Asmodeus! Now!
The tall, dark Jinn burst out of the Peripatos with renewed determination and as he lunged at a shocked Lilif, Ari could see the raw pain in his face fueling his need to end this once and for all. She almost thanked the heavens for it and hoped his expression meant this was the end. Lilif shot out a charm at the four of them before Asmodeus knocked her to the ground, but the charm bounced off the strong protection enchantment they’d created around them. With one last look at Jai, Ari blurred across the clearing and latched onto Asmodeus … and then the world was whirling and spinning and rushing and tumbling and sucking and squeezing and crushing …
She came to a crashing halt, her back on warm sand, a low sun casting heat across a darkening desert. It was a landscape she remembered from her visions when Lilif and the Seal were inside her.
Asmodeus had taken them to an old battleground. He’d taken them to the place Lilif had once sought to kill him.
Lilif’s roar of outrage split the rapidly changing sky. It was almost indigo now. Ari jerked into a sitting position and saw Asmodeus and his sister wrestling, ember-glowing fists crashing into concrete air as they magically defended themselves against one another.
A dagger suddenly appeared in Lilif’s hand and Ari was on her feet, rushing toward them as Lilif brought the blade down into Asmodeus’s back. He grunted and rolled off, twisting his arm behind his back, his magic drawing the dagger out. Ari leapt at Lilif before she could disappear into the Peripatos.
Lilif slashed long fingers as Ari descended upon her, and Ari felt the painful burn of stinging scratches across the left side of her face before she landed on the wicked Sultana.
Ari’s hands immediately sought Lilif’s throat and she squeezed, trying to restrain her, weaken her before she brought down her final blow. But soon Ari found it was her own hands that were weakening as the tingle of alien magic wrapped itself around her wrists and crawled up her arms. She started to tremble as the magic ate away at her nerves and her grip loosened.
Roles instantly reversed. Ari found herself on her back with Lilif’s hands around her throat. Trying not to panic, Ari threw the heel of her palm up and caught Lilif in the nose, immediately following with a winding punch to the solar plexus. Lilif’s grip slackened slightly and Ari held both hands up, ember shooting out of her body as she blasted Lilif’s body off hers.
Ari cursed under her breath and shoved all the energy she had into flying after Lilif. She couldn’t let her get far enough away to disappear. She tangled with Lilif again, and thus began a dance of magical blows, scratches and cuts, heads banging against the hard, sandy ground, limbs kicking and colliding with bruising impact. The fight was exhausting, sweat pouring down Ari’s body, but she persevered, waiting for that in when she could conjure the sword from Michael Roe’s office and use it to end Lilif’s life.
If she didn’t do something soon, she was going to have to break her promise to Asmodeus. He would be the one who’d have to kill Lilif. Ari was weakening. She couldn’t keep up the fight much longer.
With the upper hand, Ari screamed with desperation as she yanked Lilif by the hair and smacked her face down into the sand. Seizing her moment, she conjured the acinaces sword and raised it to make the final blow when Lilif, as if sensing her imminent death, whirled around and plunged a dagger into Ari’s stomach.
The pain was indescribable.
The sword tumbled from Ari’s grip and her body, as if trying to separate itself from the agonizing wound in her stomach, just let go. Her knees gave way and she fell to them, her wide, astonished eyes lowering to the jewel-encrusted blade lodged in her gut.
She raised her eyes to Lilif as trembling hands fingered the handle. She watched as the Jinn queen stood gracefully to her feet, her dark eyes blazing down upon Ari.
“You thought you could best me? You thought you could turn those who love me against me?” She shook her head pitifully. “You are but a child. How could you ever best me?”
Ari gulped, trying to speak, trying to think, trying to win.
“I could have saved you. Now I’m going to make sure that the people you love die painfully and slowly. You could have had my mercy, you silly—”
A fist burst through Lilif’s chest, agony halting her words.
Asmodeus stood behind her, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears as he whispered in Lilif’s ear, “When have you ever been merciful, Sister?” and with that, he jerked his fist out through her back. Her body, a dead weight, collapsed into the desert and Asmodeus stood over her, his bloody fist glowing with ember.
It was all that was left of Lilif.
A tear slipped down his cheek as he whispered something under his breath and clenched his fist, watching the ember’s light fade. As he released his hold on it, it transformed to black dust that glittered on its descent to the sand.
A harsh wind swept over Lilif’s body. Her skin crackled and crumbled, until nothing remained but black dust blowing away into the indigo sky.
Relief tore through Ari seconds before the blazing hurt returned and she made a pained noise, falling onto her back.
Asmodeus’s blank, handsome face appeared above her. “You seem to be in quite a predicament.” There was no emotion in his voice, nothing to assure her that he wouldn’t let her die.
She was going to die.
It was over and she was going to die.
Jai!
She’d promised him. She’d promised him she’d come back, that he wouldn’t ever have to feel lost and alone without her.
At the thought of leaving him, tears filled her eyes and she gulped, choking on blood.
Asmodeus seemed to read her and he leaned in close, his the last words in her head before the world turned black.
“As if I’d make it that easy for you.”
19
Nothing Has Changed, Only Everything
Their voices and the waves of immense power that beat at Ari’s body brought her out of unconsciousness. She opened her eyes slowly and found her gaze on the Red King.
She was on a couch somewhere and he stood behind it, near her, speaking to someone directly across from him.
What happened?
Searching her groggy mind, Ari couldn’t help her gasp or the way her body jerked as her hands sought her stomach. There was a hole in her shirt and the skin underneath was raised.
Lilif daggered me.
Her movement brought Red’s eyes down to hers. She saw his concern and instantly felt better, allowing the relief of having taken down Lilif to settle throughout her body. “It’s done,” she told him with a croaky voice.