Borrowed Ember (12 page)

Shock that he had been discovered for his treachery?

“Tel me he’s lying!” Ari cried, her uncle’s silence triggering the dark fist in her chest. It flexed its fingers and began to uncoil. Her blood was boiling and… whispers, wicked whispers snaked through her veins and crawled up towards her ears. Whispers of destruction. Of command.

“He’s not,” Red finaly answered and then he looked at Jack. To Ari’s utter bewilderment, Jack frowned.

“You are sure?” Jack asked.

“She knows too much already.”

“Father wil be displeased.”

“Then he wil be displeased.”

“What…?” Jai whispered, as confused as Ari. But with Ari’s confusion was the growing darkness within her, darkness only abated by the strength of Ari’s own

curiosity.

The air around Jack shimmered. His rugged face bloated and then sunk inwards, before bulging outwards again, and then snapping back in with horrible popping noises that made Ari steady herself against Jai. Jack’s dark hair began to grow at an alarming rate, the color shifting, until a mane of glorious bright blue hair hung down to his waist. His shoulders widened, his body stretched a few inches taler, and his check shirt and jeans disappeared to be replaced by a leather vest and trousers.

Thick wrists were encased in leather cuffs, biker boots replaced hiking boots. And Jack’s face… it was gone. Replaced by masculine beauty so breathtaking Ari could only gape in awe.

“Ari…” Red appeared lost for words. “This is my brother and your uncle… The Glass King.”

“What the hel?” Charlie’s voice ripped through the room and they al turned to see Charlie, Falon and Trey standing in the doorway, gaping in confusion. Michael stood in front of them as if he’d come to help fight The White King. He probably had, no matter how useless the effort would have been. The Guild were amazingly respectful of their leader because he was a true half-blood Jinn, and very strong for a Guild Hunter; stil not strong enough to defeat a Jinn King.

“Charlie?” Ari whispered hoarsely, her body trembling now as the Seal’s whispers grew louder in her ears. “Is it true? Did Red send the Marid to grant your wish?”

Eyes wide, Charlie glanced over at Red first before answering her and that just pissed the Seal off even more. “Yeah,” he told her softly.

Darkness clogged Ari’s insides and she felt like cowering into herself and slamming her hands over her ears to stop the whispering. But the Seal’s hands and arms and legs were pushing into hers and forcing her to stand strong.

“Ari,” Red continued. “I replaced Jack with Glass to monitor Charlie, to educate him so that he would have a fighting chance, but also to help him find the Labartu.”

“I’m thankful to him, Ari,” Charlie admitted.

Command The Red King to his knees for what he’s done. Command Charlie to stop chasing vengeance. Command them all! They’re all yours to

command! It’ll keep them safe. It’ll keep them all safe.

“Stop,” Ari whispered.

“What happened to Jack, Your Highness?” Michael Roe asked, his strong voice cutting through a fragile atmosphere created by whispered admissions and reluctant betrayals.

“He is dead,” Red answered unapologeticaly.

Bastards!
The whispers turned to roars in Ari’s head.
How dare they take whatever they want? Including innocent lives!

“This is a war,” Glass’ deep, smooth voice filed the room for the first time. “Jack was a casualty of war.”

Trey took a step in front of Michael, seeming uncaring that he was facing up to a Jinn King. “Jack was a casualty of you.”

“You learn I’m a Jinn King and yet you stil speak to me without respect?” Glass narrowed his eyes on Trey.

“Do something to earn it.”

Ari was barely aware of Glass’ mysterious smile. Her brain was too ful, too ful of everything. Her own thoughts pushed and pushed their way through the fuzz, trying to at least take control of that, even if the Seal had gained control over her body. “And my mother?” she asked, dazed, not realy able to make eye contact with anyone. “Sala? Where is she?”

A hum of energy caught her attention as it danced closer to her left side. Ari turned her head to stare at the space, confusion making her feel sick and

discombobulated, like she’d just gotten off a rolercoaster too fast. “Ms. Maggie?” she whispered.

And there… where she felt the Ifrit’s energy, the air shimmered until a figure began to etch itself into being right in front of their very eyes. Mouth open in shock, Ari looked upon a beautiful woman with long, rich, dark hair like her own and eyes… like her own… but they were older… they were eyes of a thousand nights, eyes that had made love to every spectrum of color this realm and the others had to offer.

“Sala,” Red growled as he strode across the room towards them. “You shouldn’t be here. White could come back.”

