“Of course I haven’t, I . . .” I closed my mouth. I’d used a forbidden truth spell on him when we were children. I’d violated his free will. What I’d done was wrong, but it didn’t give him the right to murder women in retribution. “How were you planning on stopping the devil from finding a witch in a different city?”

“By summoning him.”

“You, a man of God, doing the work of supposed angels, want to summon the devil?”

“Oh, I don’t want to do it, Emilia. But I’ll do what has to be done. I want him to watch as I destroy his horns.”

My hand went to my amulet. “How do—”

“How did I know you’re wearing the actual horns of the devil?” he mocked. “My angel of death. You see, first we’d destroy every living witch. Then, we’d summon the devil and put a blade through him.”

“What was this angel’s name?”

Antonio lifted a shoulder. “He wouldn’t tell me. But there was something . . . powerful about him. I knew he wasn’t lying. Only something heaven sent could inspire that much glory.”

Whether Antonio knew it or not, I’d bet my soul he’d been influenced by a prince of Hell. And I think I knew exactly who had orchestrated it all: Envy. The traitor demon. I just needed proof, and then I’d destroy him.

“How do the hearts factor in?”

He gave me an odd look. “Hearts?”

Like he didn’t know. Clearly, his cooperation was ending. Or maybe there were parts of his beastly acts he couldn’t face. I stopped paying attention to Antonio, and started thinking about my next move. I thought about my sister, about her plan to summon the devil. She wanted to bargain with him.

Maybe she knew Envy, or some other prince of Hell had been nudging the hands of fate, and that the only way to stop him was to help Pride break the curse. Which would explain why she wanted the werewolves and Greed to team up. Whatever her reasons, she thought her best course of action was to go to the underworld. Antonio might be the instrument of death, he might have chosen to commit these atrocious acts, but he hadn’t acted alone.

Now I wanted to find out who else had helped kill my sister.

An idea, wild and mad, formed in my head. If Antonio actually managed to summon the devil now, I could use it to my advantage. My sister believed that ruling in Hell was her best choice.

Maybe it was mine, too.

“If you’re going to summon the devil, why wait?”

“You’re going to summon him.” Antonio smiled. “And I’m going to kill him when you do.”

I’d like to see him try. I pointed to the half-finished summoning circle and gripped the amulets in my hand. “Light the candles.”