City of Thorns by C.N. Crawford

Chapter 10

Was that a compliment? I could feel myself blushing now, but I had no idea how to respond.

“Mortana,” he went on, “demanded that the king make a blood oath. She made him pledge that the crown would always keep her safe.”

“What’s a blood oath?” I asked.

“It’s an oath sealed by mingling the blood of two people. If someone breaks a blood oath, it will result in an excruciating death based on the magic of a curse. The problem is, only the monarch made this oath. The rest of the demons in this city will probably still want to murder you for being a succubus.”

I was losing my appetite for the berries and yogurt, and starting to feel like I was in slightly over my head. It seemed there were so many ways to die here in the City of Thorns. But I’d made my choice, and like Orion had said, there was no going back now. “How much danger will I be in?”

“It would be a lot more if you weren’t with me. We will be spending a great deal of time together.” A smile played over his sensual mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll need to keep you closely guarded.”

I swallowed hard. “Who is it that you want me to spy on?”

“King Cambriel.”

Oh, good. I’d be spying on a murderous king. My stomach fluttered, but this had been, after all, my idea. “Cambriel cut off his dad’s head and stuck it on a gate, right?” I paused with my spoon in midair. “You want me to get close to him?”

Steam from the coffee curled before Orion’s face. “He will be looking for a wife. If the real Mortana were here, she’d be a strong candidate. She’s the duchess of one of the wards. Some think she had a claim to the throne. I mean, she was mistress to his father. She’s also widely rumored to have killed his mother, Queen Adele, centuries ago, but I’m not sure that he holds a grudge.”

I stared at him. “Okay, slow down for a second. Mortana probably killed the king’s mother, and I’m supposed to convince him to marry me?”

Orion shrugged. “It was never proven. Just rumors. They say Mortana hoped to take the queen’s place, and one day, Queen Adele’s body was found in a vat of wine with her heart cut out.”

I frowned over my coffee. “Do you think Mortana did it?”

“Probably. That was her style. Queen Adele didn’t drink alcohol, and that irritated Mortana, so the wine was a nice touch. Anyway, water under the bridge now, I’m sure. Charm the king, flirt, get him close to you. As long as I can teach you to act like Mortana, you’ll have the chance to try to pry his secrets out of him.”

My chest felt tight. “What, exactly, are you looking for?”

“I want you to find what makes him weak.” Sunlight glinted in his pale eyes. “Because everyone has a weakness.”

It was like he’d ripped the phrase from my own thoughts.

I raised my eyebrows. “Are you telling me you want to kill the king? I thought that only an heir can kill the king. So unless Cambriel has a child who wants him dead, he can’t be killed, right?”

“Did your friend Shai tell you that?”

My throat tightened. I didn’t want to get Shai involved in this. “What are you talking about?”

He looked out over the sparkling ocean. “I saw her with you in the bar, and I noted the Belial University insignia on her handbag. So while you were sleeping in the prison cell, I found her wandering around Osborn and interviewed her.”

Oh, shit. I slammed a hand on the table and leaned forward. “You interrogated Shai?”

“Interviewed. I wanted her to tell me what she knew about you.” He sipped his coffee. “And as for the king and his weakness—it’s true that only an heir can kill the monarch, but the king can be imprisoned. There’s more than one way to get revenge.”

The coffee was starting to give me a little buzz. “Okay. You want to get rid of the king. And I take it this requires a high degree of secrecy so your head doesn’t end up on his front gate alongside his dad’s.”

His icy gaze bored into me. “Precisely. A high degree of secrecy. You are the only one who knows what I plan to do.” He leaned over the table. “And now you know why there is no going back. I cannot allow you to leave here until I’ve achieved my goal, and if this secret got out, it would be all over for me. Until I’m rid of the king, you are mine. And if you cross me and tell my plans to anyone else, I will murder your dear friend Shai.”

Ice slid through my blood. Mentally, I tried to untangle the morality of this situation. I was going to help a demon imprison a king, but he wouldn’t be able to kill him. And the king had murdered his own father…really, it could be argued that I was doing the right thing. My only deep regret at this point was that this situation put Shai’s life in danger.

I finished my coffee. “I like to think of myself as being quite skilled at finding people’s weaknesses.”

“I believe that.” He narrowed his eyes over his coffee, and I felt the air growing hotter around us. “You know, it’s unnerving looking into the face of my worst enemy, even if you’re only a doppelgänger. It’s hard not to reach across the table, rip your heart out of your chest, and throw it into the sea.”

Yikes.I’d definitely lost my appetite at this point. “Please try to resist the impulse.”

“I’ll do my best.”

I bit my lip. “Are you going to tell me what she did to you?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” For a moment, I caught a glimpse of vulnerability in his pale eyes. “But I’ll do anything to get revenge. I will kill whoever I have to in order to make this happen. I have no moral code, only a burning lust for vengeance. Do you understand?” His words made my heart skip a beat, and the air burned hotter.

Got it loud and clear. No moral code. He was a psychopath.

He rested his arms on the table. “If this is going to work, you’ll need to know about demons and the City of Thorns. You’ll need to know a bit about what Mortana was like when she lived here, but not what she did in the past two hundred years. We’re forbidden from sharing information between demon cities. And if this plan is going to work, your friend Shai is a loose end. She could identify you.”

