Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(67)

But as I stared up at the heavens, a vision bloomed in my mind:

Stone walls, cracked to expose a bit of the stars. Then a shadow swinging over the stone—the bloodied, swaying feet of a hanged body. Wood creaking above, and pain piercing my heart to the core.

Why did I have a nagging feeling that I was still missing a piece of the puzzle, that even Orion didn’t yet fully understand himself?





39





ROWAN





The morning after the festival, I woke alone in Orion’s bed. I stretched like a cat until I had the energy to get dressed and search for coffee.

As I was pulling on a pair of jeans, my gaze caught on a handwritten note left on top of the bed: Meet me by the clocktower, love.

I cocked my head, staring at it.

What did my incubus king have in store for me today?

I smiled to myself. The ring. He’d probably found a ring.





*



I crossed into the Asmodean Ward with a coffee in my hand, shocked to find that the entire city had turned out, thronging the square like they had last night. This time, however, there was no music, no dancing—just a silent crowd, and Orion standing in the glaring sunlight on top of a stone pedestal by the clocktower. All eyes were on him, waiting.

Oh, gods. Was he about to propose in public?

But that was so unlike him, and so unlike me. I didn’t want that happening in front of a crowd.

And then dread started to slither up my nape when I caught a glimpse of something tucked under his arm. The grimoire.

What was he doing with the grimoire out here in public? In the wrong hands, that thing was dangerous as hell.

A horde of Orion’s soldiers stood around the dais, protecting him. I couldn’t even get to him.

Orion’s blue eyes locked on me. His expression was cold as ice, sending a flutter of unease through my veins. “Our former shadow scion.” His voice boomed across the courtyard, dripping with disdain. “Is a traitor. And when I called her queen last night, I was merely under the spell of a succubus.”

Icy dread danced up my spine. What the fuck?

The crowd parted around me as everyone stepped back. Where was he going with this?

Yes, technically, I was a former shadow scion. Someone who’d tried and failed to take the crown from the king. Technically, I was someone who’d committed treason, and that usually came with a death penalty.

But Orion and I loved each other, so none of that mattered right now.

Right?

My throat went dry as I stared at him, waiting to see if this was leading to something less terrifying. But if it was, I wasn’t a fan of this kind of surprise.

“I cannot in good conscience rule over you and keep you caged,” Orion’s voice echoed off the clocktower, his eyes locked on me. He lifted the grimoire above his head.

Darkness started to rise in me.

“But I have the key to unlocking my people.” His eyes held the crazed light of a fanatic as he held up the book. “Here. The grimoire. I am the one who can set you free once more. I am the Lightbringer prophesied to set you free. We must not live in fear of mortals any longer. We cannot allow another massacre to happen in our city walls. And we cannot allow traitors among us to keep us living in danger. Traitors like the disgraced shadow scion.”

Everyone edged away from me—keeping their distance, like I was suddenly emitting a toxin that could bring them all down.

Frantically, I searched the crowd. Was anyone else baffled by this sharp change of personality?

I saw only Mr. Esposito—newly hot—catching my eye. He looked like he was panicking as much as I was, sweat running down his furrowed brow.

Orion had lost his fucking mind, and I needed to speak to him alone before he made this any worse. “Orion,” I shouted. “You—”

My words were cut off by a hand gripping me by the throat, then a sharp needle piercing my neck. The effect was instant, a corrosive poison flooding me. I knew the feel of it anywhere—Ladon venom mixed with hawthorn. The poison screamed through my veins, weakening me.

My heart started to pound out of control as I realized I was all out of magic now. The only person here moving toward me was Legion, who was fighting his way through the crowd to get to me.

The world seemed to be tilting beneath me.

This was a nightmare come to life.

Orion’s eyes were on me as he held the book over his head. “Three days from now, I will open the City gates. We will feast again. We will hunt again. We will drink mortal blood once more. Never again will we make a contract with the faithless mortals that will put us at risk. And what do we do with traitors?”

A soldier gripped my arm, ready to drag me up to the dais along with Orion. For one moment, my heart went still.

He couldn’t possibly…

My heart shattered. I should have seen this coming.

I’d missed something. I’d been too trusting.

A powerful arm gripped me by the bicep, and I felt the air go arctic around me. Frozen wind rolled through the square, powerful as a hurricane. Legion’s magic ripped through the crowd as he scooped me up, and I did my best to wrap my arms around his neck. He was moving with me. Racing. Getting me away from the danger.

I looked up into his face as he carried me swiftly through the streets of the City of Thorns. I dug my nails into him as he ran, trying to manage the blinding pain.