“What the hell is a nisnas?” Ari asked hoarsely. It wasn’t some weird, misshapen dog. It was too intelligent. There was human intelligence in its eyes that scared the utter crap out of her.
Suddenly lifted to her feet by the stranger, Ari swayed back from him and tried to center herself, rubbing her wet, healed arm against her T-shirt. She was no longer in shock, but her body still felt weak from the attack.
“A nisnas is one of the jinn,” the man replied, coming around to face her.
Ari gulped, her neck arching back as she stared up at the strangely dressed guy who must have stood at well over six and a half feet tall. “Jinn?”
He nodded. Those emotionless eyes, so deep and penetrating, snared her. “Like me. Like you. Like your mother.”
Suddenly, the air felt thin and Ari pressed a hand to her chest, breathing deep. The pink skin of her healed arm caught her attention and she shook her head, disbelieving that this was actually real and happening. “This is a dream. I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming. I have to be dreaming because if I’m not dreaming you’re telling me I was actually attacked by some monster and you’re claiming that monster is jinn and that you’re jinn and I’m jinn and the mother that I don’t know is jinn and from everything I’ve read I can only assume by jinn you mean frickin’ mythological genies but the frickin’ scary kind and I can—”
“Breathe,” he interrupted, his features harsh and impatient as he placed one huge hand on her shoulder. “I do not deal well with hysterical women.”
Ari blinked owlishly, her cheeks blazing red at the insinuation she was some prissy idiot who couldn’t handle an unpleasant situation. This wasn’t an unpleasant situation. This was an EPIC situation. “I’m not your daughter,” she responded softly. “I’m Ari Johnson. Derek Johnson’s daughter. And this is a dream I would really like to wake up from now.”
The man cocked his head, studying her, his jaw unclenching. “You may ramble incoherently like a fool, but the only tears you shed are ones of physical pain. Interesting.”
Her patience snapped. She didn’t care how huge or sociopathic this guy was. “Who. The. Hell. Are. You?”
He leveled her with that careful, expressionless gaze of his. “I am the White King.”
“What?”
“The White King. You are in my home on Mount Qaf, the realm of the jinn. And you, Ari Johnson of the mortal realm, are my daughter.”
Chapter 7
I found me in a cold promise
Her teeth chattered and Ari retreated from the insane man, rubbing her arms. “It’s c-c-c-cold. Don’t you think it’s c-c-old?” She shook her head, refusing to believe anything he said, refusing to believe what she could see and touch and hear and smell. “This is too real for a dream,” she whispered, shaking her head, feeling her chest tighten again. Did this mean she’d become unhinged? Oh god. Oh god, she was crazy.
“It is winter on Mount Qaf but the jinn do not feel the cold,” the guy who called himself the White King explained. “You only feel it because you have never used the magic within you. Your body is waiting for your mind to catch up with the truth.”
When Ari continued to look at him blankly, shivering, and hiccupping down little gasps of oxygen, he shook his head. There was no annoyance on his face, but she got the feeling she was irritating him. “Rabir.”
Before Ari could speak, flames burst to life in the air in front of her, and as they swam toward the ground, their flickering tails revealed a familiar face and torso until all of Rabir stood before her. The last sparks of the flames hissed before they extinguished. “You?”
Rabir gave her a charming little bow and smiled. “Ms. Johnson.” He held out a hand, a jacket with fur-lining dangling from his fingers.
In shock, Ari reached out and took it, pulling the jacket on and shivering at the warmth of the silky soft fur against her chilled skin. The White King nodded at Rabir and the ‘genie’ went up in flames. She squeaked on a scream, the heat of the flames licking her face before they disappeared. There was no evidence of him ever having been there, not even the scent of lingering smoke.
He’d gone up in smokeless fire.
Ari gulped, shaking. “That was Rabir. The guy from my party.”
“Rabir is a shaitan. A servant jinn. I sent him to the party to bring you here.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There are rules. No being may be forced into the realm of Mount Qaf unless to be tried by the jinn courts. I feared coming to you would bring you to the attention of those I’d rather keep away from you. So I had Rabir haunt your feelings with the thought of your mother.”