A new set of worries had now taken root in my brain, thorny vines that pierced every other thought. But I didn’t say a word as I found my way to the shower in my room. I turned on the water and stripped, letting the steam fill the bathroom. His words from a month ago echoed in my mind.
Consider it an accident if it makes you feel better. My hands slipped, and I accidentally ripped off Carl’s head and shoved his remains under the desk.
Orion felt guilty for some terrible secret. What would someone like him feel guilty about?
As I stepped into the shower, I closed my eyes, trying to visualize that conversation—the entire mental image of his room—boxed up and locked away. Everything hinged on how today went, and I needed my mind to be one hundred percent focused. In the next half hour, my goal was to stop thinking about Orion’s promise to fuck me until I forgot my name and everything else he’d just said to me.
Mentally, I started reviewing the plan I’d made with my team. Chant the invisibility spell as I flew, and race to Sudbury. I’d touch down near the mansion. Kas and Legion would be sheltering nearby to disrupt the mansion’s wards and protective spells. I knew how to find the entrance by a little stone marker, even when the house remained cloaked.
With a spell for invisibility, I’d slip past the three or four guards—or their dead bodies if Orion got there first. I’d use a spell to open the front door and the safe. I could waltz right in. Unnoticed.
I’d head straight for the chancery.
If the hunters detected us, the mansion’s automatic locks would trap us inside, with great iron bars that would slide across the doors. The mansion would become a sort of prison for us, with hunters hell-bent on killing us.
But the doors could be opened from the outside, so Shai would be waiting for me by the southern exit with an unlocking spell. I’d knock four times, letting her know she needed to open the iron bars.
I could be back here by sunset, grimoire in hand, ready to be crowned.
In theory.
*
Orion and I stood across from each other beneath a cloudy sky. Although my muscles were rigid with tension, he was simply relaxing against the stone wall, his hands in his pockets. He wore a dark gray T-shirt that stretched over his large shoulders, and my gaze slid down to his serpentine tattoo. My mind flicked back to the feel of his fingertips stroking down my spine this morning…
I ripped my gaze away from him. I was keeping that mental lock on my thoughts.
The rules of the Demon Trials required that we start in the City of Thorns itself. From here, we’d be racing to Sudbury.
Turning from the wall, I glanced at the crowd around us. I recognized Lydia, the duchess who’d once tried to murder me. Apart from Amon, I didn’t know most of the other demons yet.
To spare us from any leaks that could alert the demon hunters, no one in the crowd had any idea exactly where Orion and I were going today, only that I could be queen by tonight.
Mistress Blacknettle pushed her way from the crowd, draped in silver robes that matched her hair. “Today, you leave from the City of Thorns. The first of you to return with the grimoire wins the trial and the crown. While none of us know where you are headed, we eagerly await your return from this journey. May the gods bless you both.”
I nodded at her. My blood pounded in my veins, a steady war drum of nerves. As soon as the clock struck with the ringing of bells, we’d be racing through the skies.
I stole another quick look at Orion. A sly smile curled his lips as he looked back at me, like we shared some kind of secret.
I took a deep breath, and my body jolted as the bells began to peal, signaling the start of the trial.
My wings burst from my shoulder blades, and I shot into the air, soaring beneath the cloudy sky. The sea wind tore through my hair as I headed southwest toward Sudbury. As I flew, I chanted the cloaking spell, and magic hummed over my body as it took effect. Adrenaline raced through me.
When I reached my hand out before my face and saw nothing, I had a dizzying sense of madness. It took me a few minutes to get comfortable with not being able to see myself.
Scanning the skies, I searched for Orion, but all I could see was a faint twisting of shadows under the clouds. Good—the Malleus Daemoniorum wouldn’t see either of us coming.
Orion had been right. I’d been craving this kind of wild flight, spiraling free through the air above the earth, the way a succubus was meant to be. His intoxicating scent floated on the wind, wrapping around me like a caress.
But as I flew, my phone buzzed in my pocket, jolting me out of my exhilaration. Really? Now?