Borrowed Ember (17 page)

21 -
Like Bitter Truth, Red on White is a Hard Stain to Remove

Under the wintry skies of Mount Qaf two warring Jinn Kings stood together on a large balcony overlooking the state of Zubair. It had not always been like this, Red thought, a little melancholy as he stared at his brother’s cold profile. Once, before Lilif had poluted him against them al, White had been one of Red’s closest confidantes. Glass and White had never seen eye to eye, however, and their constant clashes had put Red in the middle, until Lilif had used the volatile dynamic between the three brothers to poison White against Red, whom he always believed to have taken Glass’ side in al things.

“Where have you been?” Red asked quietly, turning to stare out onto the vilage that winded down through the mountains and into the fog below.

White had only just returned to Zubair but Red already knew before he even arrived uninvited that Jai was not with him.

“Around. I am not giving you the Ginnaye, brother, so you can forget about it. You helped father corner Ari by sending that boy you changed into a sorcerer after the Labartu-”

“And you helped father by kidnapping Jai. He did what you were going to do, only he did it first.”

“Father may have put protection around the Ginnaye, but that doesn’t mean I have to let him go. He remains where he is, so you might as wel leave.”

There were deep suspicions brewing inside of Red. After everything he’d learned, of Ari’s dreams of Lilif, of what Kadeen had told him, he began to see what White’s agenda realy was. And now he realized there was more to Azazil’s decision to let Sala steal the Seal from Asmodeus. Perhaps, he even surmised Azazil’s reasons correctly. For a moment, Red thought about blurting it al out to White, to crush his arrogance so he would see once and for al that no one would ever best their father. Instead, he chose a different tact. “The Seal is changing Ari. It’s taking control of her more and more every day. There may come a point when she is unable to do as you wish because she wil no longer be Ari.”

He saw the slight puckering of White’s brows as he braced his hands on the balustrade, the gentle wind whipping his blue robes back and revealing the heavily decorated scabbard of an acinaces dagger strapped to his right side. White only wore it when he was going into battle. Hmm, Red frowned. His brother was growing al symbolic on him.

“How is that even possible?” White shook his head, disbelieving. “No. You’re lying to me again.”

“I have never once lied to you. Our mother did try to kil Glass, and she was going to kil us al. Her failure to kil Glass exposed her, so she went after Asmodeus and would have kiled him if father hadn’t protected him.”

“Wrong. Asmodeus was trying to kil mother. He was always father’s little pet, doing his errands. Even if it meant kiling a once beloved sister.”

How many times would they have this argument? Weary, Red turned to look directly at his brother, White’s expression perfectly bland again. “I always wondered why mother gave up on this world. Now I have reason to believe that she had grown tired of watching the people she loved die over mortal life. She believed The After would be a place of peace for the Jinn. And she did not care how many of those Jinn had to die to achieve it. Her soul was not meant for eternal life, White. Too many centuries, too much pain… it warped her. I think our brother, Lucky, feels much the same. But he is strong enough to hide out in his land, away from al of this. Lilif…

she would have taken us al down to destroy the balance.”

For a moment, there was silence between them, the only sounds coming from the conversation of the Jinn far below. Finaly White looked at him, his eyes blank of any expression, but his voice thick with emotion. “You did not know her as I did,” he told him sadly, “From my youth she warned me of father and his too mercurial nature. She knew that one day he would be the end of things, and she reared me to be a soldier, to protect us al from that.”

“The world is stil standing, brother, and it has been centuries since mother’s death. Centuries.”

White flicked a shoo-ing hand at him. “I am weary of having this same argument over and over again. Just… get out.”

Just as frustrated, Red growled and strode towards the balcony doors. But some devil, some gnawing creature ate at him and he found himself spinning around to glare at White’s back. “It took me a while to piece it al together.”

Slowly, White looked back at him over his shoulder. “Piece what together?”

“Your agenda. When father told me of Ari’s existence, I thought you’d done it to command father to his knees, to take his place. However, I realize now how foolish that thinking was, foolish to believe that you, you who believes so greatly in balance, would dare to do such a catastrophic thing. No. This is about Lilif. You believe she’s stil alive and that father has her hidden somewhere. You wanted Ari to command the truth of her whereabouts from Azazil.”

The blankness melted from White’s eyes and they gleamed at Red with such hatred. But it wasn’t hatred for him. Mostly. It was hatred for their father. “He didn’t destroy her essence, Red. He lied. I can find it and her body with the help of Ari, and then mother wil be returned to us. With her, we can control father and restore the correct path of the balance. Together we can enforce the old ways. No more trespassing upon a brother’s day of shaping destinies. I wil have my Thursdays back again and you your Tuesdays.”

