“We’re not to be disturbed.” My sister glanced at me, her lavender eyes glowing as she called upon her power. “It will be over quickly.”
Before I had time to give in to my rising panic, Vittoria’s fingers lengthened and her claws punched through my chest. For a moment, I could hardly believe she’d done it.
Then I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. My chest burned. Violently. It felt as if half a dozen knives had been set in a fire and then shoved into my body. That pain was so acute, so overwhelming, that I didn’t feel anything else. The hold on my mind, my memories, the whole spell-lock cracked like an egg, and everything came flooding back.
My life.
My House.
My power. In my mind’s eye I saw me and Wrath, making love and training and battling wits and wills. Another memory: my twin scheming with me in our throne room. I saw Sursea coming to us with her plan, her need for vengeance fueling my sin. Then I was in the garden and I saw the look on Wrath’s face right before everything was torn away.
The scream I couldn’t get out before ripped through me now, echoing in the temple. It was rage and torment given form. I heard shifters scatter from wherever they’d been hiding. And I screamed until the memories slowed.
Darkness swept in as quickly as the pain had, then I didn’t feel or think of anything at all.
Once the pain receded and the darkness faded, I lay as still as a statue, listening. Several rooms away I heard the swish of a skirt, the soft tread of slippers. Hushed voices. Closer there was a sharp intake of breath as if someone had awoken suddenly.
I kept my eyes closed as I adjusted to my new range of hearing. My sharper senses. One thing stood out immediately. My pulse did not pound. I inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled.
The lack of a heartbeat wasn’t as disorienting as I’d thought it would be. Though perhaps that was because I no longer felt fear the same way. I cracked an eye, surprised to see streaks of red and gold creeping in through the windows and under the door. Dawn had arrived. I must have been out longer than I’d thought.
I sat up and nearly launched myself across the room, my fully immortal body filled with incredible strength. I already knew no one was in the chamber with me, but I glanced around with new eyes. Vittoria had been right; it felt as if I’d been submerged below water and my head finally broke the surface. Colors were brighter, more intense. I could see individual threads on my gown. Dust motes glittered in a sliver of sunlight on the opposite end of the temple.
I felt full of energy, revitalized. I leapt onto the altar in one jump, then hurtled into the air, landing gracefully on the other side of the chamber. 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.
“Fiat lux.”
Roses and wildflowers burst into flame around the entire chamber. The fire roared with fury, sparking my own rage and igniting it. This power, this was what made me one of the Feared. There was no ending to it, only my desire to keep it locked away that kept it caged. I thought of Nonna Maria. I recalled her lies. The hurt. And the flowers burned impossibly brighter. My head cocked to the side as a familiar sound caught my attention.
I recognized my sister’s footsteps before I turned to her. “Would you like to exact a little vengeance before I leave?”
Her lips slowly tugged upward. “It’s good to have you back, Fury.”
NINETEEN
Back in House Wrath, I sensed a myriad of things at once. Servants bustling through the lower levels, demon soldiers running drills on some compound I’d yet to visit. A few angry members of the nobility arguing—their wrath sparking like little embers in my periphery.
What captured almost all my attention was my husband. His energy was like a raging inferno flanked by towers of ice. It was incredible. Like his luccicare I’d seen, his magic was a multitoned black with specks of gold. Glittering and dangerous. Like him.
Wrath was still at the Pit—I felt the pulse of his ferocious power from a distance away and would recognize it anywhere. There was a slight pull to him, but our reunion had to wait. Though, if I could sense his magic, I had little doubt he could also sense mine. I wouldn’t have long before he came looking for his newly restored queen.
My focus was drawn to the Crone’s tower next, where I knew Fauna was still working and I headed there at once. Time moved differently in hell dimensions, so I wasn’t sure how long I’d been gone, but it couldn’t have been that long or Wrath would have started searching for me. Doing my best not to startle my friend, I knocked gently—or so I’d thought—and the door crashed open. “Fauna?”
My friend jolted at the noise and twisted to face the door.
“Emilia! Thank the devil you’re here, I found—” Fauna stood so abruptly her stool toppled over. She scanned my face—for presumably whatever familiar comfort she could find—and swallowed whatever she’d been about to say. “Your eyes…”
“I know.” They were no longer warm brown. They were the rose-gold of my magic.
Her attention dropped to my chest. It didn’t look any different. There was no scar, no trace of what my sister had removed. No evidence at all that I’d had a spell-lock. Though, given Fauna’s demon senses, she probably didn’t hear my mortal heart beating anymore.
Something like sadness crept into her features, though I swore I sensed horror. It had a prickly feeling attached to it, distracting me. If this was how Wrath sensed emotions, it was uncomfortable and would take some getting used to. I had forgotten what this was like. I’d need to retrain myself to focus on sensing feelings only when it suited me, or I’d go mad.
“Did they force this upon you?” she asked quietly.
My brow arched. Having my true form back was hardly a curse. Yet my friend sounded as if she were speaking with the dead. I attempted a smile that had her swallowing harder. I sighed.
“No. No one forced me to do anything. Except maybe the witches when they forced me to be a player in their games.”
I moved into the room on silent feet, and the sensation I’d felt radiating from Fauna escalated. Fear. That’s what my friend felt in my presence now.
My fingers trailed over the open grimoires. The paper felt rougher, the scent of ink stronger. “Did you know they locked me in true hell? The Shifting Isles. Clever name for a magical island that can shift time and place. Seemed only right for that to be the place I returned to my true self.”
A beat of silence passed. Followed by another. Fauna took me in again, scrutinizing. I picked up notes of smoke on my clothing, in my hair. She did, too. Suspicion laced her voice. “Did you attack them?”
My lips curved. “I might have paid them a visit.”
“His majesty will—”
“The move against my betrayers was justified. What did you find?”
“I…” Fauna followed my gaze to where it landed on the grimoire she’d been reading. Some of her earlier excitement slowly returned as she pointed to the page. “I think I found a way to break the curse.”
“The one on Wrath?”
“Yes, but that’s not all.” Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, but it was better than before. The fear was also abating a little, though it still lingered uncomfortably. “The Blade of Ruination is more than a hexed object itself—it can somehow destroy curses and hexes. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I found something else that might explain more.”