City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials #1)(17)

Steam from the coffee curled before Orion’s face. “He will be looking for a wife. If the real Mortana were here, she’d be a strong candidate. She’s the duchess of one of the wards. Some think she had a claim to the throne. I mean, she was mistress to his father. She’s also widely rumored to have killed his mother, Queen Adele, centuries ago, but I’m not sure that he holds a grudge.”

I stared at him. “Okay, slow down for a second. Mortana probably killed the king’s mother, and I’m supposed to convince him to marry me?”

Orion shrugged. “It was never proven. Just rumors. They say Mortana hoped to take the queen’s place, and one day, Queen Adele’s body was found in a vat of wine with her heart cut out.”

I frowned over my coffee. “Do you think Mortana did it?”

“Probably. That was her style. Queen Adele didn’t drink alcohol, and that irritated Mortana, so the wine was a nice touch. Anyway, water under the bridge now, I’m sure. Charm the king, flirt, get him close to you. As long as I can teach you to act like Mortana, you’ll have the chance to try to pry his secrets out of him.”

My chest felt tight. “What, exactly, are you looking for?”

“I want you to find what makes him weak.” Sunlight glinted in his pale eyes. “Because everyone has a weakness.”

It was like he’d ripped the phrase from my own thoughts.

I raised my eyebrows. “Are you telling me you want to kill the king? I thought that only an heir can kill the king. So unless Cambriel has a child who wants him dead, he can’t be killed, right?”

“Did your friend Shai tell you that?”

My throat tightened. I didn’t want to get Shai involved in this. “What are you talking about?”

He looked out over the sparkling ocean. “I saw her with you in the bar, and I noted the Belial University insignia on her handbag. So while you were sleeping in the prison cell, I found her wandering around Osborn and interviewed her.”

Oh, shit. I slammed a hand on the table and leaned forward. “You interrogated Shai?”

“Interviewed. I wanted her to tell me what she knew about you.” He sipped his coffee. “And as for the king and his weakness—it’s true that only an heir can kill the monarch, but the king can be imprisoned. There’s more than one way to get revenge.”

The coffee was starting to give me a little buzz. “Okay. You want to get rid of the king. And I take it this requires a high degree of secrecy so your head doesn’t end up on his front gate alongside his dad’s.”

His icy gaze bored into me. “Precisely. A high degree of secrecy. You are the only one who knows what I plan to do.” He leaned over the table. “And now you know why there is no going back. I cannot allow you to leave here until I’ve achieved my goal, and if this secret got out, it would be all over for me. Until I’m rid of the king, you are mine. And if you cross me and tell my plans to anyone else, I will murder your dear friend Shai.”

Ice slid through my blood. Mentally, I tried to untangle the morality of this situation. I was going to help a demon imprison a king, but he wouldn’t be able to kill him. And the king had murdered his own father…really, it could be argued that I was doing the right thing. My only deep regret at this point was that this situation put Shai’s life in danger.

I finished my coffee. “I like to think of myself as being quite skilled at finding people’s weaknesses.”

“I believe that.” He narrowed his eyes over his coffee, and I felt the air growing hotter around us. “You know, it’s unnerving looking into the face of my worst enemy, even if you’re only a doppelg?nger. It’s hard not to reach across the table, rip your heart out of your chest, and throw it into the sea.”

Yikes. I’d definitely lost my appetite at this point. “Please try to resist the impulse.”

“I’ll do my best.”

I bit my lip. “Are you going to tell me what she did to you?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” For a moment, I caught a glimpse of vulnerability in his pale eyes. “But I’ll do anything to get revenge. I will kill whoever I have to in order to make this happen. I have no moral code, only a burning lust for vengeance. Do you understand?” His words made my heart skip a beat, and the air burned hotter.

Got it loud and clear. No moral code. He was a psychopath.

He rested his arms on the table. “If this is going to work, you’ll need to know about demons and the City of Thorns. You’ll need to know a bit about what Mortana was like when she lived here, but not what she did in the past two hundred years. We’re forbidden from sharing information between demon cities. And if this plan is going to work, your friend Shai is a loose end. She could identify you.”

I took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to suggest killing her, was he? “I’m sure she’ll agree to keep the secret.”

“Not good enough, I’m afraid. I’ll need a blood oath from her.”

I poured myself another cup of coffee from the carafe. “That doesn’t really seem fair to her, does it? You get information out of this. I get to live in the City of Thorns and thereby have a less pathetic life. What does Shai get for the risk she’s taking with a blood oath?”

He shrugged slowly. “Anything can be bought. I’m sure she has a price.”