City of Thorns by C.N. Crawford

Chapter 35

Ikept walking, exploring, hungry to know more. A breeze rushed in, and I crossed to look at a set of old wooden doors, which opened to a courtyard. Out there, arches surrounded a wild garden, and thorny plants climbed over columns and crumbling statues.

Had Mom ever been here?

As I looked out at the garden, puzzle pieces started sliding together in my mind.

I turned to look at Orion, my heart beating faster. “Mortana was born here, right? She was the granddaughter of the mad king. She had a claim to the throne. Maybe this explains some of Cambriel’s interest in her. There are two ways to conquer a rival for the throne, aren’t there? You can either kill them or marry them.”

Orion nodded. “That, and he desperately wants to fuck her. But yes, you’re right. Mortana has a claim.”

Orion had gone very still again. And when he did that, it always made me nervous. The air seemed to be growing hotter in here, the shadows thickening around him. His pale eyes bored into me.

“What?” I asked. “I can see you’re worked up about something.”

“What I’m having a hard time with,” he said quietly, “is the number of coincidences. Like I said when we first met, demons sometimes have mortal doppelgängers. But what, exactly, are the chances that a mortal doppelgänger also possessed the key to that demon’s house?”

Ice slid through my bones. He’d brought up a very good point. And yet, I had no idea.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t know. But you said I was definitely mortal.” I was clinging to this desperately now. “You said demons can’t breed mortals. And clearly, I don’t have any magic. Not even in the City of Thorns.”

He held my gaze for longer than was comfortable, then pulled it away again at last. “You did taste mortal, yes.”

I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m going to look around and see what I can find, okay?” A sense of dread was starting to rise in me, dark and unnamed fears I didn’t want to confront.

And for whatever reason, I was starting to feel uneasy around Orion. If I learned anything about my mom in this place, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to be there.

I crossed through the hall, suddenly eager to get away from him, and I found my way to a wide, wooden stairwell that swept to the upper floors. I hurried up the stairs, eager to learn more about this place. With the help of the moonlight, I surveyed the defaced portraits, the scattered clothes and ransacked rooms. I moved quickly and with a rising sense of desperation, feeling like I was on the precipice of a discovery.

I crossed out onto the balcony that overlooked the tangled garden, and a flock of crows burst from one of the gnarled trees below, startling me. My heart fluttered as I watched them take to the dark sky.

When I breathed in, my heart squeezed. I could smell Mom here. A faint, floral smell, velvety and tinged with jasmine. I missed her more right now that I ever had.

When I closed my eyes, I could almost feel her here, and my heart ached. I could see her vividly now, dozing in the chair before the TV, exhausted after work. She always had a hard time sleeping, and every little noise woke her. But it was a different Mom that I felt here—not the mortal one I knew, who watched nature documentaries and drank wine spritzers. This Mom wore her hair piled on her head and had servants bring her fruit. This one was full of confidence, radiant.

Thisone scared people.

My throat tightened. I didn’t want Orion here as I explored. What if I found something that turned him against me?

My hands were shaking as I started moving again, searching one room after another. I kept going until, at last, I reached the master bedroom, one with a four-poster bed made of dark wood and a high ceiling painted with a constellation. But what stopped my heart was the portrait on the wall—a bust, and a woman with her dark hair piled atop her head. It was just as I’d been envisioning her. The portrait’s eyes had been painted over, but I would have recognized the rest of her face anywhere. Her straight nose, high cheekbones, dark eyebrows…

I felt like the world was tilting beneath me as I stared up at Mom’s portrait. What the fuck?

I couldn’t breathe as the possibilities whirled in my mind. Did Mom have a doppelgänger, or…

I had to figure this out before Orion came up here.

I turned around, scanning the room, my heart slamming against my ribs. An ancient-looking wooden desk stood in one corner of the room, and I rushed over to it. I pulled open the drawers until I found a book, its black cover embossed with golden thorns, and a skull key like the one I’d seen on my arm. I don’t think I was breathing as I turned the pages and read the ancient hand-written text.

On the first page, written in black ink, was a sort of nursery rhyme.

The Maere of Night

Gave girls a fright,

But one queen loved him well.

He lost his throne

But seeds were sown

In the garden of Adele.

A swindler king,

A golden ring

To keep his heart alive.

Take the ring,

Fell the king,

The city yet will thrive.

What was this? A nursery rhyme? A prophecy?

I glanced over my shoulder, making sure I was still alone. I wasn’t sure if the text meant anything or if it was just a rhyme, but I pulled out my cell phone to snap a picture anyway.

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.