The Law of Stars and Sultans

“This morning.” He sat forward, his gaze drifting between her and Trey. “What if we try to dry Charlie out?”

Ari frowned. “Like you would a drug addict?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay …”

“How?” Trey asked.

“We tag him ourselves. Bind him with magic and keep him in the basement until the emerald is out of his system and he’s functioning like a human being again.”

Ari’s chest felt heavy at the thought but she’d also begun to feel restless. It was a plan, the only plan they had to save her friend, and she wanted to get started on it. However, they had another issue to deal with first. “And the ghulah and Pazuzu?”

Jai shrugged. “The ghulah we can kill. Pazuzu … well, for him we’re going to need to get our hands on a Secretum.”

“A what now?” Ari raised an eyebrow, wondering what it was and how hard it was to get.

“It’s a powerful binding item. It’s created from the wood of a Conessi tree, packed with tellicherry bark and harmal and also treated with harmal. A strong jinn can entrap another lesser jinn within the box, and once locked, it’s impossible for the jinn to escape. If we use Charlie’s help to lure Pazuzu to us, I think the three of us can do it.”

“You think?” Trey made a face. “We’re talking about freakin’ Pazuzu here.”

Jai smirked. “Trey … there’s two of us and one of her.” He indicated Ari with admiration in his expression. “That ugly bastard doesn’t stand a chance.”

Ari laughed nervously. “Are you using overconfidence to give us confidence?”

“I’ll never tell.”

She chuckled but her fingers trembled around her mug just thinking about the damage Pazuzu had done to her and Jai when they’d last faced him. He’d tried to rip Ari to shreds, and the pain, the excruciating pain, like a million paper cuts all over her body, wasn’t something she’d soon forget. Neither was the memory of watching Jai almost die. The only thing that had saved them had been the power of the seal inside of her. Now that was gone. Did they really stand a chance?

“Baby, it’s the only way.”

She nodded.

“Jai’s right.” Trey stood, rubbing his hands together, a simmering energy crackling around him. “We can totally pull this off.”

Jai stood too, his expression grim again. “For now, we wait until Charlie contacts Ari and we’ll take it from there. We go about our lives as normal. Don’t act weird, and don’t give anything away to the Guild.”

Because of their sudden secretiveness, the loud knock on the front door startled them. Ari pushed her senses out toward it. “Michael,” she whispered.

Jai squeezed her shoulder and left the kitchen. She and Trey exchanged slightly worried glances at the sound of murmured voices, their guilt over keeping this a secret from Michael conjuring worst-case scenarios for the reason behind his surprise visit.

When Jai entered the kitchen followed by their Guild leader, Ari stood and smiled naturally. “Morning, Michael.”

He smiled back at her but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “Ari. Trey.” His gaze drifted back to Jai and then to Trey again. “I … uh … I’d like to have a word with you alone, Ari, if that’s okay.”

Right then, Ari didn’t want to be alone with him. In fact, she couldn’t be. She was afraid anything she said might give her away. “Oh, you can say what you have to say in front of Jai and Trey. We’re family.”

Michael took a step toward her, his eyebrows drawn together in a deep frown. “Ari, please. I think we should speak alone.”

Her heart sped up, the rhythm of its beats growing steadily faster. “Okay, well, now I really want them to stay.”

“Ari—”

“Just tell me what’s wrong, Michael.”

Their Guild leader sighed wearily. “Fine. Luca Bitar has been in contact.”

“My father?” Jai strode past him to stand between her and Michael. “What’s going on? What’s that got to do with Ari?”

Michael eyed Ari. “Are you sure you don’t want to speak alone?”

Her mind raced as she tried to think why Michael was so concerned about her privacy. “If it’s about Jai’s father, he should hear it too.”

“It’s not about Luca. He was calling to warn me that his son David has been spreading rumors that you are, or at least once were, the seal, and Yasmin Lenz has been corroborating those claims. Most jinn don’t believe him, but Luca wanted us to be aware in case it sends some inquisitive jinn our way.”

The blood rushed in Ari’s ears as it suddenly dawned on her why Michael wanted to have this conversation in private. Because of David, and what he’d done. Clearly, Luca found out from his son and had told Michael why David had been subjected to Ari’s command.

Oh, hell. Ari’s eyes flew to Jai as he turned to her, confusion written all over his face. “How did David know what you were? Only Luca, Nicki, Yasmin, and Tarik knew. And Yasmin couldn’t tell anyone.”