Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1) - Kerri Maniscalco Page 0,117

and I might consider ending you swiftly.”

I dragged my gaze away from the spot of blood where Wrath had fallen. He’d fought for me. He put himself between his brother and me, and paid for it. Anger suddenly swept in, cleared my mind of grief. I glared at Envy, and shoved my hand into my skirt pocket. I quickly looped Vittoria’s amulet over my head, finally bringing the Horn of Hades together.

A whiplike crack split the silence as the devil’s horns were reunited. Power surged through me. “Get out. Get out before I make you.”

“You’re making a terrible mistake.” Envy didn’t stagger back or run, but he did obey me. “I will not soon forget your disobedience, pet. And neither should you. It is no small thing to have a prince of Hell for an enemy. Come.”

He gathered his invisible assassins and left the dank tunnel. I waited until he was gone before I slumped to the ground. After that show of power, I couldn’t bring myself to move. I pulled my knees to my chest. Things had gone spectacularly wrong, and this time I had no idea how to move forward. Wrath was gone. My family was in hiding, and winning against the princes of Hell all by myself seemed more impossible than ever. Seeing Wrath ripped open from hip to hip rattled something in me. I’d thought he was invincible, so what chance did I really stand?

I wanted to be brave, and bold, and smart, and vanquish my enemies with cunning. Admitting I had much to learn felt like defeat. I had magic, and the Horn of Hades, but no time to learn darker tricks to even the playing field. Nonna said she’d try to slow the gates of Hell from opening, but who knows if she’d succeed before our time was up.

Being a realist didn’t mean I was a defeatist. Maybe things would be better if I stopped fighting, and waited to see if the devil wanted to claim me.

Or maybe now that I had his horns I should summon him, make a bargain of my own, and stop further destruction. My attention shifted back to where Wrath had fallen. I had a feeling I knew what he’d do. And I knew what Vittoria had chosen. But I still wasn’t sure what I wanted.

So I sat there, beside the drying blood of my worst enemy, and wept.

Forty-Four

Resurrection spells are part of both the dark arts and the Forbidden because they go against the natural order. If you attempt to steal back life, Death will take its retribution elsewhere, balancing the scales. As above, so below.

—Notes from the di Carlo grimoire

An hour later I found myself outside the ruined palace. I had nowhere else to go that was safe, and hoped Wrath’s magic was still somehow protecting the building. I’d made it into the lower level and had just closed the door when a tiny spike of coolness grazed my neck. I went to ignore it when I recalled what Nonna had said about being Marked by a prince of Hell.

Wrath had given me a way to summon him.

I dashed upstairs, and pulled supplies out of an extra bag I’d packed days before. Black candles, a few animal bones from the restaurant, my own personal grimoire I’d started, and . . .

Blood and bones! Without Wrath’s dagger, I didn’t have any gold, which was a main ingredient I needed to summon a demon from House Wrath. I paced around the room and cursed.

For one bloody moment I wished something would just go easily.

I shoved the candles out of the way and sank onto my bed, blinking back tears. I’d been so angry with Wrath after our kiss, so devastated by his omission about what he was truly after, that I’d wanted to hurt him back, but never like this.

Watching someone you know die, even if it’s someone you shouldn’t like, was no small thing. Then Envy’s threat, the loss of my family . . . I didn’t know how to proceed from here. I lay down and stared at little lines in the ceiling, thinking they were like the small fissures that had cracked my life into a million little parts. Each line represented another path, another choice, another attempt to right the wrongs committed. I mentally retraced my steps over the last several weeks, trying to divine where I may have taken a wrong turn.

When no wise answers were forthcoming, I gave up and rolled onto my