Last Edited on November 10, 2023 by Sarah
Due to popular request, Kingdom of the Cursed has now been recapped! Again, as usual, please do not copy this, everything in the post is 100% my own words (or Maniscalco’s words). This did take me a while given that I am currently on vacation, with slow internet.
Prologue
The story of the two twins was an omen. One would have to forfeit their mortal life, the other would have to sell her soul. Once upon a time, a king was strode through his castle to the vengeful witch in a foul mood. Silver-tipped wings of white flame appeared between his shoulders as he opened the door. The witch was sat on his throne and had been trying to talk to him before, but it hadn’t worked. She offers an erotic proposal to which the king refuses and threatens to force her out. The witch pressed up against the dagger the king held to her throat, releasing her blood. With a snap of her fingers, the witch turned his unusual silver and white wings of flame into ash and then they disappeared. That’s why she spilled her blood, it was an offering to one of her goddesses. The witch said, “From this day forward, a curse will sweep through this land. You will forget all but your hate. Love, kindness, every good thing in your world will cease. One day that will change. When you know true happiness, I vow to take whatever you love, too.” The witch’s voice was both young and old. He couldn’t kill the witch, otherwise he’d never get his wings back. Then the King of the Wicked offered to strike a deal.
Chapter One
Wrath transported Emilia to the Seven Circles using demon magic. During the journey from Palermo, Emilia had nightmares about the realm. Emilia no longer trusted the Prince of Wrath and yet she willingly signed her soul and promised to wed their king, Prince of Pride (the Devil), to end a curse, or she led them to believe. Emilia was completely unprepared and her confidence on avenging for her sister’s murder after she signed the contract with her blood had diminished. Unnerving silence filled the area after Emilia asked Wrath if they were waiting for her betrothed to arrive. They were at a cave. Despite Emilia clenching his hand tightly and her signing the contract with Pride minutes ago, Wrath only displays indifference. Emilia believes she was a fool to believe that Wrath wouldn’t turn on her the second it suited his needs. There was no sign of the devil, where they were outside the Seven Circles. Emilia and Wrath don’t get along and Emilia is upset over his deception.
In her hurt, she says she’ll always choose the devil over Wrath. Over this, Wrath is mad and asks Emilia to swear a blood oath if she’s certain about the devil, which in spite, she does. As they walk, Emilia begins to shiver and suddenly a cloak appears in around shoulder. Emilia remembers that the delivery of her soul to Pride granted him freedom from the underworld, which he prized. As they enter Hell, Wrath cautions Emilia with three rules: Never say her true fears, control her desires or they will taunt her with illusions similar to reality, and be cautious when making blood bargains with a prince of Hell, especially with the Devil. Wrath tells Emilia they will enter the Sin Corridor where new subjects of the realm are tested to see which royal House their dominant sin aligns best with.
Chapter Two
Emilia thinks the gates of hell were broken but finds out they no longer are because the Horn of Hades has been returned. Apparently any demon prince could wield them, but Emilia wasn’t sure if Wrath could. As they walk, Wrath tells Emilia that in the Sin Corridor, Transvenio magic is forbidden the first time you cross the realm and traveling by foot is necessary. The Sin Corridor is a way for newcomers to form alliances with others who share their dominant sin. As she begins her journey, Emilia asks Wrath if the Sin Corridor is the same for humans as it is for demons. Wrath says most mortals don’t reach the Sin Corridor or the Seven Circles and tend to imprison themselves in their own separate isle outside the gates, a self-inflicted punishment. The isle is like a prison and the humans live in their own reality and can leave at any point, but most never do. Emilia then asks Wrath that if Star Witches were guardians between realms, why would mortals and the Wicked need guards if they never leave. Wrath responds saying mortals and his brothers are not all they keep watch over.
In the corridor, Emilia wasn’t wearing her amulet because Wrath still had it. Lust was the first challenge Emilia encountered. The second was pride and third was wrath. Due to an incoming storm, Wrath and Emilia begin building a shelter from wood. The fourth is envy which proved to be a struggle while sleeping beside Wrath. Emilia’s lust towards Wrath felt primal and ancient. While they are close to doing things together, Wrath pretends it’s an illusion Emilia had. When Emilia fell asleep, she dreamt of a vicious murder and a beautiful woman, screaming a curse of vengeance. Emilia felt like she knew the woman and her curse had been directed towards her.
