City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials #1)(62)

A cool wind rushed into the room, rippling over my skin. Goosebumps rose on my arms. “Maybe my mom knew him.”

A disturbing thought crossed my mind. I’d never known who my dad was.

“And if he were alive,” said Orion, “Cambriel might have seen him as a rival for the throne.”

I thought I heard a creaking sound above me. When I looked up, I could just about make out the faded paint, a ceiling decorated with vines and ripe fruit. “Why would Moloch be a rival?”

“Long ago, the demons were ruled by a mad king named Azriel. He was obsessed with the idea of returning to the heavens, of reversing the loss in the heavenly wars. He called himself a god. He started killing his own subjects, burning them to death in the forests, ripping their hearts out. If he’d remained king, he could have slaughtered all of his own. He’d have done the mortals’ work for them.”

“He sounds terrifying.”

“It was Cambriel’s father, King Nergal, who challenged him to a trial by combat. By his family’s lineage, Nergal didn’t have much of a claim to the throne. But only the rightful heir can slaughter a king, and Nergal managed to do it. If our gods exist, they didn’t want the mad king to stay on the throne.”

I turned to look at Orion, frowning. “And the duke who owned this place—was he related to the mad king?”

Orion nodded. “Moloch was his bastard son.”

I closed my eyes, then rubbed them. “I’m just trying to process this. My mom—the normal, mortal mom I knew who made me macaroni and cheese and ate too many pizza rolls—she might have known the bastard son of a mad demon king.”

“That seems like a good summary.”

What. The. Hell? Why had she never told me about any of this? I’d spent my teenage years thinking my mom was sweet but boring.

How wrong had I been?





Chapter 35





I kept walking, exploring, hungry to know more. A breeze rushed in, and I crossed to look at a set of old wooden doors, which opened to a courtyard. Out there, arches surrounded a wild garden, and thorny plants climbed over columns and crumbling statues.

Had Mom ever been here?

As I looked out at the garden, puzzle pieces started sliding together in my mind.

I turned to look at Orion, my heart beating faster. “Mortana was born here, right? She was the granddaughter of the mad king. She had a claim to the throne. Maybe this explains some of Cambriel’s interest in her. There are two ways to conquer a rival for the throne, aren’t there? You can either kill them or marry them.”

Orion nodded. “That, and he desperately wants to fuck her. But yes, you’re right. Mortana has a claim.”

Orion had gone very still again. And when he did that, it always made me nervous. The air seemed to be growing hotter in here, the shadows thickening around him. His pale eyes bored into me.

“What?” I asked. “I can see you’re worked up about something.”

“What I’m having a hard time with,” he said quietly, “is the number of coincidences. Like I said when we first met, demons sometimes have mortal doppelg?ngers. But what, exactly, are the chances that a mortal doppelg?nger also possessed the key to that demon’s house?”

Ice slid through my bones. He’d brought up a very good point. And yet, I had no idea.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t know. But you said I was definitely mortal.” I was clinging to this desperately now. “You said demons can’t breed mortals. And clearly, I don’t have any magic. Not even in the City of Thorns.”

He held my gaze for longer than was comfortable, then pulled it away again at last. “You did taste mortal, yes.”

I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m going to look around and see what I can find, okay?” A sense of dread was starting to rise in me, dark and unnamed fears I didn’t want to confront.

And for whatever reason, I was starting to feel uneasy around Orion. If I learned anything about my mom in this place, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to be there.

I crossed through the hall, suddenly eager to get away from him, and I found my way to a wide, wooden stairwell that swept to the upper floors. I hurried up the stairs, eager to learn more about this place. With the help of the moonlight, I surveyed the defaced portraits, the scattered clothes and ransacked rooms. I moved quickly and with a rising sense of desperation, feeling like I was on the precipice of a discovery.

I crossed out onto the balcony that overlooked the tangled garden, and a flock of crows burst from one of the gnarled trees below, startling me. My heart fluttered as I watched them take to the dark sky.

When I breathed in, my heart squeezed. I could smell Mom here. A faint, floral smell, velvety and tinged with jasmine. I missed her more right now that I ever had.

When I closed my eyes, I could almost feel her here, and my heart ached. I could see her vividly now, dozing in the chair before the TV, exhausted after work. She always had a hard time sleeping, and every little noise woke her. But it was a different Mom that I felt here—not the mortal one I knew, who watched nature documentaries and drank wine spritzers. This Mom wore her hair piled on her head and had servants bring her fruit. This one was full of confidence, radiant.

This one scared people.

My throat tightened. I didn’t want Orion here as I explored. What if I found something that turned him against me?