Of Wish and Fury (Seven Kings of Jinn)

Annoyed at her confusing reaction to him, Ari pressed a hand to her temple, feeling a headache coming on. “We went to the apartment my dad left me.”

Charlie touched her arm. “You okay?”

She stepped away from him, trying not to be obvious. Charlie had been there for her these last few days; he’d been a great friend, and his mom had dropped off a ton of homemade dinners (as had many of her neighbors), so she didn’t have to worry about food, but she was still mad. Maybe even more so now. And yet, despite how mad she was at him, she didn’t want to hurt him. Glancing down at the hand that touched her and was now falling dejectedly at his side, Ari’s eyes narrowed on his wrist. A tattoo? Since when? Her eyes flew up to his face and suddenly she realized why he looked so different. He’d cut all of his amazing hair off. “You cut your hair.”

He shrugged. “Yeah."

She stared sullenly at the tattoo. “What does the tattoo say?”

The question caused him to suck in his breath and share a wary look with Jai. Ari glowered at them both. What was the big secret?

Finally, Charlie sighed. “It means justice in Arabic.”

And just like that, her anger toward him came rushing back. It would always be this way with him. Mike’s death would pollute his every action. With one last cutting look, Ari turned on her heel and hurried toward the staircase.

“Ari, wait!” Charlie called out to her, not even bothering to hide his frustration and annoyance. “You’ve got to talk to me about this sometime!"

She flipped him off without looking at him and stomped up the stairs.

It was her dad's funeral tomorrow.

Never enough. Ari fell onto her bed, tears seeping into her pillow. It was never enough…

This wasn’t her room. Ari frowned, stepping across the black marble floor. The widest bed she’d ever seen was sitting in the middle of the room, made up of brightly colored silks and velvets. The room was enormous, but bare except for the bed. She noted a large doorway cut into burnished rock walls, but no doors. It led onto a balcony that seemed to be balanced upon the dark, starry night. It was a beautiful illusion.

Double doors burst open behind her and Ari took a step back, watching the stunning dark-haired jinn she remembered from the fight between the giants striding into the room. This time, the female was human-sized. Her hair whipped out behind her, the jewels on her forehead glittering in the low light. She wore a dress that fluttered and flowed around her body as if the fabric were made of water. Gold clips held the dress together at the shoulders and it was split into slits around her legs to allow ease of movement. Ari eyed the gold designs that were painted in attractive curls, winding up around the jinn’s slender legs. She looked like a queen.

“I will not apologize to him, brother!” she spat, and Ari’s eyes followed her words over her shoulder to the male jinn, who trailed into the room behind her. It was the other giant jinn from before, but now he too was human-sized. His dark hair was braided down his back and his handsome face was marred with a scowl, but no injuries this time.

“You must,” his deep voice rumbled toward the female in warning. “You were impudent and spoiled.”

She whirled on him, her dark eyes flashing with rage. “He refused to give me the deference I deserve!”

“You have not earned it,” the male replied calmly.

“Have not earned it?” she gasped, and candlelight in the room flickered with fear. “I have borne him gifts that no one else has!”

“You have lain with others. You speak to him like an ill-mannered child in front of our brethren and you expect when you should be grateful.”

Tears spilled down her pretty cheeks. “You take his side over mine?”

“He is our master. He has been good to us.”

“He is selfish! He could give us more… I know he could. But he refuses.”

“You would misuse it. He sees this.”

“You have no faith in me, brother?”

The male jinn smiled kindly and reached up to brush a tear from her cheek. “I have faith in your greed.”

The female jinn shrieked, and Ari winced against the painful sound. The room dimmed and suddenly she was aware of softness beneath her. Realizing the pain hadn’t been real, Ari sighed and peeled her eyes open. She’d been dreaming. Of those jinn again.

Who were they?

Her alarm on her smartphone went off and Ari reached over, silencing it. Dull light pushed into the room through the window, trying to melt the shadows and having little luck. It looked like it might rain.

It was as if the sky was sharing its sympathy with her.