Page 89 of Queen of the Wicked
“Erebos. I…I saw them dragging him in the hall. He was unconscious. And then they Traveled out before I could find you.”
Alessia turned her full attention to the escort, pushing aside her hatred for her if only to understandthe gravity of the situation. “Who took him, Catalina?” Her voice wasn’t her own; that inner voice causing an eerie ring to seep into her tone.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
“Bastian and Kael. They were here.” Panic laced her words, rushed and breathless. Her entire body trembled, so out of character for the usually confident and alluring escort. “Aside from the annual visit, I thought they weren’t allowed in this realm.”
“They aren’t,” Eryx replied. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Unless he somehow found a way around the decree.”
“Or if someone provided proof of what life here in Hell was really like. It would have ended the decree.” Alessia’s sentence had them falling silent, only the guards shouting as they geared toward the impending doom. Alessia turned to stare at the chaos, wind blowing at her braid that had come undone, stray pieces fluttering around her face.
The feeling she had at Allegra’s cottage was Erebos’s fear. He had been traumatized by this man before. By heruncle.And Alessia had felt his pain and had done nothing about it. It didn’t matter if she knew it was the bond at the time. She was hismate.Wasn’t she supposed to differentiate his feelings from her own?
She had failed him.
Hot, angry tears streamed down her cheeks, her body trembling beneath the weight of the anguish she was utterly consumed by. Erebos was back in his clutches,and she had lived his past before. Had seen the scars and bruises her uncle cast upon him. He was likely petrified, alone, and to make matters worse, he was powerless now.
A mortal.
A mortal who wasdyingsince Alessia took the seed of power he had remaining.
“But why would they want him now?” Eryx asked, following her train of thought. Catalina wasn’t aware of the power exchange, but Alessia still knew what Eryx meant. “He is of no use to them.”
Replaying everything she had learned since her time in Hell only provoked that inner beast inside of her to awaken further. The Makers created her a mate who could never be hers. They provided a vessel, wanting her to obtain his dark magic when she already possessed black magic. She hadn’t learned why the combination mattered yet, but she did know that this washerdestiny to choose. It washerlife to live, and she refused to allow a couple of gods and goddesses to dictate the path for her.
If she were the harbinger meant to piece the amulet together, she would do it of her own accord, starting with ensuring the realm of Hell was safe and unharmed. Then she’d go to Heaven to ensure Bastian experienced a death so slow he’dbegher to reclaim her rightful throne by the time she finished with him.
“They don’t want him,” Alessia said, pointing her arms towards the sea of creatures. Smoke erupted down her body like a torpedo seconds from exploding. “They want me.”
The biggest weapon in existence in the realms. The one who would piece together that amulet they wanted to use so badly. The harbinger with the ability to save or destroy their very existence.
The lost queen who would take their pretty dreams of her and warp them into nightmares, shoving their expectations and hopes for a world of evil down their throats with her smoke until it oozed from their pores.
As Alessia sent a wall of darkness spanning the length of the longest river careening towards the creatures, she thought of her mom, who had been taken too soon from her. She thought of Erebos and the time they lost. All of those who had already sacrificed for her, and all of those who would come after. The pain that their sacrifices would bear on her heart as the harbinger. The responsibility she accepted and would attempt to achieve until her last dying breath.
Keep moving forward, no matter the sacrifice.
Don’t look back.
Her parents' voices floated through her mind. She had prepared for this day her entire life, had been repeating it since her arrival in Hell, but she didn’t realize that one of those sacrifices would be hermate.Despite what the Makers tried to accomplish, Erebos was more than a vessel. He wasn’t the person she was destined to be with by force. Alessia chose him in every way that mattered, so the mantra her parents instilled in her since she was young became meaningless as the creatures faltered at the wall of smoke.
In this instance, shewouldlook back, and shewouldn’t take another fucking step until he was by her side again.
A soul-shattering scream erupted out of her as the darkness enveloped the abominations, their resounding wails pouring life through her veins. Every bone that shattered, every inch of flesh that tore, Alessia reveled in it. She swallowed them whole, decimating everything in her path with all her pent-up torment that she hoped all of the realms could feel.
She hoped Bastian could hear this message from his niece, the lost queen and rightful heir to the throne.
Alessia Eastwood was fully aware of her destiny, and she would come for everything that was hers.
Epilogue
As King Bastian followed the stone steps leading into the dungeons he created, a sense of satisfaction festered beneath his skin. His orders, despite going unaccomplished, had still worked out in his favor. Guards at the heavy cement door avoided eye contact, thrusting it open to allow him access. They bowed as he breezed past them without acknowledgement, his nose crinkling when the scent of piss and despair hit his nostrils.
Heavy boots hit the cement floor, bodily fluids seeping into the soles as he migrated the dank cells, ignoring the cries for help from those who threatened his plans for the realms.
