Amalia

His words deflated some of my exasperation as I gazed at him. So, he’d paid enough attention to me to figure it out.

“The fae line has been dead for thousands of years,” Corson said. He still regarded me like I was a manticore looking to strike, but most of the antagonism had melted from his voice.

“Over five thousand years to be exact,” Magnus replied. “That’s why I didn’t recognize it at first; I should have known what she was just from her eyes, but none of us have seen a fae before.”

“How do you know that’s what she is?” Caim inquired.

“I’ve read a lot of the scrolls the demons kept about our history. The demons who wrote those scrolls didn’t mention the fae often, as the fae weren’t fighters. Their empath ability and pacifistic nature made them easy targets for other demons, but they adapted enough to survive amongst demonkind. After a while, most demons let the fae be; what fun is it to attack someone who won’t fight back?

“The fallen angels didn’t feel the same way and were the ultimate end of the fae. The angels didn’t care if the fae were fun to fight or not. They saw them as inferior because they were demons, so they slaughtered them.”

My fingers dug into the skin of my forearms as my heart ached for those distant ancestors who never quite fit in to the environment they were born into. I knew well how difficult that must have been for them. But despite their differences from other demons, the fae learned to survive in Hell until a group of vicious intruders eradicated them.

I couldn’t stop myself from glaring at Caim who had his head tilted to the side as he studied me.

“I think I dimly recall these fae beings,” Caim murmured. His eyes slid up to meet mine. “With their colorful eyes. They didn’t put up much of a fight against us.”

“I’m glad you remember slaughtering my ancestors,” I muttered.

Caim shrugged. “Only the strongest survived Lucifer. I take no satisfaction from killing; I never have. I simply did what was necessary to survive back then.”

“And killing a species who didn’t like to fight was necessary?” I demanded.

“Not at all,” Caim said. “Surviving Lucifer’s wrath was though. He wanted them dead, and nobody said no to him. Your fae or my life, the choice was not a difficult one to make.”

“So when you turned on Lucifer, you did it to save yourself?” I inquired.

Caim’s eyes and his sculpted face became a wall of ice. “No. I did that to save all of us. Turning against my brother was not an easy decision to make.” A muscle twitched in his cheek when he glanced at Raphael. Hostility shimmered in the air between them, but when he looked at me again, he smiled. “Your eyes betray your emotions.”

My eyes were as much of a curse as my ability to feel the emotions of others as if they were mine. The rest of the Faulted hadn’t inherited the shifting eye colors of the fae—colors that revealed my every emotion to anyone who knew what each of the shifting hues meant.

“I’m sure their eyes were another thing that helped aid in the demise of the fae,” I murmured. “I guess it’s tough to fight someone when they can figure out your every emotion by looking at your eyes.”

“Yes, it would be,” Corson murmured. “And you trust her because she is part fae?” he asked Magnus.

“No,” Magnus said. “I trust her because she didn’t turn on me in the Abyss, and she brought me back here when I asked her to. If she intended to kill me or set me up, she’s had plenty of opportunities to do so. I also trust her because I saw what the Abyss does to her.”

I couldn’t stop myself from grinning at him. I felt like a childish idiot for soaking up his words in this way, but no one, outside the jinn, had ever shown any faith in me, and most of the jinn saw me as nothing more than a child. Magnus saw me as more, and he wanted the others to see it too.

“Then we shall see what happens,” Raphael murmured.

“Yes, we will. According to the scrolls, the fae did breed with some other demons, mostly the tree nymphs, before they were eradicated,” Magnus said. “Hence, the tree nymphs’ powerful call toward nature and their more kindhearted temperament, but I’ve never seen a nymph with your eyes. That’s what threw me off so much in the beginning. I recalled reading about a demon with shifting eyes before, but I couldn’t remember where or what they were, and I would never have guessed the jinn and fae line crossed at one time.”

“That’s like mating a lamb with a lion,” Corson said.

I released my arms to spread my hands before me. “You can’t pick your Chosen, and the line continues, so the pairing was a strong one.”

“Yes,” Magnus agreed. “Do all the Faulted have the fae eyes like you?”

“No. Few of the Faulted have had the fae eyes over the thousands upon thousands of years since the fae and jinn bred. I’m the only Faulted with them now.”

“And you are an empath like the fae were.”

I couldn’t tell if this was a statement from Caim or a question, but when he stared at me and the silence stretched on, I answered him. “Ah, yes, I am.”

And from what the other Faulted told me, my empath ability would amp up once I came into my immortality. I was looking forward to finally being immortal, but I dreaded the increase of my empath ability. My ability was already stronger than what the other Faulted possessed. The idea of it becoming worse frightened me, but I would cope with it; I had no other choice.

“Are all the Faulted empaths?” Magnus asked.

I contemplated how to answer this. I had to protect my kind and keep them safe, but I could feel their growing trust in me and their lessening hostility. “To some degree,” I said. “Do you plan to harm the jinn?”

