Kingdom of the Feared (Kingdom of the Wicked, #3)

by Kerri Maniscalco

“Tell me every dark desire, Emilia”—he tilted my face up—“every fantasy you wish to come true.” His fingers lightly stroked the pulse point at my throat before he brought his mouth to mine, the kiss a mere brush of his lips that left me breathless and wanting. He pulled back and slowly ran his hands down my silhouette. “And I vow to make every one of them happen.”

I imagined they fed to you, their favored one. Or should I say, the most feared.”

“Some bonds can never be broken, Emilia. And some choices have consequences akin to death.

“If anyone chains you again, I will become every nightmare mortals have ever had of me and then some.”

“Simply saying ‘I love you; I’m pleased you’re all right’ would have sufficed, too.”

Wrath, the mighty demon of war, was giving me a sponge bath. And it felt positively divine.

“While I admitted to being fond of knife play, I’m afraid this one is off-limits. We can play with my dagger. The magic imbued in it won’t hurt me.”

“Right now, I want the demon, not the prince. Show me why they call you the Wicked.” I grabbed his shirt and tugged him to me, my lips hovering above his. “And don’t you dare hold back.”

She’d murdered her own lover. She’d murdered the witches on our island. The why was still a mystery, but I now knew who. And it sickened me. “You killed those girls.”

“We are hell gods, Emilia. We are the Feared.”

“You are kerosene. Volatile. Noxious.” She pulled a dagger from the ethers. Its blade glowed with strange magic symbols. Wrath went preternaturally still. “And I am the spark you need to ignite.”

“And he is her fate. As she is his. ‘As above, so below.’ They are the balance. Light and dark. One fallen from above, and one created in the underworld below.”

“House Vengeance.”

“I mean, you were shackled from accessing your truth. You were given something mortal in hopes that humanity would bleed into the fabric of your soul. They wanted you tamed. Who do you think would have done such a thing?”

“It’s a spell-lock. Meant to bind. Cast by the darkest sort of magic. Human sacrifice.”

“You’ll die. Just as they’d always intended. We were never supposed to remember what we are. The night we took our amulets off? It made a fissure in our curse. That’s why she warned us against switching them. They weren’t going to alert the devil. They were going to begin a chain reaction that would set us free, another one of their prophecies. No one wants to free vengeance goddesses, especially when they’d wronged them.”

“How did you learn of this?” I asked. “A spell book whispered its secrets to me. Soon after I’d taken my amulet off and had given it to you, my latent ability was unlocked, and it grew stronger over time, the whispers becoming louder and more insistent that I act. One day the whispers led me to the first book of spells. That’s how I learned the way to remove my own spell-lock.”

“Nonna can’t be the villain.”

“In her version of this tale, you’re evil. The prophesied dark one she must protect the mortal world from.”

“I always knew you. And always will. Your soul calls to mine. It’s a feeling of coming home. Of peace. No magic can duplicate it.”