City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials Book 1)

by C. N. Crawford

  Orion started to lower his mouth to mine, eyes black as night—

  “That’s enough!” The king’s voice boomed through the hall.

  I was horrified at how disappointed I felt at the interruption.

  Orion lowered me, and the hem of my gown fell to the floor once more.

  I knew my cheeks were flushed and my chest heaving as I pulled my strap up again. It was hard for me to focus. Only the sight of the rising flames, now towering several feet above us, sharpened my senses again. When the flames died down, I could see the king on the other side of them, his jaw clenched and muscles tense.

  We’d certainly gotten his attention. The firelight danced over his tan skin and blond hair, making him look like a gilded statue forged from the flames.

  My adrenaline was pulsing hard through my body. Had we actually pulled off this act?

  The king pulled his gaze from me, surveying the Quorum. Then a smile curled his lips. “I think the City of Thorns could use a succubus.”

  A silence fell over the room. Just as I thought, the king would be making the call, regardless of what the others thought. Their faces were grim, furious.

  One of the dukes, with platinum blond hair and gold rings on his fingers, stepped forward. “We cannot, of course, disagree with your wisdom.” He looked furious. And as I stared at him, a golden symbol started beaming from his head—something like a crescent moon.

  My heart slammed on my chest. That was what I remembered from the night Mom was killed. It was a symbol just like that, shining from a demon’s head. Only it had been a star instead of a moon.

  My blood was pumping so hard now I nearly dropped character. I’d actually made progress.

  But when I saw Lydia’s eyes on me, the curl of her lip, I made sure my expression looked serene. Mortana wasn’t surprised by anything here. This was all business as usual.

  The king steepled his fingers as he stared at his quorum. “Don’t you agree that the city could use a succubus?” His voice rumbled off the marble. “A duchess for the Asmodean Ward?”

  He wanted them to agree with him. He knew they didn’t—they’d just said so—but they wouldn’t argue with a king. And as long as they agreed out loud, he would have someone to blame if the succubus turned out to be a complete disaster. Why did you all advise me to allow her in?

  The five demons murmured, then nodded.

  Only Lydia looked completely stone faced. “We could use a succubus. The king in his infinite wisdom can see this. But any demon who enters the city must be tested in the Infernal Trial, is that not correct? It’s how we know that the gods bless someone’s presence.” Ferocity burned in her eyes as she turned to us. “Orion, you remember your Trial. You killed some good friends of mine, in fact. Now, it must be Mortana’s turn.”

  “That’s only for new demons,” he replied. “Mortana lived here once before. She’s returning to her former home.” He was trying to seem casual, but I could tell by the way he’d answered—a little too quickly—that this was bad.

  Lydia smiled pleasantly. “Yes, but she never passed the Trial because she lived in the city at its founding. There were no trials in the 1680s. The law says that any demon entering the city must pass the Infernal Trial unless they have passed it before. I think you’ll find that there are no exemptions stated for those who lived here when the city was founded.” Her smile deepened as she looked at me. “You haven’t gone soft in the City of Serpents, have you, Mortana?”

  Fear settled in my gut.

  The king stood, and warm light danced over his sharp jawline. “It is agreed, then. Mortana will join the City of Thorns as long as she can pass our initiation. Then we will know if even the gods approve of her presence here.” He turned to look at me, his crown gleaming. “Your Trial begins at midnight tonight. You have been formally summoned.”

  I couldn’t exactly say no, could I? Mortana would say yes. She would be one hundred percent confident of her ability to get through this.

  I could either break character or commit myself to a life-threatening trial.

  So I found myself opening my mouth and saying, “I can easily pass an Infernal Trial. Of course the gods want me here.” I chuckled softly. “I think we all know that.”

  Lydia was seething at me, her lip curled a little. “But what if Duke Orion tries to help her? Clearly, they have a relationship. We all know how skilled he is at killing. What if they cheat?”

