polished, sparse but luxurious, with a huge bed in the center covered in exotic fur blankets. Asmodeus lifted his head from the bed and groaned when he saw his sister. He pushed gently at the na**d woman beside him. “Leave us.”
The female Shaitan hurried to grab fabric that barely covered her and she fled the room, darting terrified glances in Lilif’s direction.
“Turn your back, sister, so I may dress.”
Lilif did so and Ari found herself averting her eyes too. That was just something she didn’t need to know about Asmodeus. “I can’t believe while I’m out warring you are in here tupping anything that moves.”
“Not anything,” Asmodeus argued. “Anyway where were you this time?”
“Africa.”
Confused, Ari tried to center herself more in the dreams. She was now fully aware while in the dream that it was a dream, but that didn’t make it any less confusing. The timeline of the dreams kept changing. This was an earlier time. A much earlier time than she had ever visited before. What was Lilif talking about? She peered closely at the Jinn and as if her curiosity had power, the knowledge seeped from Lilif to Ari. Lilif and Asmodeus were part of the balance within war. Throughout the ages, throughout the realm, they would fight wars of the mortals, bringing balance to the situation. Sometimes Lilif would
seduce leaders to weakness with her succubus gift, or fight physically side by side with the Jinn that were sent to aid her against those who were sent to aid the other side. Just as she had done the night before. And the month before that and before that…
“I lost Meenah,” Lilif gasped, her eyes round and glassy with disbelief.
Suddenly Asmodeus was there, turning her around, his own eyes bright with sympathy. “I am sorry, sister. I know how deeply you cared for her.”
“She was my friend.” Lilif shook her head. “We have been friends for over a hundred years. I knew her when she was but a child. She had so much life
left. Meenah was light, Asmodeus. She was beautiful light. How could someone put that light out? How can this be what we do?”
“Ssh, Lilif, shh, it’s okay.” He held her close.
But Lilif was having none of it. She tugged out of his grasp and pushed him roughly away from her, her glare burning into him. “How can you say that? It is not okay! And Meenah is not the first! For centuries I have borne witness to the wars of men. Azazil preaches of balance, placing Jinn on one side of the war and Jinn on the other and we fight our own people, to balance out the life of mortals! Meenah was killed by one of our own. All my friends, killed by our own. Because it is the way? We should leave the wars to the mortals and let them destroy one another!”
Asmodeus’ face darkened. “You are grieving. You are saying things you do not mean. If Azazil heard you speak thus… Lilif you are to be married to him
within a sennight. Do not do anything foolish to ruin that.”
Lilif curled her lip in disgust. “As if I could. The way our Master speaks of the future, he cannot do anything but marry me. I am to bear him sons.”
“Exactly. And once you do, the balance will even out. Perhaps we will no longer be required to fight all these wars.”
Seeming weary now, Lilif slumped, a single tear rolling down her soft cheek. “Do you think so, brother? When I am Sultana mayhap Master will allow me
to suggest some changes?”
“Mayhap.”
“Oh, Asmodeus,” Lilif sniffled like a little girl, “I have dreamed of a world so far removed from this one, my chest aches with longing for it. It is a barren dustland, new, untouched. Empty. Ready for life. I cannot seem to stop dreaming of it lately.”
“You mean The After,” Asmodeus sighed.
Lilif stiffened. “You have dreamt of it also?”
“It plagued my dreams for a while so I confided in Azazil about it. It is not a dream, sister, but a warning.”
“A warning?”
“The After is what will happen if balance is destroyed. If we destroy the balance. The realms collide and cause desolation to all that already exists. In its place will exist The After and only those powerful enough will survive… only to find themselves alone.”
“The most powerful?”
“Azazil. You, me… a few of the stronger Jinn as Meenah was.”
Lilif dropped her gaze from her brothers. “It is too late for Meenah,” she murmured and Ari felt the grief lessen as a new feeling enveloped Lilif.