Amie shook her head. “He knows, Aaliyah. The Donas. He knows.”
“What?” Aaliyah asked, her hands gentling on Amie’s shoulders. “How?”
Amie began shuddering violently. She didn’t dare connect her mind to Donas, just in case her suspicions were right. Then again, how would she even know? She’d been counting on her ability to slip in and out undetected. What if Donas could do the same? Donas had effectively overtaken Las Vegas because she’d thought a block full of normals was a worthy sacrifice on behalf of Creation. And what was it Aaliyah had said—doors worked both ways.
“He’s been playing me this whole time,” Amie whispered thickly.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Aaliyah said, though not unkindly. “He’s been a supernormal for far longer than you’ve even been alive. He’s probably been angling for djinni powers for centuries. Finally found a green one to give them to him—in the name of love, no less—and has laid the groundwork for his ultimate victory ever since.”
This was one of those rare times Amie wished she had her sight, so Aaliyah could feel the full weight of her glare. But all the glaring in the world wouldn’t make Aaliyah’s point any less relevant or damning. Sighing, Amie pulled back, her head bent and her shoulders slouched.
“Then what good am I to anybody if I can’t even do the one job I was brought in to do?”
“You’re plenty good to plenty people,” Aaliyah said, her voice full of dismay at Amie’s words. “Besides, we had a lot of wins before this loss. If Donas was playing you the whole time, he sucked for most of it.”
Amie said nothing to that. A string of the Donas’s losses meant nothing in the face of his current win.
“I’ll go get us something to eat,” Aaliyah offered and Amie heard her rise. “The Tempest’s kitchen should be a safer place for me to go, although Micah might be just as pissed off as everyone else.”
Amie looked up at Aaliyah’s aura and shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “I’m sorry.”
Aaliyah shrugged too. “I’m not. I still believe in you, but yeah, this one’s hard. I’ll do whatever I can with damage control while I’m gone.”
Amie remained where she was for a long moment, too many thoughts and emotions whirring inside of her. She cried more, her heart aching at the loss and how her gamble went horribly wrong. Now she had a pounding headache, so she slipped back out of her robe and stepped into the pool once more. Her scars stung thanks to the salt and other medicinal properties imbued in the water. She sank to the bottom of the pool, her eyes open in the water. She welcomed the disembodied sensation. The unmooring from reality was a necessary respite just then.
Daughter.
A large, blue outline loomed above her. She frowned.
Sire.
The outline nodded. Come above. You will run out of air before long.
Djinni she might be, but she still had a primarily human physiology and her lungs could only hold air for so long. She broke the water’s surface and gasped before inhaling deeply. The outline floated before her and patiently waited until she regained her bearing.
Hi, there.
She felt warm all of a sudden and she wondered if this was how he conveyed quiet amusement since she couldn’t see him smile.
Hello, Sire said. I am surprised this is the first I am hearing from you. I thought for certain you would have contacted me sooner.
Amie averted her face. I should have.
Yes, but you are here now. I can still be of assistance.
Chastened, Amie nodded. It still bewildered her that one of her ancestors was a supernormal and that she could call on him to this day. Perhaps if she could see, her Sire would terrify her; but since she couldn’t, her Sire’s presence filled her with calm.
I have made a terrible error in judgment, Amie admitted, feeling her eyes smart with another round of tears. I think I played right into the Donas’s hands and that’s cost a whole lot of people their lives, their souls.
I see, her Sire replied. And what do you plan to do about that?
Amie shrugged like a little girl instead of the grown woman she was. He’s a daemon and he just got a whole heap of souls because of me. I thought giving him my Gifts would be a good idea.
Why?
Amie bristled. The way her Sire asked that made her feel as if she should’ve known better. Honestly, she should’ve, but she’d had a far more pressing and compelling reason to grant the wish.
He wouldn’t hurt Jaie.
Your angel.
A tender emotion bloomed inside of her. Yes. I even phrased it so I wasn’t giving up my powers.
