Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(6)

At last, the only noise remaining was a quiet murmuring in the crowd, and the slamming of my heart against my ribs. How would Orion handle this?

“Rowan.” The king’s voice from behind me was a stroke of velvet up my spine, and a hot shiver ran through every inch of me.

I turned to see him standing behind me, a lock of hair falling in his eyes. He didn’t wear a crown, and he looked perfectly relaxed, his hands in his pockets. He wore a simple dark blue button-down shirt that stretched across his muscled arms and shoulders, and dark gray trousers.

Shadows wrapped around him, but his eyes glowed with icy light. If it weren’t for his shockingly beautiful face and silver hair, he’d have blended with the darkness behind him.

I tossed the gauntlet down, and it clanged at his feet. Nevertheless, he kept his eyes locked on me.

With a practiced tongue, I invoked the archaic Demonic challenge to the king. “Parzilu Sarrum Tahuzu.”

“You’ve come for the crown,” he said, a faint smile curling his lips.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

He shrugged slowly. “Maybe I was starting to miss you.”

Ah. There it was—the incubus charm. The fa?ade. It was a trick that Tammuz had taught me: confuse your opponent until they can’t figure out how to respond, get them to let down their guard.

Orion had no choice now, though. The trial was starting either way.

He cocked his head. “You don’t seem scared, considering what you’re about to undertake.”

My fingers twitched. “Of course I am,” I said quietly, so only he and I could hear. “But I’m gonna kick your ass anyway.”

His response was what looked like a truly dazzling and genuine smile. Disarming. Throwing me off guard.

He arched an eyebrow, taking a few graceful steps forward. “You don’t think we should join forces, love? Everyone else seems to think so, including Lucifer himself. After all, he did mark both of us.”

Was that a hint of mockery in his tone? Hard to tell with him.

According to the ancient courtly customs of demonic fighting, I was supposed to wait until he was ready to begin the fight—when he picked up the gauntlet, formally accepting the trial. But that part wasn’t a law, per se, just a convention. And the longer I waited, the greater the opportunity I’d give him to flirt with me until I no longer knew what was happening.

I lunged forward. Lightning-fast, I slammed my fist into the side of his head.





4





ROWAN





The force of the blow echoed off the stones, and he nearly lost his balance. He regained his composure well enough to retaliate with a punch, but I blocked it with my right forearm. I brought down my left fist hard, into his shoulder.

My feet landed on the ground, and my claws shot out from my fingertips. In a fraction of a heartbeat, I made a move for Orion’s throat, but he arched his back, his head dodging out of the way. As he did, he grabbed my wrist, hard. For just a moment, the world seemed to slow as we stared at each other, and a briny wind toyed with my hair. Why did he look so fucking exhilarated by this? Like he was enjoying himself?

“I wanted revenge,” I whispered. “You took it from me.”

His pale eyes had a sorrowful expression that nearly made me feel bad for him…that is, until he twisted my arm behind my back, spinning me away from him.

Pain shot up my arm, and he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I’m sorry.”

My jaw clenched. Fucking incubus mind games.

I brought my left arm back into his ribs with enough ferocity that he dropped his grip on my arm. I spun, then slashed my claws through his gut. But something stopped me from going deeper, pushing harder—even though he’d live. It was an instinct I couldn’t overcome.

Orion still hadn’t brought out his claws, and he punched me again—but I blocked it. The force of his wrist against my forearm was like a sledgehammer falling from a thousand feet, and I was pretty sure my bones fractured for a moment. But as a demon in the City of Thorns, I healed quickly.

As my wings burst from my back, I lifted off the ground. Orion was up in the air faster than I’d expected, his wings pounding the night.

If I’d expected him to look fearful or enraged, I’d have been disappointed.

In the air, he was giving me a look of pure mischief, pale eyes glistening. We might as well have been dancing. “Did you miss me as much as I missed you?”

“Only if you didn’t miss me at all.” My claws glinted in the moonlight—but before I could strike, he soared past me, blending into the darkness itself. Had he just…disappeared?

I’d never seen him do that before. How many hidden powers did this cocky fucker have? And how was I supposed to win if I couldn’t even see him?

I inhaled, trusting my demonic instincts to help find him. Soon enough, his exotic magic thrummed faintly along my skin, and I detected his scent. Cedar. He’d moved closer to the tower walls. Soaring through the air, I followed his seductive, fragrant trail, but I still couldn’t see him.

I turned, scanning the night air, the crowd below. That was when he appeared again—a powerful warrior’s body materialized out of moonlight. He rushed forward, and I started to fly to meet him, to strike first.

But his velocity was so intense that he slammed me hard into the tower wall. I flinched, anticipating the shock of pain that would splinter my back. But the pain didn’t register. Orion had deftly managed to cushion the blow—one hand around my waist, holding me closer to his rock-hard chest, and the other pressed against the stone wall itself to stop me from making contact.