Chapter Three
Wrath tells Emilia, when asked, that Antonio is someplace safe. Emilia also notices that Wrath is wearing both amulets, making her angry. Wrath then challenges Emilia’s opinion on her lust and potentially love for him, which she partially denies because he can detect lies. When Emilia finally leaves the cold and treacherous Sin Corridor, she encounters Wrath’s hellhound, who nearly mauled her. Then as Emilia and Wrath continue walking, Emilia falls severely ill with frostbite. Wrath ends up picking her up and bringing her the rest of the journey which Emilia could have sworn he said he wouldn’t do.
Chapter Four
Emilia wakes up to the sound of Anir, Wrath’s second in command, asking if she is dead. Her skin felt like fire and her body thrashed against Wrath’s body that was holding hers in place. Wrath lays Emilia on a bed, saying she has a mild case of hypothermia. Right after explaining, Wrath immediately removes Emilia’s soaked clothes and replaces it with a blanket. Emilia fights the urge to remove the blanket, much to Wrath’s annoyance. She then takes a syrup-like remedy to help the hypothermia. In her daze, Emilia thinks Wrath is an angel. Before Emilia falls asleep, she tells Wrath she wishes they could’ve been friends and aligning themselves, she also tries to thank him, but sleep takes her first. In return Wrath began speaking in whispers and hushed tones, like a secret. Emilia felt that whatever he was saying was important to her reality, like trying to shake something awake before it went to sleep.
When Emilia wakes up, she finds out she’s still in Wrath’s house. Emilia is asked if she wants to be at House Pride and she lies saying yes, causing Wrath to be upset. She finds out she can’t go to House Pride without an invitation. Emilia then strikes Wrath’s nerve by insinuating she could go to Pride’s territory without an invitation because she is technically part of it. He then tells her Pride likes to bed multiple people and wondered if it intimidated her. Emilia gets mad and jokes about Wrath’s ego and asks why he didn’t leave her already. Wrath, angry, storms out and invites Emilia to leave.
Chapter Five
Later when Emilia’s done getting ready, Anir knocks on her door with wine and food from the human world, saying Wrath thought she wanted something that reminded her of Sicily. Emilia believes Anir is here to get her drunk and tell him things. She also knows he can lie, unlike Wrath. Emilia also admits she doesn’t understand Wrath’s intentions because he already has his freedom. Anir says Wrath lives by the principle, actions not words, which doesn’t answer Emilia’s questions. Frustrated, Emilia changes the subject to which Anir advises her to take a subtler approach with asking questions because people won’t give her anything without gain and if she demands it. Anir tells her to gain the prince’s trust, become their friend, play into their egos and sins they represent, and pick things she wouldn’t mind sharing or having used against her as well as defining the terms before she agrees. He says there is no way for a fast solution because she is involved in something that has spanned decades. Anir then opens up to Emilia and says he joined House of Wrath because anger was his biggest comfort when his parents were murdered. He also mentions to Emilia that Wrath brought down an entire mountain, causing the House of Lust and Gluttony to send in letters. Emilia finds out through Anir that Wrath also chose to escort her and could’ve left her the instant they crossed the underworld and Sin Corridor. When Anir leaves Emilia notices a human skull on the bed.
Chapter Six
The skull says, “The Angel of Death Lives. Fury. Almost free. Maiden, Mother, Crone. Past, present, future, find,” in Vittoria’s voice. Almost as soon as it appears, the dark magic fueling the skull disappears. Emilia didn’t even know of a spell that could control bones, leading her to believe it was something worse than il Proibito. Emilia remembers her friend Claudia, who’s last scrying session had her mind taunted with the voices of the dead and the angel of death. Claudia said something about a thief stealing the stars and drinking them dry. Emilia comes to the conclusion that either Wrath, Envy, Greed, or Lust had to been the angel of death given they were the ones in Sicily at the time. She recalls the time she called Wrath, Samael, the angel of death, which he warned her to never call him again. Emilia thought perhaps Wrath hadn’t been chosen to solve the murders; perhaps he was furious someone sullied his title and involved him without the Devil’s consent. This would explain why Pride didn’t yet invite Wrath because of his disobedience.
The Maiden, Mother, and Crone were the three goddesses who ruled the heavens, the Earth, and the underworld. Old witch legends claimed the the three goddesses gave birth to the goddesses witch’s prayed to. The goddess of the heavens and sun was La Prima Strega’s mother. If she was real, the goddess of the underworld or any of the goddesses birthed to her realm would probably have the kind of magic that animated bones. Goddesses have never shown interest in involving themselves with witches. When Emilia sees Wrath again he says Envy, Lust, Greed have shown interest in hosting Emilia and requested her presence at their Feast of the Wolf celebrations. The Feast of the Wold is one of the few times all seven princes are invited into the same royal domain. Then it’s three days of dinners, hunts, a masked ball and feast. After it is decided where it will be held based on where the guest of honor chooses to go and which prince with the highest rank decides to host. Pride is hosting this year and Wrath says the princes aren’t of equal power. Emilia has been nominated guest of honor this year and because of this either has to share her biggest fear or give up a secret as part of the sacrifice.
