Page 50 of Queen of the Wicked
Erebos reached across the table to grab the Book of Death, flipping to one of the first pages, which displayed a map.
The levels of Heaven weren’t surprising to her, since she had memorized them by heart at this point. Telestrial, the lowest level. Terrestrial, the middle, and Celestial, the highest. Alessia had heard that the levels varied in scenery, but all she had was her imagination, based on the stories her parents had told her about them.
But this map had a lower portion than the one she was shown as a child, the crinkled pages depicting the levels of Hell. She spotted the castle, indicating they were on the highest level, with Earth directly above them and acting as a barrier between the realms.
Her eyes drifted downward to the section of level one. It was larger than the level they were on, but that wasn’t what captured her attention.
It was the sectionbeneathlevel one, where Erebos’s finger waspointed.
The Unknown.
“When a demon is too evil to be redeemed, they are sent to the Unknown, where their soul will rot for eternity in the everlasting darkness.”
Alessia swallowed thickly. “Do you send a lot of souls there?”
“I used to when there was an abundance of souls to process, but since the soul yard has been vacant, I suspect the ones who belong in the Unknown are now in Heaven with Bastian. Now and then, Izara brings a soul back to Hell, but it is never one that belongs in the Unknown. My intuition tells me that Bastian sorts through them before we arrive, plucking the ones with the darkest intentions to indict into Heaven.”
Alessia continued to stare at the map, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t comprehend a word Erebos was saying.
Heaven was meant for virtuous, honorable people—those with pure souls who earned their spot and could live in peace for eternity. She was told her family had originated from there, and what if that was where her mother was now?
To think about her possibly living in a place now tainted with evil…
“Why are you trying to help?” she found herself asking. “You seemed to be fond of King Amos, but why, if you’re the Lord of Hell?”
Erebos smiled sadly. “King Amos helped me during a time few would, and for that, I am forever indebted to him, even if he has moved on to the afterlife. I will see to it that Bastian suffers in his honor.” Then, when Alessia thought he was finished, he added, “Mypast has not been an easy one, Alessia, and there are some pieces even I do not understand yet.”
Fragments of her nightmare filtered through her mind, and when the Lord of Hell’s expression grew haunted as if he, too, were reliving the past, she wondered if she had been right all along.
Perhaps the horrors that penetrated her mind weren’t a figment of her imagination at all, but rather pieces of history that made Erebos into the cutthroat, merciless lord he was.
Chapter 23
Alessia
“Can I ask you something?” Feet thudding against the dirt trail, Izara kept pace beside Alessia as they navigated through the woods on the castle grounds. They ran the same route every morning, but the scenery never failed to amaze her. Rather than oak or walnut trees she’d find on Earth, Hell’s trees were black monstrosities that towered towards the sky with the corathins she’d grown to admire so much blooming from the branches.
The vermilion glow surrounding the sparkling trees of darkness felt like running through the stars, and the adrenaline from the run pumped through her veins, propelled her faster, moving like a bullet through the thicket of darkness.
“Go ahead,” Izara replied, picking up her pace alongside her.
“Do you refer to the people who reside here in Hell as demons or humans?”
Silence echoed between them for a few momentsuntil she finally said, “When I retrieve the souls from the soul yard, they are humans, but after they are processed into Hell, they become demons.”
“But they don’t have powers?”
Izara avoided a branch in her way, side-stepping it with ease while pushing a braid behind her ear. “No. Despite what the legends claim, only witches are born with dark magic.”
“But you have dark magic, and so does Erebos. Or—” Alessia winced. “—hedid, until I took his powers.”
“Correct. Erebos and I are…rarein the underworld. I was selected as his soul seeker for a reason. Aside from him andyou,I’m the strongest demon in the realm.”
“But you have no idea where your powers came from?”
She shrugged and slowed her pace, stopping by a set of bushes to tie the shoelace of her sneaker. “I have my suspicions, but throwing allegations around without proof would only get me killed.”
“So, you think your powers have to do with King Bastian?”
