Scorched Skies (20 page)

Green eyes glittering, Jai nodded. “Azazil has always taken an interest in the arts. He
’
s watched over and directed the lives of Importants such as Euripides, Aristophanes and Chaucer. When Shakespeare was born, Azazil took a personal interest in his journey. Of course
The War of the Flames
was already in play so to spite his father, The White King got involved with Shakespeare
’
s destiny when he shouldn
’
t have. Lo and behold, the playwright contracted syphilis and died before his move to London where he would have fulfilled his destiny as one of the greatest playwrights that ever lived.”

“Is this for real?”

“For real.” Jai nodded and glanced back at the hourglass. “You know Azazil is powerful, Ari. You know we have no way of knowing how powerful exactly. But we do know Azazil is powerful enough to change the events of the past.”

Her eyes widened as his meaning set in. Azazil could mess with time? Could change events? Was Jai serious?

“I
’
m not kidding,” he replied. “There have been a few occasions where the Sultan has felt so strongly about a destiny that has been manipulated, that he
’
s delved back into the past and righted the course of that Important
’
s path.”

“Just gone back in time? Just like that?”

“No. Not just like that. Legend tells us that Azazil becomes completely drained by the task. So weakened he
’
s almost human. Think about it. He has to make sure that every other path connected to the one he
’
s changed doesn
’
t ripple into another Important
’
s and change the course of theirs. Now, no one knows if Azazil can see the path a destiny is supposed to take or if he just knows when a destiny comes off its proper path. I think many would prefer to believe the latter because it means Azazil is less powerful. But whatever his ability, Azazil knew that Shakespeare was meant for more. So he changed the history The White King had created. When Jinn that powerful use that much energy on an Important, it leaves a mark. Shakespeare is among only a handful of Importants that Azazil left a mark on. Can you imagine the face of literature without Shakespeare
’
s influence?”

“True but still… that
’
s…
insane
.”

Jai shrugged. “So is Azazil. Anyway, Azazil keeps these hourglasses as trophies, if you like, for each destiny he
’
s re-written. Each glass contains sand from the alternate world he re-righted. It
’
s believed the sand itself has magical properties. Shakespeare
’
s hourglass was stolen from Azazil
’
s palace and put on the black market.”

Understanding dawned and Ari
’
s eyes widened even more on the hourglass. “Are you saying this is it?”

Smirking, Jai nodded.

“But it must have cost a fortune and your dad just keeps it in a glass cabinet. What if someone tried to steal it?”

“
He
’
d
stop them.” Jai pointed to the corner of the room and Ari followed his gaze to the long-necked red bottle sitting on top of a black oriental cabinet. An energy she
’
d presumed was Ms. Maggie
’
s pulsed around the bottle. She was really going to have to learn to differentiate between different Jinn energies otherwise it might end up getting her killed.

“There
’
s a Jinn in there?”

“Yeah. Teruze. Our tribe helped him out a while back but he
’
s still in hiding. He protects treasure. In exchange for getting to hide out here, Teruze protects
our
treasure.”

“Sweet deal,” Ari breathed, her brain on information overload. Trying to hide how unnerved she was to be in a house where the Jinn world was so prevalent, Ari let her eyes wander over the paintings. Then the breath just sucked right out of her. Disbelieving her eyes, Ari stumbled away from Jai and came to a stop in front of the image, her neck cricked back as she looked up at it. “Who is that?” she asked softly, her eyes traveling over the semi-erotic painting of a beautiful woman with long dark hair. She was naked and she was crawling sensuously and animal-like along a male body that seemed pinned to the floor with invisible hands. His eyes were glazed with lust as he looked on the stunning figure draped across him, seeming to miss the dark violence in the female Jinn
’
s gaze. And Ari knew it was a painting of a female Jinn. She just knew.

Jai cleared his throat coming to a stop beside her. “My dad put that up there as a reminder to never let your guard down.”

Hearing the hoarseness in his voice, Ari tugged her gaze from the painting to look up at her guardian. His features were tight with some unnamed emotion. She had to stop herself from reaching for him, knowing he might not like that.

“It
’
s a painting of the first succubus Jinn. Lilif. From where the succubus Jinn took their name. From where my mother took her name.”