“I plan to do whatever is necessary to save my friends,” Magnus replied honestly. “I will destroy anyone who stands in the way of that.”

My parents were involved in this, and so was my uncle, but I’d dug myself into this mess when I took Magnus into the Abyss; I couldn’t distance myself from it now. If I did, then a lot of those here could die, along with many other future innocents.

Looking around the cave, I gazed at the numerous faces trapped in the Abyss. There had to be something I could do to help them while making sure none of the jinn were hurt. We couldn’t save Mara, but there might be others we could rescue, and I refused to walk away from that.

Plus, if I remained involved in this, maybe there was a chance I could talk the jinn into freeing their captives. At the very least, I should be able to ease some of the hostility between the two sides. The jinn were devious, but we were loyal to each other, and though they still saw me as the baby, they might listen to me.

“The jinn have also chosen to side with and follow the horsemen and Astaroth. The craetons can’t be allowed to win this,” Corson said. “We’ll all be dead then.”

“We have leaders amongst us, but the jinn don’t do well with following others or orders from anyone outside of the jinn. They may have aligned with the craetons, but they aren’t following them,” I replied. “If it suits the jinn, they will break the alliance.”

“And do you think you can get them to break it?” Magnus asked.

“No,” I answered honestly. “They see me as the baby and as someone who doesn’t understand the way things work with them, but I might be able to get them to listen to me about who they have trapped in there now. No matter what happens in the Abyss though, you must remember the Faulted only seek to live in peace.”

“And they will be allowed to continue doing so while they remain peaceful,” Corson said, and I believed him.

Besides, the Faulted were extremely well protected where they resided. Anyone who tried to attack them would regret it.

“The scrolls detailed demon history for over fifty thousand years, I didn’t get the chance to read them all, but I never saw any mention of a fae and jinn who were Chosen,” Magnus said.

“Some say the pairing happened a hundred thousand years ago; others say it was a couple hundred thousand years ago,” I said. “But no matter how long ago it was, it did occur, and the jinn line has had Faulted in it ever since. Some of the jinn call us the Fae-aulted.”

“Fae-aulted,” Erin murmured as her gaze ran inquisitively over me. “Amazing.”

“The Faulted often remained in the shadows of the jinn; far preferring to allow their brethren to do what they must rather than get involved. Since being freed, and I’m sure before they were locked away, most of the jinn see the Faulted as weaker and needing protection. But the Faulted don’t want to be protected, and we’re not weaker. However, the jinn aren’t complete monsters, we are all very close. The jinn are not the horsemen or the fallen—”

“Careful, you’re about to make the mistake of lumping all fallen angels together,” Caim said and grinned at me as he ruffled his wings. “Some of us are different.”

“You are different,” Raphael said. “The others are too far gone in their madness to see beyond their mission to destroy us all and enslave the human race.”

Caim lifted his hand to admire his nails. “Perhaps, one day, some of our siblings will come around.”

“They are not our siblings, not anymore, and I would not hold out hope for that.”

Caim blew on his nails and buffed them on his shirt. “I think there is much hope to be found in this world.”

Raphael frowned at him while confusion and disbelief drifted from the others. I was struck with the impulse to hug the fallen angel. I didn’t get a sense of much emotion from Caim, but something about his words rang true.

“Okay, so the jinn can ensnare people,” Erin said. “Some jinn are Faulted and empaths, and you can fly—”

“I can’t fly,” I interrupted, “and neither can my fellow jinn.”

“But I was there. I saw you all float out of the gateway,” she said.

“We can levitate.” Placing my hands at my sides, I held my palms over the floor and pictured my feet rising off the stone. A small wave of power issued from my palms and my feet lifted a few inches off the ground. “I can do this, and continue to go upward, but I’m not like an angel, I can’t soar over treetops or navigate. I can float over short distances, but most of the time, because of my fae blood, it’s faster for me to run. To escape Hell, it was fastest for us to float out as it was the most direct route, and we avoided much of the chaos raining down.”

Erin’s eyes were huge as she watched me settle back on the cave floor. “But seeing you do that makes me understand where humans got the idea of a jinni being able to fly,” Erin murmured. “What about the magic lamp?”

“What magic lamp?” I asked.

“In some legends of the jinn, they’re stuck in magic lamps, and when someone rubs the lamp, a jinni emerges. The jinni then has to grant whoever set them free three wishes,” Erin said.

“Well, that’s just… ridiculous,” I replied. “And untrue. Why would someone make that up?”

Erin laughed as she ran a hand through her hair. “For fun, I guess.”

“It must have been someone with a big imagination,” Magnus said. “It’s time for us to get back to the Abyss.”

I focused on Corson again. “We’ll try to find Wren.”

“I’ll come with you,” Corson said. “If seeing Magnus helped to jar Erin out of the Abyss, then seeing me will help Wren.”