Ignoring Red, Sala stepped towards Ari, her eyes brimming with tears as she reached up to touch her daughter’s face. “I wil explain everything as soon as I can, but Red is right. I have to leave. In order to protect you I have to leave. But know… that I wil always be watching over you.” Her slender but surprisingly strong arms tugged Ari into a hug and she melted against her in shock, a little of the darkness easing back down. Sala smeled of wildflowers and honey. “I love you my darling girl. I have always loved you.” She let go of Ari just as quickly as she’d grabbed her and with a sad smile, she disappeared into the
Peripatos
.

“Ari.” Red was suddenly in front of her, and everyone was murmuring in surprise and shock, asking questions and causing the darkness that Sala had culed, to grow and stretch out within her. She’d just met her mother. Her real mother. And she said she loved her. “Ari,” Red repeated. “Sala has nothing to do with my father or the War. Al she cares about is protecting you. We managed to release her just before your sixteenth birthday. She left to be with you and has watched over you since.

When White finaly discovered your whereabouts and used Rabir to bring you to Mount Qaf through a wish to see your mother, the wish was keeping you in your house with Ms. Maggie. I only managed to redirect the wish in time, or my brother would have known that Sala was gone. And now he does. She’s in great danger.”

Ari was barely listening. She could feel Jai’s hand on her shoulder, but the Seal wouldn’t let her feel it. She wanted to lash out. She could envision blasting them al to hel for their lies and their betrayals. Blood red wals. Dripping bloodied wals. Something laughed in delight within her.

No!
Ari gasped for air and shrugged away from Jai, stumbling back from Red as she fought to think, her words careful not to command as they fel from her numb lips. “I think… I think you better step back. I think you better leave… before I do something I’l regret.”

“Dammit,” she heard Red whisper hoarsely. “The Seal has her in its grip.”

“What wil I do?” Jai asked, his voice thick with concern.

“No, don’t touch her!” Red cried out in command to someone. “I’m going to have to knock her out.”

“No!” she screamed. No, not her. It was the Seal screaming. It opened her mouth to command and then suddenly froze, its dark limbs shriveling up as black spots covered Ari’s eyes and the room began to tilt.

Jai gazed down
at Ari, watching the slow rise and fal of her chest. After Red had used his mojo to knock her out, Jai had carried her upstairs to one of the bedrooms in Jack’s house— wel, what had once been Jack’s house. It was weird to think that he’d never realy known Jack at al. That they’d met only briefly before The Red and Glass King’s had kiled him.

They were malevolent, ruthless sons-of-a-bitch.

Jai could feel their powerful energies on the other side of the door, where they stood waiting with Falon, Charlie, Trey and Michael. He’d insisted on being the only one to sit with Ari until she woke up, despite Red’s concerns that the Seal might stil have a grip on her.

Holding her hand, Jai wondered how she would be when she regained consciousness. So much had happened. Finding out her mother, Sala, was actualy Ms.

Maggie al along (although it made sense now why their make-out session was interrupted by her), and discovering Red had betrayed her from the start. It had crossed Jai’s mind more than once that Red was behind Charlie’s wish. Jai was pretty sure it had crossed Ari’s mind too, but to actualy have it confirmed. She had been beginning to trust Red. They both had been. They both
needed
to trust him. And the bastard had gone and ruined it.

Ari’s eyelashes fluttered and Jai squeezed her hand. She made a little groaning noise before her eyes slammed open. “Jai,” she whispered and when she turned her head on the pilow to meet his gaze, Jai sagged in relief. It was Ari. Just Ari.

“Hey,” he whispered back. “How are you feeling?”

“A little groggy.” She pushed herself up into a sitting position, her silence thick in the room. Finaly she looked back at him, her extraordinary eyes a strange golden blue color. “Is he stil here? Red?”

Jai nodded.

“I don’t trust him anymore, Jai. I don’t want him here.”

“He’s a Jinn King, Ari. He’l go when he wants to.”

Her bottom lip trembled a little and Jai felt her pain like a punch in the gut. Is that what caring about someone else this much was like? To feel their pain almost like it was your own? Shifting onto the bed, Jai wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tucked her into his side. She rested her head on his chest, her hand over his heart.

“The Seal petrifies me, Jai. That was bad. That was realy bad.”

It was worse than bad. The darkness inside her made him feel lost, helpless, but he couldn’t let Ari know that. She needed him for this. “We’l do what I said before.

We’l use whatever triggers we can to spark the Seal and we’l train you to fight it.”

“That’s so risky. What if I can’t control it? Like just then, Jai, if Red hadn’t knocked me out…”

“Then I’l knock you out,” he murmured with a smile in his voice, “Before you can do any damage. But we
are
going to get you through this.”

“Is Michael taking me off the assignment?”

“No,” Jai replied without thinking. Even if Michael wanted to, Jai wasn’t going to let him. Ari had been through too much… she needed something to hold onto and that something for her was hunting. It was a form of control for her. It made her feel less like a sitting duck and no one was taking that away from her, especialy not now. “We’re stil heading out if you feel up to it.”

