Scorched Skies by Samantha Young

to kill the Shaitan that did this. I ’ m going to use my power against The White King. I ’ ll stop him. I can command him to stop this.” Ari was surprised but gratified to realize that the threat did not sound stupid or empty. It was real. After all, she was the Seal of Solomon.
    The Red King ’ s eyes darkened. “No.”
    “No.” She glared at him. “What do you mean no? I thought you were on my side.”
    “I am. And if you command one of the Seven Kings of Jinn to your side, Azazil will see that as a threat and it won ’ t matter what side I ’ m on, I won ’ t be able to stop my father from doing all he can to destroy you.”
    “Then I ’ ll command Azazil to back off.”
    The Red King threw her a condescending look. “In that book that Jai gave you… did it not tell you the full of extent of Azazil ’ s importance?”
    “What do you mean?” she asked warily.
    “Azazil is the father of our kind, the first. The balance of order is contingent upon his existence; life, destiny, chaos, destruction are all bound to him. Even I, his son, do not know the depths of Azazil. All I know is that he is connected to all the realms in ways you cannot begin to imagine. He is known in many worlds, and in many cultures, and he has many names. The power of the Seal may be great enough to command him to his knees but nothing is powerful enough to deal with the consequences if a being connected to the balance of life itself falls in supplication to a teenage girl bent on revenge.”
    “Oh.” Ari ’ s heart pounded in her chest in realization. “No. That wasn ’ t in Jai ’ s book.”
    “I am sorry for your loss, Ari.” The Red King sighed and Ari looked at him closely, searching for some sincerity. She thought she found it but after what Jai had told her, Ari wasn ’ t sure she could trust this man.
    “What am I supposed to do?” another tear scored her cheek as she gazed around her dad ’ s room. “Where do I go from here?”
    “My advice?”
    “Yes?”
    “You deal with your dad ’ s funeral and we get you out of here. This is only the beginning. You can ’ t sit idly by in this house and wait for my brother to come to you. We need to plan our next move. But you,” he brushed another strand of hair off her face, “Have barely had time to process this.”
    The house phone rang just then, jolting Ari into reality. She glanced at the phone on her dad ’ s bedside table and then looked back at The Red King. He nodded solemnly and sickening dread filled her as she reached over and picked up the receiver.
    Even though she knew, even though she ’ d expected it, it was horrifying to listen to the police officer tell her that her dad was dead. She was given instructions to come to the morgue to verify that it was his body. She let the receiver drop and swallowed back vomit. It burned her throat and she waved a weak hand over the bedside cabinet, imagining one of the water bottles from her fridge. It appeared before her and she took a swig, thinking about what Jai had told her.
    “You made Jai lie to me about the consequences of using my magic,” she whispered.
    “I did it to save your dad.”
    “You did save him.” She swallowed down tears and looked back over at him and shrugged. “I didn ’ t.”
    “You couldn ’ t have stopped them, Ari.”
    “No, I could have. That ’ s why they knocked me out.”
    “Then we ’ ll work on some training. Jai can teach you to be more aware of your surroundings and teach you to use your defensive magic.”
    “Can he teach me to turn back time?”
    “No,” he answered softly.
    Ari nodded, pulling herself up and onto her feet. She wobbled a bit. “Today my dad was honest with me for the first time in my life.”
    The Red King returned her gaze, waiting, offering a quiet kind of solace. God she wished she could trust him.
    “I never really knew him.” She shrugged, feeling brittle and irritable. Her skin felt dry and her bones felt sore, and every movement