Chapters (58)
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Imprint Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Map
- Contents
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Acknowledgments
- Endmatter page 1
I sat up and a blanket that had been carefully placed over me fell away. I glanced at it, frowning. I was almost positive I’d fallen asleep on top of it.
“Hello?”
I scanned the silent, empty room. Wrath wasn’t lurking. Not that I expected him to be. It took a moment for me to realize why. It was almost dark outside, and he’d said we needed to leave at dusk. I hopped up from bed and raced down the stairs, yelling the demon’s name.
All was as still as the catacombs.
“Blood and bones.” The no-good prince left me to go speak to the witch on his own. I marched around the empty palace, seething. He should have woken me up. I had as much right to be there when he talked with Isabella as he did. Wrath obviously didn’t want me to potentially dissuade her from accepting the devil’s bargain. So much for being partners. I was so mad I could scream.
After the day I’d had, I needed to get my frustration out. I couldn’t just sit around, waiting for someone else to make a move. Especially now that I felt invisible hands tick, tick, ticking away the time that remained before the gates of Hell broke entirely. I couldn’t waste energy being angry. I had to go out and see if I could find my cornicello. I went back to my room and noticed a dress had been draped over a chair in the corner.
I picked it up. It was midnight black with gold roots sewn across the bodice, similar to the grimoire page I’d used to summon Wrath. Tiny serpents were also woven into the design. Exquisite didn’t come close to describing it.
“Testa di cazzo.” Only an asshole would think a pretty dress made up for a broken promise, though.
I slipped it on anyway. It suited my needs for tonight.
I whispered a prayer to the goddess of good fortune, and hoped she’d bless me with a little luck.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I subtly held on to my sister’s cornicello and followed a whisper of a feeling. It had worked when I’d needed to find Greed’s gambling den, so I decided to think about my amulet and see what happened. I wasn’t sure what I was sensing now, but I followed the feeling as it grew stronger.
I marched up steep streets clinging to cliffs and finally stopped to stare out at the sea. Multicolored fishing boats swayed just offshore.
It was peaceful, but I had no business stopping to admire the mundane world I no longer was a part of. Not that I’d ever really belonged. But before all of this, I could at least pretend.