  The king cut a sharp glance to Orion. “Well, the duke will remain with me on the other side of the Acheron River, just outside my tower. We will be watching for you to cross over, or listening for the victory cry that would herald your death. We will have cocktails.”

  “And no flying,” spat Lydia. “You can’t use your wings.”

  Now there was one rule I’d have no problem sticking to. I didn’t have wings, or magic, or really any hope to survive the rest of the night. Not unless I figured out a plan real fast. Maybe a quick, secretive exit from the city before anyone noticed.

  Except the king wasn’t dismissing us. No, he was drawing a dagger from his belt. Dread started to bloom in my chest as I realized what was happening now.

  The king held out his palm and carved a slash in it. Crimson blood slid down his hand on to the marble dais beneath him. “Good. We will seal this sacred commitment with a blood oath.”

  Holy hell. Looks like I’d be working on a plan B.

  Chapter 20

  I paced the floor in Orion’s apartment, gripping the bandage around my hand.

  We’d managed to rush out of the Tower of Baal before anyone realized that I didn’t heal like a demon. Still clutching my hand, I pivoted, pacing across the room again.

  By contrast, Orion barely moved an inch as he watched me. Then he leaned back and spread his arms out across the sofa. “I’m starting to think this was all a mistake.”

  That wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to hear.

  “What I would do,” he went on, “if you hadn’t agreed to the blood oath, would be to rush you out of the city. Then I’d make sure you stayed hidden. But you agreed to the blood oath.” He leaned forward, pinning me with his gaze. “Why, exactly, did you do that? You just signed your own death sentence.”

  “I was staying in character,” I shot back, exasperated. “If I broke character, I’d be dead, right? In a fire. Mortana would never back down from a challenge. Mortana would do the Trial in a heartbeat. I have more of a chance in the Trial than I do in a fire pit. It was just a calculation of the odds.”

  “Mortana would do the Trial in a heartbeat,” he repeated, and his eyes gleamed in the dim light, cold and ruthless. “Why are you talking about her as if you knew her?”

  That was a good question. Why did I feel like I knew her?

  I gripped my injured hand hard. “I don’t know. She’s like my id.”

  “Hmm. That sounds like a mortal thing I don’t want to explore further because it’ll annoy me.” Orion’s eyes narrowed. “The thing is, Rowan, Lydia will likely kill you with her fire magic. And I’m supposed to stay at the Tower. Even if you manage to survive the Trial by hiding, the other demons will quickly realize you don’t have any powers. Then you’ll die in a fire pit. And if you fail to show up, you’ll die from the blood oath.”

  I stopped pacing to stare at him. “Are you trying to be helpful?”

  He rose and grabbed my injured hand. “I’m going to heal you. I forgot quite how long it took for humans to heal. Ridiculous.” He pulled me closer to him and sat again, and I plopped on the couch by his side. He unwrapped my bandaged palm, and our heads leaned close together we peered at the deep gash. He brushed his fingertips just to the right of the red slash. As he did, warm, healing magic skimmed over my hand. I stared as my skin smoothed over before my eyes.

  “Are you healing me because you feel empathy, Orion?” I asked.

  “I don’t want blood on my floor,” he murmured.

  When the skin looked good as new, I pulled my hand away. “What can you
tell me about what the Trial will be like? I need to make a good plan.”

  Our faces were close now, and a line formed between his eyebrows. “A good plan,” he repeated, his tone suggesting it was the most absurd thing he’d ever heard.

  Orion probably never needed to plan things, did he? He could show up and kill people.

  “Just tell me how you think the night will go,” I prompted.

  “It’ll begin in an old oak grove in the Elysian Wilderness. The other demons will be in different locations throughout the wood. They won’t know which way you’re moving, but they’ll try to hunt you down by scent. If you stay in one place or try to hide, they’ll converge and kill you. If you try to run, they’ll smell you and kill you. They are far, far faster than you. And it’s not just the five demons from the Quorum, mind you. It’s anyone from the city who wants to participate. It could be a hundred demons. In order for the Trial to end, you’ll need to survive for a full hour.”

