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.”