Read Online Borrowed Ember by Samantha Young - Free Book Online

thought to quarry emerald from the Mountain without license. I believe some thought my preoccupation with Royal business and my absence meant I was somehow unaware of everything that happens on my land.”
    His father grunted. “Simpletons. What happened to the thief?”
    “I stole a large portion of his essence and banished him from the realm.”
    “Stole his essence?” Ari interrupted, quickly adding, “Your Highness?” Her uncle couldn’t hide his smirk at her pretense of polite deference toward him for Azazil’s benefit, but Ari was in no mood to laugh. Whatever Red had done, it didn’t sound like a light punishment, and the thought of him being cruel and autocratic in anyway made her feel sick. She needed him to be different from Azazil and her father. How different, was something she stil hadn’t realy worked out in her head. Was she able to trust him even when he did crap like steal a person’s essence? “His essence?” she asked quietly, needing more information.
    Red grew thoughtful and serious. “A very powerful Jinn can draw the essence of a less powerful Jinn from them. Their essence… as in their power and that which connects them to life and to the balance. We can keep the essence locked in a bottle or place the essence within another Jinn.”
    “How is that possible?” Ari shot Jai a worried look.
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know it was possible.”
    “As I say,” Red sighed before taking a sip of wine, “Only the very powerful can do this. Sometimes it even takes two very powerful-”
    “I’m bored,” Azazil cut in, in his booming petulance. “Let us move onto dessert.” He waved a bejeweled hand at the servants who rushed to clear their plates, and Ari fought down the scowl that was determined to mar her expression. She wanted to know more about the essence stealing deal. “So Charles,” Azazil murmured as Awamet was put in front of him. He paused for a moment as he eyed the donuts like a child seeing his very first sweet. Ari had never met anyone so contradictory in her entire life. Smiling a little, Azazil glanced back up at Charlie. “How does it feel to have blood on your hands?”
    Yup, that was more like it.
    Ari curled her fingers around the handle of her spoon, biting her tongue in the hopes that it stopped her from insulting the Sultan. Watching Charlie carefuly, she was impressed to see that he didn’t even flinch at Azazil’s question.
    Instead he shrugged, chewing on a donut and swalowing it leisurely. “I imagine that’s a feeling you’re quite familiar with, Sultan Azazil.”
    As thick silence fel over the table, Ari froze, her heart lodged in her throat as she waited to see how Azazil would react to Charlie’s impertinence.
    Finaly, after what seemed like forever, the Sultan boomed out a forced, unnatural laugh that made her shudder in fear. His dark eyes narrowed on her friend as his laughter abruptly cut off. “I think I like you, Charlie Creagh.” His look turned calculating. “Indeed.”
    Ari tried to relax but for the rest of the meal she sat tense, curbing her natural instinct to grab Jai and Charlie and get them the hel off Mount Qaf.

5 - It’s an Old Kind of Magic in Kisses and Starbursts
     
    He didn’t know what had possessed him to act so flippant with the Sultan, but Charlie was regretting it now. He sat on the edge of the bed in the guest suite Red had given him, wishing like hel they could just leave already. The way Azazil had looked at him through the entire meal had freaked him out, though he tried his best to hide it. Ari was pissed at him. He knew. He could feel it coming off her in waves as they left the dining hal and were led back to their rooms by Red. If he hadn’t already guessed by the incredulously angry looks she kept shooting him, he certainly knew when she stopped at the door of her suite and said, “Try not to say anything stupid to the wals when you get in your room, okay.” Then she’d slammed