Lord of Embers(The Demon Queen Trials #2)(11)

“He comes back.” His voice sounded husky, rasping. “That’s how I know he’s protected.”

I rocked my hips again. “I know how to kill him now. If you kill me, you’ll never know how to get him out of your way. You’ll never convince the City of Thorns that you’re the true king. Whether or not he was supposed to be crowned, he was, and you can’t undo that unless he’s dead. No one will accept you as king so long as he’s alive. No one knows you’re the heir. You need me.”

There was a quiet chuckle from the wall of pure muscle behind me.

“Oh, you know his weakness suddenly, do you? Why would I believe you?”

I stroked my fingertips under his shirt. My breath was shallow, heart racing. His magic curled around me, stroking my skin. “I’ll make a blood oath. I’ll tell you how to kill the king if you let me live. Everyone in the City of Thorns will know you’re the true and rightful heir once you slaughter him. We both win.”

“You forget something,” he purred, stroking one of his fingertips over the pulse in my throat. Strangely, it made me shiver—but not from fear.

“For one thing, I don’t believe you’d willingly give up the throne. And for another, there is the oath. If I don’t fulfill my promise, I will die.”





C H A P T E R 6 — R O W A N

“I know there’s a tiny spark inside your soul that tells you I might not be her.”

The silence that followed told me that yes, I’d hit a mark. And maybe that was the only reason I wasn’t dead yet.

“You certainly don’t have the killer instinct she had,” he said at last.

“The thing is, love, I made this little promise to kill her whole family. I know you are related to her. So whatever way you slice it, I am bound to kill you. I can feel my heart constricting just standing here, touching you. Every moment I let you live makes me feel closer to death.”

Desperation erupted in my chest. “There’s got to be a way to undo the oath.”

Another long silence spread out between us.

“There a way,” I said, and my fingers tightened on him. “I know is

there is. Sever the oath, and then I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“The simplest thing would be to end your life.” His eyes blazed with dark intensity.

But the question was, if he was so hellbent on killing me, why hadn’t he done it already?

“It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself. You don’t to

w an t

kill me.” A mixture of fear and hope twisted inside me. “Something is stopping you. Why don’t you start by admitting the truth to yourself?

Some part of you actually

me.”

likes

He lowered his hands, releasing me. “Every part of me loathes what you were. But no. You don’t seem the same.”

As I turned to face him, I tried to catch my breath. “I have information that you need. If I’m dead, you’d have to accept that Cambriel could be sitting on that throne for generations. If you kill me, you’ll be murdering the one person who has the information you need.

My parents were killed for a reason, and that was because they knew how to kill Cambriel.”

Shadows stained the air around him like ink, and a warm breeze skimmed over my skin. My argument was a bit flimsy. Would it actually work?

He cocked his head. “Why don’t you tell me how to kill the king, and then we will figure out how to break the sacred oath.”

I crossed my arms “What is it about the past ten minutes of you threatening to kill me that makes you think I would trust you right now?”

Darkness spilled through his eyes, and he slid his hands into his pockets. His body language looked relaxed and casual, but there was real intensity in that midnight stare. “I need you to cut your palm and make an oath.”

I looked down at my hand. “What, exactly, am I going to promise?”

“Two things,” he said. “One, I need you to swear that you actually know how to kill Cambriel. If you’re lying, you will die. Two, swear that you will tell me this secret as soon as I sever the oath. Agree to these conditions or forfeit your life.”

I inhaled deeply. “I can’t promise I can tell you how to kill the king because nothing in life is certain,” I said. “I promise you that I have

can

a solid theory, one I believe is true and will share with you after you

break

oath.”

you r

“Good. Slash your palm.”

Holy shit, he was going for it. Maybe, deep down, he didn’t want to kill me for some reason. I held out my hand. “Do you have a knife?”

His brow furrowed, and his claws shot out. “Just use yours.” He raked a long silver claw against his palm, and crimson blood dripped onto the floor.

I looked down at my hands, willing my own claws to appear. I tried to imagine them gleaming from my fingertips.

After a few awkward moments, I looked up, meeting Orion’s gaze.

“How do I bring the claws out?”

He took a step closer, peering down at me. “You really remember nothing.”

“Literally nothing of being a demon.” I shook my head. “My claws and fire came out recently, but it sort of happened of its own accord.”