Queen of Shadow and Ash: A Seven Kings of Jinn Novel Read online

  Queen of Shadow and Ash

  A Seven Kings of Jinn Novel

  S. Young

  Queen of Shadow and Ash

  A Seven Kings of Jinn Novel

  Book Three

  * * *

  by S. Young

  * * *

  Copyright © 2022 Samantha Young

  Previously published in 2012 under the title Borrowed Ember (A Fire Spirits Novel).

  * * *

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the above author of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  This work is registered with and protected by Copyright House.

  Contents

  Also by S. Young

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Coming Soon

  About the Author

  Also by S. Young

  Adult Contemporary Novels by Samantha Young

  Play On

  As Dust Dances

  Black Tangled Heart

  Hold On: A Play On Novella

  Into the Deep

  Out of the Shallows

  Hero

  Villain: A Hero Novella

  One Day: A Valentine Novella

  Fight or Flight

  Much Ado About You

  On Dublin Street Series:

  On Dublin Street

  Down London Road

  Before Jamaica Lane

  Fall From India Place

  Echoes of Scotland Street

  Moonlight on Nightingale Way

  Until Fountain Bridge (a novella)

  Castle Hill (a novella)

  Valentine (a novella)

  One King’s Way (a novella)

  On Hart’s Boardwalk (a novella)

  Hart’s Boardwalk Series:

  The One Real Thing

  Every Little Thing

  Things We Never Said

  The Truest Thing

  The Adair Family Series:

  Here With Me

  There With You

  Young Adult contemporary titles by Samantha Young

  The Impossible Vastness of Us

  The Fragile Ordinary

  Other titles by Samantha Young

  Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella

  Titles Co-written with Kristen Callihan

  Outmatched

  Titles Written Under S. Young

  Fear of Fire and Shadow

  True Immortality Series:

  War of Hearts

  Kiss of Vengeance

  Kiss of Eternity: A True Immortality Short Story

  Bound by Forever

  The Seven Kings of Jinn Series:

  The Seven Kings of Jinn

  Of Wish and Fury

  Queen of Shadow and Ash

  The Law of Stars and Sultans

  War of the Covens Trilogy:

  Hunted

  Destined

  Ascended

  Warriors of Ankh Trilogy:

  Blood Will Tell

  Blood Past

  Shades of Blood

  Prologue

  Each Thread Pulled Unravels Us

  Millions of granules of glittering sand suspended in the air like a curtain of fragmented earth enveloping them. Bright sunlight shot through all the spaces in between each grain. Ari stared in awe, vaguely wondering if she could create the same effect with the desert sand. It was like a funnel—as though a tornado had swept over the ground in a powerful, frantic dash, only to have someone even more powerful hit the pause button. Despite the extraordinary visual impact, Ari was more impressed with its purpose. It was a cocoon of privacy, allowing mother and son to talk freely without sly and eager ears overhearing.

  Turning her attention to Lilif and her son, the White King, Ari prowled around them. She was now used to her visions, or dreams, or whatever they were, and more than eager to learn more from them. The White King towered over his beautiful mother, who appeared as if she was no older than him. Her tall, graceful frame wrapped in a white dress, like a toga, a strangely colorless garment for Lilif—the jewels in her ears and on her fingers providing the only sparkle of color. Her dark locks were pulled back in an elegant coiffure, a thin circlet of diamonds winking in the sun from its tight situation across her forehead. Entranced, as she always was by the female jinn, it took Ari a moment to remember her real father’s presence. His curious silence drew her eyes toward him as Lilif looked up lovingly into his face. As soon as Ari took him in, she stopped, transfixed by his expression. For Ari, the White King was the coldest jinn she had ever met. Only once had she witnessed him lose his cool, and even then it was the most controlled anger she’d ever seen. White was the master of the blank expression, so it was with great surprise Ari looked upon this younger version of the jinn king and saw love and respect in his eyes, and a soft quirk of a smile at the corner of his lips. He was vulnerable before Lilif. Unguarded. More human, somehow.

  “You know I love your theatrics, Mother, but is this really necessary?” he smirked, gesturing to the sand cocoon around them.

  Lilif’s eyes narrowed. “Of course. Or have your brothers not filled your ears with their nonsense?”

  White frowned. “Red and Glass are trying to cause mischief. I think Father put them up to it. I assure you, I don’t believe them.”

  “Good.” Lilif placed a gentle hand on his forearm. “That brings me such relief, my son. I would never hurt any of my children. How can they accuse me of such an abominable thing?”

  “Father,” White answered grimly.

