“Thank you.”
“But we must come to an understanding first, Queen Vervain.” King Iblis stepped forward and stared into my eyes intensely. “The Tablet of Destinies is our birthright; it belongs to the Jinn, and we will have it back. Do you agree to this condition?”
“I need to use the Tablet to reverse the damage it's done to my star,” I said. “But once I'm healed, it's all yours. Honestly, I want it safe but I don't want it for myself.”
Iblis searched my eyes and then held out his hand. I thought he wanted to shake on our deal so I took it. But Iblis only held my hand and continued to stare at me. I felt a tingle of magic against my palm but nothing too invasive, nothing to make me worry. Viper, however, didn't share my calm.
“Release her!” Viper demanded. “Right now, Devil-Jinn. I taste magic on the air.”
King Iblis blinked and swiveled his stare to Viper. “Stand down, Star God. Your lover is unharmed; I was merely judging her words.” He let go of my hand and nodded to me. “You speak true, Dragon Queen. We accept your alliance.”
“We will send our warriors with you today so you may start training immediately,” King Uselli said. “Normally, we would celebrate such an alliance with feasting, but there is no time. So, instead, I offer you a kiss. Peace be between us but death to our enemies.”
Uselli leaned forward and kissed my cheek. All of the Jinn rulers followed his lead, approaching me one by one and alternating their kisses to either side of my face. Even King Ibi,—the sleek, black dog—stepped up to me and lifted his head. I leaned down—not much, he was an enormous animal—and he nuzzled my cheek. Last came Queen Iltani. She pressed her lips directly against mine and then pulled away slowly. I blinked at her in surprise.
“Go in peace, Dragon Queen,” Iltani said. “There will be little of it to enjoy before war consumes us.”
“Peace be with you as well.” I nodded to her and then to the rest of the Jinn Royals. “With all of you.”
It sounded cheesy, but it fit with their flowery speech, and they seemed to approve. All of the Kings and Queens bowed to me, even the dog king. I bowed back then Zimri-dagan escorted me off the dais with Viper taking up the rear. The Jinn parted and bowed as we passed through the gathering. I smiled and nodded at them like a prom queen on a float until we were out of the temple. Then I turned sharply to Zimri-dagan.
“Ghouls?” I whispered to him. “Ghouls are Jinn?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “The Ghoul Jinn are the most fearsome of our people, even more than the Shayteen. Ghouls will consume their enemies as they fight.”
“So, they're similar to the human myths of Ghouls?” I asked.
“Only the part where they consume flesh,” Zimri-dagan protested. “They are not the risen-dead, but they will eat the dead.”
I made a face.
“They prefer living flesh,” he offered as if it made it better.
“Well, of course,” I said sarcastically. “Oh, and the animals? “They're all jinn, I assume.”
“The Hinn prefer to take animal shape,” Zimri-dagan explained. “It's their way.”
I glanced at Viper; he'd been staring at me with a goofy expression ever since we'd left the temple. Even through the talk of eating corpses he hadn't wavered.
“What's with the staring?” I asked him.
“You kissed a girl.” Viper grinned like a teenager.
Chapter Twenty
We traced to Pride Palace with a group of twenty Jinn warriors in addition to Zimri-dagan. My husbands were waiting anxiously in front of the tracing room with the Moirai, Teharon, Artemis, and Torrent.
“See? They're fine. I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Clotho declared as we stepped out into the entry hall.
Then the Jinn followed, and everyone went tense.
“It's okay!” Viper held his hands up to ward off my husbands. “They're allies. They're here to help train us.”
“Train us?” Odin looked over the Jinn critically.
“Why are you dressed like Aladdin?” Re lifted an eyebrow at Viper as he swept by to pull me into a hug. “Are you all right, La-la?”
“I'm fine,” I assured him. “I'm a little surprised that you didn't follow me and have Torrent”—I caught myself before I betrayed Torrent's secret to the Jinn—“go into the Internet.”
“We told them not to. We felt the strength of this one's honor.” Lachesis nodded toward Zimri-dagan. “You were safe with him.”
“And I was with her,” Viper added with a look at the other men. “Right? That was a reason to not worry.”
“Sure.” Odin smacked Viper's shoulder as the rest of the men rolled their eyes. “Now, maybe someone could introduce us properly?”
“I haven't been introduced to these men yet either,” I admitted with a wave toward the Jinn warriors. “But this is Zimri-dagan of the Jinn.”
“Jinn!” Clotho clapped her hands and jumped excitedly. “Did you hear that, Sisters? The Jinn have shown themselves at last.”
“Yes, we heard,” Atropos said dryly.
“Huh,” Odin squished up his face. “I thought the Jinn were a myth.”
“You sound like your wife.” Zimri-dagan shook his head. “I assumed that you, Allfather, out of all of Vervain's husbands, would know about the Jinn.”
“I do know about you, but you disappeared so quickly that only myths remained,” Odin protested. “And you weren't from Atlantis. If you were, I would have known.”
“No, we were born after the Fall,” Zimri-dagan confirmed. “The Fey befriended us and helped us to create our territory in the God Realm. After our mother's death, we retreated there. But we do come to Earth often to visit our people.”
“We just do so invisibly,” one of the warriors added with a wink at Clotho.
Clotho giggled. “You sneaky Jinn.”
“And you think you can teach us combat skills that we don't already know?” Wolf asked with a cocked head and a cocky attitude.
“It's not that you
