as he took slow, calculating steps toward her.
“You will never harm my daughter again,” Sala promised, enraged, her chest rising and falling rapidly with the emotion.
“Mom,” Ari croaked, stumbling to her feet. “Get out of here,” she pleaded.
“You get out of here,” Sala snapped at her desperately. “He won’t stop until he kills you. I won’t let that happen. Now get Jai and get out of here. Now!”
“No,” Ari whispered, the memory of White’s grip loosening around her neck prompting her to stay. She was safer with him than Sala was. RED! Ari telepathed as powerfully as she could. WHITE HAS SALA!
As if sensing the power she’d just unleashed into her SOS, White shot her a dangerous look over his shoulder. Using that moment of distraction, Sala threw the Haqeeqah.
White moved.
A blur of smoke, he was across the hall in milliseconds, the Haqeeqah blasting into the wall inches from Ari, the magic seeping into the plasterwork. It crumbled, bricks shifted, preparing to fall.
Ari’s gaze swung back to her mother. White had her. He stood with Sala’s back pressed to his front, his arms clasped around her, his mouth at her ear. They might have looked like two lovers embracing if it hadn’t been for Sala’s terror as she looked over at Ari.
“Ari, leave,” she pleaded, flinching as White murmured something in her ear.
Ari ran toward them, pushing her energy out at White to knock him back from her, but he moved again, this time taking Sala with him, and as Ari spun to get her bearings… she was too late.
His fist punched through Sala’s chest cavity and he wrenched it back out, holding her heart in his hand.
Sala's wide-eyed expression remained in her death as her body crumpled to the ground.
“NO!”
Ari heard the bellow. She felt it vibrate through her as her knees gave way. Red hair streaked across her vision, followed by blue.
Her blurry gaze froze on her mother’s body, on her wide empty eyes that stared directly into Ari’s. Ari’s own body crumpled in on itself in agony. Grief, regret, wishes—they all pounded into her like a gang of youths beating her up who planned to steal all the promises of the future from her. The promise of having a parent who loved her.
It was gone.
Sala was gone.
Hands grabbed each of Ari’s arms and she allowed herself to be dragged back into the doorway of one of the Bitar’s sitting rooms. She looked into Luca’s face. His features strained, a sympathy she didn’t know he was capable of burning in his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you out of the way of that.” He nodded into the entrance and Ari turned, the sounds of chaos finally filtering into her ears and connecting with the sight before her.
Red and Glass attacked White. The entrance hall was a disaster zone—the lower balustrade of the staircase broken, portraits crashed to the ground, enormous cracks zipped up the sides of the walls where they'd thrown White with the force of a wrecking ball. Now the White King was pinned against the stairs under the power of both Glass and Red.
Understanding dawned as she took in the absolute grief and horror in Red’s eyes as he curled a fist in the air and squeezed, the action seeming to magically squeeze the air from White’s lungs as he clawed at the invisible hand around his throat.
“Brother,” Glass murmured, although he did not loosen his grip on White. “Red… we cannot…”
But Red was far gone, his face mottled with fury. “I will destroy you,” he choked out. “For what you have taken today, I will destroy you.”
Suddenly flames burst to life behind them and out of the peripatos strode an incredibly tall, dark-haired jinn who emanated power. Another jinn king. He flicked a look at Ari as he marched toward his brothers. “Not today you won’t, Red,” he answered in a bored monotone. “Two against two, it could go on forever.”
“Get out of here, Shadow.” Red curled his lip at him. “This is not your fight.”
“Actually, it is.”
The Shadow King. Ari let out a slow breath, watching the four jinn kings together. It was frightening. They could destroy everything in their paths, and no one could stop them.
“Red.” Glass pressed a tentative hand to his brother’s shoulder. “I know what you are feeling. You know I do. However, this is pointless. You know you will never kill him.”
The air was heavy as they all waited for Red’s decision.
With a growl of disgust, he stepped back, and Glass followed suit.
White choked and spluttered, just as Ari had done only minutes before when he’d attacked her. Throwing Red a sinister look, White stood to his feet in one fluid motion. As smart as he was, Ari was unsurprised when he took a step back up the staircase, letting the flames of the peripatos engulf him.
The Shadow King grunted. “Thank you, Shadow,” he mimicked White, “For coming to my aid. Oh, you’re so welcome, brother.” He rolled his eyes. “Ungrateful swine.” Shadow turned his head to stare at Ari. “So this was the seal. You look just like your mother before she lost her heart.”
And before Red could retaliate to that snide, cruel remark, Shadow disappeared into the peripatos.
Silence slunk around the room as if it knew there was no time for it to be there, but couldn’t leave, for it was magnetically drawn to the grief that thickened the air.