“Yeah, yeah I do.” Ari raised her head to look up into his face. “I need to get away from here for a while.” She glanced at the door. “Is he out there?”

Knowing who ‘he’ was, Jai nodded.

“Wil you tel him to leave?”

With the two Jinn Kings in the house, Jai could feel the thrum of energy built down around them like a bucket over a sandcastle. At Ari’s words, the house seemed to deflate, like the bucket had been lifted and the sandcastle crumbled. “I don’t need to,” he told her softly. “He and Glass just left.”

So were they alone now? Was it just them against Azazil and The White King?

“I guess so,” he answered his own question.

15 -
This Sky is Not Theirs to Reach… It is Yours to Place Your Stars Upon

It was so quiet in Midland, Connecticut. The team, which consisted of some familiar faces – Falon and Jai of course, Bryleigh and Scott Becke and Scott’s brother James, and Bryleigh’s sister Ailidh – were settled in the fairly large farm house they’d rented on the outskirts of Midland. It was on what used to be a working farm, and was fenced in at the back by a woodland. Having grown used to the sound of traffic, Ari couldn’t sleep. Falon was sleeping no problem, having drifted off in her bed across from Ari, the sounds of the birds and the trees blowing in the breeze clearly soothing to her.

It just agitated Ari.

Despite postponing their arrival by one day, they’d stil left hastily for Midland. Afraid of getting upset, Ari hadn’t been able to say goodbye to Charlie. It just felt like betrayal al over again. So instead she’d promised Michael that she could do the assignment and Jai had backed her up, promising them al – including a very worried Trey – that he’d help her get control over the Seal. Without Jack/Glass around, Trey was needed even more to look after Charlie. Falon had wanted Charlie to come with them now that he no longer had a mentor, but Ari was having none of it and Jai was acting like her trusty enforcer. After seeing what he did to The White King, no one was arguing with him.

Restless, worrying about everything, Ari finaly threw the covers off and drew on some clothes. The thought of her mother out there somewhere, of the fact that they no longer had a Jinn King aly (had they ever?), of the Seal taking over her again, of the assignment starting tomorrow morning, was causing chaos in her mind and gut.

The only time she’d felt calm these last twenty four hours was when Jai was around.

Needing him more than she liked, Ari tip-toed out of her room and down the hal towards Jai’s. He was sharing with James so she couldn’t just go in there.

Jai
, she said loudly enough to selfishly wake him.

Yeah?
His fast reply told her he’d been awake already.

Will you walk with me?

No words were telepathed back at her, but she thought she heard some rustling from behind the door. She strained to hear and almost immediately jumped back as his door peeled open. He stood in only jeans, the strength of his upper body gleaming in the moonlight shining through from the hal window. “You okay?” he whispered to her, his eyebrows drawn together in concern.

“I want to walk with you,” she whispered back. “I can’t sleep.”

Without a word, Jai slipped back into the room. There was some more rustling and then he was back, wearing a t-shirt and boots. So they wouldn’t wake anyone tip-toeing down the creaking staircase, both of them used the
Peripatos
, bringing them out to the backyard at the outskirts of the woods.

“You want to walk in there?” Jai raised an eyebrow.

“Scared?” Ari teased.

Roling his eyes at her, Jai took off at a slow strol and Ari quickly fel into step beside him.

“You worrying about everything?” he asked softly, glancing down at her in the near dark.

She nodded. “There’s a lot going on in my head right now. Thank you for coming out here with me.”

“I couldn’t sleep either.” He shrugged.

They were silent for a moment—the only sound they made was the breaking of twigs, crunch of leaves and squish of soil under foot. It smeled so clean and fresh out here. It reminded her a little of the woods back home in Sandford except the air was brisker somehow. And the trees around her were thicker than the ones back home. The thought of home just reminded her of everyone she’d left behind and more melancholy set in. Needing solace, Ari reached for Jai’s hand, sliding her cool fingers between his.

She watched his strong profile as he looked uncertainly down at her grip. Finaly he squeezed her hand in his.

“What?” she asked. “The handholding too much?”

To her surprise he looked down at her with a rueful smile, shaking his head. But he didn’t say anything.

“You can tel me, you know. I do remember what you were like when we first met. You’re not exactly the hugging, handholding type.”

“With you… it would appear I am.”

Smiling a little shyly at that, Ari moved closer to him, wrapping her right hand around the wrist of his hand that held her left. “I can’t believe my mom was watching out for me this whole time.”

“It makes a lot of sense now.”

