Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(72)

He’d always been competitive with Molor, resentful of his aristocratic background. I remember thinking that Kasyade was delighted to see his friend’s head ripped off.

Kasyade must think I was going to end his life at some point for that.

And he was probably right.

The cloth in my mouth smelled of some kind of oil, and I wanted to vomit, but that would make the situation considerably worse. The effect of the Ladon venom and hawthorn was only getting more painful, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be conscious here, or if I’d ever wake again.

The worst fucking thing was that Kas had probably learned about this particular poison from the demon hunters after Rowan had been captured.

A tiny light burned in my chest. Would Rowan know the truth?

Kas said she wouldn’t. He said she’d come to rip out my heart, that she didn’t really trust me anymore.

From the damp floor, my gaze slid over the carvings in the walls. It had always been so quiet in here during the decades when they didn’t even bring us food.

It had just been Ashur and me, starving together in cells side by side.

My gaze flicked to the noose hanging across from my cell, where I’d last seen my mother. They’d left her there so long…

Ashur had shown up right after she’d died, I think. Mom and I had been the last ones, then Ashur. My thoughts were growing foggy, and I couldn’t remember where he’d been before she’d died.

And his face—I couldn’t remember that, either. He’d been strong, and then he’d grown weak. He’d lost his mind. But every time I tried to remember his expression as he was dragged away to his death, I only saw my own—an agonized, ravaged visage. My own.

The poison must be confusing me.

On the stone floor, my body shook. I loathed feeling weak. My gaze slid over those carvings of the queen with her spiky crowns. Even as a little boy, I’d hated feeling weak, so the slashes in the stone had been vicious, brutal.

My eyes started to drift closed, and I could hear my mom saying my name in her soothing voice, like she was right there.

“Ashur.”

A jolt of recognition ripped through me.

The crack of stone, the noose swinging in the gallows. The heartbreak that tore me in two.

Ashur had arrived. Someone older, stronger.

Someone who’d taught me to be angry instead of scared, to stay sane by marinating in wrath instead of sorrow. Someone I’d promised to avenge.

Someone who’d never existed at all.

Ashur.

The name Kasyade had called me when he’d dumped my limp body here in the dark, because he remembered me better than I remembered myself.

But all those thoughts drifted away from me as the venom started to seep into my brain, and all that was left was her—

Rowan.

My light in the darkness.





43





ROWAN





Shadows thickened around Osborne as night fell, and an autumn chill nipped at our skin.

In an alley around the corner from the gates to the City of Thorns, I stood in the shadows. Here was my new team—Shai, Legion, and Sabazios. Fallen autumn leaves spread out beneath us.

Every time you put trust in someone, it was a risk. But all the same, I didn’t think I could do this without them.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s lay our cards on the table. I know it’s not part of demon culture, but we have to be honest right now.”

Sabazios’s green eyes locked on me. “I always have been. Especially after you gave me those elasticated pants to protect my dignity. And do you know that I gave you that bear you always had with the red sweater you chewed on until it ripped…”

My eyes misted. “Mr. Huggins?”

He nodded.

Legion stood with his arms folded, eyes averted from me.

“Legion!” I grabbed his arm. “I need to know if you’re with us or not.”

His eyes slid to me. “I’ve known Kas for centuries. Since before the City of Thorns was built.” He glanced at Shai, his features softening. “But he’s always kept secrets. He’s always had an angry side that he hid from the rest of the world. Without the Lightbringers, he’d be the most powerful demon in the city. He’s never told me he had anything planned, or that he was going to call the police on Shai. It was all behind my back, using me for information. I knew there was something about that storm that night…I didn’t think Shai lost control of it. Someone was causing it.” His eyes were still locked on Shai. “And you are where my heart lies now, Shai. So yes, I’m on your side.”

She beamed at him, her eyes twinkling. “Good.”

He turned to me again. “And yours. Kas wants Orion off the throne for good, and I did, too. I wanted to replace him. But unlike Kas, I have limits to what I’ll do to stop him. It’s no good getting rid of an unstable maniac if we just replace him with another one.”

I nodded. “Okay. Not the most ringing endorsement of Orion, but I’ll take it. Now we lay our cards on the table about what powers we actually have.”

“Fuck knows anymore,” said Sabazios. “But I can tell you what I used to be able to do.”

“And Legion?” Shai brushed her hand over his bicep, and that was all it took to make his eyes darken. “We’re gonna need to know exactly what Kas can do.”