Scorched Skies by Samantha Young Read Free Book Online Page A

have a chance to do something about what happened to Mike. I don ’ t feel powerless anymore.” Just tired of being questioned and eyed like I ’ m some kind of criminal.
    “Revenge will get you killed.”
    “It might, yeah.”
    “No. It will .”
    Charlie frowned. Could Jai really find it dishonorable of him to want to avenge his little brother ’ s murder? Unsure of Jai ’ s opinion of him and unsure of how to reply, Charlie froze. Words hadn ’ t even formed in Charlie ’ s mind yet when flames crackled in the air and The Red King stepped out of the Peripatos . Was it weird that Charlie didn ’ t even blink at that now?
    “Ari is going to be OK,” he told them, his usual relaxed demeanor gone and replaced by something tense and wary. “She should wake up soon.” He looked at Jai. “Did you do what I asked?”
    “Ari should get a call very soon.”
    Charlie frowned, feeling very much out of the loop. “About what?”
    “Derek ’ s body.”
    Oh right. Jai had told him he ’ d left him in his car where he ’ d be found at the side of the woods. The coroner would declare the death as caused by an aneurism. Charlie felt a little sick. Derek ’ s death was being treated as something that needed to be tidied up nice and easy for Ari to deal with. It somehow dehumanized the man they were talking about.
    “Who knows how Ari will react to this.  We have to make sure she doesn ’ t do anything foolish.” The Red King had a determined blaze in his eyes that Charlie wouldn ’ t want to mess with.
    Anger churned in his gut as he looked Ari ’ s uncle over and was reminded of his brother, Ari ’ s father. “It was definitely The White King then?”
    The Red King nodded. “He ’ s trying to bait Ari into doing something that will land her trapped in Mount Qaf. He plans for her to take revenge against the Jinn who did this, possibly even attempt revenge against him. And if she does that she ’ ll be forced to Mount Qaf to face trial and my brother will use that opportunity to try to get what he wants from her.”
    “So what now?” Jai asked quietly.
    “Now I wait around for her to wake up,” The Red King said. “I ’ ll explain why an attempt to kill The White King is a bad thing. I just hope that this time the Seal is in the hands of someone who cares nothing for power and will not misuse it.”
    “It is,” Charlie assured him finding his own voice twinned with Jai ’ s as they replied in unison. They glanced at one another, their eyes narrowing warily like two opponents stepping into the ring.

    ~5~
    War Shivers in the Darkness… Waiting

    “I wish I was a better father. I wish I was a better man. I wish I loved you the way that you deserve to be loved. I ’ ve been angry for years, Ari. And it wasn ’ t until I discovered the truth about you and Sala that I realized how angry I am at your mother.”
    Dad, no.
    Smoke rose all around him as he stared at her with anguished eyes.
    The smell of burning flesh clogged her throat, hitting her gag reflex.
    “I really do love you, kid. I guess I just never loved you enough.”
    No! His face flickered beneath the flames but he didn ’ t cry out in pain. She did that for him.
    He smiled a bittersweet smile even as the fire tore through him.
    “I will never regret keeping you safe, even if I didn ’ t know that ’ s what I was doing.”
    DAD, NO!
    Her eyes slammed open and then immediately shut themselves again at the bright glare of light in her bedroom. Taking a deep breath, sensing the presence of Jinn in her room, Ari fought her way through the nightmare to reality. What was she doing in bed? What had happened?
    She had been in Vickers ’ Woods with her dad.
    Where was her dad?
    “Dad?” she pried her eyes open and felt her heart rate speed up at the sight of her uncle, The Red King, at the foot of her bed. He didn ’ t give her his usual laid-back smile. Instead he stared at her stonily in the relentless silence.
    Finally Ari let go of the