Shades of Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #16) - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,49

might be coming and going without paying your tithes.”

“I’m a businessman.”

Basq had several names for a male who murdered his own parents for profit. None of them were businessman. He didn’t bother sharing them. This male was beyond shame.

“What did you find?” he instead asked.

“An oracle.”

“Oracle?” Chaaya snorted in disgust. “They’re fake.”

“That’s what I thought,” Dabbler said. “But he hasn’t been wrong about anything.”

Chaaya folded her arms over her chest. “Like what?”

“He foresaw my city would grow and prosper.”

Chaaya rolled her eyes. “Could he have been a little more vague?”

The brownie scowled, obviously annoyed by Chaaya’s disbelief. “He said that my most trusted companion would betray me.”

“Did he?” Chaaya asked.

Dabbler looked confused. “I’m not stupid. I killed him before he could try.”

“That’s it?” Chaaya snorted. “No tall, dark, and handsome man in your future? Maybe an unexpected windfall?”

Dabbler pressed his lips together. “He warned me that next time he saw me, I would die.”

As if his words were some sort of magical cue, the sand behind them began to swirl, rising in the air to form a slender tornado. Basq stepped to the side, putting himself between Chaaya and the whirlwind.

His protective stance, however, did nothing to stop them from being sucked into spinning sand. One minute they were standing in the middle of the desert and the next they were consumed by the maelstrom. Blinded by the fierce wind, they were tumbled around like a load of laundry and then spat out into a…

Harem?

Basq quickly regained his balance as he glanced around the dark, opulent room. It was as large as a football field and shaped in an octagon with a soaring ceiling that was tiled with gold and rubies. The walls were carved out of stone and the windows were covered by delicate trellises. The floors were hidden beneath woven carpets and the air was thick with jasmine.

At the very center of the room was a massive pile of satin pillows in all shapes and colors, and above them Basq could make out a vaporous form drenched in silk and gold and decadence.

Jinn.

Basq hissed in shock. The elusive creatures rarely meddled in the affairs of other demons. Thank the goddess. Their power was greater than that of the dragons, and their tempers volcanic at best.

As he watched, the form went from wispy to a solid male who sprawled on the pillows. He was tall and slender and wore nothing more than a golden cloth tied around his waist. His chest was broad and his midnight skin glistened with waves of iridescent color, almost like a mirage shimmering in the sun. His black hair was worn in long dreadlocks threaded with gold, and his eyes were a brilliant green.

Basq felt the undeniable tug of attraction toward the male, and he knew both Chaaya and Dabbler would be feeling it as well. It wasn’t personal. Just the potent sensual allure of a jinn.

“Welcome back, Dabbler,” the jinn murmured with a vicious smile.

“Kgosi.” Dabbler fell to his knees.

The jinn’s smile widened. “So you decided to ignore my warning?”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Dabbler pointed toward Basq. “The leech forced me here.”

The emerald gaze never strayed from the desperate brownie. “There’s no use trying to appeal to my better nature. First, I don’t have a better nature. And second, I have no control over fate.” He waved his hand in a laconic motion. “I see what I see.”

Dabbler licked his lips. “There has to be a way to change it. There always is.”

“You’ve wasted your life hoarding money and power, but it will be no use to you now.”

“You can’t do this to me. You can’t.”

Jumping to his feet, Dabbler ran toward the open doorway across the room, his scream reverberating through the air.

Kgosi turned his attention toward Basq and Chaaya. Basq clenched his hands, his fangs instinctively lengthening at the power that thundered through the air. The male was doing nothing more threatening than lounging on his back as his slender fingers brushed the tassels of a pillow, but the echoes of his magic rippled through the room.

“I did warn him,” Kgosi murmured.

Basq glanced out the opening, watching the brownie disappear over a sand dune.

“Perhaps you were premature,” he warned. “It looks as if he’s escaping.”

The jinn shrugged. “Just give it time.”

“An oracle’s answer to everything,” Chaaya muttered, moving to stand next to Basq. “That way people forget all the prophecies that are wrong in the hope that eventually one of them will get fulfilled. Then they’re all like ‘Ta-da. Aren’t I