…This wasn’t her room Ari frowned, stepping across the black marble floor. The widest bed she’d ever seen was sitting in the middle of the room, brightly colored silks and velvets giving it a majestic Middle Eastern appearance. The room was huge, but surprisingly bare except for the bed. She noted a large doorway cut into burnished rock walls but no doors. It led onto a balcony that seemed to be balanced upon the dark starry night. It was a beautiful illusion.
Double doors burst open behind her and Ari took a step back watching the stunning dark-haired Jinn she remembered from before stride into the room. This time, the female was human-sized. Her hair whipped out behind her, the jewels on her forehead glittering in the low light. She wore a dress that fluttered and flowed around her body as if the fabric was made of water. Gold clips held the dress together at the shoulders and it was split into slits around her legs to allow ease of movement. Ari eyed the designs that were painted in attractive curls, winding up around the Jinn’s slender legs in gold paint. She looked like an exotic queen.
“I will not apologize to him, brother!” she spat, and Ari’s eyes followed her words over her shoulder to the male Jinn who trailed into the room behind her. His own dark hair was braided down his back and his handsome face was marred with a scowl, but no injuries this time.
“You must,” his deep voice rumbled towards the female in warning. “You were impudent and spoiled.”
She whirled on him, her dark eyes flashing with rage. “He refused to give me the deference I deserve!”
“You have not earned it,” the male replied calmly.
“Have not earned it?” she gasped and candlelight in the room flickered with fear. “I have borne him gifts that no one else has!”
“You have lain with others. You speak to him like an ill-mannered child in front of our brethren and you expect when you should be grateful.”
Tears spilled down her pretty cheeks now. “You take his side over mine?”
“He is our master. He has been good to us.”
“He is selfish! He could give us more… I know he could. But he refuses.”
“You would misuse it. He sees this.”
“You have no faith in me, brother?”
The male Jinn smiled kindly and reached up to brush a tear from her cheek. “I have faith in your greed.”
The female Jinn shrieked and Ari winced, pain bursting in her ears. The room dimmed and suddenly she was aware of softness beneath her. Realizing the pain hadn’t been real, Ari sighed and peeled her eyes open. She’d been dreaming. Of those Jinn again.
Who were they?
Her alarm on her smartphone went off and Ari reached over, silencing it. Dull light pushed into the room through the window, trying to melt the shadows and having little luck. It looked like it might rain.
It was as if the sky was sharing it’s sympathy with her.
Today was the funeral.
7 - When Blue Skies are Scorched are They Still the Same Skies?
The sky rolling in above her seemed to sense her agony, the change in her wrought by the pain. It felt Ari’s mood, and like a chameleon blending into its surroundings, the sky doused itself in darkness, the bleakness of its clouds like scorched marshmallows melting in empathetic sorrow.
She’d lain in bed that morning for as long as she could, going over and over in her mind all that had changed: the truth from Charlie without him really realizing he’d given it to her, the truth from Jai, from her dad, his murder. And it was murder. She’d been pulled into the world of the Jinn without thought. None of it had seemed real, except perhaps for Jai, and then Derek had fallen into a coma and the surrealism had been washed away with teardrops. It had left a blur… no crisp and clear vision of reality. The fact that The White King had toyed with them patiently had lulled her into a false sense of being. She was prey. And it was only now she was realizing it. All of the truths had changed her. She could see clearly now.
Everything felt different.
Her life as she knew it was over.
It was time to outwit her hunter and not play into his hands like he expected.
Ari chanced a glance up at Charlie who stood pale and handsome in black, his features taut with anxiety, his dark eyes trying to communicate with her through the hush. She was shocked by what she saw now, by what she felt — as though she were staring at a stranger.
Everything was different now.
With her newfound clarity, Ari believed that for the first time she could see Charlie; could see what he had done and what he had become.
He wasn’t the boy she’d loved.
More grief rippled over her as she looked away, her eyes blurring over the dark figures around her until they snagged upon a familiar blue pair of eyes. Rachel stared back at her, her eyes pleading with Ari. Her voice whispered through Ari’s thoughts.