“I’m so mad at her and I’m so mad at Red… but there’s a part of me that feels…” she shrugged and he drew them to a stop. Looking up at him, Ari tried to find the right words. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Try.”

“I feel… less abandoned.” Somehow admitting that made Ari uncomfortable and she abruptly let go of Jai to continue, “My real father created me like I’m some genetic experiment and I’m pretty sure he just tried to kil me or at least was going to torture me. My fake dad literaly told me to my face that he never realy loved me enough, and my mom… wel, al this time I thought my mom abandoned me and then got herself magicaly incarcerated. But she didn’t abandon me, Jai. And she told me that she loves me.” She smiled weakly. “It’s crazy, but I don’t feel so alone anymore.”

Puling her close, Jai’s expression was unreadable. “It’s not crazy, but Ari, you were never alone.” He took a shuddering breath and to her surprise she felt his fingers tremble on her face. “I love you,” he admitted, his voice rough with emotion. “Okay? I love you. You’re not alone.”

For a moment Ari couldn’t believe he’d actualy said it, but the warm, rushing feeling of delirious joy that exploded through her chest and throughout her body finaly brought it home. Melting against him, a stupid grin on her face, Ari whispered back, “God, I love you too. So much.” She felt almost desperate as she slid her hands up around his neck, clutching his nape. “You know, I stil don’t have al the answers. About my mom, or Red, or White… or Azazil. Lilif, Asmodeus. Al I know is that there are al these people who think I belong to them. And the truth is, Jai, I’l only ever belong to you. If you want me, I’l belong to you forever.”

His eyes widened a little at her declaration and then seemed to spark with some unnamed emotion. “Ari,” he groaned and wrapped his arms around her waist, puling her so close, she was nearly off the ground. “I’l always want you,” he whispered urgently against her lips. “You’re mine now, okay. Only mine.” His kiss was as desperate as her declaration had been, and she clung to him tightly, reveling in the taste of him and the taste of their newfound certainty of one another. His kiss softened, becoming drugged and languid, sweet and hot al at the same time. Ari moaned, as he trailed butterfly kisses down her neck, her breath halting as he reached up to unbutton her shirt so he could press kisses against the rise of her breasts. Excitement tugged in her bely as her hormones took off at a run. Needing his lips back on hers, Ari grasped his head and reached for his mouth, touching her tongue to his so soft and tentatively she knew it would drive him crazy. His muffled groan reverberated through and Ari’s knees almost buckled beneath her. Wanting some skin on skin, she slid her hands up under his shirt, her fingers trailing across his six-pack. Jai shuddered and kissed her harder, his body propeling her back against a tree. She didn’t even feel the impact, she was too busy running her hands al over him under his shirt and pushing her hips against his in a way that she knew was sure to escalate things.

“Stop.” Jai puled back, his hands sliding off her and bracing the tree on either side of her head. She felt his heavy warm breath puff against her face as he tried to gain some control. Ari’s nerves had snapped one by one, her whole body trembling, and she did not want to stop.

“I’m so over this whole going slow thing, Jai,” she complained.

He laughed humorlessly and reached down to press a tentative kiss against her lips. “Me too. But we can’t here.” He narrowed his eyes, perhaps at the thought of having to wait to be with her. “This assignment needs to be over tomorrow.”

Ari shook her head. “No, you need your own room again and I need to be sneaking in and out of it.”

Pushing off the tree, Jai rubbed a shaky hand over his head and smiled affectionately down at her. Ari could now identify that wondrous look in his eyes as love.

“When we get back to Jersey I’m getting my own place and we are teling everyone that you are mine. Okay? I don’t care who knows. I don’t care about the dangers.

I want everyone to know that you’re mine.”

Ari nodded, loving the sound of that. “Yours. And you’re mine?”

He gave her a swift kiss before throwing his arm over her shoulders to lead her back to the house. “Always. And no backsies.”

Ari laughed softly, loving this playful side of him. “You’d have to be ripped from my cold, dead hands before I’d ever give you back, Jai Bitar.”

He squeezed her closer. “Back at you, Ms. Johnson… but I would have put it more eloquently. Without the creepy imagery.”

“Oh sure. ‘Cause you’re al about the words.”

“Anyone ever tel you, you’ve got a smart mouth?” he growled, tickling her waist.

Ari tried to hush a squeal as she puled away from him laughing. “Stop,” she huffed, trying to unsuccessfuly grab at his tickling fingers.

Grinning wickedly, Jai ceased tickling her and tugged her roughly against him, his arms tight around her waist. “You gonna watch that mouth of yours?”

“You watch it,” she replied saucily.

His expression almost solemn now, Jai leaned down to kiss her, his words whispering across her mouth before their lips touched, “Oh, I’ve been watching it since the day I first saw you.”