Page 22 of Queen of the Wicked (Afterlife #1)

Alessia

“ W hat an insolent boy.”

A man draped in white stepped in front of the human in chains, tapping a wooden pole on the marble floor in a rhythmic motion. He smiled at him with a wickedness only certain possess, causing wrinkles to crease beside his emerald eyes.

That cold, lifeless stare was petrifying.

Haunting.

Glancing down, Alessia was inside a man’s body with a white toga wrapped around his muscular frame. The wrists and feet of the man were shackled to a wall, suspended in the air. His body sagged against the chains, the slickness of the metal digging into his skin.

Alessia could feel every ounce of pain and second of exhaustion weighing his soul, and yet the man still didn’t cry. He remained silent as the vile figure in front of him paced back and forth, his one hand clenched tightly around that wooden pole.

“Show me what your magic can do ,” the man insisted.

He seemed to be in desperate need of a shower, with dirt splattered across his skin and sweat dripping down his face.

They were in a room Alessia didn’t recognize, but it was beautiful.

Dome ceilings towered above them with murals painted of angels with clouds and golden arches.

Although the man pacing back and forth looked dirty and disheveled, the guards behind him were dressed in the finest uniforms: white, pure, and crisp. Gold buttons shimmered down their torsos, and swords made of the finest silver were sheathed down their backs.

“You will never be able to use me,” the man in chains seethed, but at the sound of his voice, a bone-chilling dawn of realization fell over Alessia.

Erebos.

This was Erebos speaking.

“You’re a monster,” he continued, “and one day, the Makers will see to it that your tyranny comes to an end.”

The man clicked his tongue. “It is a shame my brother has such an influence over others. Who is to say all souls should be denied the right to enjoy a place such as this? You are here, are you not? Do you mean to tell me your tainted soul does not belong here?”

Erebos writhed in the chains. “My soul is not tainted. I can use this magic for good. It’s people like you who have nefarious plans and wish to use me to ? —”

The man lunged forward and struck the wooden pole against his ribs, and Alessia couldn’t bear to witness the pain. To see Erebos hurt, to watch him suffer like this…

“What a pity it is that you do not wish to comply with my demands,” the man said. “This could have all gone so differently. You could have been great, Erebos. You could have been my greatest weapon when I finally take my rightful place on the throne.”

“You could never,” Erebos shot back. Alessia was proud that he never backed down, even when the man lifted the pole again. Erebos didn’t flinch. “The realm of Heaven would rather burn to ash than bow to you.”

The man chuckled and gave another crushing blow to his chest. When Alessia forced his head to glance down, she almost threw up on the marble floor.

His chest was quite literally obliterated.

Cuts lined his torso, some requiring stitches, and the bruises…

There was more purple covering his chest than the velvet silky tawny she was used to.

“One thing you will learn about me, Erebos, is that I always succeed. With a little power and torment, I will never fail to get what I want. It is just a matter of breaking you down before you cave, whenever that point is reached.”

“I will never cave,” Erebos gasped. It seemed like he had an injury to his rib, making it difficult for him to breathe.

With another cocky grin, the man snapped to the guards. “I would reconsider your decision, Erebos, and soon. If you choose to help me, together we can control the realms, and if not…” He shrugged. “I will find another soul with dark magic, and you will remain my slave for as long as I see fit.”

“I do not answer to you,” Erebos replied. “I serve your brother.”

The man looked around sarcastically before arching a brow.

“And do you see him? Has he come to rescue you valiantly? I do not think your absence is disheartening to him, and I shall use that to my fullest advantage.” He started to stride for the large set of mahogany doors, but not before calling over his shoulder, “Break him before my brother comes looking.”

Alessia awoke with a jolt, gasping for breath.

She felt around her to find a tether to this world, clutching the now soaking wet sheets from the sweat dripping down her back.

Nothing about the room felt familiar, even though she had been sleeping there for almost two weeks now.

The red glow from the sky outside just made the nightmare even more realistic.

She shivered and expelled a small whimper, and that was when she saw him.

Erebos sat on the edge of the bed, far away from her, his position tense.

