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Despair kept White on his knees;

self-derision kept his head bowed He’d been so blinded by his love for his mother, so blinded by the falsities she’d shown hiical It had taken her less than an hour to gather her strength after he’d punched the ring into her chest to awaken her

And here she was …

"For centuries, White," she spat in

outrage, "I have waited forand forced to live in darkness until Ari" She shot hi remarkable in that one, son Very clever of you My ti I have seen what has become of you all, what has become of this world Of Asust "My poor brother has lost all thein his life You all have But I can return it, just as you wished ently

lift White’s chin, tilting his head so he had to aze "I will keep you alive, son, in compensation for your service to me You were always myhis skin with her harsh grip "But your brothers must die It is the only way to continue to break the threads It is the only way to welcome our souls into The After And now that I have the powers of the Seal atwill stop h his veins, White ed to keep his expression blank as he nodded in acquiescence to hiss as loudly as possible to the one brother who h to save theritted his teeth, the blast fro hi to breathe through the pain and listen to the e

Lilif has awakened! I’ht Worse, the power of the Seal re for you all I arn Glea and Shadow You warn the others

"Red?" Ari’s concerned voice drew his watery gaze fro beside hi his arenuine worry for hirip hilanced up at his brother who seemed to sense the news before he’d even heard it

Red rose to his feet, bringing Ari with hi you?" Ari asked him, confusion in every syllable

"It see her true nature to hi to the old plan"

Glass’s eyes narrowed "To kill

us"

Red nodded grimly "Yes And worse, she has the power of the Seal at her co and Shadow We arn Lucky and Gilder and have them meet us at Father’s If we combine our poe should be able to keep her out of the palace until Father regains his strength We will strategize where to go fro?" Trey took a step toward thehed, watching his brother’s expression tighten as he realized he’d have to leave the young Hunter here

When he shot a look at Red, he didn’t even have to telepath the question Can I bring hi her also But they couldn’t It would be far safer to be away froets As if Glass realized this at the sa the tenderness in his brother’s eyes sent a wave of grief over Red But at least Glass had the reassurance of knowing that since the incident in Rancocas Park, Trey would be safe, as long as Lilif never laid a hand upon Glass

"Look after Ari," Glass told him

softly "And yourself I’ll come back when this business with Lilif is resolved"

"I want to fight with you" Trey

shook his head stubbornly "If she … if so happens to you …"

And from that point on, their

conversation was silent Red assu the privacy of telepathy, so he turned to his beautiful niece and laid an affectionate touch upon her shoulder, drawing her gaze froe of herher fiercely, "No matter what, you must protect yourself It would be prudent for you and Jai to go into hiding until I give the all-clear"

Ari took a step closer to hi to meet his eyes "No" She shook her head defiantly "I’"

Red closed his eyes briefly, trying to rein in the need to order her about It would not be useful Ari was too much like herhis eyes, he touched Ari’s cheek and sighed "Fine But watch out for one another" His eyes lifted to Jai "Keep her safe"

The Ginnaye gave him a militant nod, and Red knew he could rest a tiny bit easier knowing the Guardian would die in a blaze of glory to keep his niece alive

13

Immune to Your Charms

Three days had passed and still no word from her uncles At this point Ari would’ve been happy to be drea so It horrified her to know Lilif was out in the world using the Seal as she pleased

International news had reported a large influx of weather phenomenon None of it was as disastrous as the earthquake in Ethiopia, but if Lilif got anywhere near Azazil or the Jinn kings, Ari feared they could kiss the world goodbye

She needed to knoas going on

It wasn’t like this was randoetting-your-ass-kicked-by-an-ancient-demon issue This was end-of-the-world stuff

However, not even Asmodeus had visited, and Ari had the distinctly unpleasant feeling the lieutenant was furious with her for asking the epic favor froed permanently inside Ari, a heavy stone in her sto so happy that she’d done it if it meant Derek, Mikey, Fallon, and Charlie were alive

She stared at the ceiling, wondering what everyone else really thought of her Red and Glass seemed concerned about her safety before they fled to escape Lilif’s wrath, but that didn’tAzazil’s power for her own selfish means

What she had done … didn’t that uilt was difficult

She couldn’t with the Roes because they clearly were happy with her decision to manipulate Azazil’s power She couldn’t discuss it with Fallon because she orking through hercenter punching bags And Trey too was quiet these days, spending hours locked in his roo about Glass