“I love you, Charlie. You’re my best friend.”
Nothing.
“Please. If you don’t start talking, Nice Ari is going to take a hike and Pissed-Off Ari is going to start kicking some ass.”
Nada.
“I know you’re in there …”
***
Three weeks had passed since the fight in Rancocas State Park, and the situation with Charlie was moving at a snail’s pace.
Fighting Charlie had been easier than Ari had anticipated. When it came down to it, he was as new as she was at using Jinn magic, except he wasn’t a natural. It wasn’t in his blood. He wasn’t the child of a Jinn king. Her enchantment broke through his easily enough and she’d incapacitated him long enough to steal the emerald from him. The hard part had come afterwards. She’d struggled to keep him bound to her. She was supposed to take him back through the Peripatos and keep him safe and hidden in the basement of their house. But seeing Jai and Trey fight for their lives with the Ghulah and Pazuzu … Ari had been frozen in place, unable to leave until she knew they were safe. Unfortunately, binding Charlie meant she couldn’t fight.
Ari would never forget the feeling of utter helplessness when she saw Pazuzu take Trey down. She had been about to break her binding with Charlie to save Trey but she was too late. She’d hesitated against losing Charlie and instead she’d almost lost Trey.
Part of her truly resented Charlie for that. She resented the loyalty she felt to him. At this point, didn’t Trey deserve her loyalty more?
Stop it, she chastised herself. She couldn’t think like that. She was breaking Guild Law to save Charlie from himself. They hadn’t gone through all this for her to give up on him now.
As for Trey, he was fine. Well, not fine. He almost died. However, Glass saved him. Neither Glass nor Trey would go into the details but Ari and Jai assumed Glass had taken Trey to Red’s healer, Kit. Kit had saved Ari multiple times and Jai once. The Jinn was truly a miracle worker.
In the end, the real miracle was Glass’s feelings for Trey. He’d never intended to let them face Pazuzu without backup. He’d waited in the wings in case Trey needed his help.
Ari was astonished to realize that the Glass King actually loved Trey. The event solidified and intensified whatever they had together. They were so close, Ari could actually sense Glass in Trey’s aura, even when Glass wasn’t with him.
Ari would be forever grateful to Glass and Red for once again coming to their aid.
She winced, remembering the blood spilling from Trey’s throat and the tears in Jai’s eyes when they returned back to the house with Charlie in tow. “What if I lose him?” Jai whispered as they tied Charlie in the basement. “He’s my brother. I can’t lose him.”
“Maybe you’ll finally understand how I feel,” Charlie had replied dully from his position on the chair, enchanted ropes wrapped around his legs and torso.
Jai had winced and stumbled away.
Ari had knelt until her face was in Charlie’s, resentment toward him pushing to the fore. She told him quietly, “It does not excuse what you’ve done.”
“Then why are you trying to save me? That’s what this is, right? You think you can, what … dry me out?”
She’d shaken her head at him. “What you’ve done since Mikey’s death is your fault. You made a choice.” Tears brimmed in her eyes, exhaustion, guilt, and worry for Trey eating at her. “But what happened to Mikey was my fault. So I’m going to try one last time to save my friend.”
Voices in the kitchen brought Ari back to the present. She’d been trying unsuccessfully for three weeks to get Charlie to speak. The magic was waning from his system now and he had grown weaker, subdued. Today was the first time she saw a spark of the old Charlie in his eyes.
Was the plan actually working?
Jai had attempted to get her to leave for more than a few hours, anxious about her and concerned that Michael was asking too many questions about her absence. If Michael grew suspicious, he might find out about Charlie. If that happened, Charlie was dead.
“Do you remember when we were nine and we buried a time capsule in Vicker’s Woods?” Charlie suddenly asked, his voice rough from lack of sleep.
Ari sat up, her pulse throbbing in her throat. He sounded like Charlie again. “Yes.” She smiled softly. “You kissed me. Just a peck on the lips but it was my first kiss.”
Charlie’s mouth twitched. “You tasted like strawberries. I bought you some cheap strawberry lip balm for your birthday that year and you wore it every day until the tin ran out.”
Tears pricked Ari’s eyes and she nodded, hope filling her chest. “I remember.”
