Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(69)

I rested my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. “We need to evacuate the city.” I pointed toward the City of Thorns. “They’re coming. In three days, the demons are coming to feast. To hunt. They’re going to try to kill everyone.”

“Okay, ma’am? I’m going to need you to calm down. Have you ingested any substances today that could be affecting your mental state? Any alcohol? Drugs?”

I was shaking, vaguely aware that my hair was wild and that it might have vomit in it. “No, but I have been poisoned.” Some part of me was aware that I wasn’t communicating in a way that suggested I was sane. “I’m a demon. I’m supposed to be the queen.”

“Ma’am, you appear to be under the effect of a substance of some kind. If you have a care coordinator—”

“I’m not on drugs,” I shouted. “I’m telling you about a real threat.” I pointed back at the City of Thorns. “I’m a demon. I know the king personally…” Fuck. “Look, demons from the City of Thorns are planning an attack on Osborne. It’s revenge for something that happened several hundred years ago. I need you to get me in touch with someone who can help.”

She nodded at me slowly, then drummed her fingers on the desk. She stood before a locked door, and I wasn’t getting through it without her permission. Or violence, which I was trying to avoid. “We haven’t had any reports of threats from the City of Thorns’ leadership.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you with the demon hunters?”

Of course. Orion had already bought as much influence as he needed.

“Is there someone else I can speak to?” I asked desperately. “A detective? The police chief?”

“Ma’am, I’m going to ask you to step outside now, okay?” She started moving from behind the desk.

A little strength was crackling back into my body, and I raised my hand, summoning enough magic that fire flickered from my fingertips. “See? I’m trying to let you know about a credible threat—”

The officer drew her gun, and my stomach dropped as she started barking for backup. I turned and fled out the door again.





*



I huddled on the sofa of Shai’s aunt’s house with my new mobile phone. With shaking hands, I called one person after another to report the need for an immediate evacuation. A senator’s office. Homeland Security hotlines. The FBI.

I opened the window, screaming at the mortals to leave.

But demons and mortals hadn’t been at war in centuries, and most people had forgotten it was a possibility. None of them knew anything about a grimoire, or that the magical boundaries placed on demons could be dissolved.

And every one of them thought I was insane.

My phone buzzed—a message from Kas.

Where are you? I’m going to help you, Sunshine. I promise xo

I shoved the phone back in my pocket, choking down my ragged sense of loss. I wasn’t giving up on Orion this easily.

I lay flat on the sofa, trying to clear my head. Everyone in the City of Thorns had been telling me all along that things weren’t always what they seemed. That I couldn’t trust anyone, not even my own senses.

So what did I believe deep down? What did my instincts say? I covered my eyes with my arm, and my mind looped back to the night I’d been attacked in Orion’s house. Someone fled out the window, and Orion came out of his room.

My instincts told me my assailant hadn’t been Orion. Someone, somehow, had been impersonating the king, convincing others that he was trying to kill me.

Deep down in my soul, I knew he wasn’t responsible for this. We were the twin stars, and I knew him as well as he knew himself. His fear of snakes. His crushing guilt. The lacerating loneliness of all those years, so indescribable that he’d imagined a friend in the next cell. And the way all that pain had finally started to heal when someone finally showed him he was worth saving.

I didn’t have a doubt in my mind. The person who’d stood before the clocktower and declared me a traitor—that wasn’t Orion.

An incessant ringing was interrupting my thoughts, and I bolted upright on the sofa, irritated.

Was that…a landline?

The phone kept ringing as the call came in again, and I followed the sound into the kitchen. When I peered down at the phone, I read the caller ID displayed on the back.

A 508 area code—all the way down near the countryside of Sudbury. My heart sped up.

Were there some remaining hunters trying to get in touch with Shai?

I picked up the phone, staying silent.

“You have a collect call from”—a robotic voice cut off, and I heard my old friend’s voice say, “Shai Morton,” before the recording continued—“at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Concord. Do you accept the charges?”

My heart hammered as I cleared my throat. “Yes.”

The phone line clicked. “Hello? Camille?” I’d recognize my friend’s voice anywhere.

“Shai?”

A long pause. “Wait. Rowan? Oh, thank the gods. What happened? Fuck. Did Orion win? I haven’t been able to get any demon news in here.”

My mind whirled at her barrage of questions. “Shai. Why are you in prison?”

“I was arrested in Sudbury when I was waiting for you by the southern entrance. Even though I was invisible. I can’t really go into the specifics here on the phone. But is there any chance you can bail me out? I’ve been desperately calling my aunt and my mom to get me out of here so I could get to you. There are things I need to explain. Someone screwed us over, Rowan. We just…can’t talk about it on the phone. But I really need to warn you.”