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“I got an SUV that should work.” Eskander grinned. “And since your friend here helped us, I’ll cut you a deal. Leave us something you value as collateral and she’s yours for as long as you need her. Just bring her back when you’re done.”

“I said , I keep what’s—”

“Not talking to you, Harker.”

“Careful, Chance,” I cautioned quietly. “I’m afraid making a deal with a sheba could come back to bite you in the butt.”

“I’m more than happy to pay for it.” Kerry stepped in. “Don’t worry about it. How much, Kander?”

“No, I got this.” Chance’s face firmed up in that way I could have told Kerry meant he wasn’t going to change his mind. “Since it’s my fault we can’t use the bike and all.”

“My fault, too.” Chessie shrugged. “I can’t handle a bike anymore than I can drive a car.”

“Now that would be a sight.” Mira’s lips twisted up.

I had to agree with her as I pictured Chessie driving that beast of a bike with Chance hanging on the back.

“You didn’t have the gear or helmets, anyway.” Kerry shrugged. “Not that we couldn’t have got some, but it would have eaten up time.”

“I’ll take the deal.” Chance looked at Eskander. “Show me the car, please.”

“Show me your collateral first. And remember, something of value. Real value, not money.”

Chance reached behind his neck and pulled a ball chain necklace out of his shirt, and I frowned. Now we had to make sure the SUV got back here, no matter the cost.

Chance took off his necklace and Chessie tried to get a look at it, but he handed it over to Eskander quickly. The sheba’s face showed surprise first, then approval, and he asked us to stay there until David brought the vehicle down from the upper parking deck.

Jax towed Kerry over to look at his bike and the others tagged along, but I grabbed Chance’s shoulder before he walked away.

“You sure about this?” I met his eyes. “What if something happens?”

“We’ll be fine. We won’t be doing anything interesting or even exciting.” He flashed me a grin. “Besides, he just said to bring it back. He didn’t specify what shape it had to be in, now did he?”

#

Kerry

While we waited, I asked Kander what he knew about Darius’ clan of djinn.

“They’re slaves,” he said, “and have been for centuries. They’re anchored to an earthbound vessel in the form of a ring.”

“If they were stripped down to fire, how long would it take them to regenerate?” I’d been wondering about that.

“Stripped down to fire? Well, I’ve never seen that happen, but I’d guess two weeks at the outside. They’d have to return to the ring while they healed.”

’Bout what I figured.

“Any idea where they might hole up when not in the ring?”

“No. You could ask those meddling peri, though.” He spat on the concrete floor. “They had some cockamamie scheme to free them, but those feather-brained nitwits can’t even rescue their own queen, let alone free enslaved djinn.”

“Rescue their queen?” My eyes widened in shock. I hadn’t been outta the game that long. “Did something happen to Parvaneh?”

“Three weeks ago, she walked into a trap.”

Uh-oh. This is not good. Not good at all.

“Any idea who has her?” I demanded. “Or why?”

“So far, no one’s claimed responsibility or asked for ransom or anything like that.

” His face screwed up in a grimace. “She had to go and get herself kidnapped. Now Allah’s pissed off at the divs and us by association, even though we declared neutrality long ago.

We’ve made it clear that their war is not ours. ”

“And if she dies? The sheba gonna stay neutral then?”

“Makes no difference to us.” He shrugged. “Yasmina will step up as their queen.”

“Mumtaz will consume Yasmina,” I shot back, “and if you don’t kneel to him, he’ll consume you, too.”

His dark eyes lit up, and I wanted him to attack me so bad, my hands shook. If he did, I’d finally have a target for all this rage.

“Let it alone, Harker.” Kandor crossed his arms over his chest. “You want me to keep your bike in storage for now?”

Too close to the edge to speak, I gave him a short nod.

David came back with the SUV, and Chance and Chessie stowed their bags in the trunk. We waved good-bye to them and thanked Kandor, and that was the last time I ever saw the sheikh of the shebas.

#

Mira

“Did you poke the bear?” I asked Kerry.

“What bear?”

His face! I could have peed myself laughing, but I didn’t because I knew it would upset him, and that really would be poking the bear.

