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“Of course I do.”
“Good. Saves me from explaining how one of your ancestors had a fine romp with a demon, and produced an heir. Probably not so distantly if Envy could tell by… looking.”
“My grandmother said we were guardians between realms. And that ‘shadow witch’ was the nasty name the Wicked gave us.”
His attention was fully on me now, and I suddenly didn’t want him knowing anything regarding my family’s secret history. I nodded at the candle wax, changing the subject. “I remember thinking the air smelled like thyme. And paraffin. Is that proof she tried summoning Pride?”
“No. Pale rose and gray candles are used by House Greed.” He walked around the chamber. “Thyme and copper are also required when summoning a demon who belongs to that court.”
“Demons can only be summoned using the right color candles?”
“Among other things, yes. Demon courts are broken down into seven royal Houses. Each have their own rituals and requirements. Candle colors, plants, time of day, objects of intent, and metals all vary.”
I pointed to the objects around us. “None of this can be used to summon Pride? Or does having the Horn of Hades negate that part of the summoning spell requirement?”
“Even if your sister had possession of both horns, it still wouldn’t work without the correct candles, metals, and plants.” He held his candle up. “Whatever happened in this chamber that night, I know your sister didn’t summon Pride. And it doesn’t look like she was trying to, either.”
“She told me she was.”
Wrath watched me closely. “It’s impossible to know what her intentions were. She very well might have wanted to summon him, but changed her mind along the way. Or, if she did attempt to summon him, she didn’t do that here.”
I collected my growing frustration. If she didn’t summon Pride, that meant Greed was to blame. He had to be. I thought about the attack on Nonna, and his desire to have the Horn of Hades. It made sense that Greed wouldn’t be content being a prince of Hell when he could become the king of demons. Part of his sin included never being satisfied, always wanting more. Not caring who or what was destroyed in the pursuit of his goals.
Unexpected fury rose in me, and coiled around every inch of the room. It was so powerful, my knees almost buckled from it.
“I vow on my blood that I’ll destroy the demon who did this to Vittoria, and take pleasure in doing it.” Wrath glanced at me sharply and, judging from his flash of surprise, I imagined my gaze went nearly black. My emotions were getting stronger, darker. I blamed proximity to the warrior prince. If Envy inspired feelings of jealousy in me, it made sense that Wrath—intentionally or not—stoked my anger. “You will help me interrogate Greed again. And if I can’t kill him, you will.”
My sister’s amulet glowed an unearthly purple. Wrath’s focus drifted to it, then back to my face. I’d put it on after I’d stolen it from the Viperidae. So far, the gates of Hell hadn’t sprung open, and Wrath hadn’t tried cutting it off my neck.
“Impressive as your rousing speech and temper is, I won’t be bringing war to anyone. And neither will you. At least not without irrefutable proof. The likelihood of it being Greed is very slim.”
“Then how did he get here? Someone summoned him.” I tossed an arm around the chamber. “From the looks of it, he was summoned in this room.”
“Not necessarily. Aside from Pride, princes of Hell can travel here on their own. Plus, there is no trace of Greed’s power in this chamber. Unless your sister had a personal object belonging to him, it’s far more likely she—or whoever else may have set up this particular circle—summoned one of his subjects. And there are thousands of them.”
“But there’s only one demon prince from that House who’s currently in Palermo. I don’t see thousands of other demons running around here, do you?”
“Are you asking rhetorically or do you expect an answer?”
I opened my mouth and shut it. I had so many more questions about the demon realm, but could almost see Wrath begging me to ask them. I decided today wasn’t so lucky for him.
“What kind of object would she need to summon Greed? A dagger, like yours?” I couldn’t remember seeing the blade on him when I paid his gambling den a visit. More evidence that he was summoned. “Maybe it’s still in our bedroom.”
“Afraid not.” He shook his head. “It would have been here the night she was murdered. Whoever killed her must have taken it when they left. There’s no scent in here that can be traced, though. If it’s a demon, I’ll have to track it a different way.”
“Unless you were right earlier and she didn’t actually summon a demon,” I mused aloud. “Maybe she stumbled upon someone else trying to summon Greed and they killed her. Or maybe they’d summoned a lesser demon and it attacked.”
Because the manner in which her heart had been ripped out… only some terrible creature could have done that. I wouldn’t let myself forget that I knew of only one demon who was in this chamber with my murdered twin, mere moments after she’d lost her life.
r /> “It’s possible, but I don’t believe it was a demon.” He stared at the altar where my twin’s body had been discarded. “A lesser demon would typically go for the throat, the viscera—it wouldn’t target one organ and leave. Especially something large and fierce enough to inflict that sort of damage on a body.”
No Pride. No Greed. No clues. This excursion wasn’t going as planned.
I thought about the grimoire sheets I’d found. Wrath said certain color candles and objects were required when summoning a particular demon House. Trouble was, neither of the two sheets Vittoria had contained a spell that included pink and gray candles. Anger built inside me again, needing a release. Or a target.
“It’s funny.” The air was warm, but the blade I pressed into Wrath’s back felt like ice in my hands. He stopped breathing. “You can’t lie, and I believe that’s true enough, but why can’t I find evidence to support your claims of innocence?”
“Are you asking me to comment on your own perceived incompetence?”
