Darkness, Kindled (Fire Spirits 4)

They both turned to look back at the kings and found Azazil was no longer amused. He narrowed his eyes on the White King. “Are you suggesting you are not in favor of a match between Ari and Asmodeus?”

“Indeed.”

Ari sagged at that one word.

“It is a matter of honor, you see,”

White continued. “My daughter has already approached me concerning a betrothal to another and I have agreed to allow her to marry him. I could not go back on my word.”

“You’re lying,” Asmodeus growled, but Azazil, although unhappy, held up a hand to halt him.

Azazil curled a lip at his son. “If you mean this, my word to Asmodeus is superseded by the law.”

“I am aware of that, Father.”

“You’re lying about this, aren’t you?”

White suddenly wore a wicked smile.

“Prove it.”

A simmering heat built among the three of them until Azazil finally asked, “And who is the man she is betrothed to?”

“I think we can all guess,” Asmodeus hissed.

“Jai Bitar of the California Ginnaye Tribe.”

Ari’s knees nearly gave out in relief, and she closed her eyes, bowing her head as tears leaked down her cheeks.

“You would see your daughter joined with a lesser Jinn instead of becoming bride to the first and most powerful Marid in our worlds?” Azazil asked in utter disbelief.

White merely shrugged. “As I stated, it is a matter of honor. Jai has guarded my daughter well these last few months. He will continue to do so as her husband.”

The Sultan sneered. “He was guarding her from you.”

Ari’s father smirked, obviously enjoying the fact that he’d ruined his father’s and Asmodeus’s sick fun. “Do you not love the irony of it?”

Some tittered in the crowd but abruptly stopped when Azazil flashed them a deadly look. “Fine,” he snarled.

“Ari Johnson and Jai Bitar are free to go.”

Just like that.

It was over.

Her eyes clashed with Jai’s and his mouth was curling at the corners in relief. Before Ari could go to him, however, the White King gave his father a militant nod. He then turned on his heel and swiftly walked back down the aisle and past Ari without a word.

What?

Heart racing, Ari shot Jai a look that told him to follow and she ran down the aisle after her father, holding up the train of her ridiculous gown.

“Wait!” she called, as she stumbled out of the ballroom, her eyes on her father’s departing back.

The White King stopped just as Jai appeared beside Ari, his hand immediately seeking hers. Ari almost wept with relief at the feel of it, and she sagged against his side as her father turned to look at her with his dark, alien eyes.

Ari shivered, unnerved as always.

“Why? How?” she asked softly.

“My brother, Glass, paid me a visit.”

“Glass?”

He nodded, face blank. “Yes. He told me what the Sultan’s new form of entertainment was and well … it pleases me to thwart my father.”

“That’s why?”

His gaze sharpened and he took a step toward her. “Do not mistake my actions as affection. I will leave that to my brothers, Red and Glass, who seem to have developed an unseemly fatherly devotion to you.”

Ari ignored his reproach and felt a warmth in her chest knowing Red and Glass really did care for her. She’d have to thank them profusely later. Their affection, however, did nothing to soothe the hurt. She’d never have her real father’s love. That was clear now. She squeezed Jai’s hand and leaned even more heavily against him, needing his strength. “You could’ve given me to anyone, though. Why Jai?”

The White King flicked a disinterested look Jai’s way before turning back to Ari. “My brother asked me to stipulate it. Since I believe in balance, I granted his request.”

“Balance?” Ari’s eyebrows puckered in confusion.

White cocked his head to the side, studying Ari in that way that always freaked her out. “All I have ever wanted was to have the order of the Jinn return to normality. We give balance. We let evil play out as long as it is balanced by the good. My brothers and I played an important role in that when we governed over days of the week. I wanted the old world restored and I believed Lilif was the only Jinn who could help me do that. Instead, she tricked me and sought absolute chaos. I am to blame for that almost happening and if it were not for you, she would have accomplished her goal. I owed you for that. Now the debt is paid.”

Ari nodded, understanding that at least. He had caused her a lot of pain. A ton of it, actually, but today he’d saved her from the worst of it. And for that, she was grateful. “Thank you.”