  “That’s why I have brought you here.” Lilif stepped away from him, wringing her hands in a way that made Ari think she was lying. She frowned. This was not the Lilif Ari knew from her earlier dreams. “Azazil is trying to turn you all against me.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “We disagree often on his selfish pursuit of pleasure. He seems uncaring of our ways, of our purpose. I fear soon he will even begin interfering in his sons’ purpose — that he may upset the balance by influencing you all to interfere in one another’s days, to interfere with the importants’ destinies.

  His petulance, his propensity for boredom will destroy everything. Do you fully understand what his childish irresponsibility will lead to? Over time, each destiny that is broken, each path that is turned, each road that is lost, will create cracks in the fabric of nature, of time, of space and of light. The realms will collide into one another until there is nothing but a wasteland of dust. Only the strongest will survive. Only the immor
tal and the powerful. We’ll have to begin anew, alone in one smaller world…”

  Ari felt the breath leave her body at Lilif’s prophecy, her stomach churning with fear. Were her words true? Is that really what would happen if Azazil lost control of it all? Is that what the Red King had meant when he told her that the consequences of her using the seal against the sultan could be catastrophic? She gulped, suddenly very glad she had taken his advice.

  Attention drawn back to White, Ari realized he was just as aghast. “So everything will die, but us?”

  “Almost. Azazil was the one who forewarned me of the consequences of tampering with the threads of our existence, and yet I believe it will be your father that brings such a disaster to fruition.”

  “Do the others know this?”

  “If they don’t, we have to tell them,” Lilif whispered hoarsely. Ari narrowed her eyes, not quite as taken in by Lilif as her son obviously was.

  “Mother, we cannot let Father continue to play these games. Balance… the balance is our purpose.”

  Lilif nodded wearily. “It is. I brought you here to make you understand the importance of us standing united against your father. Even if that means standing united against your brothers.”

  The White King straightened with determination. “Gleaming will want to know of this. He is just as suspicious as I am of Red and Glass’s offensive claims of late.”

  “And Shadow?”

  “Yes, Shadow as well. Gilder and Lucky, I am not so certain of. You know they like to maintain cowardly neutrality.”

  “Don’t speak so harshly of them, White. We may yet appeal to their intelligent natures and their sense of honor. They believe deeply in their purpose just as you do.”

  “I shall leave now and speak with them. We need to prepare them. We need to stand strong and try to counterbalance any unwritten chaos that upsets the balance.”

  “Hurry.” Lilif reached up and stroked his cheek lovingly.

  “I will. It is my duty.” With a respectful bow of his head, White stepped back and the flames of the peripatos engulfed him.

  Ari’s gaze slid slowly back to Lilif and watched, somehow unsurprised, as the ifrit’s entire demeanor changed. The prim white toga slid around her body with a life of its own, reshaping itself into a shimmering drape of a dress that clung to all her luscious curves. Two revealing slits ran up the length of the dress on either side, flashing her shapely legs from foot to thigh. Magical, invisible hands uncoiled her hair until it hung loose and wild to her waist. The manipulative, dangerous gleam that Ari knew was back in Lilif’s dark eyes. The familiar cruel twist returned to her full lips as she sneered at the space where White had just minutes ago been standing. “Just like your father, White. In more ways than you’ll ever realize.”

  Before Ari had time to even attempt to work out Lilif’s meaning, the sand exploded in a scream all around them and Lilif’s voice joined its whine. Grains sliced into Ari’s skin and eyes, and she slapped at the attacking desert with useless, heavy arms.

  Claustrophobia gripped her chest and Ari slammed forward, reaching for air, her eyes opening into the dark of the unfamiliar bedroom suite. Heart pounding, Ari slumped with relief as the pale light from the enormous moon outside the balcony illuminated the iron-framed bed she was in, as well as the Moroccan iron screen and matching furniture.

  Mount Qaf.

  The momentary relief evaporated as she remembered.

  Dalí.

  The Gleaming King.

  Charlie. His trial.

  Her fingers curled into the light silk comforter. Her uncle, the Red King, had given her a room within his quarters of the palace. Despite his proximity, Ari still feared being within the Sultan Azazil’s home on Mount Qaf. Corridors away from him. Only corridors away from Lilif’s dangerous and enigmatic twin, Asmodeus.

  But only a room away from Jai. Her shoulders relaxed from their position by her ears, and gradually the rest of her unwound. She laid back down to stare at the ceiling and wondered if she should feel guilty that Jai’s presence could bring her such comfort when, miles beneath the palace, Charlie was locked up in a dungeon awaiting his trial tomorrow?

  Awaiting the trial that would determine whether he lived or died.

  Ari already knew the outcome.

  There was no way in hell she would let her best friend die. No way.

