“I rushed to you, not noticing the circle of salt and herbs,” she went on. “Uncaring about the spell candles or the arcane symbols glowing all over the walls. Once I crossed the circle, their magic locked me in. It overtook my power, essentially making me mortal for brief moments. Which was all the time they needed to perform their ritual. They chained me down and gave me my own spell-locked heart.”
We stared at each other for a few tense beats. Despite her betrayal, despite the months of anger and torment I felt, I needed my twin. In this moment. I needed our connection. But Vittoria wasn’t mortal. She didn’t fold me in her arms. There were no words of comfort or shared tears. There was only one promise shining in her eyes. Vengeance. A vow to set right a terrible wrong.
“That’s when they made us wear the Horn of Hades, further blocking our memories,” I guessed. “And I imagine also hiding us from any of our mother’s tracking spells.”
“Precisely. The spell-lock and amulets both prevented the Crone from locating us. Something the witches also feared.”
Which was why they took extra pains to hide us. Having the Crone, one of the three original goddesses, as an enemy would have posed an even greater threat to their world. I exhaled. Wrath and I hadn’t been sure if that was true about the amulets, but it had been a theory we’d batted around. We wore those amulets to not hide ourselves from the devil, but to hide from our true selves. “And when we’d taken them off, that night… our magic struggled to rise.”
“So you see.” Vittoria walked over to where our grandmother was slumped and unconscious in her chair. “These witches do not deserve your sympathy. They deserve to die. Which is why I went through and started taking their daughters. Let them feel what it was like to lose it all.” Vittoria spun on her heels and met my eyes. “No one binds Death or Fury and lives to tell the tale. They wanted to avoid a war? Well, that’s precisely what they’ll get. I won’t stop until each family responsible has paid. The princes of Hell are no better and ought to have paid a long time ago for their sins. You need to be by my side, taking your rightful revenge. It is the only way House Vengeance can rise again.”
“You’re going to start a war between supernaturals.”
“Start?” Vittoria asked, looking around. “War’s already begun. It started the moment they cursed us and held us captive for nearly twenty years in that realm. It began when that witch cursed the demon you call husband now and dragged us into their issues. All of them have forgotten who we are. What we are capable of. Some battles are not fought with weapons in fields, sister. Some are much more effective when subtle moves are made over time. I don’t ultimately care if other supernaturals fight; I care only for vengeance for us.” She looked down at the woman who’d been our grandmother, her expression going impossibly colder. “Wrath will never give you his heart. He cannot. The curse has not been lifted for him. He will always keep part of himself locked safely away. Once you figure that out, come back to me. We have much to accomplish together. Just as we always did.”
“I need you to tell me one thing. Did you kill Greed’s commander or help her escape? Pride said she’d been asking about his portal.”
“Pride has proved to still care only for himself. Just as he always has. And there is much you still don’t understand—and will not understand—until you remove your spell-lock.” Vittoria ignored my questions and nodded to Domenico. The werewolf stepped forward and made a glittering portal. It was clear my sister wasn’t going to talk about the magical skulls or any potential demon murder or escape. And I needed to get back to Wrath before he did something reckless. I looked at Nonna, and a sliver of worry crept in. “What are you going to do with her?”
“Send her back to the coven with a message.” I wasn’t sure if her bruises were the message. Part of me wanted to beg for her life. To show mercy. To prove to everyone I wasn’t the monster they feared me to be. But maybe I was. Before I stepped through the portal, my sister said, “If I come to find you again, you will regret it. I expect your assistance soon.”
I paused on the magical threshold and leveled a cold look at my twin. “Do not threaten me. And do not ever take me here against my will again. If I want to find you, I’ll do so. I have tolerated this because of what I’ve gained. You have many enemies here; you don’t need another.”
FOURTEEN
A steely, murderous rage flickered in Wrath’s eyes as I jolted up in bed, my soul thrust back into my body. His expression promised unending pain and torment.
Dragging me to the Shadow Realm a second time was a line Vittoria and Domenico clearly shouldn’t have crossed. And now the demon of war looked ready to collect his due. Like the vampire court to the south, Wrath was out for blood. Goddess, werewolf, demon, it didn’t appear to matter who received the brunt of his sin as long as his enemies paid.
“I’m unharmed,” I said, curling onto my side to face him. “Just drained.”
Wrath pulled the blankets up over me, then laid a heavy arm around my waist. His silence filled the room, louder and more tense than any words could. Knowing what I did now, about how I’d been wrenched from him in the past, wrenched from us just as we’d truly fallen for each other, I could only imagine that what he was feeling now wasn’t good. Vittoria was tearing into wounds from the past, and Wrath seemed ready to strike back, to inflict some pain in return.
