City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials #1)(61)

When I thought of little Orion screaming for his father, I wanted to find those very mortals and rip their hearts from their chests. Power flooded me, and I felt like I could pull those Puritan fucks from their graves and kill them a second time.

A dark power imbued my body. I was clutching the side of the table so hard, I was breaking some of the wood. I glanced at my arm, where the image of the skeleton key was flickering—one with a skull shape burning like embers.

It was happening again.

When a demon feels a strong emotion...

When I looked up in the mirror, I saw the faint hint of golden light beaming from my forehead, but the shape was obscured by the scorch marks. I slapped my hand over it, my heart slamming.

Fuck. Fuck.

“Rowan?” Orion asked. “Why can I hear your heart beating like you’re about to be devoured? You’ll wake half the city.”

Orion had said a demon could erase her past, could wipe all her memories. She could get rid of the guilt…

What if I’d erased my own memories?

But I couldn’t just stand here permanently with my hand on my forehead, could I? What was I so scared of—that I was Mortana? He’d said I was human.

I slowed my heartbeat until my muscles started to relax again.

I was, quite simply, seeing things.

Shaking, I pulled my hand away and shifted so I could see my forehead. Nothing was there. No demon mark, no golden light.

“Orion? I think I’ve been hallucinating things.”

“Ah,” he said. “That’s because you’re here. I’m seeing them, too, the ghosts of my past. In here, they feel more vivid than ever.”

I let out a shaky breath and turned to him. “For a second, I thought I was turning into a demon.”

He gave me a sad smile. “You can’t turn into a demon. You’re mortal.”

Maybe the tragedy of this place was just getting to me. I reached into my pocket for the key and held it up. “Should we keep looking?”





We approached a stone mansion in a section of the ward I’d never seen before. Canals flowed on either side of the building, gently moving south toward the Acheron River. An overgrown garden rambled out front, and stone paths curved through uncontrolled shrubs and tangles of vines.

Three stories high, the mansion boasted grandiose columns and ornate carvings of gargoyles. Balconies on the second and third floors overlooked the canals and the garden.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“This was once the home of the duke of the Asmodean Ward.”

I shivered as I looked up at it. “Why didn’t they put me here, if I’m supposed to be the duchess?”

“When Mortana was the only one left, she stayed in the building where you are now. It became the new residence of the Lilu’s representative.” He glanced at me, his eyes bright in the darkness. “And she probably didn’t want to be haunted by the memories of being instrumental in the death of her own father.”

I stared at the mansion, my blood growing colder. If tragedy could cling to a place, this palace was dripping in it. It felt tangible in the air. “The duke who lived here was Mortana’s father? What was his name?”

“Moloch.”

Orion started leading me through the rambling garden to the front door. Above us, a wooden shutter slammed forlornly against the stone window frame.

He slid his pale eyes to me as we approached the mansion. “The City of Thorns isn’t like your world. Here, magic imbues the air. Memories linger. Tragedy can wrap itself around the walls, the floors, the stone and wood. It stays there like a living and breathing thing. So if you are seeing things, I’m not surprised. This world was never meant for mortals, and even demons see things here sometimes.”

When we reached the door, I slid the key into the lock. And as my heart skipped a beat, I found that the lock turned.

I held my breath as the door swung open, revealing the inside of a palace, one covered in cobwebs. A cold shiver rippled through me as I took in the haunted beauty. Thin rays of moonlight streamed into a hall with towering ceilings. A white marble fireplace was inset into a wall, with a faded mural depicting lions and owls. Statues on columns stood around the hall, their faces smashed. The floor was a mosaic of deep blue and gold, with patterns of delicate rosettes, cracked in many places.

Once, this place would have gleamed with wealth and elegance, but even now, it had its own sort of beauty.

My pulse raced. “Orion?” I asked quietly. “Why would my mom have a key to this place? My mortal mom? Do you think she could have been a servant here at one point?”

“It hasn’t been inhabited in hundreds of years.”

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog from my mind. “Right. Of course.”

“Everyone always thought the duke disappeared during the purges.” His quiet voice echoed off the tile as he walked around the hall.

“And that was the last anyone has heard of him?” I asked.

“Maybe. About twenty years ago, a body was found in the gardens outside. The heart had been cut out, and the corpse had been burned beyond recognition. The rumors were that it was Duke Moloch himself, but no one knew how he ended up here, or where he’d come from. There could be Lilu who escaped, who live outside of the City of Thorns without their powers.”