Kingdom of the Wicked

Emilia and Vittoria are now 18 years old. They often work in their family restaurant, Sea & Vine. Emilia is passionate about food, hoping to one day operate the family restaurant with her own innovative menu; Vittoria, however, is not interested in this lifestyle. When Vittoria is late to work at the restaurant one evening, Nonna Maria becomes nervous. Emilia thinks Vittoria is with Domenico Nucci Junior, a local boy, because Emilia saw his name written in Vittoria’s diary. 

Nonna Maria reveals that two other witches were murdered recently in Sicily. She suspects the Wicked were involved with the murder, but Emilia is skeptical, suggesting that it is more likely that humans killed the witches. Nonna Maria vaguely mentions a “blood debt” that must be paid to the devil (16), but before she can explain this, Fratello Antonio Vicenzu Bernardo arrives at the restaurant requesting Emilia’s help. Antonio is a monk, and he and Emilia have been friends since they were children. Emilia often helps him prepare meals at the monastery. Despite Nonna Maria’s pleas that Emilia stay home, Emilia and Antonio go to the monastery to prepare dinner.

At the monastery, Antonio and Emilia prepare bruschetta in the monastery kitchen. Emilia considers that Antonio’s status as a monk renders them “enemies” because the Catholic Church denounces witchcraft. There are 13 witch families “living secretly in Palermo” who do not interact with one another to avoid being discovered by humans (20). This was not always the case: Before Emilia and Vittoria were born, there was a council of witches, but the council was dissolved after Sofia Santorini made a mistake while conjuring the dark arts, “leaving her mind [forever] fragmented” (20). Some families still reject the dark arts, like the di Carlos, while others practice the dark arts openly, like Emilia’s friend Claudia.

Antonio teases Emilia about her Nonna’s fervent warnings. He tells Emilia about some “heretics” in a nearby village who had been spreading “rumors of shape-shifters” (23). Before Emilia can ask any questions, Vittoria sneaks into the kitchen and scares Antonio and Emilia by pretending to be a demon. Vittoria and Emilia return home to share limoncello. Vittoria has become a very talented potions witch, and she makes excellent cocktails and perfumes.

The following day is the festival of La Santuzza (the Little Saint). Sea & Vine is already crowded as Emilia and her family prepare for dinner. Vittoria wants to go out to see the festival, but Nonna Maria warns her that there are bad omens: The sky “was as red as the devil’s blood” that morning (30-31). Nonna Maria tells the girls not to scoff at such warnings and reminds them of the rule to wear their cornicellos. Vittoria and Emilia share a “long, silent look” knowing that they violated this rule 10 years before (31).

Having forgotten her basket at the monastery the night before, Emilia returns there after Sea & Vine closes for the night. The monastery is empty because the monks are at the La Santuzza festival, and Emilia fears that her grandmother’s warnings were true. She finds her basket but feels that something is calling to her. Despite wanting to leave, she feels drawn to wander deeper into the building as if called by an imperceptible voice.

Emilia finds a strange room where she senses that “magic [is] at play” (33). A body rests under a shroud on an altar while a man hovers over it. There are candles and herbs arranged around the table. Emilia watches as the man drinks blood from the shrouded body. She notices that his aura is “a shimmering, multi-toned black with specks of gold” (38), unlike any other she has seen. She shouts at the man to leave, and he flees, dropping an ornately decorated dagger on his way out. Instead of following him, Emilia is drawn to lift the shroud from the body and investigate further.

Emilia discovers that the body is Vittoria’s; her twin has been murdered and Vittoria’s heart cut out of her chest. Gripped first by denial then grief, Emilia sobs over her twin’s dead body. She notices that Vittoria’s cornicello amulet is missing. After several hours pass, Emilia gathers the strength to leave the monastery. Before exiting, she makes a blood oath to Vittoria that she will find the murderer and get revenge.

Emilia travels home in a daze. She hears a disembodied voice warn her that “Memories, like hearts, can be stolen” (45). She arrives home, uncertain how to deliver the news of Vittoria’s murder.

The day after Vittoria’s body is buried, Emilia feels hollow without her sister. Nonna Maria crafts protection candles and charms to ward off further threats to her family. Nonna explains the “blood debt” to Emilia: “When witch blood spills across Sicily” that means that “The Malvagi have” returned to the human realm (49). Emilia remains skeptical about this prophecy and decides to search for the man who was drinking Vittoria’s blood at the monastery, concluding that he must be the murderer.

Three weeks have passed since Vittoria was murdered, and Emilia is no closer to solving the mystery of who killed her. “Vengeance [is] now part of” her main motivations (54), despite Nonna Maria’s advice to seek forgiveness instead of revenge. Emilia searches through Vittoria’s secret storage under the floorboards in their shared bedroom. She finds several of Vittoria’s personal items, all of which are familiar except “a gambling chip with a crowned frog [...], and two thick sheets of black parchment” (58). The parchment is from a grimoire (a witch’s personal spell book), but Emilia does not recognize the spell. She searches Vittoria’s diary for an explanation but discovers that Vittoria used a charm to seal her diary. Emilia believes that Vittoria knew she was hiding some dangerous secrets.

Emilia takes Vittoria’s charmed diary to Carolina Grimaldi, a witch who is “well versed in the dark arts” (61). They meet covertly at the marketplace. Carolina immediately senses that the diary has been cursed and now “calls” out to the Wicked. She explains that the black parchment details a demon summoning spell; though the spell could only summon a “lower-level demon […] unless [the summoner has] an object that belongs to” one of the Wicked (62). Emilia is confused as to why Vittoria would do something as dangerous as summoning a demon.

Emilia decides to try the summoning spell herself. She plans to ask the demon she summons to lift the spell on Vittoria’s diary and lead her to the man she saw in the monastery. Using the dark arts is dangerous, however, because it requires sacrificial techniques and engages in negative emotions.

Emilia gathers the materials she needs to cast the summoning spell. She goes to a seaside cave to perform the ritual, which must be performed at night. The spell requires a casting circle on the ground, so Emilia arranges “candles, ferns, and bones” (69), makes a blood offering; and summons the demon in Latin. She decides to use the phrase “aevitas ligati in aeternus protego,” meaning “bound forever in eternal protection” (70), as her invitation to the demon. She summons “a tall, dark-haired man” with a mysterious “metallic gold tattoo” (73) and recognizes him from the scene of Vittoria’s death by his mysterious gold and black aura. Emilia attacks the Prince of Wrath, the demon she has just summoned and one of the seven Wicked brothers.