Selmet is too old to threaten Fetim physically, and has too few (or no) friends to support him due to general distaste for the way he makes a living. So Selmet applies a curse on Fetim.
Fetim leaves Selmet's house thinking it's all a joke.In the name of the great father of djinn, let all that he loves be killed. Let him be readily loved--and let all those who love him die in anguish. Let all his seed and all his blood be brought to ruin. Let horror cover the heads of all who befriend him. Let his friendship be a surer sign of death than any plague-spot.
And let the djinn who watches over the accursed protect him. so that his sufferings cannot end.
Fetim's response to his family dying from the curse upon himself is more like self-pity than grief for his family. The djinnn who watches over him from that point onward rightly observes that his family has been more unfortunate, telling him, "You're merely accursed. They're all dead." Fetim's not ready to listen at that time to this or any other viewpoints the djinn would like him to consider. Nor is he when the city of Niswan where he first seeks sanctuary gets destroyed, nor when his newfound love Saliandra and her family dies of poison for the crime of aiding him. But soon enough, he realizes how the curse upon himself can be used to bring more justice in the world. He simply has to allow himself to be loved by "the wrong people".
This plot point I found to be clever, as is the choice of having the djinn narrate the story.
Nevertheless, the surplus of sexual sub-plotting in this story makes me too uncomfortable to recommend it to anybody. If that makes me a prude, so be it.
Stephen R. Donaldson states in his introduction to Reave the Just and Other Tales that this story was written "on demand" for a program book at the World Fantasy Convention (1985), and not inspired by love for the story. And it shows. His characterization seems a little flat compared to his other works, although his creativeness in imagining an interesting plot is still evident here.