Chapter Seven
Emilia immediately refuses to take her role as guest of honor. Wrath and her end up in a heated argument and Emilia finds out that Wrath wanted her to refuse Pride. Wrath tells her he couldn’t interfere. Emilia asks him if he’s cursed or if there’s something she doesn’t know about him. He responds saying her mortal family would know and they have selective gaps in their story telling. Emilia realizes after Wrath leaves that there are many things her Nonna and family omitted from her. Her Nonna always talked about a blood debt between the First Witch and the devil, about how he demanded a blood sacrifice for The Horn of Hades. Wrath used the Horns to lock the gates of hell and hid them from Emilia. Emilia found out about star witches through Envy and Wrath though Envy called her a Shadow Witch. As Emilia is thinking, a distant memory stirred and she had a strange impression that maybe the devil hadn’t been cursed at all. If that was true then maybe the witch murders had nothing to do with his finding a bride.
Later Emilia finds a grimoire, and learns about the Spinners of Fate and praying to one specific goddess. She had always been taught to pray to them all making her believe that maybe the twins magic wasn’t closely aligned with any of the elements. As Emilia focuses on her magic, she feels something ancient and powerful being awoken. This power didn’t fit into any of the powers in the grimoire: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, or Aether. In the library, a girl named Fauna approaches Emilia and talks with her. She briefly mentioned that Wrath had brought a mountain down on Domitius, his lieutenant general. Both the general and Lord Makaden made inappropriate remarks about Emilia. Fauna mentions that though one can stand in replace for Emilia’s fear, none are likely to do so. Later that day, Emilia visits Wrath’s library, Hell, where she finds eight volumes of books about the demon princes, despite only having seven deadly sins. Emilia also finds a note that reads, “Brother, they have been found. VIII. G”
Chapter Eight
As Emilia is ready to leave to go to the House of Wrath dinner, there’s another skull that says, in Vittoria’s voice, “Seven stars, seven sins. As above, so below.” Emilia believes this is part of the prophecy and that her and her twin signal the end of the devil’s curse. It was likely their birth that broke the magic binding the devil. Emilia wonders why Pride possessed the body of Antonio and sent Wrath to collect her for him and if he was not forced to reign in Hell, he could have come for me himself. Pride could have came to collect all of his potential prides which doesn’t make sense why he sent Wrath unless he was never in need of a bride and the murders were committed for another reason. Later, before the dinner, Emilia rushes into Wrath’s library to collect the journal on House Pride. Before the dinner, Emilia encounters Wrath who gives her her cornicello to wear for the night. Emilia lies to Wrath that she doesn’t want to kiss, but he detects her lying, kissing her.
Chapter Nine
When Emilia asks Wrath why he marked her, he ignores her and enters the dinning hall. Before they enter however, Emilia’s cornicello glows purple, the third time since witnessing Vittoria’s death and Envy stabbing Wrath. When Emilia touched her cornicello, a spark went through her hand, but she decided no to tell Wrath. Wrath introduces Emilia as her highness and future queen. While eating, Lord Makaden stares at Emilia before asking her whether she liked demon fare. He then makes an inappropriate sexual comment to which Wrath responds immediately by unaliving him. Wrath announces the dinner is over.
Chapter Ten
Anir escorts Emilia out of the dinning hall. He leads her up to her room where Emilia notices that Wrath has magic preventing people from entering. Emilia is upset that Wrath didn’t let her defend herself. When she reaches her room, Emilia is saddened that she can never return to what she once was. Alone, Emilia summons fire for the first time, burning the ring Wrath gave her that later turns into a flower. Minutes later, Emilia barges into Wrath’s room. Emilia, asks him for a weapon to which he responds only if she is willing to have lessons on wielding it and blocking magical influence as well. Before she leaves, Wrath tells Emilia Pride is aware of her being in his House but has yet to summon her. He also tells her about The Crescent Shallows, a lagoon in the House of Wrath. To enter one must remove anything made and on occasion the lagoon seeks the heart of those who enter and reflects their truth. Wrath encourages Emilia not to go, but she remains persistent, insinuating he was worried the lagoon might reveal something he wanted to hide.
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