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

by Kerri Maniscalco

“Eventually, you’ll learn to focus on the present and let the past go.”

“Reliving what could have been but never will be is pointless. It’ll only hold you back from what you are. One of the hardest things anyone can do is live in the here and now. Not worry about the future, not rehash the past. Be present, that’s the secret to changing your future. To finding true happiness.”

“This is not truly Sicily.”

“Welcome to the Shifting Isles.”

“This is where mortal souls are sent.” I didn’t ask, but Vittoria nodded. “The prison of damnation.”

“We’ve never been part of the mortal world.” “No, we haven’t.”

“Are they able to summon us through a blood sacrifice?”

“We are not like demons or other supernaturals. No one can summon gods.”

“Because one of us deserves a storybook ending.”

“That doesn’t sound very House Vengeance of you.”

“If you tell anyone, I’ll murder your firstborn. Plus, I would hardly say binding House Greed ...

“Vesta wasn’t stabbed. She was… eaten.”

“I’m pleased to have caused such strong emotions in Greed.

“Perhaps it’s true love.”

someone once told me hate is rooted in passion. Perhaps you ought to visit Pride and work out your issues.”

“I’d rather bathe in pig’s shit.”

Speaking of pigs, if you wish for me to find my storybook ending, why do you keep war...

“If you become part of his House, you cannot corule over ours.

Regardless, I wanted you to discover the whole truth before you bound yourself fully to him, so you could make a true choice, with all the facts, between love and your House.”

“Who is the actual villain in this sordid tale?” I asked instead. “Us? The demons? Witches?”

“Depending on whose side you’re on, I suppose it could be all of us. Though I find the most fault with witches and demons.

“I don’t think it matters who the first villain is or was—we’ve all done terrible things.”

“I’ve only done to him what he’s done to others. Maybe the vampires have their own war goals, and I accidentally gave them hope of winning.”

“Perhaps you’ll just have to trust me.”

If it’s coming across as lies and manipulation, I am truly sorry, Emilia. But I have my reasons. And you’ll simply need to honor that or continue battling me.

And yet I couldn’t stop thinking about Envy’s reaction to when Vittoria first wished to remove my spell-lock. He’d been so opposed.

“Goddess above. He gave me nectar.”

stopped pacing and stared at nothing. He’d also given me something sweet to drink when I’d had the mild case of hypothermia. More nectar. More goddess-healing fuel. Wrath couldn’t be worried about my dying. So what else would motivate him to use such caution?

he might not be afraid of me, but all the princes of Hell had called us the Feared. My husband didn’t fear for my life, he feared for his realm. He feared setting me free, fully.

Over these last few weeks, Wrath had been showing me how to control my emotions. To see past my fury. That was the lesson he’d taught me the night he’d forced me to stab him, the night he’d said was about sensing other sins and combating them.

I could not rely on Wrath or anyone else to pull me from that dark place again. It had to come from me.

The young woman looked to be in her midtwenties, and there was something familiar about the shade of her eyes and the shape of her face.

All would be well. I glanced to the werewolf who’d brought the clothing and wondered if she’d somehow altered my mood.

The princes of Hell could influence sins, but to influence joy was something else entirely.

My life. My House. My power.

A strange, familiar feeling started in my center. In place of my heart, there was the steady thrumming of my power. It felt like coming home after being away for far too long.

“You must pay the goddess a tithe to enter the Well of Memory’s chamber.

The wailing statue

“But I personally don’t know anyone who’s ever used the well successfully.” That caught my attention. “Not even the princes of Hell?” “They cannot.

“I know why you didn’t wish for the spell-lock to be broken.”

“I am able to control my fury. Your subjects have nothing to fear.”

I took only their restaurant and not their lives. They can rebuild.

A magic arrow sliced through my arm, drawing my attention to the witch who’d fired it. Nonna wrenched her hood back, her expression hard.

“Run,” I mouthed to her.

I rained fire down like a vengeful god,

“I know that.” Wrath’s gaze shifted to the grounds. “But do you?”

Something unpleasant wedged itself under my ribs.

it was a lustrous bronze that reflected our images in a fuzzy, distorted manner. It matched how I felt internally: distorted and fuzzy.

It wasn’t my wrathful husband they were scared of—it was me.

They could talk and gossip all they liked; none of them knew me or what I felt.

It wasn’t fair to be punished for the very same thing my husband was revered for.