Yes, Sire said. That was smart. And I do not think the daemon even realized that until you were thwarting his plans.
Amie lifted her face. She felt that amused warmth again and she smiled for the first time all night. I was doing some good.
You do not have an unintelligent foe. If you had, you could have made him your puppet in perpetuity. Nevertheless, you are not unintelligent, either. Donas knew he only had one chance to manipulate you so thoroughly and he was going to maximize it as much as he could.
Amie’s smile faded. All those people…
Daughter, there are many wishes I have granted that I regret. Even with our ability to See, I have warned the future is not fixed. That is the only certainty we have.
Amie nodded but she still felt guilty. How did you move beyond it?
We are not perfect beings for all our Gifts, he said. Unfortunately, many of our kind are considered evil because of some of the wishes we have granted, or have not. Some of us are petty, prone to flattery, jealousy, but we are truly neutral beings.
Amie scoffed. I’m not neutral.
You are not, Sire agreed, and Amie heard the laughter in his voice.
Should I be?
You are too human to reach the level of neutrality I have.
Hmm, Amie intoned, her curiosity piqued. He didn’t directly answer her question, so she tried a different one. How many children have you Sired?
This time, the Sire actually laughed. Believe it or not, the wish for me to be sire is incredibly infrequent, all things considered. Most of the time, the wish is for someone else to be the father, or the mother.
Surely my family is not your only line, Amie said, incredulous.
You are not, he confirmed. But you are the only surviving line at this moment.
That infrequently? Amie asked.
Yes, her Sire replied. And I understand where you are going with this line of questioning. Your hypothesis is correct: I am not as neutral to you, either, Daughter.
Nodding, Amie blew out a breath and squared her shoulders. All the books in the world won’t be as effective as learning directly from you. Teach me whatever you can so I can help defeat the Donas.
In the wake of her Sire’s warm amusement, her body relaxed. Hope and, dare she admit it, anticipation almost made Amie feel as buoyant as the water in which they stood.
I am glad you have finally decided to ask.
CHAPTER FOUR
“How long have you known?”
Jaie had his back to his Steward as he’d asked the question, looking over the Las Vegas skyline. It had been a fraught few months, not only personally but universally as well. Their fight had been spilling over and catching normals’ notice, with news reports of missing persons and mass-impact crimes that were starting to make national and global news. In many ways, these events had seemed incredibly careless of the Donas. Now, Jaie realized they hadn’t been. Those had been Donas’s tests to get the measure of his foes. Clearly, he’d found them lacking. He should’ve never asked Aminata to grant his wish.
No, not his wish.
“Does it matter?” Alemayehu asked.
Jaie looked at him incredulously. “There are hundreds of souls lost to us because you did not think we needed to know Aminata lived!”
Luckily for them, the loss hadn’t been as extensive as they’d initially feared. The souls in that block where he’d seen the D
onas had been lost to them, but the others yet lived, traumatized but intact. If Melody had been down in the Strip, in that block, she would’ve been lost. But because she had been inside La Cascade with a contingent of supernormals about her, she hadn’t been at as great a risk.
Small mercies, if there ever were any.
Nevertheless, the sight of the smoking dark spots where those bodies had lain haunted his thoughts—and not just his, Melody’s too. She was with him on the Peak now thanks to Alemayehu relaxing the rules again. Even if his Steward hadn’t, Jaie would’ve broken them. Melody couldn’t be alone with all that had happened to her that night.
“Aaliyah knew Aminata lived.”
Jaie’s scepter deployed. “Of course she did.” He gritted his teeth and turned back to the skyline, his silver blood boiling like mercury under a hot flame.
Jaie wanted to feel elation his beloved wasn’t actually lost to him, but the current anger coursing through him stripped him of the incandescent joy he was owed by rights. Too much tragedy was tied to her “miraculous resurrection” now. He was uncertain what to do with the uncharitable feelings he currently held for her.
