April 4, 2022
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
The basics
Title: Kingdom of the Wicked
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Series: Kingdom of the Wicked #1
- Kingdom of the Wicked (2020) - Kingdom of the Cursed (2021) - Kingdom of the Feared (2022)
Add it: Goodreads
Goodreads Summary:
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family's renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin . . . desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden. Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia's side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women's murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems . . .
Read a full summary of Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco below. If you can’t remember what happened in Kingdom of the Wicked and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.
What happened in Kingdom of the Wicked?
- Emilia and Vittoria are twins and descendants of witches. In the prologue, they are told to never join up
their amulets because bad things will happen. Of course, they do just that. It all seems ok though. - Emilia talks about how Nonna was the council leader but the coven had to disband. Someone called
Sofia Santorini was using dark magic and it broke her brain. - There’s a parade happening in town. The twins’ Nonna is freaking out because Vittoria hasn’t returned
home. She thinks demons are coming to town, especially because two girls have been killed recently, their
bodies left in the streets. - Emilia thinks she’s seeing things out of the corner of her eye.
- Emilia goes off with Antonio, who is a holy man. Emilia fancies him, of course. She is prepping dinner to
donate, when a hooded figure enters the room. It threatens them and Antonio tries to banish it. It turns
out to be Vittoria. - Antonio leaves and Vittoria teases Emilia about her crush on him.
- The monastery calls to her and Emilia enters. She sees a man standing over a body surrounded by
candles and herbs. The man licks the dead person’s blood. Emilia shouts at the man and he runs off. - Emilia finds that the body is Vittoria’s. Her heart has been ripped out.
- Emilia runs back to the house. She hears a voice again but sees there’s no one there. She tells Nonna
about what happened. Nonna thinks the killer was working for the devil. - Three weeks later, Emilia hasn’t been able to solve the murder. She finds Vittoria’s diary and tries to open
it but it’s locked with dark magic. - Emilia approaches Carolina, her friend Claudia’s aunt, as she might be able to break the spell on the
diary. Emilia shows the diary to Carolina, who says there was a summoning spell there in the grimoire
pages but she can’t open the diary. - Emilia decides to summon a demon to help her open the diary. What a fantastic idea. She heads to a
cave and performs the ritual. - Emilia summons Wrath, a prince of Hell. Nice. He’s trapped in the circle that she has drawn so it’s all
good, but he’s not happy. He’s especially not happy when Emilia steals his dagger. - Wrath was the guy standing over Vittoria’s body. He says he wasn’t the killer, he was just collecting for his
brother because Vittoria had made a deal with him. - Wrath explains that the spell Emilia used to summon him protects her and he must look after her. He’ll
need to stay in the circle for three days unless Emilia releases him. - Nonna warns Emilia against playing with forces she can’t control.
- Emilia buys a shirt for Wrath because he has been topless this entire time.
- Claudia tells Emilia she has been having bad dreams about darkness and black wings and stuff.
- A voice tells Emilia “he’s here”.
- Wrath explains to Emilia that his brother, Pride, made a bargain with Vittoria. He needs to marry
someone to break the curse and let him out of Hell. Wrath has been helping him. - Emilia heads back to the monastery and is followed. It’s Envy, another of the Princes. He puts her into a
bit of a trance but Emilia breaks free by stabbing herself. Envy asks her to join his house. - Claudia and Emilia discuss the devil, who has been trapped in Hell for eternity. He needs to marry a witch
to break free and get his powers back. - Emilia finds a gambling chip of Vittoria’s. It has Greed’s name on it, so Emilia wonders if Vittoria
summoned him. She wonders if her sister found the Horn of Hades. Emilia heads to the club that the chip came from. - Emilia chats to Greed, who wants the amulet from Emilia. He says Vittoria gave him her half but he
won’t show it to Emilia. He wants Emilia to align with him. He tells her the Horn of Hades grants a witch
power over the devil. - Emilia’s blood unlocks the diary. It seems Vittoria was hearing things too.
- Nonna says the Malvagi have returned, and tells Emilia that the key will unlock the gates of Hell. Emilia
learns her family line is that of Star Witches, who keep the demons in Hell. - The ghostly demon figure shows up and slits Nonna’s throat. It steals her amulet too.
- Emilia goes to speak to Wrath and asks him about Viperidae. They guard things. Emilia goes to find
one and finds Vittoria’s amulet in its nest. Emilia grabs it and the Viperidae attacks. Emilia is bitten. - Wrath shows up and helps her. After saving her life, he has to go back to the cave. They talk about
Greed and the Horn. - Wrath says he was testing Vittoria’s blood to check her alignment. She didn’t have any. He didn’t find any
trace of his brothers in the chamber either. - Antonio comes across Emilia and Wrath in the monastery. Emilia pretends Wrath is a friend of hers
called Samael. Wrath is annoyed. - Wrath needs to talk to the next potential bride. He needs to find a building for the night.
- Emilia takes pasta to Antonio. He voices his concerns about finding Emilia in the chamber where
Vittoria dd. Emilia tells him to shut up. - Another girl is murdered. Emilia goes to find Wrath, and together they go into town to spot the body. This girl
had her heart ripped out too. - A messenger arrives with a letter from Pride to Wrath. The messenger opened the letter and they tell
him off. - The next witch in line is Claudia’s cousin, Emilia.
- Wrath tells Emilia a bit more about the curse. The First Witch cursed Pride. Now the gates of Hell are
fractured. - Emilia bumps into Lust and Wrath comes and rescues her… after a week. This has had a massive effect
on Emilia and it takes a while for her to break out of it. - Claudia is hearing more voices and starts chanting about black mirrors and burning eyes. She tells
Emilia to run just as the brotherhood run in. - Emilia goes to find Carolina but is intercepted by a vampire called Alexei who’s working with Envy. They
head back to the family home. Envy reveals he’s the one who attacked Nonna, and he has been behind
all of these murders. He threatens Emilia and tells her he wants the conicello – the Horn. He gives Emilia
24 hours to give it to him. - Nonna fights off Envy and it’s pretty cool. She explains to Emilia that she’s marked. They discuss a
prophecy about a young woman being the keeper of the Horn. It’s supposed to balance the realms,
except the gates are breaking. - Emilia heads underneath the church. Wrath has to fight off some demons and is severely injured. Envy
stabs Wrath with his dagger and Wrath can’t defend himself in case he hurts Emilia. Emilia unites the
Horn. - Emilia goes to see Domenico Sr, who reveals that he and his family are werewolves. He says Vittoria
was setting up a plan to help the werewolves shift again. - Emilia finds out that the brotherhood are dodge. Antonio killed Vittoria for being a witch. Emilia gets some
revenge but then stops herself. Pride possesses Antonio and asks Emilia to be his bride. Emilia requests that they meet in the cave. - Wrath comes to meet Emilia. She says she’ll marry Pride as long as witches stop being killed. Emilia
signs the contract and follows Wrath to Hell.
This is a full plot summary of what happened in Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!
