Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(51)

He stroked his hand down my spine, slowly. Heat shivered in the wake of his fingertips, making my muscles melt into him all over again. “First of all, I have complete faith in you not fucking it up.” His face was close to mine, our cheeks nearly brushing. “Second of all, the protection spells will hold the City for now. And I don’t think the hunters have enough influence to attack us.”

“Why?”

“Since I took the throne, I’ve been working on isolating the demon hunters from powerful figures. Human politicians are remarkably susceptible to blackmail and various forms of bribery. Money rules the world of mortal power brokers. Campaign donations, threats to fund their opponents. Managing them is honestly much easier than I expected. For now, at least, the demon hunters are on their own. They have no political capital whatsoever.”

My eyes widened. “For an ancient, marginally psychotic demon, you’re surprisingly savvy about the modern world.”

“I love it when you say sweet things about me.” His hand slid up and cupped the back of my neck, and he pressed his forehead against mine. “If you ever decide you trust me, I’m going to fuck you until you beg for mercy. Until you forget your name.”

My core coiled tight, and I fought the urge to kiss him. “Only in you, Orion, is that kind of confidence not misplaced.”

The corner of his mouth twitched—not with a smile, but with something like uncertainty. He was looking at me with an expression I’d hardly seen on him before: vulnerability. His chest rose and fell faster, his heartbeat racing. Orion—the big bad Lord of Chaos—was nervous. “But you’re going to need to know what I did. You’re going to need to know the real me.”

I stared at him and the dark sweep of lashes framing his blue eyes.

My chest ached. “What do you mean? What did you do?” It came out a bit sharper than I’d meant it to. I just wasn’t sure I could handle any more horrific surprises from him.

His gaze shuttered, and he rolled away from me. He rose from the bed, and I found myself staring at his muscular back. “The trial is today, but I will tell you later.”

As I stared at him, I felt like ice was spreading between us, chilling the air.

And something else was bothering me. Something I’d avoided talking about in the past few days. “He really looked like you, you know. The person who came in through the window.”

He turned back to me, one eyebrow raised. “You were half asleep, weren’t you?”

I swallowed hard. “I had a doppelg?nger. Sort of. What if someone else looks like you?”

“Doppelg?ngers are mortal. They don’t have claws.” He turned to me with a frown. “And you exist because Mortana died. I’m not actually dead, as you pointed out.”

I didn’t want to say it, but I had to ask. “It’s just…everyone thought my parents were dead. And they weren’t. You said your brother looked exactly like you—”

“Rowan,” he said sharply. The temperature plummeted. “I saw him die. I will never forget it.”

I let out a long breath. And I saw you attack me.

A new set of worries had now taken root in my brain, thorny vines that pierced every other thought. But I didn’t say a word as I found my way to the shower in my room. I turned on the water and stripped, letting the steam fill the bathroom. His words from a month ago echoed in my mind.

Consider it an accident if it makes you feel better. My hands slipped, and I accidentally ripped off Carl’s head and shoved his remains under the desk.

Orion felt guilty for some terrible secret. What would someone like him feel guilty about?

As I stepped into the shower, I closed my eyes, trying to visualize that conversation—the entire mental image of his room—boxed up and locked away. Everything hinged on how today went, and I needed my mind to be one hundred percent focused. In the next half hour, my goal was to stop thinking about Orion’s promise to fuck me until I forgot my name and everything else he’d just said to me.

Mentally, I started reviewing the plan I’d made with my team. Chant the invisibility spell as I flew, and race to Sudbury. I’d touch down near the mansion. Kas and Legion would be sheltering nearby to disrupt the mansion’s wards and protective spells. I knew how to find the entrance by a little stone marker, even when the house remained cloaked.

With a spell for invisibility, I’d slip past the three or four guards—or their dead bodies if Orion got there first. I’d use a spell to open the front door and the safe. I could waltz right in. Unnoticed.

I’d head straight for the chancery.

If the hunters detected us, the mansion’s automatic locks would trap us inside, with great iron bars that would slide across the doors. The mansion would become a sort of prison for us, with hunters hell-bent on killing us.

But the doors could be opened from the outside, so Shai would be waiting for me by the southern exit with an unlocking spell. I’d knock four times, letting her know she needed to open the iron bars.

I could be back here by sunset, grimoire in hand, ready to be crowned.

In theory.





*



Orion and I stood across from each other beneath a cloudy sky. Although my muscles were rigid with tension, he was simply relaxing against the stone wall, his hands in his pockets. He wore a dark gray T-shirt that stretched over his large shoulders, and my gaze slid down to his serpentine tattoo. My mind flicked back to the feel of his fingertips stroking down my spine this morning…