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Wrath caught my eye and flashed a quick, devious grin. “Always have an arrow nocked and ready to fire if you invite an enemy in.”
“Perhaps I can help with the fire portion.” I summoned burning flowers and allowed them to hover over the dais. The heat from the fire quickly turned sweltering.
A few of the soldiers tensed but held their ground. Unbidden, I recalled what Fauna said when I’d first met her—about how some soldiers had laughed when one high-ranking officer wished to remove my still-beating heart and serve it to them. My fury slowly burned away other emotions as I turned my attention on the demons in the room. It was not a conscious choice to submit to my wrath, but I didn’t fight it immediately, either. Were any of those demons who wished to harm me present now?
One thought and I could destroy them all. Send them screaming as their flesh melted from their bones. I could exact vengeance on them all and—
A soft, feminine laugh broke the spell. I let my magic go and blinked at our guests. I hadn’t heard them announced, and I struggled to catch my breath without being obvious.
“Blade.” Wrath seemed unimpressed as he addressed the emissary, purchasing me precious seconds to regain my senses. I wished I could lean over and kiss him, but I settled my attention on the two figures approaching us, adopting a look of cool boredom I’d seen Envy use.
Blade, a striking vampire—with chiseled features and tousled chestnut hair—quickly raked his gaze over me, pausing on the necklace with lethal berries, before turning his attention on Wrath, his expression impossible to decipher. His eyes were a deep crimson bordering on black framed with a thick fringe of lashes. He looked like trouble. But more in a defiant rebel way, not the subtle danger Wrath possessed when he chose to become someone’s problem.
I barely spared Blade a second glance as I took in his companion, the female who’d laughed. She looked like a warrior queen, though I didn’t see any weapons strapped to her. Which meantshewas a weapon more deadly than any steel blade she could carry.
Dark hair cascaded down her back, her ebony gown looking more like leather armor than the high fashion popular in the demon courts. It was her eyes, though, that made my skin crawl. I’d seen them before. In a nightmare. They were star-flecked and fathomless. Ancient and filled with hate. And they were trained on me as she neared the dais with the vampire.
Wrath leaned forward, his voice dropping to a growl. “Sursea.”
The woman hadn’t yet taken her attention from me, her mouth twitching in what appeared to be dark amusement. I found myself wanting to throttle the look from her face.
“Isn’t this intriguing.” Her tone indicated she meant anythingbutintriguing. She took another step toward us, her gaze narrowing. “Do you know who I am?”
She wasn’t a vampire. Nor was she a demon. There wasn’t anything mortal about her, either, and yet I didn’t think she was a goddess. I had a terrible suspicion, and the tense way Wrath sat, as if he were about to spring out of his throne and strangle her, confirmed my fears.
“You’re the First Witch,” I said. “La Prima Strega.”
FIFTEEN
The First Witch,Sursea, eyed me the way predators survey potential threats or prey.
Instinct took over, and I bared my teeth, the vicious smile indicating I might not be fully restored to my former glory, but I was not prey, either. I stared the witch down, my fury growing the longer I held her hateful gaze.She’dtaken Wrath from me. She’d used me and Vittoria in her twisted game. And I would make her pay in blood and tears for her sins. Not now, but one day soon my face would be the one in her nightmares.
Her attention flicked to Wrath, her expression turning mocking. “Six years and six months have certainly flown by, haven’t they, your majesty? Time may move differently here, but it still moves. How many days was it, again? I seem to have forgotten.”
Wrath’s gaze shot to mine for a brief flash before turning back to our enemy, but it was enough to amuse the witch once more. Her laughter filled the quiet chamber again. Only this time it sounded as if she knew a secret. One she shared with my husband.
And I detonated.
“Bow down to the king.” My voice was cold. Imperious. I felt Wrath’s attention shift to me, felt the whole room glance in my direction, but I did not break my stare with the witch. She must have sensed the fire burning in my soul. Sursea arched a brow but slowly went to her knees, the leather of her gown creaking in the silence.
I turned my focus to the vampire, who drew back almost imperceptibly. I had little doubt my eyes were now rose-gold and burning with my barely leashed power. If he hadn’t cared who or what I was before, he did now.
“Do not make me repeat myself. Bow or you’ll burn.” I summoned a fiery rose and sent it hovering above Blade.
He clenched his teeth but went to his knees, inclining his head in Wrath’s direction. “Your majesty.”
I stared at their prone forms, not releasing them from their positions of forced acquiescence. Wrath didn’t utter a word, sensing my emotions and giving me the time I needed to regain control. Or maybe he was simply pleased and wanted to see what I’d do next; discover how else our sins aligned in unholy matrimony. He’d said he wanted an equal. Wrath might command ice, but I was all fire. And the First Witch really shouldn’t have stoked my fury. Had it been only Blade speaking for the vampires, I doubted I’d have reacted the way I did.
It was Sursea’s presence, her foul demeanor, the implication that she had a secret my husband knew, along with her sneer at Wrath, that drove me mad with rage. For hurting him, I wanted to hurt her tenfold. It was irrational. Absolute. A consuming need for pure vengeance. I suddenly understood my sister all too well. I wanted our enemies to suffer. For every year, every month, day, hour, andsecondof pain they inflicted on my loved ones, I wanted to return the favor until they begged for mercy or death. And then I’d deny them that, too.
Twisted though it may be, that was the power of love. It could usher in warmth and light, and it could also turn a single ember into a raging inferno, destroying those who threatened it. Love might be the worst sin of them all, with its two sides.
Or perhaps that was simply the way of House Vengeance.
Torches around the chamber flared higher, the flames flickering wildly in a phantom breeze. I glanced around the mostly empty court, at the soldiers in their finery, Anir and Fauna among them. Respect, not fear, flared in each of their eyes. I might have scared them a little before, but they’d expect the princess of House Wrath to inspire some fear just as their prince did. That I was now using that power on our enemies… I inclined my head in their direction, acknowledging them. My attention returned to the unwanted guests still groveling at our feet.
That ancient, terrible power in my core stirred. The First Witch tensed. Her curse had locked it away, and the magic keeping it confined was deteriorating. One way or another, my spell-lock would break. And then that monster would be free. Sursea sensed that. She had to.
