Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials, #3)

by C.N. Crawford

I raised a hand. “City of Thorns! You have two leaders now, a king and a shadow scion. And when the trials are completed, I hope to be your queen.” “Do not try to win my favor by hurting her.” Orion’s voice boomed. “The ancient laws of the demon trials protect her, and I will personally tear out the heart of anyone who lays a finger on her.” He held my gaze for a moment before turning back to his subjects. “The woman you see before you is not the monster who murdered the Lilu. Don’t make the same mistake I did. This is Rowan Morgenstern, not Mortana, and the two of them could not be more different.” He cast a sidelong glance at me. “Rowan is welcome here, and as king, I will be giving her the best I have to offer until the trial has ended.” His smile was truly dazzling.

“The twin stars. The two Lightbringers. Rowan and Orion.” “I used to dream of them at night when I wasn’t dreaming of food. The twin stars. I never knew what it meant.” “Ah,” he said quietly. “And is that why you are sitting out on a balcony staring at your ex-lover’s house like a heartbroken lunatic? You are quite literally written in the stars.”

“So many secrets,” Amon muttered. “Even keeping secrets from yourself.” I had one other secret: I would love Rowan until I died.

The vulnerable side of Orion was gone, and he’d turned on the charm again. So I can’t say I was shocked when he left the door open between our rooms. He crossed into his own room, pretending to ignore me as he unbuttoned his shirt. When he pulled it off, I told myself not to stare at the absolute masculine perfection that was his body—the thickly corded muscles, the visible V in his abs just over the top of his pants. But telling myself not to stare was just about as useful as telling the moon to stop shining. When he turned to me, his lips curled in a beautiful half-smile, I was momentarily mortified to realize my mouth had been hanging open. He crossed to the door frame and leaned against it. My gaze roamed over his snake tattoo, then down to his chiseled abs again. “Something the matter, Rowan?” And here was Orion’s cocky attitude, replacing that brief glimpse of his vulnerable side. I took a deep breath, trying hard to ignore the heat sliding through my belly. “Are you trying to seduce me? Because I don’t care how pretty you are—I’m still going through with the trial.” I’d somehow lost control of my voice, and it had come out louder than necessary. One of the dogs poked his head in the door, looking between us to make sure everything was all right. Orion’s eyebrows rose. “I simply took my shirt off because I’m getting ready for bed.” The look he was giving me was positively smoldering. “Love, surely you know by now that if an incubus were seducing you, you’d be writhin...

“Somewhere, there’s another world where you and I met before my soul died in the dungeon.”

Orion whirled. “You stay the fuck away from her.” His voice boomed off the walls, like the knelling of a dark god. “If you harm her again, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born. I am a nightmare the likes of which you cannot even comprehend. I will burn this place to the ground and make you choke on the smoke, and then I’ll rip out your lungs, Jack.”

“Rowan Morgenstern, Queen of the City of Thorns.” I pressed the grimoire to him again. “Bring it home, Orion.”

Empty inside, I devoured the world. “I am Chaos, the eater of worlds,” I heard myself whisper. “I was the first to exist, and I will be the last.”

Do not mistake me for a hero. I’d destroy the entire world to save the person I loved the most.