Knowing he was there, as strange as it sounded, made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Anyone would feel that way after having a nightmare about said person, right?

It was a normal reaction for her to feel noticeably better in his presence.

“Erebos,” she said quietly. “I…I didn’t see you.”

“I know. I’m sorry for disturbing you, but you were screaming. I wanted to ensure you were alright.”

Damn if her chest didn’t expand to twice the size. “You could have woken me up.”

His lips twitched, threatening a smile. “I was always told not to.”

“I think that’s for sleepwalking or a sleeping baby, not nightmares,” she said.

His gaze dipped to her chest, to where her nipples were hardening beneath his stare.

No matter what she did, she couldn’t get their time together earlier out of her head.

The way his fingers felt inside her, the way he looked at her…

But she had failed.

She had failed him, Isla, and everyone in the realm by letting her guard down and letting that shield fall between them.

Although she didn’t understand why that scent of cherries mattered so much, she saw the look of devastation on Erebos’s face as soon as she came.

Just from that memory alone, she covered the chest of her nightgown with the blanket, snapping Erebos out of whatever thoughts he was having.

“Did you want to talk about it?” he asked. “The nightmare?”

She contemplated it, she did, but after everything that happened today, her mind wasn’t in the right place to do so.

How could she confide in someone who let all of that pain and suffering go on today?

Lord of Hell or not, she saw that this man had compassion and empathy.

Why else would he be in her room right now?

But today, he didn’t care about anyone but himself.

And everything was different. The weather, the people, the servants…

She didn’t know what was real and what was fake, and because of that, she didn’t want to confide in him.

Trust had to be earned, and after his display of riling her up in the courtyard, he had lost any shred he may have gained over the past two weeks with her.

Erebos dipped his head in agreement at her silence. “As you wish.” Rising from the bed, he started to head for the door, but the sight of him leaving made her chest ache. Physically ache.

“I’m sorry,” she found herself saying. “For not being able to keep the shield up.”

The muscles beneath his t-shirt tensed. “Why are you apologizing?”

“I guess because I feel like I failed today. I know I’m not fully to blame because I was kept in the dark about whatever it was you were trying to hide from him in the first place, but I still felt as if I should have tried harder.

Maybe if I had done something differently, I could have kept it up, but I don’t know how to control my powers fully yet, and I?—”

Erebos turned around and closed the space between them, sitting closer beside her on the bed than he was when she awoke.

“You were exceptional today. It was my fault for putting you in that predicament, Alessia. I should have refused the moment Kael suggested that you do anything at all . The only person responsible for the knowledge exposed today is myself.”

“But what was so important, Erebos? Why was it imperative that I put a shield up?”

Erebos’s hand shifted on the mattress, inches from brushing against hers. She almost forgot her question when he said, “Some things might be too soon for you to hear right now.”

No red aura.

“Well, what can you tell me? Because I’m confused. How could you let so many people suffer today? The weather was scorching and is now back to a cool breeze. Your wings are gone, but they were there earlier, and?—”

“A glamour, Alessia.” He breathed heavily, blinking up at the ceiling.

She had a feeling this was a piece of information he didn’t share with many people.

“Heaven hasn’t been a good place for decades since King Bastian took over.

He is an evil man who expects people to do despicable, torturous things.

Once a year, he conducts a visit to ensure Hell is as horrible as he intends for it to be, so Izara puts a glamour up. ”

“A glamour?”

He nodded. “She is the only person I’ve ever met with enough magic to cast them. It is not a feasible task. What you saw when you first came to Hell is what I’ve made this realm into, but when he visits…”

“You have to cover it up,” Alessia finished in a hushed whisper. Erebos only stared at her as she soaked up the information, his hand still centimeters from hers, and suddenly, everything Isla had said started to make sense.

Remember the truth.

“ When your shield came down, Kael sensed our…connection . If he sends word to King Bastian that there is anyone here who remotely brings me joy…” He sighed again, but Alessia was still stuck on the sentence. “What?”

“I bring you joy?” she pressed.

Erebos rolled his eyes, and the manner was so boyish that it made him seem younger in that moment. “Of all the things I’ve said, that is what you choose to focus on?”