Kingdom of the Wicked

On the beach, Emilia feels an overwhelming sense of ecstasy. She begins to dance, falling deeper into her feelings of satisfaction and desire. She knows somewhere in her mind that something is influencing her, but the power is too strong to resist. Wrath arrives, and Emilia begins to seduce him, wishing “to experience pleasure on all levels” (266). Wrath explains that she is under the influence of Lust, another prince of Hell. Lust introduces himself and tries to entice Wrath and Emilia to enjoy the party. Wrath stabs Lust in the heart, banishing him back to Hell and breaking his hold on Emilia. Freed from Lust’s influence, Emilia feels devoid of happiness.

For the next two weeks, Emilia stays in her room at Wrath’s palace. She’s feeling the void left by Lust’s magic. Wrath cares for her, but Emilia feels only grief at the loss of her sister. After the second week, Wrath puts Emilia in a restorative elemental bath, blessed by each of the four elements—earth, air, water, and fire. The bath is intended “to help guide a moon daughter back from darkness” (275). Wrath leaves Emilia to recover, and she is touched by the way he has taken care of her after she acted so foolishly.

Emilia has recovered from her melancholy. She and Wrath play a game of cards while discussing how to mitigate demonic influence. According to Wrath, the most powerful weapon against demonic influence is self-confidence. He reminds her of the importance of choice because she “live[s] in a realm of free will” (281). When he does not “suggest leaving the palace tonight” (281), Emilia defiantly decides to go out anyway as an expression of her free will.

Emilia returns to the monastery to investigate further, hoping to uncover some insight as to why Vittoria “had been there two nights in a row” before she died (284). In the monastery courtyard, Emilia finds Claudia acting very strangely, speaking about strange and dangerous omens. Claudia suffered an accident while scrying, fracturing her mind. Claudia warns of impending doom and death, indicating that she is receiving information from the human and demon realms at once. Emilia is concerned that this happened to Claudia while she was casting the wards around their homes and decides to take her to Nonna Maria.

Claudia screams, alerting the brotherhood inside of the girls’ presence in the courtyard. Emilia fears that the brotherhood will think Claudia is possessed by a demon and condemn her for witchcraft. Claudia begins speaking about Domenico Nucci Jr., raising Emilia’s suspicions that he is involved with Claudia’s condition. Antonio approaches them, and Emilia claims that Claudia has had too much to drink. Antonio does not believe her but agrees to take Claudia to Nonna Maria while Emilia searches for Carolina Grimaldi, hoping she might know how to help Claudia. 

In the street, Emilia is approached by a vampire named Alexei who works for Envy. He threatens to hurt her family if she does not go to their family restaurant to meet with Envy. Emilia uses a truth spell to ensure Alexei is being honest and runs to Sea & Vine. Envy is waiting for her there.

Emilia discovers that Envy is responsible for the previous attack on Nonna Maria, not Greed. Envy threatens Emilia and her family and claims that Wrath will ultimately leave her for his own gain. He wants the Horn of Hades and threatens to kill Emilia’s parents if she refuses to give him both amulets. Envy has Emilia’s family in captivity under a spell and stipulates that she must find the half of the Horn that was stolen in Chapter 19. Emilia has 24 hours to accomplish this. Envy concludes their meeting by claiming that Emilia should not trust Wrath because he will leave her “once he has collected his final soul” to deliver to Pride (305), thus gaining his freedom from being confined to Hell.

Emilia rushes to the palace to confront Wrath about collecting souls to gain his freedom. He has violated her trust. Their confrontation turns romantic, and they begin kissing. They both feel drawn to one another, but Emilia stops the encounter to ask if Envy was telling the truth. When Wrath cannot deny that he is seeking a soul to deliver to Hell, Emilia is angry. She cannot trust him because he omitted part of the truth, but Wrath argues that he has earned her trust through his actions that prove he is not a danger to her soul. They argue, and Emilia leaves to go back home, telling Wrath to leave her alone.