Finally, at the tightening of Luca’s hand around her arm, Ari took a tentative step toward the Red King. He stood gazing down at Sala in disbelief, the Glass King by his side, his hand on his back in offer of comfort. The tears spilled down Ari’s cheeks as she took in the sight of the mother who loved her, a mother she had never gotten to know, and her uncle, whose overwhelming presence only made his grief seep into everyone around him.
Her doubts over whether a jinn king could really feel fled at Red's obvious love for Sala.
Lips trembling, tongue zinging with the taste of salt from her tears, Ari opened her mouth to speak and when no words came out, she had to clear her throat. The noise drew Glass’s gaze and he offered her a sympathetic nod. Despite the distance between them, Ari had lost Sala, too.
That only made her tears fall faster and she had to brush them quickly aside in order to face Red. “Red,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
He didn’t look at her. Couldn’t speak.
Did he blame her?
Oh God, if he blamed her…
Deciding then she couldn’t possibly ask for his help, Ari shifted her eyes back to Glass, who watched her expectantly. “I need your help,” she told him quietly.
He frowned and nodded at her to continue. She noted he never once took his hand from Red’s shoulder.
“Jai is trapped in a bottle here by his father, but Luca made an oath to White that he wouldn’t willingly let Jai go.”
“Willingly?” Glass repeated and then sighed as he grasped what she implied. He turned to Red. “I will help Ari. You should take Sala somewhere. Lay her to rest.”
A sob tore from Ari’s throat before she could stop it and her whole body shook with the grief. She hadn’t expected to feel so much. To feel so raw and hurt by the loss of a woman she barely knew. But the utter love she’d had for Ari had been a promise of a genuine relationship with her mother. Her sacrifice to save her daughter… had it been for nothing? Would White really have killed Ari? The thought wracked her body with sobs.
A familiar but surprising presence was beside her suddenly and Ari looked up through her tears into the face of the Red King. His expression was stern, his eyes bleak and Ari waited with bated breath, her sobs dying out, as he lifted a hand toward her. She stilled. The large hand came down and caressed her shoulder, and Ari sagged into it.
“She loved you,” he told her in a voice numb with pain. “She would not want you to blame yourself for her death. Nor would she want me to blame you.”
“Do you?” Ari asked warily, batting away the tears, unable to stop her hands from trembling.
“I am trying not to.”
The honest answer was cutting, but Ari accepted it. She understood. She wished she didn’t, but she did.
“Go with Glass and Luca,” Red ordered quietly. “I will take Sala somewhere I promised I would if this ever happened.”
Knowing another apology was futile, Ari allowed Glass to take her arm as Luca led them to the treasure room. Still in shock, Luca’s words made no sense to Ari as he spoke to the red bottle that held Teruze. Then they were in front of a mottled green bottle and Glass demanding Luca let Jai out.
Luca’s energy filled the small room—and then Jai was there—crumpling against Luca, who reached out to steady him.
Ari took in the way Jai’s eyes blinked rapidly, as if the light was blinding him. His clothing was dirty and rumpled and he’d grown a beard, making him almost unrecognizable.
She flew at him. Careless of what they’d both been through, her arms banded around him tightly as she pressed herself to him. He staggered under the impact. As she cried silently against his chest, Jai’s arms came around her and he seemed to sag into her.
“Ari,” he whispered roughly, his arms tightening until she could barely breathe. “Ari.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Making Sense of it All Makes No Sense When You Sense it Too Late
“This is getting us nowhere, Charlie.” Fallon huffed as she crawled up beside him on the motel bed. “There are no anomalies in this area—none of the morgue records show an increase in child deaths; there are no records of polluted water supplies like there usually is when a labartu is in the area. Maybe she’s gone, or maybe she’s on the other side of freakin’ Houston… or Red and Glass lied.”
“Nah.” Charlie shook his head, lifting his arm so she could snuggle up against him. It had been a long day. Again. “I think the bitch knows I’m on her tail. She could manipulate the records, or Red might. He seems to have changed his mind about letting me do this.” He knew he sounded bitter and he was. The last thing he needed was the jinn king going soft on him.
“Don’t you think you’re reaching?”
“I think I’m pissed off waiting around.” He squeezed her closer so she’d know he didn’t mean he was pissed at her. He was just pissed at everything. Charlie worried about Ari, wondering if she was okay—knowing that if she was okay, she would have come after him by now. Guilt and shame flooded him. He would search for her if it wasn’t for the emerald burning in his pocket. It had become an obsession. Like he’d gone from snorting to free-basing. And right now, he felt like he needed to use that emerald more than he needed to rescue the girl he loved.
That was some screwed up shit right there.
Charlie blanched, trying to ignore the burn of the emerald in his pocket. He wanted to use it for the hell of it, just so he could taste its power again.
The motel manager had been rude to Fallon…
The ping of Fallon’s cell ripped him from his dark musings as she leaned over him to pick it up off the bedside table. She touched the screen twice and then her eyes widened.
