The time had come. Azazil had granted Ari her wish and now he was weaker than he’d ever been.
Lilif, his mother, was almost in his grasp.
“The power around the palace has waned with the Sultan’s weakness,” White informed the army. “We appear as one inside the palace grounds and we charge. Your duty is to protect my brothers and me, and clear our path to Azazil. Understood?”
They stomped their feet in answer, and White turned to his brothers with a triumphant gleam in his eyes. “Let us begin.”
A moment later the White King strode casually through his roaring army as they charged the main gates to Azazil’s palace. Their combined magic burst against the waning protection enchantments around the building, sending flares of brilliant light up into the sky. The Gleaming and Shadow King walked on either side of White, strolling through a thick air of spells as battle cries rent the air.
Azazil’s Jinn flowed from the main entrance of the palace. Charms, spells, and enchantments created a song in the atmosphere; fists, knives, and swords splashed vibrant blood into the mix.
Brave Jinn attempted to stall
Azazil and his brothers, but they were waved aside as if nothing more than irritating flies. Smiling in exultation at his brothers, White led them inside the main reception hall, leaving much of their army behind in a violent struggle for victory. Some of their men were already inside the palace, attempting to clear their way. White marched down the wide, opulent corridors with his acinaces sword strapped to his hip, his heart pounding as he neared his own conquest.
They turned sharply around a corner, heading for their father’s chambers only to come to an abrupt halt.
Asmodeus stood before them, blood smearing his face and torso, his expression blank but his body tensed for war.
Scattered around him were pieces of Jinn—arms, legs, torsos, heads—and in Asmodeus’s fist, a heart drew its last breath. He dropped it to the floor with a squishy thump, and tilted his head to the side.
“Children,” he tut-tutted softly, “you don’t really want to fight me, do you?”
No, White really didn’t. He’d leave his brothers to that. He telepathed to them both, Get the ring off him and bring it to me. I’ll secure Father’s room.
Without another word, he let the hallway dissolve around him and quickly teleported into his father’s room.
Immediately he was assaulted by a red-eyed Shaitan.
White drew back, blocking the enchantment she threw at him with one hand and swinging his acinaces sword with the other.
Her head rolled off her body just as White felt the sharp bite of a blade in his back. He bit out a curse and spun around to find another Shaitan dancing nervously, his bloodied dagger shifting between hands.
As the wound in White’s back began to heal, he shook his head disapprovingly at the Shaitan and wrapped an enchantment around his throat, squeezing the life out of him. The Shaitan fell to his knees, his eyes begging for mercy as his face purpled with asphyxiation.
White would not grant him that mercy. A coward who would stab a king in the back deserved to die slowly.
White had only a moment to spy a glimpse of his father lying frail and weak in his bed when three more Shaitans burst into the room and engaged him in a fight. Impatient to be done, he swiped a hand out around all three and watched his deadly curse create fragmentations in their bodies, until their panicked shaking caused the pieces to shatter like ice cubes onto the chamber floor. The cubes melted, and the heady scent of copper filled the room.
Brother, a little help here! Gleaming’s outraged cry blasted through his head.
How on earth was it possible that Asmodeus was fighting off two Jinn kings? Shaking his head in fury, White reappeared in amongst the small battle Asmodeus was waging against Gleaming and Shadow. His brothers busied Asmodeus while he looked for a weakness. Shadow was helpfully allowing Asmodeus to pummel his face while Gleaming tried to breach the protection enchantment Asmodeus had put up around himself. White tried to find a way in and spied the rope that held the ring of Solomon around Marid’s neck. So close … so very close.
And then he saw it.
Shadow’s fingers gripped tight to Asmodeus’s wrist, begging for relief as the Marid held him down. He was able to touch Asmodeus when the intention was not to attack.
The enchantment was a defensive one only.
Ah, Asmodeus.
White shook his head smugly, your paranoia will be the end of you.
With thoughts of harm quashed beneath his obsession to find his mother, White reached out and snapped the rope from Asmodeus’s neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw fire explode in the hallway, the vivid hue of blue and red warning him his brother’s Glass and Red had arrived to join the fight. White instantly teleported back to his father’s room, knowing the fight would definitely be out of his favor once Red and Glass joined ranks with Asmodeus.
It was possible that every Jinn in all of Mount Qaf was alerted to Asmodeus’s realization that the ring had been stolen.
The lieutenant’s roar literally shook the palace and the mountains beneath it.
White slammed the doors to his father’s chamber, blocking out the war cries that seemed to pound down on the palace from every side. He slipped on the Seal of Solomon, feeling its power, his mother’s power, rush through him. He stroked the brass and iron ring with tenderness. Within it resided his mother’s spirit and very soon, she would be reunited with her body.
Quickly, White strode around to his father’s bedside.
Azazil looked up at him with a strange mix of pride and rage. “You have no idea what you are about to unleash.”
White shook his head. “Mother is balance. Our world is not the same without her. And if you are going to blame anyone for this … blame yourself. You were the one who granted my daughter the favor that brought you so low. You knew something like this might happen. You invited it.”