White frowned in distaste at her gratitude. “Still so human,” he muttered and without another word, he whirled around, his robes billowing behind him, and strode down the palace corridors, flames erupting around his heels, taking him away into the Peripatos.

Ari turned her body fully into Jai, breathing him in as his strong, hard arms wrapped around her, crushing her to him. His mouth was on hers before she could say a word and she melted into his kiss. She knew he could taste her tears of relief spilling down her cheeks to her lips.

***

Homecoming had been emotional as Ari was pulled into Trey’s arms, then Fallon’s, then Caroline’s, and surprisingly even Michael’s.

As she stood back and watched Jai get similar treatment (although it was more a masculine back thump from Trey and Michael), it occurred to her that she had people who truly cared about her. Not just her, but Jai.

They’d all been heartbroken for them and were absolutely delighted to have them back, and back together.

However, before Ari could enjoy the moment, Red and Glass rather impolitely ushered Ari, Jai, and Trey out of the Roes’ house and into their own.

“What’s going on?” Jai asked, his arm still wrapped around Ari’s waist.

Since their quick escape from Mount Qaf, he’d barely let go of her.

Red and Glass gave them hard looks.

“This isn’t over. It won’t ever be over unless I do something about it,” Red informed them quietly, gravely.

Ari and Jai gazed at one another with puckered eyebrows before Ari asked Red what he meant.

“You know Asmodeus will just find another way to torment you, don’t you?”

She gulped at the thought, uneasiness dampening her glow of relieved happiness. “Yes.”

“I won’t let that happen. Enough is enough.”

Jai took a step nearer to Red, his body solid with tension. “What can we do?”

“Not we. I.” Red nodded to Glass and Trey. “Tell them.”

Glass tilted his head at Ari. “Have you felt anything different about Trey? Something about his aura. Does it feel … like mine?”

Ari nodded, her grip on Jai tightening. “Yes. How did you … I thought …” She cleared her throat. “I assumed it was something to do with him spending so much time with you.” She blushed now. “Intimately.”

Trey grinned at her embarrassment, obviously finding her guess amusing.

Glass frowned at him, silently telling him to grow up. That only made Trey grin harder. With a sigh, Glass turned back to Jai and Ari.

“When Pazuzu slit Trey’s throat, I made a decision.

A decision no Jinn king has ever made. I cannot allow harm to come to Trey, and the only way to avoid that was to give him a piece of me.”

Ari and Jai said nothing, trying to process what the hell Glass meant. He continued, “You know that pieces of a Jinn can be taken and placed within others. You saw that with your mother, Ari, when Red and I took a piece of her and placed it within the Jinn trapped in your father’s bottle. When White killed that Jinn, that piece of Sala returned to her. I gave a piece of myself to Trey but in the event that Trey dies, the piece of me will die with him. I have made it so. I have made it so that no one will harm him. If they harm him, they harm me, and if they harm me—”

“They disrupt the balance,” Ari finished, her eyes wide with astonishment. Glass loved Trey so much, he would do such a thing, make such a sacrifice? It was mind-boggling.

“But when Trey dies a natural death …?” Jai whispered, obviously just as shocked.

Glass shook his head. “He is imbued with me and with my power. Trey will live indefinitely. That’s why I had to ask his permission before I did it.”

Ari’s jaw dropped as she turned to her friend. “Trey, you’re immortal?”

No longer smiling, Trey nodded. “I want to be with him,” he replied simply.

Red took control of the conversation again. “With your permission, I am going to place a piece of myself inside each of you.”

The floor might as well have disappeared beneath Ari’s feet, and as if sensing that, Jai held her tighter.

“What?” she croaked.

The Red King studied her carefully, softly. “You remind me so much of your mother. I miss her, Ari. Every day. The only thing that makes her loss bearable is a promise I made to her. I promised to protect you. There have been moments when I didn’t know if I could keep that promise, but when you threw yourself on the proverbial blade for me, I no longer had any doubts. If I can use my brother’s words, it is a matter of honor.

If you have a piece of me inside you, Azazil will command Asmodeus to leave you alone.”

“For eternity,” Jai replied, his tone suggesting uncertainty. “Because we’ll be immortal too.”