As Ari froze, the crowd surprised her by eliciting shocked and offended gasps. She looked at their frowning expressions and glanced up the hall to Azazil.

“No!” she cried out and shook her head, pleading with him not to let Asmodeus take her.

Azazil heaved a heavy sigh as he stood from his throne and walked down the dais, a giant among Jinn as he passed. Everyone hurried to bow, yet not even Azazil’s presence among them cleared the uncertainty and disapproval from their expressions.

Azazil stopped before Ari and Asmodeus. He gave Asmodeus a look he might give a teenager who was attempting to push his parent to the very limit. “Unfortunately, Asmodeus, there are still some rules in this world that even I won’t break. Without these rules, we’d be uncivilized animals.” His voice lowered now and his lips twitched with amusement as he continued, “I especially won’t break them in front of witnesses.” He turned to his guests and raised his voice. “The bride will not share a bed with her betrothed until the marriage ceremony is complete.”

Asmodeus, to Ari’s surprise, grunted. “We are only delaying the inevitable.”

“Asmodeus,” Azazil warned.

He held up his hands in surrender.

“Fine. We shall wait.” He smiled at Ari now as he stroked her cheek with faux tenderness. “Off to bed, then, with your reprieve.”

“Let Jai go,” Ari suddenly pleaded with Azazil, knowing she was pushing it, but needing to. “Don’t make him watch this.”

Azazil’s mouth twisted at the request and then he shrugged, flicking Asmodeus a look. “I promised my lieutenant he could have this vengeance. Unfortunately, that includes the Ginnaye.

My hands are tied. You know better than anyone that when I grant a favor, I don’t renege on it.”

Ari paled at the reminder that she was the reason this was all happening in the first place. She swallowed his reminder and with one last long look cast Jai’s way, she spun and hurried out of the ballroom, followed quickly by her guards.

***

After such a trying night, Red had finally done Jai a favor and knocked him out so he could at least get some sleep. It meant he was out, unconscious on the bed, when Glass finally made it back to Mount Qaf.

Red took one look at Glass’s face as he stepped out of the Peripatos and felt his hope for his young niece and her lover wither in his stomach.

“How was the feast?” Glass asked quietly, shooting a questioning look at Jai’s sleeping form.

Red exhaled hard. “So difficult even Father felt uneasy about making Jai watch.”

Glass’s expression darkened.

“Asmodeus has gone too far.”

“I take it our idea did not work, considering you haven’t mentioned it.”

Glass was silent for a moment and when his gaze met Red’s, Red cursed in anger. “The bastard!”

“I explained everything to him but he remained unmoved.”

“What did he say?”

“Not a word. He pulled the silent treatment on me,” Glass said.

“After everything …”

“Is there nothing else we can do?”

Red lowered himself to his armchair and bowed his head in defeat. “I fear we have lost this one, Brother.”

26

From Unexpected Places

For two days she’d been locked in her chamber with no company, no news, nothing but the dreaded ticking of time that drew her closer and closer to the inevitable.

There was no word from Asmodeus, none from Red or Glass, and definitely none from Jai. When she thought about the fact that she would never again have a conversation him, or be held by him, her chest grew tight and little dark spots cluttered her vision as she fought to breathe.

A panic attack.

She hadn’t had one of those in a while.

Unfortunately, despite the lack of contact, Ari wasn’t hopeless. She was giving into the inevitable but there was still a place inside of her that hoped that somehow, this wouldn’t happen. That hope would be the death of her, she knew.

On the morning of the wedding, Ari threw up the prior night’s dinner. She hadn’t managed to eat much, so it was a surprise to have so much come back up again.

Shaitans arrived at her chamber to outfit her in a surprisingly very Western white bridal gown. She guessed it was Asmodeus’s way of making her feel every inch the bride. Twisted bastard.

The dress was much more demure than the one she’d been forced to wear two nights before, but that’s all Ari noticed about it. She stood like an unfeeling statue as the Shaitans worked, and when they were done, she numbly allowed them to lead her through the palace to the ballroom where the ceremony would take place. Garlands and decorations were everywhere around the palace, as if this creepy event was something to celebrate. Stomach heavy with fate, Ari sucked in her breath and took a step into the ballroom. Like a traditional wedding, the guests were seated on either side of an aisle. At the top of the aisle, Azazil sat on his throne, and Asmodeus stood with a Marid Ari recognized. It was Adeel, the Marid who’d overseen Charlie’s trial on Mount Qaf.

Her eyes automatically scanned the room in search of Jai and she found him in the crowd near the front, the Red and Glass Kings on either side of him.

As the Shaitan behind her nudged her toward the aisle, Ari kept her eyes trained on Jai and imagined that she was walking this aisle toward him instead. Music filled the room as she slowly made her way on trembling legs down a pathway of exotic petals. Gradually it grew harder and harder to breathe as her chest heaved up and down with the effort. She was close to hyperventilating.

“Uh, I do so hate to spoil this pretty scene,” a familiar, rumbling voice sounded around the room. The music instantly stopped. So did Ari, her heart jumping as she whirled around and found herself looking down the aisle to her father, the White King. “But I am going to, anyway.” His face was expressionless as he passed Ari, his eyes barely meeting hers as he glided by in blue robes and pants. Diamonds winked in his ears and gold glittered on his hands. He’d dressed up for the occasion.

What was he doing here? Had he come to witness his daughter’s downfall?

Or …

No. She daren’t even hope.

Wide-eyed, she whirled around to watch as he strode with determination to the bottom of the dais. White bowed to his father and then stood and said, “A wedding ceremony for my daughter? My invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail.”