“It’s not just the pool and the luxury. Shai—I’m almost positive a demon killed my mom. One with fire magic. And I want to find out who it was.” I left out the bit about avenging the Lilu, and the feeling that my shadow-self was growing more powerful, because she’d think I’d lost my mind.
She frowned, her dark eyes piercing me. “I can understand the temptation. But then what? What does it get you?”
“I want to know the truth.” And I wanted to murder the fucker, maybe.
“Have you found anything out so far?”
I let out a long breath. “I have a short list of suspects. Orion is one of them.”
Her eyes widened. “Fuck. Why would he have killed your mom?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know why anyone would. I only know two things—I think it was someone with fire magic, and I think it was someone with a demon mark shaped like a star. You know, the shiny forehead things?”
“I’ve seen one once. Not a star.”
“I haven’t seen that particular mark yet, either, but I keep looking. That’s all I remember from that night. And Orion is one of just a handful of demons with fire magic—along with Lydia, the king, and Mortana herself. Orion says the star mark means that you’re destined to be the demon leader, blessed by Lucifer. So my guess is that the king is the top suspect. But no one knows what the king’s mark looks like, so I’m not sure.”
Shai stirred her drink with her straw. “Maybe if you want to find the killer, you need to learn more about your mom instead of learning more about demons. What was her connection to this world?”
“I searched all her things after she died, looking for clues. I couldn’t find anything.” I closed my eyes, running through my memories until something sparked in my mind—something I’d seen recently. “Except a key.” My eyes snapped open. “It was a skeleton key like the ones they use here. Like the one Orion used to unlock my apartment door. I found it hidden in a drawer, but I never knew what the key went to.”
“Do you still have it?” she asked.
I nodded. “She didn’t leave much behind. Just the key, some clothes, old books, and enough money for a few months’ rent. So I kept the key.” In the gathering shadows, as darkness fell, it was hard not to feel a pang of sadness. Mom had a whole life she’d never told me about.
“I can go in and out of the city,” said Shai. “I can grab the key. If you can find what it goes to, maybe that’d be a clue.”
I smiled at her. “Thanks, Shai.”
She grabbed her cocktail off the side of the pool. “What do you have planned for tonight?”
I took a deep breath. “Spying for Orion, of course. In the king’s penthouse.”
Her eyebrows rose. “But you’ll be careful with all this, right? Because everything you’re telling me sounds dangerous as hell. Particularly the fire pit situation, considering the king is one of your suspects.”
“Yep. And Orion, too. I don’t trust him at all.”
“Is that right?” Orion stepped from the shadows, his pale eyes burning like stars. He wore an expensive-looking charcoal-gray suit. “And here I was imagining we might be friends.”
My stomach flipped.
He cocked his head. “We have a party to get ready for, don’t we?”
Chapter 28
In the Tower of Baal, we stepped into the elevator to ride up to the penthouse floor. I wore a dress made of a sheer material that showed off my legs, but with strategically placed blue filigrees to allow a bit of modesty.
As soon as the elevator started, Orion turned his piercing blue eyes to me. “I’m curious what you and Shai were talking about. You said you don’t trust me, which makes sense, because I’m a dick. But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there? There’s something specific.”
I crossed my arms. “Fine. You want revenge, and I do, too. I want to find my mom’s killer. Someone killed her with fire magic in the Osborne Woods, and I want to know who it was.”
His eyes went wide. “Ah.” He turned and pressed the emergency button, stopping the elevator. “There we are. You think I could have killed your mother.”
I shot an irritated glance at the door. “Do we have to have this conversation trapped in an elevator?”
“I’m afraid so.”
I crossed my arms, looking impatiently at the door. “You have fire magic, so yes, you’re on my short list of suspects.”