The Seven Kings of Jinn

She gaped and then laughed bitterly. “Are you threatening me? Your own daughter?”

“I am the White King.”

That’s his answer? I am the White King? He had no feelings. None. Ari shook. “You’re not my father. You can’t be.”

“I am.” He cocked his head to the other side and Ari shivered in revulsion. She remembered watching this sci-fi movie with Charlie where these aliens body snatched people. They looked like the humans they’d stolen the bodies from (obviously) but their features and eyes lacked total expression and when something aroused their interest they’d cock their heads to the side, studying it as if it were some kind of ... well… alien. That’s what this guy who claimed to be her father reminded her of. A sociopathic alien. “Sala and I argued during her pregnancy. To punish me, she disappeared into the mortal realm and returned a month later. Alone. She told me she had hidden you from me to punish me. Ifrits are powerful and Sala’s powers of seduction are greater than any jinn I have ever met, but her use of enchantments is basic. The enchantment she used to keep you hidden with one of her mortal ex-lovers, Derek Johnson, waned after sixteen years. I could feel you, but I couldn’t find you. It took me two years.”

Ari gripped the bed post tighter, trying to digest this news. This truth?

“If you were honest with yourself, child, you’d know that I speak the truth. From what I’ve seen, the elders in your life have abandoned you. People you care about have been abandoned by their elders. You feel disconnected from that world, Ari. You know you do. Your only connection is a troubled boy upon whom you cling to in desperation like a life float.” He sat forward, his robes whispering against the glass of the throne. “You have come home, child. You have come home and I will not abandon you.”

She searched his face, his words piercing her with their knife-like perceptiveness. Perhaps what he said was true. She and Charlie were all alone. They did only have each other. But that wasn’t the only reason she clung to him. And this jinn? This king?

His was the coldest promise she’d ever heard.

He had a child to fulfill something within himself, not because he wanted to love the child. And her mother? Her mother had told a lie to a man about her paternity, a good man whom Ari loved, and Sala had done this over some petty argument?

Her parents were monsters.

Her father had gone to all this trouble to get her here for nothing. Making her wish for her mother, making her—

Making me wish for my mother.

Confusion rippled through her and Ari let go of the bedpost. She stood shakily to her feet. “If I wished for my mother, why didn’t I appear before her?”

The White King shrugged. His eyes flicked to the nightstand and for once they expressed emotion: boredom. “You did.”

The sick feeling intensified and she gaped at the purple bottle that had drawn her attention when she first arrived. “No.” She shook her head. “That’s crazy. That’s like something out of Arabian Nights.”

He blinked at her. “Where do you think the legends come from? Sala betrayed me; she incurred my wrath.” He spoke of wrath, but there was no fire in his voice. It remained quiet and chilling. “She is lucky I didn’t strip her skin from her bones and hang her out for the Qaf vultures to feed upon.”

Ari stumbled back in horror at his words. “Oh my God.”

“You do not betray the White King and walk away unscathed. Sala was lashed for her crime and trapped within the bottle. She will remain there for however long I wish it. Perhaps another few centuries.”

“You don’t even care.” Ari’s mouth trembled, fear crawling up her spine. “You’re a monster. You’re not my father. I’m not related to you. You’re a monster.”

He stood up so swiftly, Ari stumbled back against the bed. His tall figure towered over her, casting her in shadow and heat. “I am jinn,” he replied quietly. “You would not be horrified by my actions if I had reared you within our realm, among your kind, as you should have been. As is your right.” He held out an icy hand for her. “Stay, Ari. You are a princess of the jinn. I will not abandon you. Your father will not abandon you.”

She bit her lip, terrified of the consequences of her response. But she wouldn’t stay here. She had a home to return to and two people she loved. And she needed to get back there so she could have a suitable mental breakdown without this psychotic jinn watching her. “No. You may be my father, but you’re not my dad. Send me home.”

Gasping in surprise, Ari watched his black eyes light up like two flames. His body shimmered and shadows moved under his skin like black serpents fighting for freedom. “If you leave, child, you will regret it.”