Frowning deeper, Jaie gripped the solid metal of his scepter, wanting to lay waste to something in the worst way. All these months of grieving, months that should’ve passed by like seconds to him but hadn’t because he’d been mourning a not-dead woman that fiercely. Yet, in the week since the revelation that Aminata still lived, days had passed like centuries.
“Does this mean you have changed your mind?”
Jaie looked to his Steward once more with a curious expression. A fiery wheel of many eyes, they returned his gaze placidly.
“Explain,” Jaie commanded.
Some of their eyes blinked dispassionately while others glared. “You were prepared to sacrifice for her. But now that she has sacrificed for you in a manner you do not like, are you no longer prepared to do so?”
Jaie didn’t answer. He simply went inside of the massive dwelling and left the many eyes of his Steward staring in his wake.
He followed the voices of a still-recovering Melody; a hovering Ariella; and a barking Bot. He reached the large room full of heavy draperies and canopies, the calming peach and marigold hues complementing Melody’s emerald aura. It was stronger now after seven days of nonstop care. Other normals were certainly having a longer road to recovery, but Jaie hadn’t been able to let Aminata’s best friend suffer the same fate.
Melody had enough to deal with, wrestling with the ramifications of Aminata’s betrayal.
Normal and angel finally noticed his presence and stopped their chatter. Bot barked her greeting and bounded over to him, butting her head against his knee. The medicinal scents of eucalyptus, as well as myrrh and frankincense, filled the room. Jaie blinked against a sudden stinging in his eyes.
That was Aminata’s scent.
“Any updates?” Melody asked once the silence stretched beyond comfortable to awkward.
“Regarding?” Jaie asked.
Melody’s golden face flushed and she tucked a tendril of curly, honey-colored hair behind her ear. “Amie.”
“What kind of update would you like?” he asked.
She frowned at him, then shook her head. “Is she really alive?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “Living in a cavern.”
Melody threw up her hands helplessly. “Why is she doing that? How did she survive what happened to her? Why didn’t she just come back? Come home?”
He had no answers to the questions that echoed his own. He just remembered a broken-looking Aminata who didn’t even bother to meet his gaze head-on. Yet how could she, when he’d remained Unseen to her? Nevertheless, she’d always had the uncanny ability to know just where he was, as if something inside of her had always been attuned to his presence. Instead, she’d hidden her face in Bot’s fur and allowed him to hurt her with his fury. And since he couldn’t unleash the full brunt of it on her, he’d taken to the training grounds and destroyed much of them.
Not one of his proudest moments, but it had been equally cathartic to set everything to rights again.
“Can we talk to her?” Ariella asked. Her voice was smaller than it should be, as if she were afraid a louder volume would send him and Melody spiraling.
Jaie flexed his free hand and squeezed the other around his scepter in a tight grip. Then he retracted his scepter completely. There was no danger in this sacred space.
“Talk to her about what?” Jaie asked.
“Why she did what she did,” Ariella said. “She never does anything without a good reason. Maybe she had to keep quiet about what she was doing.”
Melody pursed her lips. “I bet no one did. I bet she did this all on her own.”
“You know that’s not true. Aaliyah’s been helping her.”
At this, Melody dipped her head and inhaled a shaky breath. “I’m her best friend. That should’ve been me.”
The grief in Melody’s voice sent rage flaring hot inside him. He would’ve never guessed Aminata to be so cruel. Had her grandmother even known what she’d done? She’d duped everyone so completely—maybe Aaliyah had used a spell to keep them all unaware.
The thought of the half-daemon had Jaie clenching his jaw hard. The only reason he hadn’t confronted Aaliyah himself was that Micah had asked he didn’t. Micah loved that woman, after all. He could give Aaliyah a benefit of the doubt that Jaie couldn’t.
However, he himself loved Aminata, but the fury was still too raw. Or was it hurt? These were unfamiliar emotions that flooded him; and even though they felt similar, there were nuances and shades of difference that would serve him well to learn.
