“Then stop pulling me into your dreams.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
Ari tried desperately to rein in her irritation. “What do you want, Asmodeus?”
His regard was dark and fathomless. Ari couldn’t stop her gaze from roaming his strong face. Black eyes framed by long lashes, smooth brown skin, sharp cheekbones, a strong but straight blade of a nose, and a perfect mouth—a full lower lip and a slightly thinner upper lip. If a human were to meet him, they’d think Asmodeus was a young twenty-something, not a twisted, ancient marid who’d been around for God knew how many centuries.
“Tonight I wanted to see how you were faring after your first kill.” Surprise shot through her, forcing her head back. He caught her reaction, eyes glittering. “I’m not playing games with you.”
Ignoring the curiosity writhing inside, Ari gave him a cynical smirk. “Whatever this is, can we at least be honest with one another?”
“Okay,” he nodded, “I like playing games with you. But I’m not playing a game tonight.”
Ari found herself confessing. “I was sick at first. It was horrible. I didn’t expect to feel so ashamed.”
“And now?”
“Jai reminded me of all the things the qarin did. I feel proud I was strong enough to do something about it.”
“So no guilt?”
She looked away. “There will always be guilt, Asmodeus. I’m quickly learning to set it aside for the bigger picture.”
He shot her a narrow look and drew up to his feet. “That’s how it begins. Setting aside things for the bigger picture.”
Confused as she always was after one of their encounters, Ari stood too. “Why do you care?”
When he reached out a hand, Ari braced herself from flinching back, knowing from past experience that he didn’t take rejection lightly. His fingers brushed against her cheek. “I can’t decide whether I want you to change.”
She scowled at him. “I don’t think that’s really any of your business.”
At the sudden dark heat and annoyance in his bearing, Ari tensed, her breath catching as he leaned into her, his mouth brushing her ear. “I’m making it my business.”
* * *
Ari’s lids flew open and she struggled to draw breath, panting with fear and something else as she stared up at her dark bedroom ceiling. She turned onto her side, pulling the covers tightly around her. She didn’t know what to do about Asmodeus. She hadn’t told Jai he’d been visiting her dreams. She hadn’t told anyone. But Ari knew his increasing attention was a worry and the only person she wanted to tell was Uncle Red. He’d know what to do. But it depended on whether Red wanted to talk to her … and if he would help her if he did.
Chapter
Two
The I That I Am Is Not Me
Emotionally exhausted, Ari managed to drift back to sleep, but her conscience couldn’t seem to rest. She woke at 6 a.m., an hour earlier than usual. Mouth dry, Ari shuffled sleepily out of her room to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen. It would’ve been easy enough to conjure one, but Trey and Jai had been raised to use their jinn abilities when it mattered, or when it was the only convenient solution. Otherwise, they lived their lives like humans. It was partly an attitude—the ginnaye believed using jinn magic for everyday living was lazy—and partly about living as a human so they wouldn’t slip up in front of one.
Tired gaze to the floor, Ari was about to hit the stairs when Trey’s bedroom door opened. She glanced up, and stopped at the sight of a huge, gorgeous, blue-haired guy wearing jeans and a slim-cut T-shirt. “Glass?” she said loudly, more than a little shocked to see him there. It wasn’t that she didn’t know the Glass King—aka one of her uncles, aka an all-powerful, scary jinn king—was seeing Trey romantically, it was that she’d never seen him in the vicinity of Trey’s room before.
It caused her a note of panic on behalf of her friend. She didn’t want Trey to get too deeply involved in the dangerous world of jinn royalty, but he seemed smitten with his new boyfriend. And frankly more alarming was the face that Glass seemed completely into Trey.
Glass raised a finger to his lips, hushing her, and she winced apologetically. He gestured to the stairs and Ari hustled down them, feeling the potency of the jinn behind her but not hearing his movements at all. She entered the kitchen in the back of the house, a huge space with an island in the middle and a large dining table on the far left. Sliding doors opened out onto a decent-sized backyard.
“Would you like some water?” she asked politely, pulling a chilled bottle of water out of the fridge.
Glass shook his head. “I will get myself a coffee.”
This was so weird.
Ari merely nodded.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Glass, it was just that she’d never become as comfortable with him as she was with Red. Red smiled and joked with her, whereas Ari had never seen Glass smile unless it was backed by sinister intent. Trey was his opposite in every way.