Such arrogance. Such blind arrogance. Red’s mouth twisted as he shot White an almost pitying look. “The balance is not gone. Lilif tried to steal our essence to destroy the balance. When that failed, she remembered Azazil referring to her and Asmodeus’ as two halves of the one whole. So she decided that stealing his essence would probably make her equal to Azazil. You inherited her arrogance, White. And you’re a fool. A fool who could ever believe that Asmodeus was seduced by Sala.

He
let
her seduce the Seal from him because father told him to.”

White whipped around, his whole body coiled with tension. “You lie!” he thundered, uncharacteristicaly losing his calm just as Red knew he would.

Feeling triumph at having broken through White’s ice cold shield, he smiled sadly at him. “No. He wanted you to have it. And my question is why? Why, I ask you?”

Red believed he knew why, but that was more information than he was wiling to betray to White. For now, he just wanted his brother to realize that he was in over his head, and always had been.

“You lie,” he repeated softly. “No. You lie. Just leave.” He turned to gaze blindly out into the mountains. “Just leave. And you can tel your precious niece that I wil never hand the Ginnaye over to her, until she agrees to do as I ask.”

22 -
Borrowed Ember

Anger. It simmered beneath the surface. Waiting.
Why did people always say ‘simmer’ when they spoke of anger?
But as Ari watched Asmodeus as he led her deeper into the cavern, she knew the answer to her own question. Even buried anger never sat stil… it was always shaking, s-s-s-simmering, ready for the time when the concrete pavement keeping it buried broke apart under the devastation of whatever earthquake had finaly set its keeper off. Then there was no stopping the geyser of molten emotion that spewed out to take down anyone in its path.

Ari’s anger—at herself, at Azazil, at this Marid before her—was growing more impatient every day. So impatient it had awoken the Seal. Her whole body felt

drenched in the Seal’s darkness, as if she was fighting to wade through its tar every time she took a step. Its whispers grew louder every day, pressuring Ari into commanding to be alowed to leave.

She was an idiot. A damn, unthinking idiot. Despite al her promises to herself that she wouldn’t let the Jinn Kings and their father use the people she loved against her, al it had taken was watching White’s blank eyes as he stole Jai into the
Peripatos
to send her spiraling into a panic. So afraid that her fear would wake up the Seal, that
the Seal
would use her, Ari had let
Azazil
use her.

When left alone in her room in the palace the Seal’s paranoia would whisper to her, burying its opinions deeper into Ari’s mind. But whenever Asmodeus came near her, the whispers quieted, cowed by him somehow, and Ari was a little more herself again. So now, once again, in the hopes of hushing the Seal she’d alowed herself to be taken on this strange tour of Azazil’s lands with Asmodeus.

They’d gone down to the lower level of the palace grounds to the market again, where Ari had watched the Jinn selers and customers step warily out of Asmodeus’

way, dipping their heads in deference as he passed through with cold indifference. He barely spoke to Ari, and when he did his words were clipped, and she knew she should be wary of why he’d asked her to join him today when it seemed he could not stand to be around her. But… Ari was more afraid of the Seal. She was losing herself to it.

In her darkest moments these last few days, Ari had begun to wonder if leaving Mount Qaf was even a good idea anymore. She couldn’t put Jai, Charlie and the people she cared about in danger. And she
was
dangerous now.

And so, so angry it hurt her to her very fingertips.

Blinking back tears, Ari took a calming breath, trying to shove down the panic attack she felt coming on. To annoy Asmodeus she’d proclaimed she was bored in the exact same tone he’d always say it. It had earned her a rare smile from him and he’d decided to take her down to the mines.

The Jinn miners—looking nothing like human miners, in their brightly colored shirts and harem pants—had al drawn to a stop as Ari and Asmodeus appeared at the gates of the mines. It had taken them an hour to wind down through the fog, passing homes Ari had never seen before, noticing how, ironicaly, the homes grew less lavish the further down they traveled. She did not dare to peer over the edge of the roads that had been carved into the mountains, but Ari was certainly curious just how far down they went. Explaining that the mines moved every year, Asmodeus had led her through the gates and stopped to speak quietly to a worker who carried a barrel filed with hundreds of glittering emeralds. Awed by the beauty of the gemstones, Ari had been entranced for a moment before a cough had drawn her gaze up.

Asmodeus had smirked at her.

“I would not think about stealing any if I were you.” He’d pointed toward a tal female.

She’d glowered at Ari, her strong muscular body garbed entirely in black, reminding Ari of a Japanese Ninja. Glancing around, Ari had noted in amongst al the color of the workers, more Jinn dressed in the same black ‘uniform’.

