Page 2 of Queen of the Wicked
Sunshine and darkness.
A combination so lethal she could accomplish what he couldn’t and save the realms, finally restoring peace that hadn’t existed for centuries while simultaneously safeguarding her happiness.
He just prayed she’d live long enough to figure out how.
“I will live inside of you every day, my love,” the king whispered into her ear, cherishing the last few moments alone with her that he had. “Listen to your heart. Always. The truth will follow.”
The door to the chamber opened, Haleth stepping forward, followed by Elyana, the general of his army. He watched as she eyed the queen lying lifeless on top of the jutted rock, bowing her head to offer her condolences. His wife should have given birth in their palace surrounded by angel feathers and aquatic skies, but instead, she had to be protected, and the only way was for her to give birth here in the healing chambers. She had died on a bed of stone. The king would never forgivehimself. “Bastian and his forces were spotted a few miles south, Your Majesty. It won’t be long.”
The king nodded, accepting his impending death. Without his powers, there would be no chance at surviving his brother. “Alessia is our only hope and must be protected at all costs, which is why I’m sending both of you to Earth to protect her.” He glanced at Haleth. “I need you to cast an enchantment spell. Hide her powers until she is old enough to understand them.”
Haleth knew not to question him, and it only took Elyana one glance at Alessia before she understood what was necessary. Wasting time was useless. They had to act now if they had any chance at saving his daughter’s life.
“Release her from the enchantment on her twenty-sixth birthday, when the brain is fully developed in mortals. Only then will she be capable enough to learn her true identity and have a chance at survival.”
“And if something happens before then?” Haleth asked. “If she is in danger?”
The king eyed them heavily, the entire chamber growing eerily silent. “Then contact Erebos. The future Lord of Hell will be your only option.”
Chapter 1
Erebos
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER
After his first kill, he felt remorse.
After the second, he felt ashamed.
After the third, there was no turning back.
The man stared at Erebos with amusement, seemingly unaffected by the unbearable heat in the cavern. His brown hair was slicked to his forehead with sweat, and he panted from the plumes of lava burning in a circle around them on the stone platform.
It irked the Lord of Hell to the core.
Was he this nonchalant when he raped two innocent females? When he murdered one of them in a forest in broad daylight without a flicker of regret? He deserved the pain Erebos put him through over the past few days, yet he still hadn’t broken.
The lord’s eyes roamed over the man’s chest at the burn marks he created, the skin blistering and bubbling in a snake-like pattern. Most of the demons that came down here were so broken that it didn’t take much to get them to confess their sins, but there were a fewstragglers who were more difficult than others. Gregory fell into that category, his arrogance and pride much too large to consider feeling a drop of remorse for the women he tortured.
“I didn’t think Hell was an actual place,” Gregory mused, his eyes dancing with delight even in the aftermath of the suffering the lord had inflicted upon him. The sick fuck seemed to get off on the sadistic scenery, standing proudly on the circular platform where Erebos’s throne sat. The chair crafted of bones only intrigued him, his attention stolen every few minutes by the brazen monstrosity.
A chuckle escaped Erebos’s mouth unwillingly at the realization, and he cursed himself. The Lord of Hell didn’t like to show emotion in front of the newly administered souls in Hell. They needed a stern leader—someone who would break them down enough. His facade wasn’t something he could wager to lose.
“And now that you are aware it’s an actual place, what are your plans to repent?” Erebos asked. The lord reached to loosen the top two buttons of his dress shirt, the fabric clinging to his skin from the roasting temperature of the magma.
Gregory cocked his head to the side as if he’d never heard the word before. “Repent?”
Walking around him in a slow circle, Erebos allowed just adropof his power to rattle him. He forced flames to lick along Gregory’s body, but still, the man didn’t break. He stood stoically, his face twisted into a manic smile, the lava dancing in the reflection of eyes as black as his soul.
“I don’t need to repent,” Gregory sneered. “Those women deserved everything coming to them. Dressing likeskanks.” He scoffed, flicking his eyes around the enclosed cavern. “They were asking for it.”
“Were they?” Taking a step closer to the man with a scraggly beard and a beer gut to match, he stared down at him in disdain. It wasn’t hard, given that Erebos commonly towered over newly administered souls. The Lord of Hell was six feet four inches of cultivated power envied by thousands, and those he encountered ran for the hills at the whispers they’d heard of his abilities. “I see a lot of your kind,Gregory,and all of you tend to have one thing in common.”
His thick brow arched in response. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
Erebos sent another flame straight to his dick, enjoying it all too much when the cocky son of a bitch finally cried out in agony. “You all blame the victims for your actions rather than consider the possibility thatyouare the problem in this scenario. Thatyouractions brought you here to me, and whatever maternal issues you faced as an adolescent were precisely why you targeted innocent women.”
Taking pride in how Gregory’s face blanched, he latched onto that flicker of fear, fueling it to enhance the power that flooded his veins. Another cry of agony echoed through the cavern as black shadows coiled around his dick and twisted, causing the rapist to drop to his knees on the stone slab.
