I smoothed out my hair. “Fine.”
“Have you memorized the map?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
“Just remember that if you drop the Mortana act by accident,” he cautioned, “you will end up in a pit of fire.”
“Great way to help me relax.”
But underneath the nerves and the fear, I was actually thrilled. Today, for the first time—after all these years—I was finally going to get a look inside the City of Thorns.
I was going to find my mom’s killer.
Chapter 15
Orion had led me into what I’d thought was a closet, but was actually an elevator. While we rode it down, I kept studying the map.
“You have to put that away when we get to the bottom.”
“I know.” I’d drawn the gates of the city so many times, but I’d never imagined what was inside it. This was forbidden information and deeply fascinating.
The map showed that the city was divided into seven sections—eight if you included the Elysian Wilderness, south of the Acheron River.
The Luciferian Ward—and the Leviathan Hotel, where Orion lived—were right on the eastern side overlooking the ocean. South of Luciferian was the royal Beelzebub Ward, and the great Tower of Baal where the king lived. Once I had the king’s approval, I’d be staying in the Asmodean Ward—west of here, on the river. It was the smallest ward, and I suspected it had grown smaller over the years as the neighboring wards encroached on it.
Curiosity burned bright in me. I wanted to see everything—the old prison, the ancient demon temples, the demon bank. This place not only contained my mom’s killer, but it was magical.
When we reached the ground floor, the elevator opened into a lobby, and I shoved the map into my new red handbag, next to my new phone.
I stepped into the bright sunlight of the lobby. From above, sunlight poured through a dome of windows like a Victorian greenhouse. The floors were ivory marble, designed with black tiles in an Art Deco style. Sweeping stairs led up to a mezzanine, with a black railing that somehow looked like sexy lace.
I’d never actually been in a place like this before, and I had to remember to keep my jaw closed and not look awed by the grandeur. Mortana would not be impressed by this place. She’d be bored by all of this. So I pulled my eyes away from the beauty of the building, and I focused on my catlike walk, on my swaying hips.
On the way to the door, we passed a handful of people, who gaped at me. Two gorgeous demon women with red eyes and curved ivory horns—one blonde, the other with raven hair—huddled together and whispered as I crossed to the door. I had the feeling that word had already gotten around, and I gave them a confident smile.
That’s right, demons. The succubus bitch is back.
Orion pushed through the large glass door, then held it for me. With swaying hips, I found myself stepping outside into a city of golden stone. In the sun, the world gleamed around me, and my breath caught at its beauty.
With its narrow streets—clearly made in a time before cars—the city looked medieval. The hotel opened up onto a piazza of sorts, where cafés and shops lined a large stone courtyard. Arched passages jutted off from the square. In the center of the square, the stones formed a geometric shape sort of like an upside-down isosceles triangle, with lines curving off it and a V on the bottom.
Orion gestured at the symbol. “As you can see, Mortana, the Luciferian Ward is unchanged, and Lucifer’s great symbol remains.”
I sighed. “Delightful.”
Now the real question was, did one of the squares contain a star symbol? And which of these fuckers burned my mom alive using fire magic?
When I surveyed the square, I realized all eyes were fixed in my direction. A shiver of dread rippled over me, but Mortana wouldn’t look overwhelmed. Mortana would loop her arm around Orion’s and smile smugly—the same kind of wry little curl of lips that Orion had been displaying since I’d met him. So I did just that.
With his body close to mine, his warm magic radiated over me, soothing and seductive at the same time.
Arm in arm, we crossed into one of the arched passages. In here, where it was empty, Orion leaned down and whispered. “I don’t think people are thrilled about your return.”
“Just the succubus issue?” I whispered back.
“That’s part of it. And also, you’re with me. The king and I are now the two wealthiest bachelors in the city, and the unmarried demon females have been competing for our attention. Infernal debutantes presented at court in a series of balls and soirées, each of them hoping to become a queen or duchess. Demon females wait years, centuries even, hoping to find the most advantageous match they can.”