“Guards,” Asmodeus had explained, returning to her side so he could take her gently by the arm. The workers had scurried to bow to him as he strode past. “They are here to make sure no one steals the emeralds. They’re Jinn who guard treasures.”

“Treasures…” Knowing what kind of Jinn they were Ari had immediately been reminded of Teruze, the Jinn who protected Luca Bitar’s treasures, and with the

thought of Teruze came the thought of Jai. Ari missed him. She missed him so much it was an aching pain in her entire body. She wanted to tuck her head in the crook of his neck and inhale the spicy exotic scent of him; she wanted to feel his strong arms around her waist, his lips brushing her ear. She’d gasped at the lance of pain in her chest as she thought of the Seal and of the fact that she might never see Jai again because of it.

Slanting her a look, Asmodeus seemed to have heard the gasp but ignored it, continuing onward. Ari had folowed him, praying that numbness would take over her body so she didn’t have to feel anymore. Darkness had engulfed them as Asmodeus strode into the mouth of a cavern further back on the site, where there were fewer workers miling around. With a wave of his hand, the cavern lit up, and Asmodeus had released his hold on her to journey further inside.

So here she was. Alone in a cavern with Lieutenant Asmodeus. Another foolish move no doubt.

“Every time an emerald is chipped out of the rock,” he said suddenly, running a hand over the wal he’d stopped beside, “another emerald appears in its place.” He turned and shot her a boyish smile so disarming it immediately made Ari suspicious. “One of the few mysteries in these worlds.”

Why had he brought her here? Ari heaved another big sigh at the feel of her chest constricting, pushing the first symptom of her panic attacks back down. Red had promised her Asmodeus couldn’t hurt her. But then again, Red had also gone behind her back and destroyed Charlie’s future.

“It shouldn’t be possible.” Asmodeus shook his head as he studied her.

“What shouldn’t be possible? The emerald?”

His eyes narrowed and he ducked his chin, his gaze so focused Ari had to fight off a shiver of intimidation. “I have a theory I’d like to test.”

Wel, that didn’t sound good. That didn’t sound good at al. “A theory?” Ari asked, her feet wanting to back her away from him, but her pride teling her not to let the bastard know he frightened her. “What theory?”

He responded with a lazy shrug. His thick silence began to pop the oxygen molecules in the room until Ari’s breathing grew shalow again. Finaly, his lips tilted up at the corner in a smirk she thought she was beginning to understand. The threat of him—of whatever it was he wanted from her—was back. “Before you made the deal with Azazil for the Ginnaye’s safety… White tortured Jai.”

If he’d fired a shotgun bulet into her, it would have had the same impact. Ari staggered back from the words, their suggestion as powerful and as painful as being hit by that
Haqeeqah
. “No,” she breathed.

“Oh yes.” Asmodeus was walking slowly towards her now. “He strung him up and started with the basics. A cat-o-nine-tails ripped at his back until the stubborn brute finaly let out a grunt of pain….”

No
. Ari shook her head, the cavern beginning to spin around her.
No
.

“…and I think you were probably taking your first amusing little trip around the marketplace when White puled out the tar. Oh that must have hurt…”

“Stop,” she whispered hoarsely, feeling her limbs grow hard as the Seal fought for dominance. “You’re lying…”

“…then there were the nails in the feet. Oh and don’t forget the starvation…”

Let me out, Ari. I’ll make him stop. Together we can make it stop. Stop him! Stop HIM! STOP HIM!

“… I think I most admired when White shapeshifted to look like Jai’s father as he beat him with a belt. He used al those painful memories to torture that boy’s soul.

That’s realy when the screaming started. There were even tears. And you were here, playing guest, doing nothing to stop it-”

“STOP!” she shrieked, the noise causing the cavern to tremble.

And suddenly it was as though she were looking out through someone else’s eyes, buried behind the thoughts and emotions of another person.

Asmodeus had stiled, his eyes wide with surprise as his mouth fel open. “I knew it.”

The person she was inside opened the mouth of the body they shared, and Ari could feel the strange but familiar woman’s triumphant thoughts as she began to

command Asmodeus to his knees.

The words didn’t even get a chance to fal from their shared lips.

He was a streak, a blur of movement towards them before the curtain fel and everything grew dark and silent.

***

The familiar feeling of a hard floor beneath her brought Ari to consciousness with an aching head and shoulders. She groaned, curling onto her side, feeling every muscle twinge and bone creak as she did so. As the fog of unconsciousness lifted, Ari became aware of Azazil’s powerful presence pulsating across her body like waves lapping at the shore. Quickly she tried to remember what had happened, images of Asmodeus and the cavern flying across her vision.

