Page 56 of Into the Abyss
“What is it? What does it do?” Magnusinquired.
“It does what the jinn require it to do,”Rislen replied.
“What does that mean?”
“That’s all I’m going to tell you.”
I buried my rising annoyance. It wouldn’tget us anywhere with her.
“What is with the grass in there? Why is theAbyss so beautiful in some places andsohideous in others?”I asked.
“It was onceallbeautiful,” Rislenwhispered. “And then the lines crossed, and it was never thesame.”
“What do you mean the lines crossed?” Iasked in confusion.
Rislen sighed before turning to face me.“Three hundred thousand years ago, the jinn and fae bloodlineintermingled.”
“Yes, I know.” I hadn’t known it was thatlong ago, but the jinn had told me about my ancestry. “It’s why theFaulted are so different, but what does that have to do withanything?”
Rislen’s black eyes held mine, but shedidn’t speak.
“Tell her, Rislen,” Marhee urged. “She can’tdo anything with the information and neither can the demon. All thefae perished while we were behind the seal. There is nothing anyonecan do anymore, and she deserves to know the truth. Besides, weplanned to tell her when she reached adulthood and her time isnearing, we can all feel that.”
I smiled gratefully at Marhee. At eighteenthousand twenty, she was the closest jinn in age to me. Her yelloweyes crinkled when she smiled back before ducking her head, so heryellow braid fell over her shoulder. With her coloring and matchingfreckles, she bore a strong resemblance to her brother, Aral.
“She’s still young and not fully in controlof her abilities, this might upset her,” Aral said.
I gritted my teeth and tried not to glare athim. I understood why they treated me like a child, compared tothem, almost everyone in existence was a babe, but I was tired ofit. “I have made it through a day in the Abyss, seen things most ofyou probably haven’t seen, and I’m still in control. If it upsetsme, Iwillhandle it.”
Rislen remained pensive for a minute beforespeaking. “You are right, and I suppose it is time. We’ve kept ourhistory vague with you because we felt it best you didn’t knowuntil you could cope better.”
I had a bad feeling I wasnotgoingto like whatever they had to say.
CHAPTER 24
Amalia
Magnus bent over me and clasped my hands in his. Ifrowned at him before glancing at my arms. I hadn’t realized I’drubbed my skin raw, but then I would do anything to rid myself ofthe life tainting my flesh. I had to stop; otherwise, Rislen mightdecide I wasn’t ready to learn this.
“You’ve kept your history vague witheveryone,” Magnus said. “I spent a lot of time researching demonhistory and reading through the scrolls, but until recently, I’dnever heard of the jinn and fae line crossing.”
“Our history goes back to a time beforedemons started recording it,” Rislen replied. “And once thatstarted, there were some things the fae and jinn didn’t want to beknown.”
I glanced at the circle of Faulted. Alltheir faces were devoid of any emotion as they remained riveted onRislen, but I sensed their uneasiness.
“Three hundred thousand years ago, the jinnand fae line crossed,” Rislen said and placed her hand on my kneeagain. “And it wasn’t just one fae and one jinni. Over the courseof a few thousand years, more than a dozen fae and jinn found theirChosen with each other.”
“Oh,” I breathed.
“The fae initially controlled the Abyss, andit was once abeautifulplace. The fae used Absenthees toharvest their emotions when the feelings of others became too muchfor them to bear. They would funnel those overwhelming emotionsinto the monolith, which spread them across the land and into thefae who were in the Abyss at the time. This bound the fae togetherand helped them to handle their empath powers by allowing them toshare the burden. The good emotions such as love fed the land whilethe bleaker feelings were dispersed and borne by the fae.
“When the lines crossed, the resultingoffspring were also able to enter the Abyss. Over the course of ahundred thousand years, the fae/jinn line spread until almost alljinn were offspring of the crossed line.”
“How is that possible?” I asked.
“The original jinn were so heartless andferocious they would often turn on, and kill, each other, but theintroduction of fae blood to the jinn line bound the Fae-aultedjinn together and made them stronger. Their ability to enter theAbyss also strengthened them. Over time, the original jinn werekilled off by each other, the Fae-aulted, and other demons untilonly the Fae-aulted jinn remained. And, as you know, some of thatline is more fae than others.”
“Like us,” I murmured.
