Page 101 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“Sebastian and Alec are watching over them. They knew I was coming here and wanted to join me. Even if they don’t necessarily agree withus,they are like brothers and wanted to help.”

That soothed my anxiety. “Okay, that’s good.”

“You know that Penny woman?”

I frowned, curious about why he was bringing up the perfect Pilates mom. “My neighbor? Yeah?”

“She’s a div. Has been pretending to be the real Penny ever since you landed in Denver. Sebastian found the human one locked up in the basement of her house.”

“What?”

“He took…care of it. But Castiel had to get involved, memory erasing the real Penny.”

“She was so close with my dad…”

“I think that was the point,” he said stiffly, before rubbing circles into my back. “But they’re safe now.”

Behind us, I heard Keyon laughing while Azar exclaimed, “You’re such an ass—has anyone ever told you that?”

It was almost like they were…flirting. I tuned out of whatever was going on there because I couldn’t deal with that right now.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Zain said into my ear, stroking the inside of my hand. “I’ve been looking for a way into the palace all week, scouring the Underworld for information about how to get to it. There was talk about the wedding and…I’m just very glad we stopped it in time.”

I squeezed his hand. “Me too.” I gulped, even though my throat was dry. “Before I was taken,” I began. “At the gas station, I—”

“I know,” he murmured.

I shook my head.No, you really don’t.

“You were defending us,” he said. “They were no better than jinn. You had to do it.”

Okay, so maybe he did know. “How did you find out?”

“Castiel.” When I didn’t say anything, he continued. “Don’t beat yourself up about this, Rox. They were trying to kill you.” It was almost like he was trying to convince himself that I wasn’t a murderer.

“I could have left them injured,” I said in a small voice.

“They would have come back again,” he said gently. “Death isn’t pretty, but it’s necessary sometimes.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, it was still completely black.

Keyon flicked his hand, and balls of fire hovered high inthe air, providing us with illumination for the full stretch of the hall.

“How many powersdoyou have?” I asked.

“Many,” Keyon murmured.

We switched places, with Keyon and Azar in front, moving slowly and with as much stealth as possible. I forced myself to take stock of our different turns. If we were separated, I needed to know how to get back out.

We passed numerous doors until we reached the final door in the hallway on the left. Pouran halted then, raising her hand in the air. “Here,” she breathed.

“I thought you said it was heavily guarded?” Azar said.

“It is,” Zain said.

One of the fires above us flickered and extinguished, dimming where we stood.