I breathed in deeply, watching his wings as they pounded slowly under the dark night sky. “What do you mean, she toyed with you?”
Darkness slid through his eyes, and the wind seemed to grow more bitter. “I mean she amused herself by torturing me in her own way.”
Holy shit. No wonder he was desperate for revenge. “And you have no idea what happened to her?”
“No,” he said quietly. “I don’t even know if she remembers what happened to her. I don’t know that she has any idea who she is.”
“What do you mean?"
He took a deep breath. “She once told me about a spell. It’s one we use to forget what we’ve done, to rid ourselves of guilt. A spell for forgetting. She offered it to me, and I said no.” The wind tugged at his silver hair, and his eyes gleamed in the night. “That was why, when I met you, I was so convinced you were Mortana. I thought she’d used the spell on herself. You seemed nothing like her, but I thought there was a chance she’d forgotten everything. I was sure of it until I tasted your blood.”
I was pressed right against his chest, like he was clinging to me for salvation. This close to him, I could feel his chest muscles moving slightly as his wings shifted. “Must we talk about her right now?” he murmured. “I’m afraid the mood will be ruined.”
But it was hard to let it go when he was a mystery I wanted to solve. “Why did she offer you a spell to forget your past? What was it you wanted to forget?”
“Because at the heart of me, Rowan, I’m evil.” His gaze pierced me, the blue in his eyes shot through with shadows. “And sometimes, I’d like to forget that.”
It was hard not to hear the ragged edge of pain in his voice. I almost wanted to touch the side of his face, to tell him that he wasn’t all that bad. But what did I know? He hadn’t told me his history.
The bitter wind was sharpening my senses as we flew. Now, the most pressing question was why I was going somewhere to be alone with an incubus, a creature that killed mortals with sex.
“Orion,” I began, “we had a deal that if I helped you find out what made the king weak, you would help me find my mother’s killer. But I didn’t learn anything from the king—”
“I’ll still help you”
I stared at the faint glow of silver in his wings. “Okay, and this still seems like a bad idea. As an incubus, won’t you kill me? That’s what incubi do. They seduce mortal women and kill them.”
A sly smile played about his lips. “I may be evil, but I’m compelled to keep you safe, and I will. I won’t do anything that hurts you.”
“Why are you compelled to keep me safe?”
He swept down lower until I could feel the spray of the ocean against my skin. “I don’t know, but it’s deeply inconvenient. You’re supposed to be my spy. That means putting your life at risk. How can you work for me if I can’t tolerate risks to your safety?”
“If you were in prison all that time,” I asked, “have you ever actually killed any mortals?”
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” he said darkly. “I just obsessed over it for a few centuries.”
“Wait, what?”
He took a deep breath. “Not the death, but the sex. It’s how we feed and grow strong—from lust. So I dreamt of it day after day and night after night—feeding on mortals, drinking from their desire. Demons, too.” His wings pounded the air. “I do want to kill that frat boy who attacked you, but I won’t be killing him in a way that he enjoys.”
I turned my head to see that we were approaching the yawning opening of a sea cave. Angling his wings, Orion swooped inside, and darkness swallowed us.
Chapter 31
He touched down in the shadows and lowered me to the floor. When he spoke a word in a demonic language, lights sprang to life in a chandelier above us. The flames cast a warm glow on amber stone walls, and licks of fire rose in lanterns in alcoves.
I turned to look at Orion, whose wings were still spread out wide behind him. In the light, I could see how absolutely exquisite they looked, flecked with pearly white constellations that glowed like stars, blending to silver.
“Nice wings.”
With a swirl of smoky, dark magic, his wings disappeared again. “They’re all right.” A seductive smile played over his lips. “You’re the first person I’ve brought to my grotto.”
When I turned to look at it, I realized it wasn’t simply a cave. The walls were built with golden stones, and cool, blue water flowed into a pool inset into a tile floor. By the side of the fresh pool stood a bed of flat rock, covered with a mattress and turquoise pillows.