Kingdom of the Feared (Kingdom of the Wicked, #3)(46)

“She sought me out, for your information,” Pride snapped. “She couldn’t keep her eyes off me, and I returned the favor, lest I damage her ego.”

“And then she was murdered,” I said, my tone hard. “Do you think Greed would harm her if he believed she gave you private House information?”

“Of course not.” Pride didn’t sound as sure.

Wrath studied his brother intently. “How did you end up in the same place together?”

“She came here. To one of my gatherings.” Pride glared at us. “What? I received an official request from House Greed for her to attend. Didn’t he tell you?”

Wrath and I looked at each other. Greed had not mentioned anything at all about sending his commander to a rival demon court. “You said she sought you out,” I started, mind spinning. “What did she wish to talk about?”

Pride shrugged. “Mundane things. The ball. The wine. The portal. My bedroom.”

“What was her interest in the portal?” I asked, sensing we were close to unearthing a clue.

“The same as anyone’s,” Pride snapped. “She wanted to know if it was secure and if it only went to the Shifting Isles. As if I’d leave something like that unattended.”

“Was there anything she said, anything at all, that might have been peculiar or out of place?”

“We didn’t do much talking after that.” Pride gave me a hard look. “If you’re through interrogating me, I’d really like a bottle of wine. This evening has turned rather dark.”

My chest suddenly ached again, reminding me of my injury. I wanted to interrogate the idiotic prince more but needed to tend to my wound. And Pride seemed to need a break—his anger was growing, and it was never a good thing to push a prince to feeling another sin.

Wrath strode down the steps toward me, not missing anything. “Let’s go home, my lady.”

Without looking at Envy or Pride, I accepted Wrath’s arm and held on as he magicked us away. With this new information, it was becoming harder to convince myself that Vesta was truly dead. Was it possible she had betrayed Greed and taken up with my sister and the wolves?

I couldn’t be sure now, but I would certainly find out. If I asked enough questions, I’d eventually get answers to this growing mystery. And if I made a few enemies, it would be a small price to pay.





TWELVE


Wrath didn’t take us to his bedchamber or mine. He didn’t even take us to a bathing chamber to remove the dirt and blood. When we emerged from the smoke of his demon magic, we were standing on the glittering shore of the Crescent Shallows.

Steam rose from the ice-blue surface, inviting us to dive into its deceptively peaceful-looking waters. Nothing “made” could enter the magical water or else it would kill. Plenty of bones jutted out of the shallows like the hulls of broken ships to prove death was no old wives’ tale. Despite its gruesome appetite, there was something serene about the underground lagoon.

The prince turned me until I faced him, then gingerly reached for the front of my gown, peeling it back to get a better look at my wound.

I hissed through my teeth as the material suctioned to my cut gave way to Wrath’s gentle prompting, taking some skin with it and causing it to reopen. It oozed and bled.

Wrath winced as if my pain were his own. “This is infected.”

“Where were you?” I asked, unable to wait another second to know. I ran my hands over him, relieved to find him whole and healthy. Not that I’d see any indication he’d been hurt with his ability to heal quickly. “How did you escape? And what about the poison?”

Wrath looked like the poisoning and stabbing he’d just been through were the least of our concerns at the moment, but it was greatly important to me.

He sighed and withdrew a small vial from his pocket, holding it up. The liquid shimmered like a morning sky on my island, a crystal clear blue.

“Celestia is very talented at creating tonics and tinctures.” He pocketed the tiny vial. “I always carry something as a precaution. I took it as soon as I could, then left your sister’s temple when the wolves shifted back to human form. The gates were spelled shut, so it took some time for me to get to the portal that leads to Pride’s circle.”

“Couldn’t you transvenio there?”

Wrath shook his head. “Magic cannot be used to travel there, so I had to go on foot.”

I thought about Envy and Pride’s test and the jab the Umbra demon uttered before I’d killed it. I had well and truly made enemies here. “What did I do to you… before?”

“Nothing.” Wrath’s face went perfectly blank. “Don’t worry about Envy or Pride’s foolishness. They shouldn’t have tested you or your loyalty.”

“If I betrayed you, that’s not nothing.”

He glared down at the claw marks as if they personally offended him, promptly avoiding the subject. Which made me think perhaps his brothers did have cause to test me. “I should have ripped that wolf’s spine out and shoved it down its throat. Made it suffer for every ounce of pain it inflicted upon you.”

He certainly didn’t lack imagination. To mitigate the anger I saw rising in him, I nodded toward the sparkling water. “I thought this was off-limits for me, given what happened last time.”