Angels and Djinn, Book 3: Zariel's Doom Read Online Free Page A

eastern djinn are starting a war, then lives are in danger. Lives we can save.”
    “I know, I know.” He stepped away from her and rubbed his eyes. “But you heard them. Shattered walls. Thousands dead or injured. They need healers, and they need builders. Yes. Absolutely. But they don’t need a seer.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I can’t heal anyone or build anything! Those people are already suffering, it’s already happened, it’s already over! And there’s nothing I can do to help them now.” He looked back at her, curling his small hands into fists to stop them from shaking. “All I can do is see , and remember. And I don’t need to see my home in ruins, or my people being buried. I don’t need that.”
    The dark angel gazed at him. “Do you really think we can find the Book of the Sun, and that it will help us stop another attack?”
    He winced. “You think I’m making excuses to avoid going back.”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “Look, Raziel said the book is real, so it’s real .” He stabbed his finger at the ground for emphasis. “And there’s nothing I can do in Shivala right now. The attack is over. Damage done.”
    “But there may be another attack.”
    “Exactly. There may be. And maybe I can do something about that. Maybe I can find the person who did this and stop the next attack before it happens. This djinn woman ran away. No one can find her, no matter how hard they look. So we need to find her.” Iyasu managed a tired grimace. “And that, well, that I can do. That sounds like a job for a seer.”
    Azrael’s stern eyes softened. “I suppose it does.”
    He took her hand in his. “You know I want you to be with me, but I’ll understand if you want to go to Shivala. The angels of the holy mount could be in danger, and maybe if you’re there defending the city, you can catch this djinn yourself. I don’t know. I really don’t. With me or at the city, either way you might save countless lives. It’s up to you.”
    “Everyone dies,” she said quietly. “I felt the deaths in Shivala. I saw them. Each and every one of them. They were terrible deaths, and I wish I could have saved them from their suffering. If I had understood what I was seeing, I might have told you. I’m sorry now that I didn’t. But for all we know, this djinn warrior will attack another city altogether next, and it won’t do any good to have me standing on the walls of Shivala at all. Even if she does return to Shivala, it could be weeks or even months before that happens. So if you’re going to find this killer, then I want to be with you.”
    He smiled in spite of himself. “In case I actually do find her?”
    Azrael nodded seriously. “Exactly. And while it’s possible that you’ll be able to subdue this warrior with your sharp eyes and charming words, if you can’t, if by some remote chance this terrible meeting falls into violence… well, then, I’ll just have to save you again, won’t I?”
    “I love you.” He leaned in and kissed her lips gently, and she took him firmly in her hands, shoved him back against the wall, and kissed him with equal measures of passion and impatience. Iyasu gave himself over to her, trying his best to keep up but knowing that she was far too strong, too completely in control. So he did his best to pour his love for her into each kiss and hoped it was enough for her.
    She pulled back and smiled at him so brightly, a smile she never shined on anyone else, a smile that cried out to him that for just one moment, that one precious moment, she was truly with him and only him, and the endless parade of deaths marching swiftly through her heart were no longer troubling her, because all she could see was him.
    The moment passed all too quickly, and her smile faded to a more strained expression of her happiness. He touched her cheek and was about to speak when he saw a tiny shift in the shadows and looked up at a white falcon perched on the roof above them. The bird