“Why not?” She looked from him to me.
LikeIknew.
“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 whatIwas 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 theShahnameh,” 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 youknowall this stuff?” I pushed at his shoulder.
“I soak up knowledge.” He nudged me back with his elbow. “TheShahnamehis 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 aduhlook. “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.
