Kingdom of the Cursed (Kingdom of the Wicked, #2) (60)

“I don’t give a devil’s damn about his happiness.” He glared at his wine, but left it untouched. “It’s obvious you do care, though. More than you’re probably comfortable sharing. Are you in love with him?”

I clamped my teeth together, and gripped my glass. It was no use. The words bubbled up. I clutched on to the phrasing Envy used and allowed the truth to pour from my lips. “No. I am not in love with him. But I do not deny there’s an attraction. He brought me to this realm, sold my soul to his brother, and lied about being my potential husband.”

“The lady doth protest too much.”

“Shakespeare.” I all but rolled my eyes. “How pompous and unsurprising that you’d quote him. Should I be envious over your education now?”

He watched me over the rim of his glass, his gaze sharp. “Odd, isn’t it, that a peasant from Sicily would have such refined taste in books. Or reading anything at all, for that matter.”

I prickled at his insinuation. “We may not have had money and servants, your highness, but we know how to read and write.”

“I assume you’ll tell me your proficiency is because of the spells your grandmother taught you. Or the recipes from your little food shack, or some other such drivel.”

“What are you getting at?”

“It’s simply curious, is all. And you do know how much I enjoy curiosities.”

I grinned. It was the perfect segue into my next line of questioning. “Why are you so interested in collecting objects?”

“I’m mostly interested in divine objects. Well, that’s not entirely true.” He laughed, as if he couldn’t believe the truth was still pouring so freely from him. “I’m only interested in one fully divine object now: the Triple Moon Mirror.”

“What is that?”

He snapped his fingers and a servant appeared. He whispered something too low for me to hear and the attendant dashed away. A moment later, he returned, holding an etched glass case. It was plain, unassuming. I immediately leaned across the table, hoping for a better view.

“It’s a mirror of the gods. Goddesses, I should say.” He ran his pointer finger along the glass case, then rubbed it against his thumb as if checking for dust. “It is said it has been embedded with the Maiden, Mother, and Crone’s magic, and can show you the past, present, and future upon request. It used to reside in this case, or so I’ve been told.”

Past, present, future, find. Chills raced along my spine. It was almost exactly what the enchanted skull had said, even down to the Maiden, Mother, Crone aspect.

Envy flipped the lid back, showing a deep lavender crushed velvet bed, indented where a hand mirror once sat. I did my best to not react. But my heart was thrashing wildly in my chest. If there was a divine object that could show me the past, it would solve my sister’s murder.

Excitement coursed through me. This had to be what the skull wanted me to find. I was certain of it. If I had the mirror, I no longer needed to worry about marrying Pride or Wrath and choosing my place in their House of Sins.

“It sounds like a children’s legend.”

“All legends contain fragments of truth.” For a second, his gaze was far off again. “Anyway, it is said one needs the Crone’s book of spells, the Temptation Key, and the mirror in order to activate the goddess magic.”

“Let me guess,” I dropped my voice into a conspiratorial whisper, “you’ve collected all but the mirror.”

“My dear, I believe it’s time you viewed my curiosities yourself.” Envy stood. “Shall we?”





SIXTEEN


Envy pushed open the ornate doors with exaggerated showmanship and stepped back, suddenly the gentleman, and allowed me to cross the threshold into his curiosities chamber first.

Dubious about his true intentions, I hesitated for a moment. I doubted he’d led me into a vampire nest, though anything was possible when it came to him.

Remembering the dagger at my thigh, I walked in and halted at the sight.

It wasn’t vampires waiting, but tall, shadowy giants, standing in place. The chamber was eerily close to a mental image I’d had when I’d first met Envy in the mortal world. Back then, I’d pictured humans posed and frozen on a macabre checkerboard. The floor we stood on now was not part of a game; it was simply made of black and white marble tiles. And the frozen beings were works of art, not mortals trapped by a sadistic prince of Hell.

Sculptures stood in silent welcome, some cast in bronze, others carved from marble. They were haunting, beautiful, so lifelike I had to reach out to be sure they were not made of flesh. I’d never been to a museum, but I’d seen illustrations in books and could not believe the size of his curiosities collection.

“Are you stunned into silence, or is the wine sloshing around your insides?”

I blinked, realizing I still stood rooted in place. “I had a strange sense of déjà vu.”

Envy’s attention flicked over my features, but he only lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Many mortal museums and collections are fashioned after it. It’s unsurprising that it’s familiar.”

“I’ve never been to a museum.”

Which was enough of the truth to satisfy the truth spell. But I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling of how I’d seen the flash of it all those months ago. I’d never been to this realm, or this royal demon House. Perhaps I had a latent seer talent that was starting to emerge.