“We should talk to her,” he heard himself saying. “Without accusation.”
Melody flicked her amber eyes to him. “Can you do that?”
Jaie scowled even as Ariella snorted. A corner of Melody’s lip curved. “You think I cannot.”
“You’re very upset,” Melody said, scrunching up her nose. “You’re a lot terrifying when you’re upset.”
“I would never harm Aminata,” Jaie said, offended at the mere insinuation.
“You can,” Melody insisted. “Wounded feelings often affect people more deeply than physical harm. And you a Dominion angel too? I can only imagine where her mind is sinking to now.”
Jaie stroked the top of Bot’s head. His djinni had been oddly silent the other day when he’d confronted her briefly. And yes, he had been incredibly upset; it was likely he had scared her. Frowning, Jaie paused in petting the canine and peered at Melody.
“You would go to the cave?”
“She can’t come here?” Ariella asked.
Jaie pursed his lips, unwilling to flat-out deny the embedded request. “She is not an angel.”
“Neither am I,” Melody said, shrugging. “But here I am. This was where Amie was too.”
“That was before.” Before she’d died. Before she’d let the Donas kill hundreds of people.
Melody sighed and sunk against the mountain of pillows stacked against the bed’s headboard. “I want to speak to her and I can’t leave.”
“I think it is best that I speak to her alone, anyway,” Jaie said. “And all of your focus right now should be on healing.”
Melody nodded once. Bot, sensing she was needed, went to the bed and climbed upon it, resting her head in Melody’s lap. Ariella walked away from Melody and approached him instead.
“Can I come?” Ariella asked.
Jaie shook his head. “I think…I think it is also best you do not come. I shall go alone.”
“What are you worried about?” Ariella asked.
Jaie shook his head. “I cannot say because I am not sure, but I will not ignore my intuition. You and Melody shall both stay. I will speak to Aminata.”
After confirming Melody would be fine, Jaie took off from the Peak and went to another mountain in the chain a few miles away. Despite the chill in the air outside, the cavern into which he’d w
alked was temperate and comfortable. He heard singing. The voice wasn’t the best he’d ever heard, but it wasn’t completely unpleasant. Once he was fully inside, he saw Aminata standing in the pool with her back to him, her hands gliding over the surface of the water. She wasn’t wearing any clothes and he could see the lesions and scars that riddled her body. Many of them still glowed gold, others the iridescent blue of an old mark. Abruptly, her head snapped up. After a few moments of her labored breathing, he watched her slap her palms against her temples and sink into the water like a boulder falling off a cliff. He rushed into the pool.
Aminata! He called into her mind, dismayed by the exertion it was taking him to reach her that way. He grabbed her arms and hauled her to him with frantic hands.
She was clammy in his embrace and shuddering. If he had a heartbeat, it would be thundering inside of his chest. Her mouth worked as if she were gasping for air, but all she was doing was taking in water.
Drowning.
They broke the pool’s surface. Water spewed from her mouth with her deep coughs. Jaie supported her from behind, running his hands gently along her arms. She was so cold against him, nothing like her usual warm, soft self. Instead of sagging against him, she bent forward. It seemed she were trying to maintain as much distance from him as possible.
“Aminata,” he called again, this time aloud.
She roused at the sound of her name and shook her head, trying to free herself from his careful hold. He brought her flush against him, though, his leather armor growing tight against him in the medicinal saltwater pool.
“What are you doing?” he asked, ignoring her reaction. Normally, he would respect her unspoken wishes, but he was afraid she’d hurt herself if he released her. “What is wrong?”
Aminata shook her head again. “You need to let me go.”
“I need to do no such thing,” he said, frowning. “Please talk to me.” He looked around the space and noticed how quiet it was now. “Where is Aaliyah?”
“At the Tempest,” she said, referencing one of Micah’s casinos. “She and her mother are working out some spells.”
“For you?”
The Sight Page 3
