Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(75)

“Blessed by the gods?” Kas’s voice boomed, but I couldn’t see him yet. “The gods are insane. Let the people choose! Let the demons see who deserves to rule! Let he who possesses the most skill take the throne!”

“You want the people to choose—the same people you’re willfully deceiving?” Orion snarled. “The same people you’ve been lying to?”

“I was protecting them,” came Kas’s voice. “Neither of you are fit to rule. I studied magic for centuries. While you were locked in a prison losing your mind, Ashur, I was dedicated to the craft. To our history. To understanding what a demon truly is. And Rowan, long before you were born, I’d memorized every spell book in the city’s libraries. Suddenly, you stumble in, ignorant of our world, and think you deserve the crown? Because of an accident of birth?”

“Why don’t you show yourself?” shouted Orion. “Since you’re so confident of your skills. Let’s see who survives, shall we?”

They burst into silvery light before us—six versions of Kas. All tattooed, muscular, and glowing with pale light. A demon mark shaped like a crescent moon glowed on their foreheads, and their eyes were dark as pitch. Orion’s claws shot from his fingertips, and he slashed at one of them, then another. He was moving at the speed of lightning, but every time he struck one, a new one appeared.

Silky threads whipped around me, ripping me from the earth, high into the sky. They slammed me back down again, breaking me hard on the stones. The agony splintered me, and for a moment, I felt each of my bones shatter before they started to heal again.

From the ground, I looked up at the sky, where inky shadows spread above us all—a shield of ice and shadow, trapping us inside.

There it was—Sabazios and Legion, working together. Exactly as planned.

Good.

Darkness wrapped over us.

The tendrils of silky magic spiraled around me again, lifting me high into the crushing darkness—

But it didn’t matter anymore because I was summoning my light.





46





ORION





Do not mistake me for a hero. I’d destroy the entire world to save the person I loved the most.

Shadows slid over us, and I could no longer see Rowan.

The terror of losing her unmoored me until I hardly knew which way was up and which was down. If I lost Rowan now, the world would stop again—a frozen clocktower, a stilled heart. A world of silence.

Once, I’d failed to protect those I loved. This time, I’d burn my enemies to cinders, even if I had to take the rest of the city down with them.

Because I only loved her—Rowan. She was the beginning and the end for me. And when someone was hurting her, I’d tear the stars from the skies and hurtle them like spears.

Rowan and I would be the last ones standing, and that would have to be enough.

Ice and shadows enveloped me, and my thoughts began to spin wildly into little pinpricks of light. A queen with a spiked crown. Molor teaching me to play chess. My mother telling me her birthday would be next week—always next week. A beautiful woman with red hair sleeping in my arms, someone who meant the world to me now. A soft hand against my face bringing me to life again. Leading me from the dungeons to the world beneath the stars.

Order and chaos…a light falling into the underworld.

Shadows consumed my light.

I am Chaos. I am the beginning and the end.

I will consume.





47





ROWAN





The light bloomed in the darkness, pale gold and blinding. It swelled to fill the shadows under the shield, burning away each illusion of Kas until all I could see was light. I hadn’t even finished summoning my own before Orion’s exploded under the shield like a dying star.

Hot magic rushed over me, into my blood and bones, healing my broken body. Orion’s infernal light was a baptism of pure flame, and it gave me strength.

Kas was now nothing more than particles drifting around in a glittering mist.

Slowly, the light started to fade, leaving behind a world of shimmering dust—and only one other person remained.

Orion lay naked on the ground, surrounded by glittering motes of light and the darkness sweeping over us. Warmth flooded my chest as I looked at him.

I pushed myself up from where I’d landed and hurried over to him, resting his head in the crook of my arm. His dark eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes. Pale blue eyes, flecked with silver, stared back at me. He was in there, but dazed, unfocused.

A faint smile curled his lips, and he reached up to touch my cheek. “You’re here.”

I smiled down at him, brushing his hair from his eyes. “You saw the shield.”

His brow furrowed. “Shield?”

My eyebrows rose.

So maybe Orion was fine with destroying the entire city with his Lightbringer power. I supposed it was a good thing he’d have me to rein him in, because I wasn’t leaving him.

I glanced up at the haze of light and shadow until the stars began to appear in the sky again and the shield slid away. The shimmering mist around us drifted into the night, whirls of gold that floated toward the moon. Orion still looked delirious from the burst of his light, but I slid my arm around his back and lifted him to his feet. He leaned into me, nuzzling me, as I surveyed the damage.