Page 26 of Queen of the Wicked
“You have to call on it,” Izara said. “The worst thing you can do is be afraid of it. If you are afraid of it, you will never have control.”
“That’s easier said than done when I killed a seraph without a second thought.”
Eryx choked on a kernel. “Shewhat?”
Erebos hadn’t been able to get them alone long enough since she arrived yesterday to supply themwith the information he had gathered. There wasn’t much to tell them when Alessia remained a mystery, her past unbeknownst to her. They would remain clueless about who she truly was without that crucial information.
Izara paused her walking. “And you did not call on your power?”
“No. One second he was coming towards me, and the next…” She shuddered. “He was dead.”
Izara whipped her head to the side with a glare Erebos could readverywell by now. It was a look that said,"You have a lot of explaining to do." He nodded with his hands clasped between his legs, and Alessia gave him a dirty look to match the soul seeker’s.
Why did he think of bringing her to Hell again?Two females with big personalities were going to land him in a mental institution.
“Don’t you two have anything better to do than sit there?” Alessia asked. Erebos couldn’t tell her about the lack of souls. Not yet. His job as of late had been practically effortless, with hardly any souls to manage.
Izara waved them away, ushering them out. “You are distracting her,” she said. “Leave us.” Then she turned to Alessia. “Start stretching. We will begin endurance training. See if that sparks anything.”
Eryx grumbled with his popcorn and stood from the bench, but Erebos remained rooted to it as Alessia did as she was told, bending down to stretch each leg. Her ass was perfectly round, and Erebos wanted to sink to his knees and worship her, right up against the side of the ring. He didn’t care who saw.
“What is that smell?” Alessia’s brows knitted together. “It’ssweet.”
Eryx chuckled. “That, my dear Alessia, is the sweet,sweetnectar of?—”
Erebos elbowed him in the side, causing him to yelp. “Cherries,” Eryx gasped, clutching his rib. “There are trees nearby.”
Alessia rolled her eyes. “You fail to realize I have Erebos’s power. The red aura around you is very telling. I don’t know why you’re lying about it, but I don’t particularly care. It smellssodamn good.”
Erebos practically moaned.
“Go!” Izara shouted. Both hands of hers were placed firmly on her hips. “You aredistracting.Take your barbarian asses inside and leave.” Swishing her back to them, her braids swung out behind her with a flourish. “You have to focus, Alessia, if we have any chance at making it through the pits. With you being unable to harness your magic, it leavesmeto defend us should we find ourselves at the mouth of a beast, and my flames won’t protect all of us. Do you want to learn about your powers? Find your mother? We have to accomplish this first, and we don’t have a chance at that until you put in a thing calledeffort.”
Alessia muttered something under her breath, but she listened to the soul seeker, resuming stretching and shifting her focus away from Erebos.
“Too much estrogen,” Eryx said. “Shall we get started on the route?”
Erebos’s gaze lingered back to Alessia, that pull inside of him begging to remain with her, but he knew hecouldn’t. He shouldn’t. As much as he didn’t want to, he had to separate before the connection overpowered him completely.
He could already feel himself changing. Alessia wasn’t even doing anything, yet all of those years of pain Erebos had experienced, all of those walls he had built around himself… The foundation was crumbling. Alessia was on the other side with a sledgehammer, and with one swing from her, he’d be a goner.
He was vulnerable with her.
Weak.
He despisedit.
“Come on, Romeo.” Eryx, deciding for him, grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt to drag him away.
Chapter 13
Alessia
After an entire week of training, Alessia hadn’t made any progress. When she wasn’t in the ring training with Izara, she was inside her room practicing her breathing exercises, trying tofindher power. She could feel the rumble rolling in her gut, but she couldn’t graspit. She knew it was because she was afraid of it, and if what Izara said was true, Alessia would neverbe able to grasp her power if she maintained that mindset.
But how could she not be afraid of it? That power killed someone right at her feet. She didn’twantto grab hold of it. Being out of control again like that terrified her.
Releasing a sigh, she let Isla run the brush through her hair to get her ready for dinner. Izara had gone on a mission earlier today that she wouldn’t disclose the details of. She was good at avoiding the red aura, dodging questions while providing evasive answers.
