Page 61 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“I don’t understand. Why was my mum killed? And why is it mine and Zain’s fault?”

He sighed. “The div told her to move you here, to Denver, so you would incidentally meet this boy and fall in love, or whatever it is you believe you feel for him. Your mother refused to do so, but they were persistent, until they realized the only way they could be successful in their aims was by killing her and mind-manipulating your dad. They tried to cover up their tracks, but they were sloppy. Jinn often are, as you know, from the bungled attempt to capture you and end Zain.”

“That was you?”

He shrugged. “You were not listening to me. I did what I had to do.”

I couldn’t focus on that right now, instead asking, “If you’re so powerful, why did you let my mum die?” My voice was rising in anger. He talked like he knew so much, could do so much, and yet he had watched all this play out. And now had the audacity to tell me to stay away from Zain after sending jinn to kill him.

“I do not typically meddle in these kinds of affairs, and by the time I had heard of their plans to kill Jaleh it was too late,” he said, voice steely. Then he sniffed at the snake on his left shoulder. “Shh, it will soon come,” he said to it. To me, he added, “The truth is, each body I inhabit is temporary in this realm. In the Underworld, I am at full capacity, but I am limited on this plane.”

My brain whirled. My mum was murdered just so Zain and I would be in the same city. This was a nightmare, one beyond my wildest imagination. I just wanted my life to be normal again. For my mum to be back with us, not as a jinn. For the dreams to stop. To wake up and realize none of this was real. I didn’t know I had said any of this aloud until he tsked.

“You, Roxana, are not normal. Not only are you jinn, but you are a princess. Are you not aware?”

“A princess?” I repeated, choked.

“A jinn princess, and I the Jinn King, Zahhak to friends. Your soul is linked to royalty, and while in past lifetimes I have let you live as a nobody, things are different now. The souls ofyou, Jaleh, and Azar were reborn as a family once more, a rare occurrence.”

“What—”

“I don’t have much time. Just heed my warning, Roxana, and know this is only the beginning.”

He was interrupted by a knock on my bedroom door. I was still up against it, and the force of it vibrated against my body. I stumbled back.

“Roxana, I need you to help Ehsan move more boxes, not just yours,” Dad called, tapping the door with his knuckle before attempting to open it. My suitcase blocked him from being able to open it fully, but he managed to crack it, letting in a sliver of light. “What’s going on?”

With pleading eyes, I turned to the Jinn King, but when I scanned my bedroom, I realized he’d disappeared.

26

The week passed. I spent half of my time working in the bookshop, trying to ignore the fact that I was not just a jinn but ajinn princess. And yet I didn’t feel any different having gained this new information.

I didn’t see Sebastian at all during that time, though I did find it oddly comforting to even think that someone might be looking out for me. Even if what they were guarding me from was my own nature. The potion might have blocked jinn from tracking us, but the real issue now was the Jinn King, who had direct access to my brain while sleeping.

Oddly, the Jinn King had been absent from my dreams all week. Still, I didn’t want to get my hopes up and think it was over now that I had heard him out, because the wordsthis is only the beginningkept repeating in my head.

Avoiding Zain had proven less difficult than I had anticipated, thanks to angel training. Now that he was back, though,I wasn’t sure what I would do if—or when—I saw him. I was playing everything by ear, hour by hour.

“So, when do you find out which colleges you got into?” Cleo asked from the shop counter. I was stacking fresh copies of the latest Tracy Deonn book on one of the front tables.

“August twenty-ninth is results day, so I’ll know if I made the grades to get into either my first uni choice or my backup,” I said. It was a date I had memorized, though I hadn’t given school much thought lately. I’d replied to Nic’s messages about it half-heartedly. I wasn’t sure how to act normal around people, especially people who knew me well. It was easier to put on a façade around Cleo, since she barely knew me, or at least the me who knew nothing of the darkness and light in the world.

“You mean today?” she said.

Her words washed over me. I had been in such a daze that I hadn’t even realized today was results day. My future lay in my inbox.Or did it?Could I seriously go to university and live a normal life with everything I had uncovered about myself?

“Oh, I must have forgotten,” I mumbled.

Cleo raised an eyebrow. “You forgot today was the day you find out which college you got accepted to? When you first started here, you talked nonstop about how much you couldn’t wait to go back to the UK.”

I winced, not realizing I had been quite so obvious about my dislike of Denver. But maybe I was being unfair—it was being separated from my sister and my best friend that I disliked. And now…things had changed.

“You can check,” she said gently.

“I don’t know if I want to,” I said.

“Fair enough,” Cleo said after a beat, dropping it.