Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked, #1)(34)

Unease crept through me as I thought about the strange grimoire sheets Vittoria had hidden away under the floorboards. There was no way my sister had found La Prima’s missing spell book.

And yet . . . there was the ancient magic binding her diary that wasn’t of this realm. Was the secret location of the first book of spells written within those pages? I’d think it was impossible, but I’d been learning that impossible was another figment of the imagination.

So if it was true, then how in the world did my twin find it?

I scooted my chair back from the table and stood. Until I figured out the answers to all of my questions, I didn’t want anyone else near Vittoria’s diary. If it had a spell the devil was after that could release him from Hell, it was more dangerous than I’d originally feared.

“Will you get the diary for me?”





Seventeen

That night I found the first clue hidden beneath the floorboards in my room. As with most seemingly insignificant details, I’d overlooked the gambling chip when I’d first seen it. I’d been too preoccupied with the diary and strange grimoire sheets to pay much attention to another trinket my sister had collected. Especially something as small and unimportant as a gambling chip.

I carefully flipped the trinket over and read the Latin etched lightly on the back: avaritia. Greed. I set the chip down, and stared at the crowned frog stamped onto the front. A month ago I wouldn’t have thought much of the crown or the Latin. Now I’d had the misfortune of meeting two of the seven deadly princes of Hell, and I couldn’t escape the nagging suspicion that the owner of this gambling chip was another terrifying creature I’d like to avoid.

If he was anything like Envy, I couldn’t fathom seeking him out. There was no telling what kind of horror he might try inflicting on me. But . . . Vittoria must have encountered him if she held on to this chip. Whatever the connection between them, it was important if she left a small piece of him for someone to find. So far, while I hadn’t entirely ruled out the possibility of witch hunters being responsible for the murders, I also hadn’t come across any solid evidence pointing to them.

For now, I needed to concentrate on this clue and set my other suspicions aside.

I glanced toward my window at the stars winking in and out of the darkness as clouds swept past them. I wished my twin had trusted me with her secrets. But wishes wouldn’t get either of us anywhere now—action would. I pulled a piece of parchment out from our shared nightstand and sat with a pen and pot of ink. Writing out things to research more might help reveal another thread for me to pull. The Wicked were a promising lead, but I had a nagging feeling I was missing something.

There had to be a connection tying everything together.

Spelled diary—what magic did Vittoria really use to seal it? how did she find it?

Deal with the devil—why did she agree to become his bride? does it have to do with the curse Claudia mentioned? or did she think she could break it and remain here?

First book of spells—if it belongs to La Prima, how can the Wicked sense it?

Horn of Hades—what is it?a crown? how powerful is it?

Witch hunters—are they involved? if so, are they watching the Wicked, or is there a connection between them and the devil’s bargain?

I scanned the notes, nothing stood out. Except . . . I thought back to when Vittoria first started acting strangely. It had been roughly three weeks before she died. Right around the time of our eighteenth birthday. I’d assumed it had to do with her secret affair with Domenico, but it seemed more likely now that that was when she’d started summoning demons.

One week later, the first murder occurred in Sciacca. Then the first witch in Palermo died a few days after that. Within a week from the second murder, my twin was killed. I didn’t know if Wrath would share any detailed information with me about the bargains, but there was a strong possibility that my sister’s first summoning correlated to the devil’s sudden desire to break the curse.

Maybe her use of demon magic awakened something in the underworld that had long been slumbering. If she’d managed to summon a prince of Hell, anything was possible. Or maybe none of that was true. If she didn’t summon a demon or find the first book of spells, maybe she found the Horn of Hades and its discovery set everything into motion.

I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the theory I’d started with. Witch hunters. They were human, but humans used folk magic as part of their religion throughout the Kingdom of Italy. Perhaps they had some way of being alerted to that kind of dark magic.

I sighed. The witch hunter theory still didn’t quite fit, no matter how hard I tried making sense of it. It did, however, look more probable that there was a link between the demons being summoned, the devil’s bargain, and the murders that followed. I’d summoned a prince of Hell, so it was likely Vittoria had accomplished the impossible, too. Which still begged the question of where she’d gotten the summoning spells to begin with. I scribbled another note.

Grimoire sheets—was Vittoria summoning a demon to control, or did one of them give her these summoning spells? if so, who and why?

I stopped writing and carefully considered the last point. What if Vittoria didn’t summon a demon first . . . maybe one was already here, like Wrath. If that demon prince gave my sister the grimoire sheets, did that mean he’d convinced her to help in some wicked scheme? What could a demon prince possibly gain by angering the devil, and slaying his brides? Was it a bid for the dark throne? No matter what secrets my sister kept, I knew with utter certainty that she’d never help someone if they murdered witches.