City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials #1)(46)

“Get your hands off her, Nama,” Orion snarled from behind.

She released my neck and hissed at me. An actual hiss, like a snake.

With a furious blush crawling over my cheeks, I scrambled to pick my towel off the floor. I wasn’t sure what was more horrifying right now, being fully exposed in front of these two demons, or the fact that Nama might know I was mortal.

The door slammed behind her, and I hastily wrapped the towel around myself. When I turned to Orion, I could feel that my cheeks were burning red.

For his part, he looked fucking delighted. Infinitely amused.

“What?” I snapped.

He just shrugged. “That was a gorgeous view I wouldn’t mind seeing again. That’s all.”

My jaw tightened. “We have a problem.”

“We do,” he agreed, his smile fading. “She’s watching you too closely because she’s threatened. But I don’t think you need to worry about her. She doesn’t have a lot of credibility here. Everyone knows she’s unhinged. She’s never learned to control her emotions.” His eyes lingered over my bare shoulders. “I liked you better without the towel.”

“Can you turn around so I can get dressed?” I asked.

With a sigh, he turned to face the other direction. “When we’re at the king’s penthouse tonight, he may want to see you alone, but I want to stay close to you. The king, as you might have gathered, can be dangerous.”

With Orion’s back to me, I dropped the towel to the floor. When it hit the tiles, I heard a quiet growl rise from his chest, nearly imperceptibly. He wanted me.

What would it take to make his demon mark come out? To see if he really belonged on my suspect list?

Stark naked, I crossed to the bags of clothing on the sofa, then glanced at him from behind. “What should I wear? Sheer black panties or the white ones with the ribbons and garter belts?”

A sharp intake of breath. “Sheer black.” His voice sounded low, husky. His hand at his side was now clenched into a fist.

“You’re sticking with me at the party tonight,” I said, slipping into the sheer black underwear. “So you are my protector, then.” I pulled them up over my hips, then grabbed the matching bra. “As long as I don’t betray you or fuck anything up, in which case, you’ll murder my best friend.”

“That’s a good summary.”

I looked through the bags again until I found a silky red sundress. I slipped it on, and it hit my thighs just below my butt. “You can turn around now.”

When he pivoted, his deep gray eyes shimmered like stars, but for the first time, I saw something like sadness in them. “You really look so much like her. It’s disturbing.”

“Well, I’m not her.” Weirdly, that didn’t feel entirely true. Last night, I’d inhabited her character so easily that she’d felt like a part of me. And worse, I liked being her. It was oddly freeing. “You haven’t actually revealed anything about yourself, though. You haven’t told me what Mortana did or why you’re so desperate for revenge.”

His eyes seemed to be searching mine, and silence spread out between us. At last, he said, “Mortana was involved in my mother’s death. When she died, I made a blood oath that when I found Mortana again, I would slaughter her.”

Something sharp pierced my heart. All this—the spying, the rage, it was all to avenge his mom. He and I had way more in common than I’d expected.

“And her close blood relatives,” he added. “To stamp out her family line forever. Except I think everyone in her family is already dead, except her.”

Panic twinged in my chest. “I look exactly like her. Are you sure I’m not her descendant?”

He sighed. “If you’re mortal, you’re not her descendant. We don’t breed mortal offspring. Hardly breed at all, really, which is why it’s unlikely there would be any family line to destroy. She killed all her own relatives when she helped King Nergal with the Lilu purges."

My chest unclenched a little. “I’m sorry about what happened to your mom.”

His brow furrowed. “Well, it wasn’t your fault. You’re not actually Mortana.”

“No, that’s just something mortals say.” I took a deep breath. “Someone killed my mom, too.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I was surprised I’d actually uttered them.

“Ah.” He cocked his head, going very still. “That’s what you weren’t telling me. Your mother was murdered.”

“Someone burned her to death in the Osborne Woods. I was there…” My chest went tight, and it started to feel hard to breathe. “I was with her, but I don’t remember most of it. Just the scent of burning flesh, mostly, and…” Emotion tightened my throat, and I trailed off. I shouldn’t be sharing so much with one of my suspects. So much for being an undercover cop.

He reached up and brushed a tear off my cheek. “What?”

“Some thoughts that are a bit too dark for other people to hear,” I said.

“Not for me.” His eyes were an endless blue. “I think you’ll find I don’t have any limits in that regard.”

The guilt was eating at me from the inside out. “Okay, well, here’s a question for you. Why am I still alive when she burned to death? Why did I keep running?”