Lord of Embers(The Demon Queen Trials #2)(20)

Flames engulfed the soldiers, and they staggered around, screaming, smoke billowing from their bodies.

“Rowan.” Shai’s voice seemed to come from a distance.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Shai was talking to me, but I could hardly hear her words. Bile rose in my throat.

“Rowan!” she shouted, shoving the back of my seat. “Don’t look.

Close your eyes and cover your ears.”

She was right, of course. I leaned down, hands over my ears. I stayed there, hunched over, until Orion got back in the car and I felt the vehicle lurch into gear.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and sat up. Orion was speeding through the streets of Osborne.

“Okay,

is happening?” Shai shouted. “Why did Orion light w h at

those people on fire?”

Orion gripped the wheel hard as he took a sharp turn. “Is she why you said you couldn’t fly? You wanted her to follow us?”

Well, he’d worked that one out quickly. “You wouldn’t have agreed to save her. You can’t kill her, but you’re not required to go out of your way to help her.”

“Ah,” he said quietly. “Of course. Everything about you is a deception.”

I heaved an exasperated sigh. “Can we just go to Hell in

please

peace?”

Shai leaned forward again. “Does anyone care to fill me in? Why are we running from the king?”

I inhaled deeply before turning to look over my shoulder at my best friend. “The mortal demon hunters tried to kill me. And Jack was there.

I killed his dad in self-defense, and now the king wants to hand me over because the mortals have some kind of control over our city.”

“Shit.”

Orion veered wildly onto Walcott Road, my old street, and I faced forward again.

He glanced at me. “Why do you look like you’re about to vomit all over my beautiful car?” He sped through a red light at an intersection, and I gripped the car handle.

My mouth was full of saliva, and I swallowed. “I guess I have a thing about watching people burn to death. You know, the whole empathy thing. And your driving isn’t helping the situation.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure I believe you actually have empathy.” He shot me an irritated look. “And I burned them because it was the fastest way to kill them. Now they won’t report anything to Cambriel or the mortals.

You’re welcome.” He careened left at an intersection. “Remind me again why I didn’t kill you.”

“Because even if you hate me, I’m the closest thing you have to a friend?”

Shai leaned forward. “Can someone please erase the memory of those people burning? I’d like that part of my brain fully removed.”

“Ask Mortana,” said Orion darkly. “She’s the expert at erasing memories.”

“She’s not Montana,” said Shai. “

tana. Whatever. I’ve known her

Mor

since we were seventeen.”

“You don’t know she was actually seventeen,” said Orion. “Do you?”

I was still fighting the nausea. “Well, Orion, if I erased my own memories, I wouldn’t remember the spell, would I?” I hoped he felt the sting of that comeback.

Curving sharply, Orion sped onto the highway and headed north.

And as he drove, he started connecting his phone to the radio.

“Do you want to let me handle the music so you don’t crash?” I asked.

“No.” He pushed play, and energetic yodeling blared from the speakers over a deep horn.

Yod elieyoid ieoh w apid ilieayeooo—

I let out a long, slow breath. “Is this it?” I asked. “Is this what Hell is, right now?”

Orion stared straight ahead. “Of

you can’t appreciate a skilled

cou rse

alphorn solo when you hear one. Philistine.”

“Where are we

going?” asked Shai. “Because it looks like actu ally

we’re going to Lawrence. Are we going to be eternally tormented in Lawrence?”

“Hell is not full of torments like you’d imagine,” he said. “It’s more boring than you’d expect. It’s like… Vermont.”

My eyebrows rose. “What’s hellish about Vermont?”

“Have you ever been to Vermont?” he asked, his voice dripping with disdain.

“Yeah. It’s really nice. I visited a maple syrup factory,” I said. “Have you?”

“No.”

“Okay, it’s not hellish. It’s beautiful. The leaves are gorgeous. There’s amazing cheese and ice cream. Lots of trees. Maple syrup. Like, tons of cows. It’s pretty idyllic, honestly. In what way is it supposed to be hellish?”

“There’s nothing there,” said Shai from the back seat. “The entire state is empty. I mean, apart from the cheese.”

“Exactly,” said Orion. “I read a history book once outlining everything that happened in the state of Vermont. Do you know what was in it? There were two chapters devoted to a Victorian prize sheep named Gold Drop. One chapter about farmers walking their turkeys to Boston in the eighteenth century. And then there was the greatest event to ever happen in the history of Vermont, which incidentally did not happen in Vermont. Ethan Allen—the great hero of Vermont, conquered Fort Ticonderoga, which is not in Vermont. And when he got there, it was basically empty, apart from two drunk Redcoats.”