Lord of Embers(The Demon Queen Trials #2)(52)

The enormous room was made of sharply peaked arches and columns of pale stone. Engravings of beautiful winged goddesses jutted from the tops of some of the columns, and the arches had been painted with constellations. Maybe the monarchs had killed my kind, but they still liked to use us as inspiration for art.

The air smelled faintly as if they’d just been having sex, which I didn’t want to think about. Briny air rushed into the room, toying with the gauzy curtains.

Neither of them stirred as I quietly approached. The woman’s presence was annoying, but I should be able to silence her easily enough.

I pulled another knife from a sheath and threw it into the air. The blade found its mark, and the hilt jutted from the woman’s throat. I’d severed her voice box, so she couldn’t scream, and I rushed over to the bed before she could wake the king with her flailing. Up close now, I slit the king’s throat. Blood sprayed over the bed.

This was how I had known that I was destined to rule: no one else could spend hundreds of years in a dungeon and emerge knowing exactly how to murder people with the precision and efficiency of a trained warrior. When Lucifer had marked me, he’d endowed me with unnatural gifts.

I pulled another knife out and crawled between the two demons as they bled onto their pillows. My claws elongated, and with a feral snarl, I ripped the king’s heart from his chest.

I shoved his limp body out of the bed and lifted his bloodstained pillow.

Nothing lay beneath it.

What the

, Rowan?

fu ck



The king started making a gurgling sound, already healing. This was the magic of the book, of course, because otherwise, he’d be dead without a heart. Had she lied?

I shoved the bleeding woman off the bed, and she dropped onto the tile floor with a thud. No book under her pillow, either.

My heart pounded like a war drum, and the king let out a strangled scream as he healed.

In the next heartbeat, two guards burst into the room, swords drawn. But a sword wasn't much use from across the room, which was why I had brought the knives. I pulled out two more and threw them with precision. They arced through the air, striking the guards in their hearts.

By now, Cambriel had regained the use of his vocal cords, and the idiot king was screaming like a child. I had to act quickly, before the rest of his army found their way upstairs and made this job significantly harder.

“Where’s the book?” I asked quietly.

“What book?” he screamed, his voice mangled.

Of course he wasn’t going to tell me.

“Rowan said it would be under your pillow.”

“Who is Rowan?” he pleaded. “What book are you talking about?”

Right? Of course. He didn’t know her by that name.

I pulled a knife from a strap at my waist and threw it hard. The blade pierced the top of his hand and pinned his palm to the floor. He screamed, agonized. I could torture him as long as was necessary to get the answers out of him, but I wouldn’t have that long before I was fighting off an entire army.

“The book that keeps you alive,” I said through gritted teeth. “Where is it?”

“There’s no book!” he shrieked. “I don’t have a magic book. What are you

about? How did you get up here?”

talkin g

I crossed closer to him and knelt between his legs. Pulling one of my last knives from its sheath, I slammed it through his thigh, close to his crotch. “The book, Cambriel.”

“Someone lied to you.” He inhaled, a deep, heaving sob, then laughed with an unnerving sort of hysteria. “Orion, I don’t know how you got that star of Lucifer, but you aren’t the true king any more than I am. Only Mortana was destined to rule. Why the fuck do you think I wanted to marry that maniac?”

“Nergal was my father. My mother was a Lilu,” I said. “I am the king’s true son. I should inherit the throne. That was how I could kill him.”

“That’s the thing.” He clutched his thigh with his free hand, sweat pouring down his face. “Nergal really wasn’t your father, nor mine. The old fucker was sterile. If your mother was Lilu, perhaps she didn’t know who your father was at all.” Wild laughter. “The Lilu whores had so many lovers, didn’t they? I’m not trying to be rude, but you can’t trust a succubus. And you can’t trust Mortana. If she won’t marry me, she must die.” With his right hand, he ripped the blade out of his left. “We will kill her together. It’s the only way. Don’t you see? She will bring us both down.”

I took a step back from him, quickly evaluating the situation. This mission must be aborted. My mind whirled…

“No. I will find out how to kill you, Cambriel,” I said quietly.

He pulled the blade from his thigh and rose, shaking.

As he did, a guard burst into the room. And unfortunately for me, this one had a gun.

Everything next happened so fast.

Four bullets hit me in the chest. Pain shot through my body, and I staggered back. It was almost starting to feel like Rowan had set me up to get me out of the way…

I turned to head for the balcony. As I did, Cambriel rushed out before me, panicking. Bleeding, I hurried out after him. Another bullet slammed into my shoulder, and I nearly fell to my knees.

Cambriel panicked and threw himself off the balcony. Unlike me, he didn’t have wings.