Page 70 of Queen of the Wicked
“This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” Alessia breathed, tilting her head to admire the shadows of light rolling across the ceiling. Erebos found himself enamored with how her eyes danced with glee, seeming to enjoy this cave that was likely nothing more than a false promise. She turned to look at the lord then, her eyebrows lifting slightly. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“It is,” Erebos hummed in agreement, but he couldn't care less about the mirage. Staring atherquenched his thirst more than this pool ever could.
“Don’t step foot into that water,” Eryx warned, seeming to read the lord’s earlier thoughts. “It isn’t what it seems.”
“How do you know that?” Alessia asked. “It looks real enough to me.”
The water rippled, the soft wave drifting to the edge as if beckoning them forward. Erebos grabbed Alessia’s wrist when she seemed drawn to its summons. “You don’t have any magic right now to protect yourself,” he told her. “Be careful.”
With a quick jerk of her chin, she cautiously knelt by the steps leading into the enticing water and studied theshimmering surface. “When I was younger, my mother, Elyana, would tell me stories of water portals capable of taking you to any realm, even ones we haven’t learned of yet. It was only fairytales, but this looks similar to how she described them.”
Water portals weren’t known in this realm—at least that Erebos was aware of—but it wasn’t her mention of fairytales that had his interest piqued, but rather the name. “Elyana?” he asked. “Elyanawhat?”
“Cicero,” she replied with a furrowed brow. “Why do you ask?”
The name didn’t mean anything to Izara or Eryx since they had never met the former general of Heaven, but Erebos knew of her. Hadmether that fateful night she came with King Amos and rescued him from Bastian. “It is not possible,” he murmured. “I thought she died the night King Amos was murdered.”
Alessia’s brows shot to her forehead now. “I’m sorry,what?Did you know my mother?”
“We met briefly,” he admitted. “She was the former general of King Amos’s army.” The lord wanted to assume that the Elyana who raised her surely couldn’t be the one he remembered, but it explained why Alessia was well-trained in combat. It made sense as much as it could.
The letter.
Had it been Elyana who asked him to retrieve her?
“She was not there before I found you, correct?”
Alessia shook her head. “My mom said she had left to create a distraction, I’m guessing so that when mypowers came to fruition, it wouldn’t be noticeable to the realms.” Her bottom lip trembled.
Eryx cleared his throat. “Are you saying the general of King Amos’s army raised Alessia on Earth? Why would she do that?”
The ancient voice that answered didn’t belong to their group. “That is a good question, Eryx Allard, man of revolution, warrior of fate.”
The water severed directly down the middle, paving the way for a naked man as old as the realms themselves to emerge from its depths. The demon was unlike anything Erebos had ever seen, with crinkly skin that sagged from his bones like it would fall off at any given second and gray, matted hair stopping at his waist, balding in spots on his scalp as if hair could no longer grow on his decrepit state.
It felt shameful to look upon him, like just being in his presence was an honor. He was all-encompassing, the walls of the cavern seeming to expand as he crawled out of the water. The man bore no teeth, yet he spoke as if he did, continuing to talk to Eryx, who was as still as a statue beside the pool.
“You have overcome great feats in your lifetime.” His hoarse voice sent shivers racing down the lord’s spine. “And you will overcome many more. Your time is not finished yet, as you still have much to accomplish. Trust in the one who heals you, young warrior. They will be your destiny.”
Eryx shifted uncomfortably before bowing his head. “Thank you, wise seeker, but my companions and I have traveled here for a different reason.”
“I am aware of the answers you seek, including those unspoken.” He hobbled up the stone steps with a hunched back and a cane that appeared to be centuries old. It had a different language inscribed on the withered wood, faded and broken in spots. “You crave acceptance. You worry about remaining on the right side of history.”
Eryx gulped, shifting his attention anywherebutthe Seeker.
“And you,” the Seeker continued, twisting slowly to face Alessia. “I have waited centuries to meet the next harbinger. Hand-selected by the Makers to restore the realms to their former state.”
Harbinger?
Alessia was the harbinger?
Erebos couldn’t hide his shock. He had waited far too long to find the person capable of saving the realms and restoring the balance, but he never imagined they would fall into his lap like this.
He should’ve guessed it when she displayed black magic. Should’ve known when that letter had instructed him to retrieve an important soul, and she had killed a seraph with hardly a lift from her finger.Alessiawas the one who would save them all.Alessiawould be the downfall of Bastian’s reign.
And Alessia, harbinger of the realms, was hismate.
Those who resided in Hell knew there would eventually be a harbinger sent to repair the balance, so it wasn’t a surprise when all three of them, Eryx, Erebos, and Izara, immediately dropped to a knee before Alessia. They held their fists over their hearts, a sign of respect for the one who would usher in great change.