  Despite the horror of what he was telling me, an idea was starting to form in my mind. “Lydia has fire magic. The others don’t. So can fire hurt them?”

  “Yes. Some only have strength and speed, and others have forms of elemental magic. You could be frozen to death, although Nama isn’t great at hitting a moving target. It’s more likely that she’d trap you in a wall of ice or something, then beat you to death and carve your heart out with her claws.”

  My throat went dry. “How thick is the ice?”

  “It’s not incredibly thick. I could probably punch my way through it. It’s like glass.”

  My heart pattered in my chest. “Okay. I have a plan. Can we send Shai out to pick up a few things from my apartment?”

  He frowned. “You can’t use a gun, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  I shook my head. “No. This is specialty equipment. Oh, and do you think Morgan will let me borrow his watch?”

  “Yes. But what do you need?”

  I closed my eyes, reviewing the items I had in mind. “My fire-retardant gels, clothing, a gas mask, and a fire blanket. Also, I have a knife that can shatter glass. Oh, and I’ll need gasoline or another liquid accelerant, but she won’t find that in my apartment. Obviously. I’m not insane.”

  He stared at me. “May I ask why you have these things?”

  “Well, you have magic, and I have my own superpower. It’s called anxiety. It’s a pain in the ass, but I’m prepared for every fire scenario you can think of. And Facebook’s algorithms identified me as anxious, so they started advertising things like a knife that can cut through glass if you drive your car off a bridge into a river.” I frowned. “I don’t even have a car, but I have the knife.”

  He looked transfixed. “Right.”

  “I’ll also need bleach and ammonia. And a tool belt.”

  His body was completely still. “Is this just a random list of items? Have you done that thing that mortals do when their minds break from too much stress?”

  “Oh! And this is crucial: we need to tell her to get the fox urine from under my bed,” I added. “And a Super Soaker.”

  “Ah.” His features softened. “Your mind has broken.”

  I reached out to touch his arm. “It hasn’t. Trust me. I have a plan.”

  “Does this plan involve attacking demons with fox urine?”

  I shook my head. “No. I have a better plan.”

  He still hadn’t moved an inch. “The contents of your bedroom concern me.”

  “I just want to be prepared for the apocalypse, Orion. That’s all. And that apocalypse is here, even if it’s just for me.”

  “That’s not what apocalypse means.”

  I lifted a finger. “Let’s stay focused. Fox urine, bleach—”

  “This sounds insane,” he said, cutting me off, and scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I thrive in chaos. I like to watch things burn. But this situation is making me feel something different, unfamiliar. I don’t like it,” he said in a clipped tone. “This is making my heart beat faster, almost like a…like a warning. As if something bad is about to happen.”

  My eyes widened. “Yeah. That’s anxiety. Are you feeling anxious for my safety, or are you worried you’ll be caught out?”

  His gaze shuttered. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a lethal four-hundred-year-old demon of chaos, imbued with godlike powers. I fear nothing.”

  “Not sure I believe you anymore, Orion.”

  I may not know magic, but I know anxiety.

  Chapter 21

  Darkness surrounded me in the oak grove. Beyond the stench of fox pee, the air smelled of moss and soil, and faintly of gasoline.

  For years, I’d been waiting for the demon apocalypse, and now it was happening. At least for me.

  My knees shook as I waited for the sound of the klaxon that would herald the beginning of the Trial.

  There was only one rule: no flying. As the Lilu were the only type of demons with wings, if I could actually use them, I’d be simply flapping around above the trees the entire time.

  I glanced up at the sky. Clouds covered the moon, which was both good and bad. The bad part was that I’d be reliant on the night vision goggles I’d bought last year off Amazon (in case of the apocalypse), and they weren’t great. But the darkness was good, too. It gave me a little cover for the ridiculous suit I had on—a navy flame-retardant suit, with the safety stripes covered up. The demons might not notice the night vision goggles, the safety gloves, or the backpack I carried filled with supplies. They wouldn’t see the sheen of the flame-retardant gel on my cheeks and chin.