“I
’
m sorry,” Ari whispered. “I didn
’
t mean to bring up something painful I just… she looked familiar.”
She reminds me of a woman I
’
ve been dreaming about. A woman and her brother.
About to tell Jai about the weird dreams Ari was halted by a throat clearing at the doorway. Turning around, they found Luca standing before them with an older man and a beautiful young woman. To their left stood a younger man with similar features to Tarik and Luca. Another brother? Ari
’
s eyes drew back to the stunning woman. She looked a year or two older than Ari. They were of a similar height and both had dark hair but that was where the similarities ended. Whereas Ari
’
s features were soft and full, the girls were sharp and elegant. Ari did not like the way she was looking at Jai.

Oh Holy Macaroons! Was this the girl? Was this the woman Jai was in love with?

Feeling sick, Ari dragged her gaze back to Luca. He smiled at her but she couldn
’
t bring herself to return it. “Ms. Johnson this is Hugo Lenz and his daughter Yasmin. Hugo is one of my oldest friends.”

Ari nodded at them, not sure what to say.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Hugo replied and then he flicked a sneer at Jai. “I was surprised you got this assignment, boy. Don
’
t mess it up.”

“It
’
s going fine,” Luca said before Jai or Ari could reply. “I
’
ve had word back from one of my contacts. He thinks he
’
s got it narrowed down to five Guilds. He
’
s going to get back to me with better news as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Jai acknowledged.

“Ms. Johnson, this is my middle son, David.” Luca gestured to the guy at his side. On closer inspection he looked more like Nicki than Luca. At his name Ari tensed, giving him a tight nod, not particularly liking the way his eyes roamed over her. She knew who he was. Jai had made odd comments here and there about this brother. 
‘
Scumbag
’
came to mind when she looked at him. God Ari wanted to get Jai out of this place as soon as possible. No matter what he thought, he deserved so much better than these people.

Father and son spoke some more but Ari was barely listening. Avoiding David
’
s disturbing gaze, her eyes stumbled back onto Yasmin whose own eyes were devouring Jai from head to toe. She looked like she knew him…
intimately
. Girls Charlie had screwed around with had looked at him exactly the same way. Oh hell. This was Jai
’
s girlfriend. This sharp-eyed, glossy, guardian Jinn was Jai
’
s one true love. Ari wanted to rip out all that silky hair and scratch her eyes out. Afraid to look at Jai but needing to, Ari slid him a tentatively appraising look. She relaxed a little when she saw he wasn
’
t even looking at Yasmin… but did that really mean anything?

Luca bidding her goodnight brought Ari
’
s concentration back to the conversation. She muttered a good night, watching Jai
’
s father, David, Hugo and Yasmin saunter out of the room.

Jai nodded at the exit. “Come on, it
’
s getting late, I
’
ll show you to your room.”

Stomach churning with the need to know the truth, Ari walked by Jai
’
s side in tense silence. With everything that had happened to her in the last few days it felt ridiculous that her anxiety over meeting Jai
’
s girlfriend had grown to such epic proportions. Knowing she couldn
’
t go on like this, Ari whirled on him when they stopped outside her room. “Is Yasmin the girl you
’
re in love with?”

Jai blinked, appearing totally surprised by her question and the suddenness of it. “Um… no.” he shook his head, looking a little uncomfortable. “No she
’
s not.”

Wishing she was way cooler and ignoring the inner voice that pleaded with her to be cooler, Ari threw up her hands in exasperation. “Well who is? Who is this woman that you
’
re in love with? Will I meet her?”

Dread settled into her bones as Jai stepped back from her. He couldn
’
t meet her eyes and he was rubbing his hand over his short hair, the way he did when he didn
’
t want to talk about something. “Ari, now is not the time for this.”

“Jai?”

Sighing, he looked up at her. Their gazes locked, hers pleading, his enigmatic. Finally he shook his head. “There is no one. I lied.”

Feeling punched in the gut, Ari
’
s mouth dropped open. “What?” she managed, disbelieving. He
’
d lied to her about being involved with someone? Why would he do that? “Why?”

“I thought it was the best way to keep a proper distance between us. When you…”

“Came on to you,” Ari supplied angrily.

“Ari,” he threw her an unhappy look at her phrasing of the hard-to-forget and awkward moment he
’
d rejected her. “When you kissed me I realized you felt a certain way about me-”

“Just say it, Jai,” Ari interrupted, drawing her arms across her chest as if would somehow shield her vulnerability. “I have feelings for you.”

He couldn
’
t look her in the eye and that just made her so mad! Crunching on that mad she waited as he finally met her gaze. “I don
’
t feel that way,” he whispered. “I didn
’
t want to hurt you and encourage you when the truth is, you don
’
t even know me.”