“He’s gone, Ari.”
“No.” She shook her head, anger making her eyes glitter with unshed tears. “You’re lying.”
Her uncle shook his head sadly. “The White King sent two shaitans after you. One knocked you out in the woods and the other gave Derek a brain aneurism.”
It was blunt. Harsh. It made little sense. Dad? The things he’d said. Blunt. Something had hit her. It hurt. She’d switched off. DAD! “I want to see him.” Her voice shook. “I want to see him.”
“We put him in his car. Someone will find him and the coroner will declare it death by natural cause. It’ll be easier that way.”
Natural cause?
Derek is dead.
The room spun, and Ari fought to draw in oxygen. The past few weeks had been for nothing. She hadn’t saved him. Who had she been kidding? Derek is dead.
“I really do love you, kid. I guess I just never loved you enough.”
“The White King?” she whispered hoarsely, hitting the floor with a painful thud when she miscalculated the space between her and the bed. She was vaguely aware of the Red King lifting her easily. He sat her down on the bed and took two careful steps backward. Ari focused on those very blue eyes of his. “The White King?” Her father had done this? Deliberately?
Dad.
The pain exploded out of her in soul wrenching fury as she suddenly screamed; the wail turning to body jarring sobs. There were distant sounds all around her. Hurried footsteps growing louder. Familiar male voices calling out in anxiety. And in among it all, the Red King, authoritative, in control. After a long while, her cries slowed and she became aware of the soft fabric against her wet cheek. Ari blinked, the world returning to her in painful gulps. She was lying on her dad’s bed. It was dark outside. Her eyes were swollen. The Red King sat beside her on the bed, watching her. They were alone. Ari could have sworn Jai and Charlie had been in the room.
“Why?” she croaked, another tear slipping down her cheek.
Her dad was gone. Why?
The Red King reached over, brushing her hair from her face in a fatherly gesture that added another crack to her already broken heart. “My brother’s plan was twofold. One, killing Derek was revenge for you outwitting him and two, if you seek vengeance for what he’s done, if you kill the jinn who did this, you will be forced to Mount Qaf to be tried in court. Once the White King has you on Mount Qaf, he’d use that opportunity to manipulate you to his will.”
Ari let that settle on her for a moment.
A moment was all it took for a small ember to flare into a rage. She sat bolt up, her body suddenly firing with energy. “I will not kill the shaitan that did this. But I am going to use my power against the White King. I’ll stop him. I can command him to stop this.” Ari was surprised but gratified to realize that the threat did not sound stupid or empty. It was real. After all, she was the Seal of Solomon.
The Red King’s expression darkened. “No.”
“No.” She glared at him. “What do you mean, no? I thought you were on my side.”
“I am. And if you command one of the Seven Kings of Jinn to your side, Azazil will see that as a threat and it won’t matter what side I’m on, I won’t be able to stop my father from doing all he can to destroy you.”
“Then I’ll command Azazil to back off.”
The Red King threw her a condescending look. “In that book that Jai gave you… did it not tell you the full extent of Azazil’s importance?”
“What do you mean?” she asked warily.
“Azazil is the father of our kind, the first. The balance of order is contingent upon his existence; life, destiny, chaos, destruction are all bound to him. Even I, his son, do not know the depths of Azazil. All I know is that he is connected to all the realms in ways you cannot imagine. He is known in many worlds, and in many cultures, and he has many names. The power of the seal may be great enough to command him to his knees, but nothing is powerful enough to deal with the consequences if a being connected to the balance of life itself falls in supplication to a teenage girl bent on revenge.”
“Oh.” Ari’s heart pounded in her chest in realization. “No. That wasn’t in Jai’s book.”
“I am sorry for your loss, Ari.” The Red King sighed, and Ari looked at him closely, searching for some sincerity. She thought she found it, but after what Jai had told her, Ari wasn’t sure she could trust this male.
“What am I supposed to do?” Another tear scored her cheek as she gazed around her dad’s room. “Where do I go from here?”