City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials #1)(20)

He arched an eyebrow at me. “Why is your heart racing like you’re about to die?”

Well, there went that hope.

I pulled the robe tight. “Did you see me naked in the bathtub?”

His body was so still that I could feel the hair raising on my nape. Beautiful as he was, these eerie differences in body language marked him out as a predator. “Your heart races when you think of me seeing you naked?”

His implication was bang on, but I rolled my eyes anyway. “You don’t need to phrase it like that. I was just annoyed, that’s all. Do you know that being annoyed can make your heart race? It’s the raised cortisol levels. Anger.”

A reminder to yourself, Rowan: he is a different species with fangs, lethal magic, and eyes that turn black. Do not forget.

“Well, you needn’t be annoyed,” he said quietly. “Morgan dropped the bathrobe off for you, plus several bags of clothes in the guest room. I’m deeply aware of how uptight mortals are with their bodies. I was alive during the Puritan days. But as Morgan is not interested in females, I thought it was fine for him to enter the bathroom.”

I resisted the temptation to argue that I wasn’t uptight because, truth be told, I was. And I was especially uptight around Orion because he made me want to open my robe in front of him.

I frowned and tried to change the subject. “You were alive during the Puritan days? I thought you weren’t from this region.”

A wry smile. “There were Puritans in England, too. I knew one named Praisegod Barebones who led their parliament. In fact, when I first met you, your outfit reminded me of his clothing.”

“Goth-Puritan is my look,” I said defensively, still clutching the robe closed.

“You’re looking very flushed.”

I cleared my throat. “It’s hot in here.”

“Morgan will return soon with the rest of your new clothes. Mortana always dressed beautifully.”

I was still holding my bathrobe together as if I’d burst into flame if he saw an extra inch of my skin. “Okay. I guess I need to start learning as much as I can about Mortana and this world.”

“You will need to learn to appear less uptight, or you’ll end up thrown into a fire. She is a succubus.”

I raised my chin. “I’ll do fine.” I mean, I had to. “Will I get to see the city itself today?”

“As soon as you’re dressed. But for now, I’ll start with the background of the City of Thorns. What do you know?”

I closed my eyes, trying to remember my history lessons. “The city gates were erected after the Infernal War in the 1680s, when the Puritans and the demons tried to murder each other in the Massachusetts woods. I always thought the point of the gates was to keep the demons in, but apparently, you can leave.”

A hot breeze flowed into the room from the open balcony windows. “King Nergal negotiated the terms when he lost the war. Demons can briefly leave the city, but our magic fades after a few days. We become vulnerable if we live outside the city. Weak, slow-moving, and dull. No better than mortals, really.” There it was—a sharp little barb delivered in a velvety tone.

My lip curled. “Do you have to keep putting in the digs? It might get in the way of our professional relationship.”

“You need to understand how we think. We view ourselves as superior to mortals because—” He lifted a finger to his lips like he was thinking. “Oh, because we are. Demons are smarter, faster, and more graceful. For thousands of years, you worshipped us as gods. Sacrificed to us. Livestock, sometimes even your children. We’re basically divine. Even the tedious American demons are superior to mortals.”

I cocked my head. “And yet, here you all are, locked up behind city walls because you lost a war to us. Quite the conundrum.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’ll admit that mortals have impressive military technology, which has made it harder to compete. They developed guns and learned magic they could use to bind us here. But mostly, there are simply more of you since you reproduce like mosquitos.” He gave me a charming smile. “You infest the planet with your shrieking, yogurt-guzzling offspring, taking up more and more space every year and driving out all the other species like a plague of locusts.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m fascinated that you all could lose a war to us so thoroughly, surrender so completely, and still convince yourselves of your superiority.” I smiled back at him. “Have you heard the term ‘cognitive dissonance’?”

“In a one-on-one fight without weapons, a demon would win every time. Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to kill you?”

My smile faded. “Well, we have weapons now,” I said sharply.

He arched an eyebrow, and he leaned closer. “Except you sense it, too. No mortal man has ever sexually satisfied you. Whenever I’m near you, you can feel my superiority to your men. You said I’m the only man you’d ever suspected was up to the task.” His silky voice was like a sinful caress over my skin. Now, he’d moved close enough that his mouth was next to my ear. “And I do think you’re right about that, Rowan.”

A forbidden heat shivered through my body, and my thighs clenched under my bathrobe.

Oh, fuck.

As long as I was near Orion, I was in trouble.