His father nodded wearily. “I kindled a darkness, yes, but you are about to set the world alight with the blackest flame. Lilif will cast us all into shadow.”
“Enough of your lies, Father.”
White uncurled his hand, staring at the ring. “I command you to tell me the location of Lilif’s body.”
Slowly, and in great pain to do so, Azazil closed his eyes. With a sigh of exhaustion, he revealed his greatest secret.
12
Thy Will Be Undone
White lit candles upon entering the mausoleum built into the deepest depths of the Menelik, their light flickering over the sarcophagus from the old sconces. This was an area not even the state knew existed, hidden behind a rock door only accessible by powerful Jinn.
Considering only one Jinn knew of its existence in the first place, White found the tomb undisturbed. It was small, dark, carved out in a near circular shape, the rock walls protruding out here and there.
In the center, balanced on an
elaborate pedestal, sat the sarcophagus. Sealed by royal blood, it could only be opened by royal blood.
White conjured a small dagger and
scored a deep slice across his open palm. Quickly, before it could heal, he curled his hand into a fist and dripped his blood into the center of the carved coffin.
Electricity filled the air. White
watched with anticipation as the sarcophagus began to melt, revealing the youthful face of his beautiful mother. As her rattily-clothed body was revealed to him, he reached out to catch her before the sarcophagus completely disappeared. Cradling her in his arms, White felt tears of elation prick his eyes as he knelt to his knees and pulled out the Seal.
This would most probably hurt her.
“Forgive me, Mother,” he apologized
softly, his eyes glued to her sweet, pure face.
With a cry of triumph, White raised
his fist with the Seal inside and smashed it through Lilif’s breast. An ember glow immediately lit up inside her and Lilif’s eyes flew open on an anguished gasp.
As White removed his fist and
watched her chest heal over, Lilif’s frightened eyes searched the room before swinging up to his face. Slowly, as the pain diminished in her dark gaze, light returned. She recognized him.
“I knew you’d find me,” she
whispered, a soft smile on her lips.
White closed his eyes in absolute
relief. Everything would be all right now.
Opening his eyes at his mother’s
coughing, White helped her sit up, her entire body trembling against him. “Can I get you something?” he asked.
She placed a palm to her chest and
winced, shaking her head. “I would say give me a minute, but we don’t have the time.” When her eyes came back to him, White froze in confusion. Within, he saw a hard intensity he did not recognize. “We must bring on The After, son, and we must do it soon.”
The sound of her shower running slowly woke Ari from her dreamless sleep. Prying her eyes open, she stretched a hand out, sliding her palm over the warm space where Jai had lain next to her. The shower turned off and she smiled into her pillow.
After seeing Charlie and Mikey back
together again, Ari had returned home with Jai and collapsed in an exhausted heap. Jai had put her to bed and climbed in with her, and she’d fallen asleep curled next to him. It had been the best sleep she’d had in a long time.
It was difficult to really put her
feelings into words about what had happened since Azazil had granted her the favor. She was nervous about seeing Fallon, anxious the girl was coping, and worried about having to explain that Charlie would no longer know who the heck Fallon was. Moreover, Ari was deeply saddened that Charlie no longer knew who she was. And yet, at the same time, she was ecstatic he was the old Charlie again and that he had Mikey back.
Ari could live with not getting to
be a part of Charlie’s new reality as long as it meant he was happy and healthy.
The door to the bathroom opened and
Jai wandered out, running a hand over his barely there hair. Ari propped herself up on an elbow. He’d cut his hair again.
It was hot.
So was the near-nakedness.
He wore only a towel wrapped around
his waist.
Walking quietly toward his jeans,
Jai seemed unaware that Ari was awake. She cleared her throat, drawing his head around toward her. He smiled softly and Ari felt the smile shoot all the way down into her belly.
“Morning.”
“Morning.” She cocked her head and
patted the space on the bed beside her. “Come back.”
He grinned. “I would but I thought
you’d want to see Fallon as soon as possible.”
“I do want to see Fallon. And I
will.” She sat up and casually pulled her pajama top off, letting the sheet fall to her waist. Her heart beat a little harder at the way Jai’s expression darkened, faltering as he dropped his jeans back onto the floor. “But first I want my boyfriend to come here.”
No verbal response needed, Jai
strode toward the bed, his fingers tugging his towel loose just before he reached for her. He cupped a hand around her neck and pulled her against his body, his kiss long and deep, a prelude to one very exquisite morning.
The fire in Michael’s study broke the silence as it crackled and snapped, its heat inviting in the cold Jersey winter weather. Ari sat nervously in an armchair before Michael’s desk, Jai standing by her side.
It would’ve been nice to make their exquisite morning an entire exquisite day, but Ari knew she needed to meet with Fallon. She had to attempt to explain things.
Michael sighed behind his desk,
checking his watch. “I’m sure she’s coming.”
They’d been waiting on Fallon
coming down from her bedroom for twenty minutes.
“Should I maybe go to her?”
Before Michael could respond, the
door to his study opened and Caroline walked in, a shadow behind her. Before Ari could determine who the shadow was, Caroline dragged her from the chair with surprisingly strong arms and suffocated her with the tightest hug she’d ever received.