  And when this ended, I’d need to get this shit off quickly before anyone could see what I’d been up to.

  Sweat ran down my body under the suit. Tonight, the forest air was hot and humid, and heavy with tension.

  Demons never considered using tools or weapons. Honed by evolution, they didn’t need technology. But me? I could only hope that my little arsenal would help me. And I prayed that the fox pee would disguise my scent, the way hunters used it in the woods.

  My heart slammed against my ribs. Any moment now, the Trial would begin.

  With my goggles on, I scanned the trees for signs of movement. My vision was black and white, and I could just see the trunks around me.

  My plan for now was to get as close as possible to the river as quickly as I could. Before coming out here, I’d installed a compass app on Morgan’s Apple Watch, so I knew exactly which way was north, and the river was about four miles. When I got there, I’d spend the rest of the time fending off attackers.

  With a thundering heart, I checked my borrowed watch—two minutes until midnight.

  In high school, I’d run track and cross country. I’d even made it to nationals. This felt a lot like the start of those meets, burning with adrenaline, waiting for the gun to go off…except in this race, I could end up battered to death by an angry mob of demons, so the stakes were just a tad higher than coming in second.

  I watched the countdown on my watch for a few seconds, then pulled out my first weapon—the Super Soaker.

  When the klaxon sounded, I started to run.

  Unlike my high school track meets, I was carrying about ten pounds of weight, encased in a metallic suit, and wearing goggles. I was already sweating into the suit, so speed wasn’t on my side tonight. As I ran, I breathed in the musky, acrid scent of fox pee, and my eyes watered.

  With my night vision goggles, I scanned the trees for signs of movement. I ran for about ten minutes, sucking in breath sharply, without seeing a single demon. I thought I’d probably made it a mile and a half.

  Only fifty minutes to go.

  When my foot loudly snapped a twig, it occurred to me for the first time that speed might not be the most important thing. If they couldn’t see me easily or smell me, they’d be relying on sound. That twig breaking the silence might as well have been a cannon going off.

  I froze, scanning the woods around me and catching my breath.

  My heart skipped a beat as I sa
w a demon moving toward me. Unlike me, he moved with shocking speed, his body like wind through the trees. But he was still some distance away.

  Before he could get to me, I used the Super Soaker to spray gasoline on the ground between us. I created a wide arc, at least twelve feet, then dropped the gun and snatched the deodorant from my tool belt. I’d superglued a lighter to the can using a plastic binder clip, so it stuck out at just the right angle to form a blowtorch. The lighter itself had a rubber band around it to hold the flame when it was depressed.

  My body shook as I flicked the lighter and the flame sprang to life. Then I pressed the top of the deodorant. Four feet of flames shot out into the air, and I lunged forward, angling the fire toward the gasoline. The reaction was instant—an enormous wall of fire surrounding me.

  Now the demon was just on the other side of the flames—and by his luscious curls and ivory horns, I recognized him as a duke. The blood-guzzling gluttony demon bellowed in rage, and the sound slid through my bones. It wasn’t just the sound itself that sparked my fear—he’d just alerted the entire demon army to my location.

  I snatched the Super Soaker from the ground and sprayed through the flames toward the demon. The fire spread in his direction, and he backed away, staring at the flames and roaring.

  I pivoted and broke into a run before more of them could find me. I had to put as much distance as possible between the bellowing demon and me.

  I usually ran five days a week, often six to seven miles, maybe up to ten, and even with my backpack on, the adrenaline was giving me extra strength. I pumped my arms hard, running faster through the trees than I’d been moving before. But when I stole a glance behind me, I saw movement in the distance. A demon was closing in on me. No—not just a demon. With my goggles, I saw two…three…six?

  Fuck. They were all over, and I still had a mile to get to the river.