Lord of Embers(The Demon Queen Trials #2)(58)

I gripped the woman by her shoulders. “Is she still there?”

“My husband died years ago, Goodman, and I have often hoped—”

I shoved her away from me and started for Gallows Hill, certain that my heart was breaking.

I DIDN’T FIND her hanging from the tree—just four rotting strangers. And that most dangerous thing, hope, returned. Maybe Goody Putnam was mad. I wandered into the darkening forest, hoping to find Rowan, or at least Tammuz.

Tammuz might have a clue what was going on.

As I trudged over the snowy earth, clouds slid across the moon. We had been together here recently, but somehow, it felt like ages past.

I glimpsed the little cabin in the forest, webs of frost icing the glass.

Pushing open the door, I stepped inside.

Without a doubt, I could smell her here, and the place looked different than it had two nights ago. Strips of meat dried by the fire, and baskets of berries sat on the hearth. Women’s clothes, clothes that were

size, had been folded and set aside. Candles had burned h er

halfway down.

The cottage looked lived in.

I crossed to the sofa and lifted a blanket to my nose. Rowan.

.

Recen tly

My heart slamming against my ribs, I left the cabin and walked back into the forest. No summons was needed this time. Tammuz stood in the moonlight, his face illuminated with silver and his body cloaked in darkness.

“Where is she?” I rasped.

“Mortana? Dead.”

“No, Rowan. She’s different.” I heard the wild desperation in my voice. “Where is she?” Snow swirled in wild vortices around us, and the night felt sharp with danger.

He shifted closer, the edges of his form blurring. “Ah, but you see, she lied to you. She didn’t tell you how to kill the False King. She is after your crown, Orion. She aims to rule, to take what is yours.” His eyes glittered. “Orion, don’t you know that you should never let yourself hope?”

I stared at him, my heart twisting. Without the crown, everything I’d ever planned would be doomed. I was alive for one reason: to fulfill my oath to the dead and feed the earth with the blood of their enemies.

Tammuz blended into the night again.

I waited for the familiar anger to sizzle in my veins, rage at the knowledge that Rowan had lied to me.

But the anger did not come. We were doing as our destinies commanded, and nothing more. She had her fate, and I had mine. Like the sea crashing against the rocks, we could not escape the forces pulling at us. We were all alone, weren’t we?

She would try to take the crown from me.

And I would make sure she failed.





C H A P T E R 3 1 — R O W A N

I crouched on the outer wall of the City of Thorns, gazing up at the Tower of Baal disappearing into the clouds.

I’d left my cloak with Shai so it wouldn’t trip me up when I tried to kill the king. To our great mutual relief, Shai wasn’t dead. She was in an Osborne hotel room, asleep.

If the rest of this night went the way I hoped, she’d be back here for my coronation when the sun was up.

Did I want to be queen?

Hell, yes.

I breathed in the perfumed, humid air of the City of Thorns. I belonged here. Outside the gates of this city, I was nothing. Broke, lonely, hunted by the mortal police. Vulnerable.

Out there, I’d end up in jail, eating cold macaroni off a tray and trying not to get the shit kicked out of me by people who thought I was a weirdo.

What would it be like to have some fucking respect for once? What would it feel like to have other people listen to me?

Hell, yes, I wanted all that. I’d never hungered for power before. I’d never dared to. It had seemed out of my reach.

But I hungered for it now. If that was the only way to keep myself safe, I wanted it.

Excitement fluttered through my heart as I pictured myself wearing a crown, stalking through the city. Deep down in my id, maybe a part of me admired Mortana. Not her sadism, but her willingness to take what she wanted. She wasn’t afraid to be strong.

I didn’t have many weapons—just two daggers strapped to my thighs—but my magic would do most of the work.

From here, I could see what appeared to be the entire demonic army stationed outside the tower—a legion of armed demons, horns and weapons glinting under the moonlight. Demons had never adapted well to guns, which they considered a vulgar mortal invention. They had too much pride to rely on weapons that powerful. Unfortunately, they did have arrows.

Still, no wonder they’d wanted the Lilu dead. Our wings gave us an extreme advantage over the rest of them. And when you added fire to the equation, I was a dangerous weapon.

As soon as I launched off this wall, they’d be sounding the alarms, the army rushing upstairs to protect the king. They’d be looking for a Lilu, then, soaring through the skies.

Four guards stood outside a balcony window in the Tower of Baal. If I had to guess, that was where the king was sleeping. And if he was paranoid enough to station guards out there, he’d probably have powerful locks, alarms, reinforced glass… the hallways and stairwells outside his room would be packed with soldiers as well.

Were they well versed in fire safety? I doubted it.

My throat tightened. This was going to be messy and painful for everyone involved.

But if I was going to be queen, I couldn’t alienate my future army by killing their friends. Whatever happened, I had to make sure the only person who died tonight was the fucker who’d killed my parents.