City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials Book 1)

by C. N. Crawford

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.”

  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 doppelgängers. But what, exactly, are the chances that a mortal doppelgänger 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?

  My hands were shaking as I started moving again, searching one room after another. I kept going until, at last, I reached the master bedroom, one with a four-poster bed made of dark wood and a high ceiling painted with a constellation. But what stopped my heart was the portrait on the wall—a bust, and a woman with her dark hair piled atop her head. It was just as I’d been envisioning her. The portrait’s eyes had been painted over, but I would have recognized the rest of her face anywhere. Her straight nose, high cheekbones, dark eyebrows…

  I felt like the world was tilting beneath me as I stared up at Mom’s portrait. What the fuck?

  I couldn’t breathe as the possibilities whirled in my mind. Did Mom have a doppelgänger, or…

  I had to figure this out before Orion came up here.

  I turned around, scanning the room, my heart slamming against my ribs. An ancient-looking wooden desk stood in one corner of the room, and I rushed over to it. I pulled open the drawers until I found a book, its black cover embossed with golden thorns, and a skull key like the one I’d seen on my arm. I don’t think I was breathing as I turned the pages and read the ancient hand-written text.

  On the first page, written in black ink, was a sort of nursery rhyme.

  The Maere of Night

  Gave girls a fright,

  But one queen loved him well.

  He lost his throne

  But seeds were sown

  In the garden of Adele.

  A swindler king,

  A golden ring

  To keep his heart alive.

  Take the ring,

  Fell the king,

  The city yet will thrive.

  What was this? A nursery rhyme? A prophecy?

  I glanced over my shoulder, making sure I was still alone. I wasn’t sure if the text meant anything or if it was just a rhyme, but I pulled out my cell phone to snap a picture anyway.

  When I turned the page, I found an index. This was a book of spells. And in the index, one of the spells had the image of a skeleton key next to it.

  Locking Spell

  My hands were shaking as I turned to its page. There, at the top, was a key that looked like the one on my arm…and along with it, the explanation I’d been dreading.

  Spell to Lock Demon Magic

  Used to lock demon powers during purges by mortals. This spell temporarily converts a demon into a mortal.

  Holy shit. My hands were shaking so badly that I could hardly hold the book.

  But I couldn’t be Mortana, could I? I know Orion had said something about a spell for forgetting, but…

  I’d know. If I were evil, I’d know. I didn’t feel evil. Did anyone feel evil?

  “Rowan?” Orion’s voice had me nearly jumping out of my skin, and I might have yelped.

  If he saw what I’d just found—if he knew that was a portrait of my mom—he’d kill me. That execution he’d originally planned for me? It could actually happen. Either I was Mortana, or I was a close relation. He’d vowed to kill her and her family. Not just a vow, a fucking blood oath.

  I turned around and slid the book back into the drawer. “I didn’t find anything,” I said, trying to make my voice sound natural.

  “What’s wrong?” He moved toward the desk, his eyes glowing brightly in the dark.

  He could always just tell, couldn’t he? He could hear my damn heart beating.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I hurried past him and made my way to the hallway. “I was just seeing things again. Like you said, this place seems haunted. Let’s go.”

  “You’re no longer interested in what happened to your mother?” he called after me.

  “Just spooked, Orion.” I took the stairs quickly, no longer sure what I was doing. I hoped he’d come out with me, that he’d leave this ghostly place behind—and the spell book along with it.

  When I got outside, I hurried into the garden. Adrenaline flooded me when I thought of what he’d told me—the body found out here, burned beyond recognition. Someone I thought my mother knew…

  As I surveyed the savage garden around me, I suddenly felt desperate to get out of the City of Thorns. Yes, I liked the pools and the luxury. I liked Orion a lot. But tragedy haunted every inch of this place, and it was starting to become clear that some of it might be mine.

  Did Orion keep looking around up there? If he found that locking spell…

  I kept walking through the rambling garden, my nerves electrified. As I ambled through the untamed thorns around me, I shivered. The sound of footfalls made my heart pick up, but as I started to turn around, a hand clamped hard around my nose and mouth. A powerful grip was smothering me.

  Orion? I thrashed against the hand, trying to pull it off, but he was far too strong for me.

  My lungs burned as the air left my lungs. And as I tried to kick at his shins, my vision started to go dark.

  Chapter 36

  I woke in the darkness, tied to a chair. Pain split my head open, and my mouth was dry as a bone.

  I smelled faintly of pee, but I didn’t want to dwell on that. I needed to think about how I was going to get the fuck out of this situation. Besides the pee, the air smelled like smoke—burnt cedar and maybe iron.

  Wait—the burnt cedar was Orion’s scent.

  “Orion?” I rasped. “I can explain.” I really fucking couldn’t, but it seemed like a good start.

  Ropes chafed at my wrists as I tried to pull against them.

  Footfalls echoed off stone, and when I turned my head, I saw a light shining from a tunnel. As it grew brighter, I could just about make out the contours of a small, arched space,
like stone vaults underground.

  “Rowan.” The rasping voice came from the opposite corner, and I turned to see Orion in the shadows. Apparently, he wasn’t the one who’d tied me up, because he was wrapped in chains. Blood poured from his shoulders and chest, and a pile of ash lay around him.

  “Orion!” I shouted. “What happened to you?”

  His eyes were drifting closed, like he was having trouble staying conscious. “Some fucking idiot mortal gave Nama a gun.”

  “What?”

  “She shot me and chained me up. I tried burning my way through the chains, but…I just burned the chair. I can’t summon any more magic right now, not when I’m riddled with bullets. I’m having a hard time…”

  His bright blue eyes closed, and panic started to crawl up my throat.

  The sound of footsteps grew louder, and Nama crossed into the room holding a lantern in one hand and a gun in another. Her white hair fell in perfect waves over a scarlet gown. “Hello, friends.” She lifted the gun. “This is fun.”

  I glanced at Orion, but his eyes had closed again. He couldn’t actually die unless someone cut out his heart, but it hurt to see him covered in blood.

  With all the shit going on, I nearly forgot that I was supposed to be Mortana. Time to summon the imperious attitude.

  I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “What are you doing, you fool? Untie me at once.”

  Nama’s eyes widened, and her hand flew to her mouth. “Or what? What will you do if I don’t untie you?”

  Was she calling my bluff?

  She lifted the lantern. “Andras! Gamigan! Lydia!” she bellowed. “She’s awake. Bring the mortal with you.”

  “What are you doing?” I snapped. “You’re insane.”

  “Oh, my slutty little friend,” she cooed. “Madness runs in your blood, not mine. There was a reason we had to kill your grandfather. The Lilu are abominations.”

  Two of the dukes crossed into the room—the platinum-haired greed demon who led the Mammon ward, and a sloth demon with heavy-lidded green eyes from Abadon. And behind them, Lydia sauntered in—right next to Jack Corwin.