City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials #1)(11)

My mind was racing. I’d never actually told anyone this before, and it felt good to get it out. And I didn’t actually give a fuck what this stranger thought, so he was the perfect person to unburden myself with.

This was freeing.

“I think we need to talk about Jack,” I went on. “You’re a good listener, you know that?”

I launched into a diatribe about Jack in high school, the “Home Run Rowan” nickname, how Jared Halverson had posted my confused texts on social media the night he stood me up. Then I rambled about every indiscretion, every embarrassing thing or terrible thing I’d ever done. The time I’d written a friend a bitchy email about my math teacher’s sweat stains and accidentally sent it to him. My weird snack of microwaved tortillas with sugar and butter. The time I’d thrown up repeatedly in a trash can in Harvard Square Station after too much tequila. The cab driver with mutton chops I tried to hit on in Cambridge. How I’d peed outside a Dunkin’ Donuts because they wouldn’t let me use the bathroom. How I’d never actually had an orgasm, and I wasn’t convinced they were real—the idea seemed like an elaborate hoax. I explained how I’d given up on men and started wearing granny panties from Rite Aid because what difference did it make?

For at least an hour, I unleashed every embarrassing or selfish thing I’d ever thought or done.

“…and can you explain to me why the one guy who seemed like he would actually be able to sexually satisfy me is also a demon, and also he kidnapped me and threw me in a prison? That’s how I know there’s no God. It’s too cruel. The sexiest person I’ve ever seen, the guy who’d make me want to wear lace underwear instead of the pharmacy stuff—he’s the Hannibal fucking Lecter of the supernatural world. Are you kidding me?”

Silence filled the cells, and I realized my eyes were growing heavy.

A man’s voice came from the next cell, hardly a whisper: “Are you done?”

I sighed, only now realizing that I’d pretty much run out of material. “Yeah, I think that covers my life pretty much,” I said, and dropped my head into my hands, exhausted.

But there was only one thing I didn’t cover—my mom’s death at the hands of a demon with the mark of a star. Because I was still determined to find my way out of this. And I wasn’t ruling anyone out. Not the Lord of Chaos, and not my quiet prison friend.

Any demon could be guilty.

As I sat on the cold floor, I was sure of three things.

One, I was going to find a way out of here.

Two, I’d find a way to stay in the City of Thorns.

And three, I would get revenge on the demon who killed my mom.





Chapter 7





I usually couldn’t sleep when I was anxious about something. And lying in a demon prison the night before I was supposed to be executed should have made me anxious.

But strangely enough, I closed my eyes with a sense of peace.

Maybe it was the certainty that I could fix this. Or maybe it was the freedom I felt after finally unleashing my secrets on the demon next door. Whatever the case, I woke up with my head resting on my arms. I stank of sweat and mildew, and I desperately had to pee. But I’d slept.

A few flecks of light streamed in through cracks near the ceiling.

I sat up straight, hugging myself. “Are you still there?” I asked.

Silence greeted me.

Apart from the little sunlight, it was still dark as night in there. I hugged my knees close to my chest, teeth chattering. As I surveyed the dark cell around me, my eye fell on a point on one of the walls, just between the vines. A thin stream of light illuminated a carving in the stone, tucked behind the leaves.

I scooted over and started tugging at the ropes of plants, but it was still hard to read with the darkness. Instead, I traced the letters with my fingers, feeling their contours.

L…U…C…I…F…E…R…

Shuddering, I kept going. It took me a minute because the carvings seemed old and faded, but eventually, I had a phrase mapped out in my head.

Lucifer urbem spinarum libarab…

The rest of it had faded. But if my high school Latin translation was correct, it said something like Lucifer will set the City of Thorns free.

Interesting. But not helpful for my release, was it?

I shifted away from the wall and hugged my knees again.

In the silence, I could concentrate on my game plan for getting out of this situation. It hinged on being able to convince the Lord of Chaos that I was not who he thought I was. All I had to do was sow doubt in his mind. Once I bought myself some time, if I could stall this execution, I’d work on making him realize I wasn’t Mortana. Whatever his deal was, I was sure that he didn’t want to start a war by killing a mortal. Our two species had managed to keep the peace for hundreds of years.

When I heard the footfalls echoing through the prison cells, my body became alert, and my pulse raced. I shot to my feet, ready to convince him. As the visitor moved closer, the torches sprang to life again, and warm light danced over the stone wall across from me.

The Lord of Chaos crossed slowly before my cell, eyes ice blue. He was wearing a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing a disturbing tattoo of a snake formed into a noose.

The warm power radiating off him made my breath quicken. I’d never before been this close to a demon, and everything about him was unnerving. He looked similar to a human, but too tall, too perfect, and too eerily still.