Of Wish and Fury (Seven Kings of Jinn)

As if reading his thoughts, Jai’s deep voice cut through the room. “Why did you do it, Charlie? The sorcerer wish? And who did it? Surely you know that whoever it was has an agenda all of their own?”

“I’m not stupid. I realize that the jinn who helped me will want something from me in return. But I finally have a chance to do something about what happened to Mike. I don’t feel powerless anymore.” Just tired of being questioned and looked at like I’m some kind of criminal.

“Revenge will get you killed.”

“It might, yeah.”

“No. It will.”

Charlie frowned. Could Jai really find it dishonorable of him to want to avenge his little brother’s murder? A reply hadn’t formed in Charlie’s mind yet when flames crackled in the air and the Red King stepped out of the peripatos. Was it weird that Charlie didn’t even blink at that now?

“Ari is going to be okay,” he told them, his demeanor unusually tense for him. “She should wake up in a bit.” He looked at Jai. “Did you do what I asked?”

“Ari should get a call soon.”

Charlie frowned, feeling very much out of the loop. “About what?”

“Derek’s body.”

Oh right. Jai had told him he’d left him in his car where he’d be found outside the woods. The coroner would declare the death as caused by an aneurism. Charlie felt a little sick. Derek’s death was being treated as something that needed to be tidied up, nice and easy for Ari to deal with. It somehow dehumanized the man they were talking about.

“Who knows how Ari will react to this. We have to make sure she doesn’t do anything foolish.” The Red King had a determined gleam in his eyes.

Anger churned in Charlie's gut as looking at Ari's uncle reminded him of her real father. “It was definitely the White King then?”

The Red King nodded. “He’s trying to bait Ari into doing something that will result in her trapped on Mount Qaf. He plans for her to take revenge against the jinn who did this, possibly even attempt revenge against him. And if she does that, she’ll be forced to Mount Qaf to face trial and my brother will use that opportunity to get what he wants from her.”

“So what now?” Jai asked quietly.

“Now I wait around for her to wake up,” the Red King said. “I’ll explain why an attempt to kill the White King is a bad thing. I just hope that this time the seal is in the hands of someone who cares nothing for power and will not misuse it.”

“It is,” Charlie and Jai said in unison.

They glanced at one another, their eyes narrowing warily like two opponents weighing the other up.

Chapter

Five

WAR SHIVERS IN THE DARKNESS… WAITING

“I wish I was a better father. I wish I was a better man. I wish I loved you the way that you deserve to be loved. I’ve been angry for years, Ari. And it wasn’t until I discovered the truth about you and Sala that I realized how angry I am at your mother.”

Dad, no.

Smoke rose all around him as he stared at her with anguished eyes.

The smell of burning flesh clogged her throat, hitting her gag reflex.

“I really do love you, kid. I guess I just never loved you enough.”

No! His face flickered beneath the flames, but he didn’t cry out in pain. She did that for him.

He smiled a bittersweet smile even as the fire tore through him.

“I will never regret keeping you safe, even if I didn’t know that’s what I was doing.”

DAD, NO!

Her eyes slammed open and then shut against the bright glare of light from her bedside lamp. Taking a deep breath, sensing jinn in her room, Ari fought her way through the nightmare to reality. What was she doing in bed? What had happened?

She had been in Vickers Woods with her dad.

Where was her dad?

“Dad?” she pried her eyes open and felt her heart rate speed up at the sight of her uncle, the Red King, at the foot of her bed. He didn’t give her his usual smile. Instead, he stared at her stonily.

Ari let go of the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She was still in the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d chased her dad out to Vickers Woods, but the sky was darkening outside, so some hours had passed since then. “What’s going on?”

“Derek is dead.”

The words didn’t register at first. Ari blinked, her brain automatically trying to rearrange the sentence so it made sense. “What?” her lips felt numb suddenly.

“Derek is dead. He was killed.”

Derek is dead.

Ari shook her head, fumbling to push herself off the bed. She stumbled to her feet and shoved strength into her legs. Charging past her uncle and out of her room, she raced down the hallway to her dad’s bedroom. She pushed open the door and found it empty. That meant nothing. He was probably downstairs. Shaking now, Ari spun around to leave, only to find the way blocked by the Red King.