Page 53 of Queen of the Wicked (Afterlife #1)

“Get in formation!” Eryx, holding a severed head from one of the beasts, tossed it into the dirt below from the top of the rise.

It landed near Alessia’s foot, and when the general noticed her, he ordered the guards to let her pass.

“Isla was injured,” he said tightly when she joined him.

“One of the abominations made it into the castle. She was in the way of its rampage.”

Alessia swallowed down the sob that threatened to escape. “Is she all right?”

He nodded, his chiseled face and blond hair splattered with specs of blood.

His gaze lingered on her wings, but they both knew now wasn’t the time to get into what she’d learned at Allegra’s.

Not when they were minutes from taking on an ambush.

“I bandaged the wound. She is in the infirmary helping others who are injured.”

“And where is Erebos?”

Eryx gazed at the impending doom approaching them, only two miles out now. “His chambers were empty when I arrived. Chaos had already ensued, so I did not have the time to search the rest of the castle. I was needed elsewhere.”

“You didn’t have the time? ” Alessia balked at the man who was supposedly the lord’s biggest confidant. “Erebos is the ruler of this realm, Eryx. We have to find him.”

“You do not think I know that?” he snapped.

Instantly regretting his choice of words, he set his jaw in a firm line.

“Erebos made me promise that if the choice of safety were to rest between you and him, my responsibility would default to you. I have been fighting my way back to the gates to retrieve you from Allegra’s, realizing that is what he would have wanted. ”

“Well, I’m here now, and I can use my powers to fight off as many of them as possible. Go and find him.”

“My duty remains with you,” Eryx replied tightly. “I am under strict orders?—”

Straightening to her full height, Alessia retained that regal posture that made Eryx snap his mouth closed.

“And as Erebos’s mate, I am ordering you to go and find him.

Or does that rule about listening to me instead not apply anymore?

” She had further words to exchange with those who hid their connection from her.

Although she hadn’t officially accepted being Erebos’s mate yet—she didn’t know how—she figured pulling rank was the best chance she had at getting Eryx to do what she wanted.

“I’m the best asset we have at lessening the damage these creatures are about to dish out, you and I both know that, so I am needed here. Go. Find. Erebos.”

Relief flooded his eyes, likely because searching for Erebos was what the general had yearned to do all along. “Yes, My Lady .” He relented with no hesitancy. “I will return if I find something.”

But just as he turned to go, Catalina came racing onto the rise, heading straight for the general. Her steps faltered at the sight of Alessia and her wings, but she quickly recollected herself. “He’s gone,” she gasped. “They took him.”

The ground beneath them trembled from the force of the creatures' running, set to close in on them in less than two minutes. The guards assumed their positions, swords at the ready in a sea of red and black.

“Took who?” Eryx asked.

“Erebos. I…I saw them dragging him in the hall. He was unconscious. And then they Traveled out before I could find you.”

Alessia turned her full attention to the escort, pushing aside her hatred for her if only to understand the gravity of the situation. “Who took him, Catalina?” Her voice wasn’t her own; that inner voice causing an eerie ring to seep into her tone.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

“Bastian and Kael. They were here.” Panic laced her words, rushed and breathless. Her entire body trembled, so out of character for the usually confident and alluring escort. “Aside from the annual visit, I thought they weren’t allowed in this realm.”

“They aren’t,” Eryx replied. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Unless he somehow found a way around the decree.”

“Or if someone provided proof of what life here in Hell was really like. It would have ended the decree.” Alessia’s sentence had them falling silent, only the guards shouting as they geared toward the impending doom.

Alessia turned to stare at the chaos, wind blowing at her braid that had come undone, stray pieces fluttering around her face.

The feeling she had at Allegra’s cottage was Erebos’s fear.

He had been traumatized by this man before.

By her uncle. And Alessia had felt his pain and had done nothing about it.

It didn’t matter if she knew it was the bond at the time.

She was his mate. Wasn’t she supposed to differentiate his feelings from her own?

She had failed him.

Hot, angry tears streamed down her cheeks, her body trembling beneath the weight of the anguish she was utterly consumed by.

Erebos was back in his clutches, and she had lived his past before.

Had seen the scars and bruises her uncle cast upon him.

He was likely petrified, alone, and to make matters worse, he was powerless now.

A mortal.

A mortal who was dying since Alessia took the seed of power he had remaining.

“But why would they want him now?” Eryx asked, following her train of thought. Catalina wasn’t aware of the power exchange, but Alessia still knew what Eryx meant. “He is of no use to them.”

Replaying everything she had learned since her time in Hell only provoked that inner beast inside of her to awaken further.

The Makers created her a mate who could never be hers.

They provided a vessel, wanting her to obtain his dark magic when she already possessed black magic.

She hadn’t learned why the combination mattered yet, but she did know that this was her destiny to choose.

It was her life to live, and she refused to allow a couple of gods and goddesses to dictate the path for her.

If she were the harbinger meant to piece the amulet together, she would do it of her own accord, starting with ensuring the realm of Hell was safe and unharmed.

Then she’d go to Heaven to ensure Bastian experienced a death so slow he’d beg her to reclaim her rightful throne by the time she finished with him.

“They don’t want him,” Alessia said, pointing her arms towards the sea of creatures. Smoke erupted down her body like a torpedo seconds from exploding. “They want me.”

The biggest weapon in existence in the realms. The one who would piece together that amulet they wanted to use so badly. The harbinger with the ability to save or destroy their very existence.

The lost queen who would take their pretty dreams of her and warp them into nightmares, shoving their expectations and hopes for a world of evil down their throats with her smoke until it oozed from their pores.

As Alessia sent a wall of darkness spanning the length of the longest river careening towards the creatures, she thought of her mom, who had been taken too soon from her.

She thought of Erebos and the time they lost. All of those who had already sacrificed for her, and all of those who would come after.

The pain that their sacrifices would bear on her heart as the harbinger.

The responsibility she accepted and would attempt to achieve until her last dying breath.

Keep moving forward, no matter the sacrifice.

Don’t look back.

Her parents' voices floated through her mind. She had prepared for this day her entire life, had been repeating it since her arrival in Hell, but she didn’t realize that one of those sacrifices would be her mate.

Despite what the Makers tried to accomplish, Erebos was more than a vessel.

He wasn’t the person she was destined to be with by force.

Alessia chose him in every way that mattered, so the mantra her parents instilled in her since she was young became meaningless as the creatures faltered at the wall of smoke.

In this instance, she would look back, and she wouldn’t take another fucking step until he was by her side again.

A soul-shattering scream erupted out of her as the darkness enveloped the abominations, their resounding wails pouring life through her veins.

Every bone that shattered, every inch of flesh that tore, Alessia reveled in it.

She swallowed them whole, decimating everything in her path with all her pent-up torment that she hoped all of the realms could feel.

She hoped Bastian could hear this message from his niece, the lost queen and rightful heir to the throne.

Alessia Eastwood was fully aware of her destiny, and she would come for everything that was hers.