Jai.

Her eyes slammed open and the pain in her chest was back as she remembered what Asmodeus had told her.

“Relax,” Azazil’s deep voice captured her ears. “Asmodeus was lying to you about your Ginnaye, Jai. He was never harmed by my son. Only imprisoned.”

Hope gloated at her, teling her she weak as she lifted her head and turned to look up at Azazil. He was seated on a glass chair in front of a barren fireplace.

Casting a quick glance around, Ari found herself in the smal chamber. There was little furniture or decoration, just cold stone wals that glittered with emeralds and flagstone floors beneath her. She stiled, her eyes narrowing in hatred as she became aware of Asmodeus’ presence. He stepped out of the shadows to stand by

Azazil’s side. “Why?” she asked him bitterly.

“He is your trigger.” Asmodeus was a bored school boy again as he shrugged at her. “I needed to unleash the Seal to see if I was correct about something.”

“So Jai is okay?” Ari’s heartbeat thundered in her ears.

“Jai is fine. Stil imprisoned, but unharmed.”

Disbelief and betrayal wrenched her from the ground and she stumbled inelegantly to her feet to gaze up at the Sultan, desperately fighting her rage and the Seal. That last time had been terrifying. The Seal had truly taken over her, and she’d known what the Seal was.
Whom
it was. She gasped, her anger at finding out Jai was stil imprisoned dissipating as she turned to gaze wide-eyed at Asmodeus. “Lilif,” she whispered.

Asmodeus gave her a mocking smile of congratulations.

“I don’t understand.” Her chest felt too tight again.

Azazil lifted a bejeweled hand to draw her attention. “When Lilif dared to take the essence of Asmodeus from him—the one being she loved above al others—I

knew I could no longer sit idly by. The problem, my dear Seal, is that Lilif—like myself, my sons and Asmodeus—is part of the balance. I feared kiling her would tear too deeply at the seams, so I separated her essence from her body and hid them where no one could find them. It meant she was gone without realy being gone. The only son who realized I hadn’t destroyed her essence was White. I am grateful for the distrust between him and his brothers. It has kept it a secret from al else. It has kept White silent. Silent but persistent.

Centuries passed. I grew weary. A little bored, I suppose.” He shrugged carelessly. “And along came King Solomon, whom I knew was destined to have his place in religious history. Something about him reminded me of Lilif in her youth. She had been so eager for more, so eager for power. So eager to be extraordinary.

Sometimes I would return to the place I had kept her essence just to feel her around me, and one day I had a thought. Jinn can take another Jinn’s essence and trap them within a Jinn body, but the essence is never truly gone unless it is
in
another body. I didn’t want that then. Someone having her power inside of them. But it was a shame to waste the power so I took her essence and I trapped it in the Seal. The ring was cast with my own magic, the only thing powerful enough to trap her essence in metals and I divided that essence into light and dark so that Solomon could command good Jinn with the brass part of the Seal and command the evil with the iron part of it. It was so beautifuly poetic, Ari. My Lilif’s power out in the world again, but reined in by me as I had always wanted. The brass and iron stamps were merely for my own enjoyment. I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of good and evil.

But Solomon failed just as Lilif had done. He could not live up to my ideal of the ring. He abused it.” His features hardened. “So I sent him into the desert to die and replaced him with Asmodeus, who fulfiled his destiny for him. After that, I asked Asmodeus whether he would like me to return her essence to its hiding place or whether he would like to guard it as it was.”

“You already know what I chose,” Asmodeus interrupted quietly.

“Why?” Ari felt like crying at the knowledge of what had been placed inside of her by her father. “And does The White King know what it is he has done to me?”

“No,” Asmodeus replied. “He doesn’t realize that what he’s looking for is the actual Seal. He thinks the Seal wil procure what he’s looking for. As for your former question… my reasons are my own.”

“No one knows that Lilif’s essence existed within the Seal. Although, I expect my clever sleuth of a son, Red, has surmised the truth by now after learning of your dreams and paying a visit to an old friend of mine.” Azazil seemed to take in Ari’s searching, burning eyes with little feeling as he continued his story, “I admit to being intrigued when I discovered White’s plans to steal the Seal and use it to conceive a child who would carry its properties within her or him. He thought he was merely creating a conduit for his scheme to find Lilif’s body and essence, whereas I was curious if Lilif’s essence, so naturaly placed within a Jinn, would bring her back into the balance without the danger of her madness. So I ordered Asmodeus to let your mother seduce him for the Seal.”