“I’m here.” I rested my hand over his arm, squeezing the hard muscle gently. He was coiled tight enough to snap. I traced the gold serpent tattoo, hoping to soothe him. A quick inspection of the bedchamber proved he hadn’t iced it over, which was a good sign. “I’m all right. Truly. I also warned my sister there would be ramifications if she took me again.”
He was quiet for another long moment, drawing in a few measured breaths. The room chilled a fraction before he forced himself under control. He ran a gentle hand over my arm, lightly rubbing warmth back into me while making sure I was, indeed, unharmed.
“Your skin is tinged blue, Emilia. Had you not kicked me awake while showing signs of returning, I would have come for you and obliterated every creature in that realm. I’d have taken you from there, then wiped the entire realm from existence.”
“Oh.” I pulled an arm out from under the covers and glanced at my skin, cringing.
No wonder he was so angry. I looked half dead. I would have been terrified if I had awoken to him looking like a corpse beside me, too. Given the circumstances, his reaction was fairly mild. If any harm came to him, I would have attacked first.
“Your sister is playing a very dangerous game.” Wrath’s tone was filled with malice.
“I know.” I traced small circles on his upper arm. “She’s not thinking clearly. Vengeance and retribution are her gods, and she’s honoring them regularly.”
“What has been so critical for her to share that she cannot wait until you seek her out?”
“I think she senses some of my curse is breaking, and there are cracks where my memories are coming back. She’s trying to help me remember so I—”
Wrath turned all his attention on me. “So you what?”
“Vittoria wants to reestablish House Vengeance. She says she means to start a war between witches, demons, and other supernaturals, but I don’t necessarily believe that. She certainly hates witches and has a strong dislike for demons, yet her main focus seems to be on restoring our House.”
Silence crept into the space between us.
“Is that something you want?” Wrath asked, his tone carefully neutral. “Reestablishing your House?”
“Until I know the full story and regain my memories, I don’t want to make that decision.” I bit my lower lip. “Is that something that would cause a complication for us? My sister seems to think it would.”
“No. I would never stop you from doing anything you wanted. And as long as Vittoria leaves you to your own choices and respects your wishes, I don’t give a shit what she does or who she prays to or starts a war with. There’s already a price on her head. Greed wants her dead. So do Envy and Pride. Lust and Gluttony can both be swayed easily if it came to war. And Sloth will not go against the majority. I am the only one standing in the way of her total annihilation. And if she takes you against your will again, I will hunt her down. I will hurt her. Slowly. And painfully. Her death will be so brutal, so vile, it will serve as a warning for anyone who dares to touch my wife. Once I’m through, there will be nothing left for my hounds.”
A tremor went through his body. I’d been wrong. Wrath’s reaction wasn’t mild at all. He was desperately trying to keep himself under control for my benefit. I thought of what I’d learned tonight, about how Wrath reacted once the curse began. How he’d nearly killed his brothers in his mad search for me. All he’d found was some blood and torn-out hair. Of course he would have thought his brothers had schemed. A curse would have been the last thing on his mind.
I couldn’t help but wonder if there hadn’t been any strife between the princes before then. As much as they fought and tried to outmaneuver one another now, there still seemed to be some familial affection. Some loyalty. Maybe one day those wounds could heal, too.
I nestled against my prince, laying my head on his chest. His heart beat like a war drum. Mine marched along to the same haunted rhythm.
If Wrath decided my sister was a true threat to me, he would not hesitate to remove her. I had little doubt that, even as an immortal goddess, he would succeed.
As terrible as things seemed with Vittoria, I was still clutching at hope that there was some redeemable part in her. Some way for me to reach what had once been warm and kind when we were mortals. I wanted to believe that Vittoria’s goals of breaking my spell-lock and granting me my full power were solely because she wanted what was best for me, but I worried it had more to do with her current plan.
If she wanted a powerful ally and hadn’t gotten one with the demon princes, maybe she wanted to unlock my power for her gain. And if Wrath was correct—if there was a chance I might not survive the removal of my heart—I understood why Vittoria’s insistence would push him to remove her as a threat. He’d had someone take me against my will before.
I was still fighting my way back to my true self. If our roles were reversed, I would destroy anyone who threatened our happiness, too. I would murder without regret or remorse. Just as I’d done to that Umbra demon. But this was my twin, and it wasn’t so simple or black and white.
“I can sense your emotions,” he spoke quietly, “but can’t read your thoughts.”