A big ole Kodiak, too.

He’d gotten far too close to losing it back there, and I thought a distraction would be a good idea. I also wanted to learn more about this situation I was suddenly embroiled in.

I explained what I meant, and he shrugged.

“Oh. Well, that bear needed to be poked. The sheba are gonna have to choose a side sooner or later. I want them to do it sooner, and choose the peris instead of the divs.”

“If a queen rules the peris and a sheikh the shebas, who rules the divs?” Jax butted in.

“A king. His name is Mumtaz.”

“We should pay our respects to him, then,” Gigi said. “If we’re going to play diplomats, it would keep things balanced, right?”

I thought Kerry’s eyes were gonna pop outta his head.

“Uh, no. We do not want to visit him.”

“Why not?” She looked from him to me.

Like I knew.

“One, I ain’t on good terms with him.” Kerry rubbed the back of his neck, which was not an encouraging sign. “Two, their lair is Cursed. It would hurt you to enter it. And three, Mumtaz is not a nice person. He’s the son of the White Demon.”

Gigi and I traded a look, and I could tell she was thinking what I was thinking. If Kerry Harker thought Mumtaz wasn’t nice, he was probably the stuff of nightmares for the rest of us.

“I never heard of the White Demon,” Jax said.

“He’s called Div-e Sepid in the Shahnameh ,” Sir Serious piped up. “He’s a duke of Hell. He was a necromancer who blinded people and called up hail storms and hurled boulders and trees around.”

I stared at him in amazement.

“How do you know all this stuff?” I pushed at his shoulder.

“I soak up knowledge.” He nudged me back with his elbow.

“The Shahnameh is this super-long epic from Persia. It includes a story of Rostam, the mightiest of Iranian paladins, who goes to Mazandaran, the demon lands, to rescue his king. When he defeats Div-e Sepid, he cuts off the demon’s head and uses it as a helmet. ”

“Yick!” Gigi shuddered. “Who wears a skull for a helmet?”

“Iranian paladins, obviously.” Jax shot her a teasing grin.

“Are all the divs male and all of the peris female?” I asked.

“Of course not.” Rome shot me a duh look. “Their races would have died out immediately if that were so.”

“Are there half-div and half-peri? From a union with a human, I mean. Or, I guess, other species.”

“The peri have children with human partners, and they can be tricked by the Fallen as easily as anyone,” he said. “You can recognize half-peris by their coloring. They have unusual eyes and either an impossible skin tone or hair color.”

“I saw a man with lavender hair and eyes at the Sanctuary,” Gigi said. “Do you think he may have been a half-peri?”

“There are some at the Sanctuary, so probably.” Rome shrugged. “They are very similar to us in most respects. The Council has a treaty with them as a recognized Divine race.”

“What about half-divs?” Jax asked.

“Djinn power passes through the female. The divs are obsessed with preserving the purity of their bloodline, so they keep their women cloistered and—” he paused, obviously choosing how he wanted to phrase the rest of his sentence. “Um, reserved for their own use.”

“Do the female divs ever rebel?” I asked.

“Do birds in cages understand the sky exists?” he retorted. “They don’t know any other life, Mira. To them, it’s how things are and have always been.”

“That doesn’t make it right!”

“Of course it doesn’t, but, like Kerry said, the divs are not nice people.”

“Hold up.” Jax stopped walking. “Even if the divs didn’t have a hand in Pavarti being kidnapped, they’ll take advantage of her absence, right?”

“ Parvaneh ,” Kerry corrected. “And they probably already are. Mumtaz isn’t dumb. Without Parvaneh to counter him, he’ll target every peri and anyone allied with them.”

“What happens if Parvenah isn’t rescued soon?” I wanted to know. “Or, God forbid, dies?”

“The divs will wipe the peris out. Mumtaz will either force Kander to step down or kill him, then unite the shebas with the divs.”

“The repercussions of that would ripple through every society. Diabolical, Divine, and everything in between.” Rome frowned.

“Yeah, the divs would rule all,” Kerry said.

“Then what?” I asked.

He shrugged.

“Then the world burns.”