Page 103 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“Like a genie in a lamp?” I asked.

“Are you speaking ofOne Thousand and One Nights?” Pouran asked.

“No, she’s talking aboutAladdin,” Azar said, running her index finger along the shelf, coating it in an ungodly amount of dust.

“I don’t know of that,” Pouran said. “But yes, lamps can be used, bottles, vases, even books. All the item needs is a spell to contain the soul within.”

“Roxana!” Zain yelled. “Do you think you might be able to find it soon?”

I let out a cry of frustration as I scoured the shelves. I didn’t know what the hell we were supposed to be searching for—there was no moment in which any of these useless things spoke to me. Azar began flinging items off the shelves and throwing them to the ground.

“What are you—” I began.

“If any of themarehim, we may as well break them now, right?”

“Sure,” I said, following her lead and throwing everything to the ground. Smashing vases, picture frames, stomping on hardcover books, bending their spines. When I reached for a tome with a thick spine, it wouldn’t budge from the shelf. I yanked, feeling resistance, using all my might until a perceptibleclicksounded. The shelves swung open, hitting Azar and me, and causing us to stumble.

“What the—” Azar began, until she saw it. This room led to another smaller room. Within it, there was only one table, and atop it—

Welcome, came a voice. It spoke from the gold samovar on the table.

Azar’s shoulder brushed mine as she took a step back from the object.

“A samovar?” Azar whispered. “His soul is contained within something used to boil water for tea?”

“Can you hear it?” I whispered. And rather than move away from it, my legs brought me toward it.

Azar only nodded.

The warrior and the traitor, the voice said.You are here to do the bidding of those of light? Of those who detest you?

More grunting, clashing of metal, and hissing. So loud it filled the entire room. We had to hurry. I stumbled over my feet and wrapped my hands around the urn. It was ice cold to the touch. The gold was smooth and slippery in my fingers.

I locked eyes with Azar as I raised it in the air.

Think of what you do, it hissed.Betraying your people, so insolent, he will kill you over a thousand coals, much worse than you ever remembered.

She nodded as I slammed the urn down. The lid fell off, but it didn’t break. I willed the flames to lick my palms as I threw fireball after fireball at the metal urn, watching as the metal melted into the ground. Azar created shadows that pushed the flames this way and that, pulling the urn apart until all that remained was warped bits of metal.

The palace vibrated, as though an earthquake had hit.

“Did it work?” I whispered.

“I hope so,” Azar said as we rushed into the hallway.

The ground was covered in ash—or rather, vampire remains. Keyon had just finished killing a vampire, and Zain stood a little closer to us, bent down as he helped Pouran up. Her facewas pale, and she had been sitting on the floor. Seeing her look so vulnerable confirmed something I already knew. Not all jinn were the same, the idea that they were all evil and sadistic false. Maybe Zain was finally seeing it too, from the way he gripped her and asked if she was okay. She nodded shakily, dusting herself off.

“We found his soul,” I told them. “But it felt too easy.”

“That’s because you need to actually kill him now,” Pouran said faintly. “Destroying his soul broke his immortality, but he’s still alive and more powerful than most jinn.”

Zain joined me and put his hand on my back, rubbing soothing circles there.

“He’ll know what we’ve done. We have to go,” Keyon said, moving to the foot of the staircase. “Now.”

We rushed back up the steps, quickening our pace, sweat wicking my brow. All I could hear were our shallow breaths. We headed back to the ballroom, the garden in view, when we realized things were about to get a whole lot more complicated.

An army of royal jinn soldiers stood outside. They parted to reveal Zahhak at its center, snarling.