Page 32 of Queen of the Wicked
“Years. I take her to bed almost every night.”
Staring into his eyes, she hated that she was becoming familiar with deciphering his emotions. The onyx storm raging back at her felt like a major contradiction to the words spilling from his tongue, but what if her intuition was wrong? What if the agony reflected in his gaze was only another tactic to ignite her power?
“Good, Alessia.” Izara took a step closer, nodding in approval at whatever it was she saw. “Takecontrolof it.”
“She’s going to hurt someone,” Erebos hissed.
“Not if the person she wants to hurt isn’t here.Continue, Erebos.”
“Izara, I?—”
“Erebos,” she replied sharply. “If you wantanychance of tomorrow going smoothly, you will do this.”
Alessia’s vision began to blur, honing in on Erebos and Erebos only. She wanted to take control of whatever hummed inside of her, a foreign person she didn’t know. Didn’twantto know.
Erebos cleared his throat, the redness around his body flaring, extending a whole inch around him. “I take her to bed and run my hands up her thigh… Then I…I sink to my knees before her and…”
“Stop talking,” Alessia seethed, but the voice that came out of her wasn’t hers. The foreign person, the otherworldly voice, was in its place. The power was crawling up her throat, whispering in her ear,Let me out, let me out, let me out.
“I kiss her inner thighs, run my tongue along her sensitive skin, and Irelishin the pleasure it gives her. How her eyes flutter closed, how her jaw?—”
“ENOUGH!” Like an exploding bomb, black flames shot out of her hands, hovering above her palms. Erebos took six wide steps back, and a lump formed in his throat. Alessia doubted that the Lord of Hell had ever been scared of anything, but she could sense he was terrified. Maybe not ofher,but the damage she was capable of. “Don’t speak of her. Ever. Again.”
“I-It’s not dark magic, Erebos, it’s…” Izara’s hands shook. “It’sblackmagic.”
Erebos nodded silently.
Alessia despised how little she had been told. She had been kept in the dark about whatever was happening tomorrow. She was kept in the dark about theroute through the pits and the true nature of Erebos.With those black flames in her hands, she could obliterate this entire realm, and although it would be easy to listen to the person whispering in her ear right now, telling her to do it, she couldn’t help the pull she felt to the man before her.
The red aura shined brightly, and she couldn’t ignore her intuition. It could be wrong, of course, but Erebos seemed to be in physical pain, and the sight of it… Ithurther.
You’re weak,the voice whispered.
I am not weak!she yelled, surprised at her sudden boldness. She was more surprised when the voice shrank back, seeming to become quieter.
“She’s fighting it,” Erebos whispered.
Get out of my fucking head,Alessia growled.You don’t deserve to be in my head, Erebos. Respect my fucking privacy and go fuck Catalina.
Oh, yes. Standing up for herself feltgood.That bridge connecting both of them dissipated, and she knew her mind was her own once more. No longer would she be the naive girl who didn’t get what she wanted and got left in the dark. Instead, she would grab this power by the throat and use it to the best of her abilities. She would learn bytellingit to teach her.
Calm down,she told it.You willnotreact this way over a man. You know whatweaknessis? This outrageous jealousy that has no reason to be there in the first place.
Of course,the voice responded obediently,but you will not be able to fight this for long.
Fightwhatfor long?
The roaring in her ears vanished, the black balls of fire evaporating, and in its wake, Alessia slumped to the mat of the training ring, exhausted. She sat on her hands and knees, breathing heavily, letting the soft kiss of the breeze against her skin settle her.
“Alessia.” Erebos sank beside her, grabbing her face in his hands. He had never touched her like this before, and if she weren’t so angry at him, the sheer concern in his eyes might have stolen her breath away. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Alessia shoved him away and shakily stood to her feet. “You both came up with this rouseto get a reaction out of me? Do you know how dangerousthat was or could have been? I could kill both of you without a second thought. You don’t understand the voice inside of me and what it’s capable of. It was irrational, reckless, and purestupidityto push me like that.”
Alessia didn’t know them that well, but it was clear they weren’t used to being stood up to or ordered around. They studied her cautiously, Izara seeming unaffected by her rant while Erebos had regret written on every feature of his face.
They were in for a rude awakening, because after that conversation with herself and that threatening voice? She wasdonebeing pushed around.
“I am finished with training for today and will seemyselfto my room.”