I took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to suggest killing her, was he? “I’m sure she’ll agree to keep the secret.”

“Not good enough, I’m afraid. I’ll need a blood oath from her.”

I poured myself another cup of coffee from the carafe. “That doesn’t really seem fair to her, does it? You get information out of this. I get to live in the City of Thorns and thereby have a less pathetic life. What does Shai get for the risk she’s taking with a blood oath?”

He shrugged slowly. “Anything can be bought. I’m sure she has a price.”

“Do you just have unlimited money?” I asked.

“Pretty much.”

“Can I have a new cell phone, then? Mine was knocked out of my hands last night in the fight with the frat boys.” I raised a finger. “Oh! And I’d like my lucky pen back.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I just told you I have unlimited money, and that’s all you ask for?”

“I’d like my student loans paid off, like we talked about. And to get the undergrad degree. And while I’m at it, a hundred thousand dollars.” Why not?

“Ah, that’s more like it.”

I stirred the cream into my coffee. “But will you need a blood oath from me?”

He shrugged. “I’ll need a blood oath that you will keep my secret.”

I blew out a long breath. “Okay.”

“But just in case you don’t value your own life sufficiently—and frankly, why would you? Given how sad your life—”

“Can you get to the point?”

He gave me a wicked half-smile. “Please consider Shai’s life as well. I want you to do your best work for me.”

I dropped my head into my hands, starting to get dizzy. “Do we really need to get Shai involved? I don’t want to put her in danger.”

He gave me that you’re an idiot look again. “Then don’t fuck anything up. It’s really that simple.”

I pulled my hands from my face. “And when this is over, Shai will be perfectly safe, right?”

“Yes, and you should try to learn the king’s weakness as soon as possible. It’s the best way for you to keep Shai safe, and to ensure that none of the demons slaughter you. If you stay here too long, you’ll make a mistake, and then you’ll be found out and killed.”

My chest tightened. There went my hope of staying in an apartment like this.But more importantly, if I couldn’t stay here long, I’d be kissing goodbye to my hope of finding my mom’s killer. I wasn’t going to do that overnight.

I sighed. I’d have to find out as much as I could, I supposed. “I’ll do my best.”

He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “You know, you might not want to stay in Osborne after you leave. It’s too close to the City of Thorns, and you could also be in danger at that point.”

My mind was whirling. “Well, there isn’t really much keeping me there.”

“Yes, I did get that impression.”

I gave him a sharp look. “But how do I know you’ll keep your end of the bargain with paying off my loans and degree?”

“I wouldn’t expect you to take my word. You can call the loan servicing company today to confirm.”

Holy shit.Of all the things that were happening, the most thrilling aspect of it was the idea of seventy-five thousand dollars of debt cleared in one fell swoop. No more monthly payments. No more interest. No more lifetime of debt.

Wild euphoria rushed through me, and I grinned. “I want to be there when you pay the FedLoan Servicing people. I want to listen in. I want to hear it all.”

I realized I was gripping his arm, and I must have looked a little maniacal because he was staring at me like I’d just announced my legs were made of ocelots. Obviously, Orion was deeply alienated from the mortal challenges of student loan interest, or he would have understood this elation immediately.

I released my grip on his arm, still unable to believe this was happening. “Before I get too excited, can I get an idea of what would happen if King Cambriel discovered I was a fraud?”

His eyebrows rose. “Well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pleasant. It would be even worse than your life in Osborne, if you can imagine such a thing. Torture, a slow death in a fire, and your ashes thrown in the sea. Let’s try to avoid that.”

A shudder rippled up my spine. But after four years of dreaming of getting within these city gates, this was my chance to find out something about Mom’s death.

Orion stood and pulled a dagger from a sheath. Eyes twinkling, he held out his hand for mine. I rose from the table and shoved my hand toward him, and as he gripped the knife, he looked into my eyes. “I need you to repeat after me. ‘On pain of death, I swear a sacred blood oath to keep my mission a secret from other demons.’”

I inhaled deeply, then repeated the pledge verbatim. As soon as I finished the final word of the oath, Orion tightened his grip around my hand. He drew the blade across my palm, and the sharp sting of the cut made me wince. A line of red gleamed from my skin, and my blood dripped onto the table.

He then cut his own palm and pressed our hands together.

I wasn’t sure if it was the sight of the blood or something about the magic of the oath, but as our hands clasped, my head swam. In my mind’s eye, I saw a crystal-clear vision: stone walls, cracked to expose a bit of the stars. Then a shadow swinging over the stone—the bloodied, swaying feet of a hanged body. Wood creaked above, and a pain pierced my heart to the core.

Unnerved, I pulled my hand away again, and the vision cleared. I stared at Orion, my blood still dripping onto the table.

He frowned. “What?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. I just felt…pain.”

He held out his hand again. “Let me heal you.”

When I touched him again, I immediately felt his magic washing over my skin, a warm and pleasurable tingle.

But I hadn’t been talking about the pain from the knife. I’d meant the absolutely heart-shattering sadness from the vision—the feet swinging over stone.

Had I somehow seen into Orion’s mind? He had unfathomable darkness in him, I thought. But for now, he was my ally. And like Orion, I would do anything to get my revenge.