“Marry him.” I snorted. “Did they miss the part where he kicked me out of the city?”
“No, but you’re a succubus. Hard to resist. And everyone knows he’s an incubus.” She slid her coffee onto the table. “And since he didn’t kill you, people still think there’s a chance it all ends in marriage.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. Orion is fundamentally broken. I don’t think he actually has the capacity to love anyone. All he cares about is murdering people. Revenge. That’s it.”
She peered at me over her coffee cup. “Yeah, I think people are pretty terrified of him. You know, some of them were around during the Lilu massacre, and they didn’t stop it. No one knows if he’s going to rip their heads off like he did with King Nergal.” She smiled faintly. “That’s why Legion helped me find the gauntlet.”
“I’m surprised Orion hasn’t started the bloodbath already.”
She took a sip of her coffee. “No one really knows what he’s been up to. Tonight will be one of his first public events.” She gave me a measuring look. “And you’re going to show up and…what, exactly?”
I took a deep breath. “It’s very simple. We fight, and the first person thrown to the ground loses. All I have to do is throw Orion to the earth, and then I become shadow scion. His official challenger.”
She sank back into her chair, considering this. “Alternately, the first person to be killed loses.”
A bit of fear danced up my spine. “Well, that is one way of falling to the ground.”
“That’s the point I’m stuck on,” she said. “I mean, you literally just said he’s broken and bloodthirsty, so it doesn’t fill me with a great deal of confidence about his level of restraint. He’s going to try to murder you, right?”
“Shai! I’m trying not to think about the worst-case scenario. I’m trying to envision success. If I win tonight, I’m in charge of the second trial. I’ll have an advantage.” Nodding at the book, I said, “There are a whole bunch to choose from in there.” I dropped my coffee onto a coaster and cracked open the soft blue volume, flipping through the ancient pages. “It could be a quest. An endurance test. A battle of magic. Jousting. I’ve read through every option. But they all require magical spells in Demonic, so I’ll need your help with that part.”
She smirked. “Please tell me you’re going to joust.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna pass on that one. But I’m not committing to anything yet. I want to see what it’s like to fight Orion first.”
“I do want to be besties with a queen.” Shai took the old book from me and began paging through it. “I can totally lend a hand with the spells. But I also have two friends who can help. Legion and his friend Kas have been teaching me magic. They’re, like, the best professors in the history of the demon world.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’ve only been gone two weeks, and you have a whole new friend group. Do I need to be jealous?”
“Absolutely not, because you’re going to love them, too. They’re very easy on the eyes. And they helped me discover my hidden demon powers.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Okay. Can I get a demonstration?”
She stood and crossed the creaking floor to one of the windows overlooking the sea, then turned to face me, her brown eyes glinting. “Watch and be amazed.” She faced the window again and lifted her hands toward the glass, then started to mutter under her breath.
At first, nothing happened, and I just drank my coffee, waiting. But after a few minutes, an electrical rush rippled through the room, raising the hair on the back of my arms. Magic hummed along my arms and legs. Around her body, the air glowed silver, and her curls rose higher off her shoulders.
A chill ran up my spine. Outside, shadows began to creep across the clouds. The air thinned and grew darker.
Outside, the ocean waves churned against the rocky shore. Just like in my nightmare, storm clouds unleashed fat drops of rain. Within moments, they were hammering against the window, sliding down in rivulets.
Stunned, I held my breath.
Slowly, Shai lowered her hands. When she turned to look at me, her eyes shone with a certain wildness.
“Holy shit, Shai.”
“I’ve been trying to summon lightning, but it’s not happening for me yet.” She dropped into the velvet armchair once more. “Cool, though, right? I’m not just an ordinary mortal student anymore.”