Page 104 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“Now you die.”

44

Zahhak and his army of soldiers, at least a hundred of them, blocked our exit. They were dressed in armor, swords at the ready. Zahhak was out of his cloak and wearing similar armor to his men. His snakes’ hisses were earsplitting, even amid the rumble of the soldiers, the clinking of metal and heavy breathing.

I could feel their hunger, their lust for blood, as thick as the smoke that filled the clouds. All the jinn magic, I assumed, had resulted in the heavy gray mist above us. Perhaps even traveling smoke from the festival that had continued all around the Underworld despite what was descending on the palace grounds.

The mist began to move, like it was being pushed aside, and then div sprang free from the sky, falling like rain onto the gardens as they infiltrated Zahhak’s army.

Another round of fighting began.

Zahhak’s army fought against the div, though it took two of his men to handle each div. No matter how skilled Zahhak’ssoldiers were at combat, they lacked the strength to match the div. For just a second, I watched the div rip apart the soldiers like wild animals. And with a pang, it dawned on me that that would have been how they killed my mum. We were working with real monsters.

“We’re sitting ducks in here,” Azar hissed. “We need to get out.”

“Idon’t want to go out there, do you?” I said.

Zahhak watched as his men fell.

“Our powers don’t work here. That’s why they’re blocking us in. Wehaveto go,” Azar said.

“You two stay here,” Keyon said, moving to the front doors, holding his dagger close to his body.

Zain turned me to face him and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

“No,” I said, knowing I was being cowardly but not caring. “If you go out there…it’s too dangerous.”

“Roxana, I’m trained to fight, not to stand by and watch. It’s the only way to end this.”

I nodded back against the tears that had escaped my eyes. “Zain, I need to tell you something. I—”

“No,” he interrupted. “Save it for after we win.”

And then he and Keyon went through the doors and into the chaos that abounded outside. Already bodies lay on the ground—not just soldiers but div, too. Azar watched as Keyon fought through the shambles, but my eyes were on Zahhak, who had his sights set on Zain.

It didn’t make sense to me why the Jinn King botheredwith warrior garb. His powers offered him so much more protection than that.

Zain waded through the mass of soldiers, pushing them away with ease, dodging their thrusts or grabbing their swords and killing them with their own weapons. It was like watching a dance, seeing Zain fight, seamless in his movements. And with each kill, each punch, he gained more weaponry, which he hooked onto his belt. He now held a sword high as he charged toward Zahhak.

“No,” I heard Azar gasp next to me. I followed her eyes to where Keyon was, several feet from Zain. He had made good progress battling the soldiers, but he was outnumbered, the div too busy with their own fight to help him. And perhaps they didn’t want to help Keyon, their aims as jinn too different. There were three soldiers surrounding Keyon, and he looked to be injured, his side bleeding. Before I could say anything, Azar ran to him.

I shouted at her to stop, but she didn’t listen. As she sprinted across the battlefield that had once been a wedding venue, she stooped down to collect a fallen sword. Without breaking her stride, she dodged the attack of one soldier, blocking his sword with her own, pressing hard on it and letting go, disarming him, then plunging the sword through his torso. She cleanly withdrew her now-bloodied weapon and waded through the other soldiers, dodging them or meeting them blow for blow until she reached Keyon.

It was like watching a stranger. I had known Azar was skilled in self-defense from her teaching classes in London,but I didn’t know she could fight with a sword. Then I realized that just like I had memories of my past selves, Azar must have had recollections of herself as a warrior and had tapped into them.

Standing behind one of the soldiers who had his sword raised to Keyon, she lifted her own, her biceps straining with the weight of the heavy metal. She sliced longways, and the soldier’s head fell to the ground. The second gawked at her in surprise, hesitation etched on their face. Could they kill the kind-of granddaughter of Zahhak, a future queen? Azar seemed to be saying something to them, and their face twisted, their sword whipping toward her. She shifted to the side impossibly fast—using her power. Keyon had killed the third soldier and now he and Azar turned on the second.

Crisis temporarily averted, my eyes darted back to Zain and Zahhak. It seemed Zahhak had realized it was pointless pretending to be a common soldier, because he had dropped his sword to the ground and raised his hand in the air, toward Zain. It was like he had hooked Zain with an invisible rod and was reeling him across the gardens to where he stood.

I watched on in horror as Zain fought against it, lifting himself high in the air with his wings and breaking whatever bond Zahhak had tried to bridge between them. Zain’s power clearly displeased him.

Zahhak roared, and the ground shook. The snakes’ moans were louder now; they were calling for blood, for my angel’s sweet, heavenly blood.

I ran, barefoot, across the grass, jumping over dead bodiesto make my way to Zain and Zahhak. They were by the altar, where only hours earlier I had almost been wed to Keyon.

Sensing me a few steps away, Zain whipped around, his face contorted in a mixture of anger and fear.

“What are you doing?” he shouted.