“I remember everything.” He hung his head, his chest heaving with emotion. “Ari, I don’t know how to go back. I don’t know how to be okay anymore. The things I’ve said, and done.” When he looked up, the tears spilled down his cheeks. “The emerald … it changed me, it did. But before that, I couldn’t see past anything but myself and my own pain …and it killed her.” He cried harder. “It killed Fallon.”
Ari tried to stem her own tears but no matter what Charlie had done, she still felt his pain. She crossed the room to him and as she wrapped her arms around him, she cut through the enchantment holding him in place. The ropes fell and Charlie gripped her tight, sobbing into her shoulder as he clutched onto her.
She was so lost in him, so deafened by the rushing waves of blood in her ears from her escalating heartbeat, Ari did not hear the footsteps pounding down the basement stairs.
She didn’t hear a thing until …
“Ari, step away from him.”
Charlie pulled slowly back from her, wiping his cheeks. Ari turned her blurry vision to the intruder. Fear immediately sank into her stomach and she shook her head, putting herself in front of Charlie.
“No,” she felt her magic tingle in her fingers. “Michael, please, no.”
Standing before her was Michael Roe, his brother Gerard, and one of their older and powerful Guild members, Jacob Ballendine. Jai and Trey stared at Charlie in astonishment, and Ari watched their expressions grow pained as they realized they’d walked in on something important.
“Ari, don’t do anything stupid,” Michael warned her calmly. “Just step away from Mr. Creagh.”
She shook her head, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. “Michael, I can’t. He’s himself again. I can’t let you take him to die.”
“Ari,” Michael’s eyes held stoic sympathy but his tone was implacable. “He broke the law. I am bound to honor my position in this Guild and I have to turn him over to the Law Makers.”
“They’ll kill him,” she choked out.
“You can’t let them.”
“Ari.” Cold fingers caught hers. Charlie gazed up at her pleadingly. “Don’t. Let them. It’s too late. Don’t let anyone else get hurt because of me. She wouldn’t want that.”
“No.” Panic overwhelmed her and she turned to Jai, her eyes meeting his across the room. “No, Jai, please.”
Jai’s features tightened and Ari felt the crackle of his magic fill the room, as did Michael and the others who tensed and turned to him, realizing he was willing to fight to save Charlie for Ari.
“No, Jai, don’t.” Charlie rose unsteadily, holding his hands out in placation. Ari watched as Jai’s eyes met Charlie’s. “Please. This is how it ends. Please.”
Ari waited on tenterhooks for Jai’s decision. The air suddenly returned to normal as Jai gave into Charlie’s wishes and the Roe Guild Hunter’s relaxed. Ari let out a broken sob. “No.”
She was immediate
ly wrenched into Charlie’s tight grip. “None of this is your fault. You remember that. And remember,” he gave her one last squeeze as he whispered in her ear, “I love you too.”
He walked into Michael Roe’s hold.
As they escorted him out of the basement, past a somber Jai and Trey, it hit Ari that they were taking her oldest friend to his death.
Her knees gave out.
Familiar, strong arms found her and rocked her against his body. “Ssshh.”
“It worked,” she choked against Jai’s shoulder. “It worked. He was himself again. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening …”
***
As the sun set on Mount Qaf, the White King stood on one of his many balconies and gazed out over the mountains. Today he’d sat judgment over three disputes among his people, the first a territorial dispute between two of his Hakims—wealthy Lords whose homes were settled in close proximity to one another a few miles from White’s palace. The latest emerald mine had been opened nearby and a fee needed to be paid to the owner of the land. Both Hakims had sworn the land was theirs. White listened to the evidence but in the end, he relied on his own memory to play judge. He granted the fee to the Hakim whose family had settled on the land first.
The following two quarrels had been marriage disputes. Sometimes they could be quite entertaining, but White was too lost in his own maudlin thoughts to pay much attention to either.
Inspiration seemed to have failed him in how to proceed with reawakening Lilif, and it was slowly eating at him.
A knock on his parlor door met his ears and he called to the Shaitan to come in.
“You have a guest, master.”
White turned as the Shaitan bowed and removed himself from the room, leaving Rabir, White’s most trusted servant, behind. His muscles tensed at the expression on Rabir’s face.
Something had happened.
The Jinn strode toward White with purpose. “Your Highness,” he bowed his head reverently.
“What brings you here?”
Rabir smiled as he raised his chin.