Garden of Serpents (The Demon Queen Trials #3)(3)
“Sure is,” she called out from the kitchen over the sound of frothing milk. “And I already started spreading the word that you’re not Mortana. The whole city is abuzz with the gossip.”
A few minutes later, she crossed back into the living room, holding two white coffee cups on saucers, and slid them onto the table.
I picked up my cup, delighted to see that she’d powdered the frothy milk with a dusting of cocoa. Gods, it was really nice to be taken care of. “How did you get your hands on the gauntlet?”
She sat in the armchair across from me but made no move to open her bag. “Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” she asked, ignoring my question. “It seems so soon to take on the son of a demon god.”
Any moment, that glorious buzz of caffeine would hit my veins, jolting me awake. “It’s never going to feel like a good time to challenge a demon king, and I don’t have a ton of time. There’s a woman with a cat who keeps walking past the apartment like she’s spying on me.”
“Okay…” Her voice trailed off, and then she said, “I know you’re the Lightbringer.” She didn’t sound convinced, though.
“Shai. Tonight’s the night.” I stared at the velvet book. “It’s the moonlight festival. It’s perfect. Everyone will see the trial by combat. If I win, there will be thousands of witnesses.”
She tapped the side of her cup. “Well, if you’re going to go ahead with it, let’s not say if you win. Let’s say when you win. Anything else is unacceptable and simply cannot come to pass. Do you understand?”
I had the sense that Shai was annoyed at me for putting my life at risk, but I didn’t have much choice.
“It’ll be fine.” I still had that little boy’s pink-sugared face in my mind. “I’m a Lightbringer, remember?”
She took a deep breath, her expression relaxing. “If you say you can do it, then I believe you.”
At last, she reached into her bag and pulled out an ancient-looking iron glove, a piece of carefully crafted armor. She gently placed it on the table next to the book. I stared at the hinges and delicate metal plates that had once allowed a warrior’s fingers to move, to grip the hilt of a sword. In a ray of honeyed sunlight, Lucifer’s star gleamed from the back of the gauntlet—a bright spark of gold on the iron. I reached out and traced my fingertips over it, surprised by the jolt of ancient magic that shot into my fingertips when I touched it. A smile curled my lips. That felt like a sign from the demon god himself.
“Shai, how, exactly, did you get the gauntlet? I thought it was hidden in a secret temple.”
“Legion helped me.”
His image flickered in my mind—the black-haired demon with golden skin and tattoos that twisted over his muscular forearms. “So the leader of the Sathanas Ward knows I’m coming in for the trials.”
“Everyone knows. The rumors already spread. They know Mortana is dead and that you’re her sister. Or whatever. They know you’re a Lightbringer.” She sipped her coffee, then licked the froth off her upper lip. “Everyone saw your mark when you were about to kill Cambriel. You have a claim to the throne. Any demon would try it.” She leaned back in her chair, peering at me over her coffee cup. Steam curled before her face. “Even if they don’t know you’re coming tonight, they think you’re either going to challenge Orion or marry him. Either way, if you live, you’ll be queen.”
“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.”