  No matter what.

  Chapter

  One

  I’m a Mountain Against the Wind

  Falling back to sleep was impossible. Ari didn’t even know how she managed falling asleep in the first place.

  She watched, huddled on her bed, as the moon drifted farther away and the sky lightened. The winter sun played peek-a-boo over the mountains, the emeralds waking up under its mischievous gaze.

  Finally, Ari breathed inwardly, hopping out of bed. She hurried into the colorful bronze, blue, and gold Moroccan tiled bathroom, rushing through a luxurious shower and blow-drying her hair with a hairdryer that looked like the one she’d left back in Ohio. The Red King certainly wanted her to feel at home. Well, she never would, but she couldn’t help but feel grateful to her uncle for trying.

  With adrenaline pulsing through her body, Ari rummaged through her small bag for a clean pair of jeans and a tank top. The little gremlins she knew and hated played kick-ball in her stomach as she concentrated.

  Red, she called through the telepathy, somehow knowing he didn’t mind her being informal with him, are you there?

  Two seconds later, flames hissed to life at the doorway and the Red King stepped out of the peripatos. His long, bright red hair pulled back into a braid that brushed the bottom of his spine, and he wore black leather trousers that laced up the side. His torso was bare, and the muscles of his biceps tensed under gold circlets as he moved toward her. She noted the thick gold cuffs around his wrists and the ruby studs in his ears. He dressed to impress. He dressed for the trial.

  Red’s sharp, pale blue eyes flicked across her face, checking for… what? Injury? Sorrow? Concern? “Are you alright?”

  Ari shook her head. “I want to see Charlie.”

  “I already told you, you can’t.”

  An ugly, unexpected flare of anger burned in Ari’s chest and she gulped hard, trying to hold it back down. She needed to stay calm. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

  Her uncle circled her, and Ari hated that she still felt intimidated when he did that. “You question my word? I assured you he will not be treated poorly. Don’t you believe me?” There was an edge to the questions and, just as Red obviously disliked being questioned, so did Ari.

  The dark knot in her chest unfurled and she whirled around to face him, eyes blazing. Didn’t he realize she could command him to his knees? How dare he try to intimidate her? How dare he deny her the right to see Charlie?

  How dare he—

  “Ari?” Red gripped her upper arms, shaking her out of the coiling mist of rage that had enveloped her. She shuddered, coming back to herself, her breathing uneven.

  Holy shit.

  She’d let herself get lost in the seal’s power. She’d promised them all she wouldn’t do that and Ari had been so sure she could keep that promise. It was just—

  “It’s getting stronger.” Red frowned, stepping back. “The seal. It’s trying to push you to use it.”

  Ari nodded numbly. She didn’t need this crap right now. “I’ll try harder,” she whispered.

  “You better. You need to control the darkness inside you, Ari. And the seal is darkness. Never forget it.”

  Ari remembered her dream, of Lilif’s telling of what would happen if too many threads were pulled in the fabric of the universe’s entire existence. The seal could pull a million threads and bring it all crashing down. She couldn’t let that happen. “I promise. I can handle this. I promise,” she insisted.

  Watching her carefully, Red finally nodded. “Fine. The trial will begin in an hour. I’ll come get you. You should make sure Jai is awake and t
hen stay with him until I return.”

  Once he was gone, Ari slumped down onto the bed. The seal had taken over her so quickly this time. There was no buildup, no threat to her, no reason. She’d been angry because Red wouldn’t give her what she wanted. What the hell was that about? Groaning, Ari buried her head in her hands. This was the last thing they needed right now. She had to be stronger than this.

  Shaking out her hands, Ari pushed up onto her feet and straightened her shoulders.

  She would be stronger than this.

  Telepathing Jai, Ari let him know she was coming to his room.

  Good. The deep rumble echoed around her head as she left her suite. Just that one word—the sound of his voice—and her pulse leaped, butterflies tickling her belly at the thought of seeing him.

  His door opened across the hall and Ari darted inside. His room was almost a mirror image of hers, except Jai surprisingly hadn’t made his bed yet. Ari felt her cheeks heat at the thought of him lying under the rumpled covers without a stitch of clothing on. She felt her insides turn to mush and mentally berated herself, willing the fire out of her cheeks as she turned to face her guardian. Jai leaned back against the closed door, staring at her with this intense smolder that re-ignited all the heat she was trying to douse. He wore his usual uniform of a plain black T-shirt that sculpted his awesome upper body, and black jeans and well-worn, short biker boots. Jai was pure casual sexiness—he was hot without even trying, and all Ari wanted to do was to jump on him and let the heat set her alight.