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I nodded, Envy and Greed each patting my left shoulder as they flanked me on that side, Gluttony and Sloth on my right.

“All seven of you cannot take on a god,” Apophis laughed.

“Minor god,” Greed said cheekily.

“And we don’t plan on fighting you,” Gluttony intoned seriously.

I whipped my head back to stare at him. We didn’t?

Apophis snorted. “It wouldn’t be a fight, would it? Now, which Sin dies first. I–”

“We aren’t fighting you,” Pride cut him off. “He is.”

Pride pointed over his shoulder, and I about shit myself.

He stood there, the Prince of Darkness himself, shrouded in shadows and nightmares. A dozen shadow demon cats flanked him on both sides, Damon directly on his right.

Apophis made a panicked sputtering sound, immediately shrinking back to a normal height. He rushed forward, throwing his arms out and hurriedly tucking the shard of mirror away in his robe.

“Hades! You are back from your...trip. Rested I hope? I–”

Hades merely lifted his chin and the shadow demon cats pounced, taking Apophis to the ground and binding him with black smoke and shadows.

Apophis screamed as though their touch burned him. Hades ignored his cries, gliding forward and bending down, removing the mirror shard from his pocket.

“Stealing again, Apophis? Rascal.”

With a snap of his fingers the shard rotated and hovered in the air, seven more flying from the wreckage of the cabin and fitting back together with the original piece. Hades crushed them all in his fist, and with effort, it glowed red hot.

“Wrath, would you mind?”

I blinked in disbelief as Hades pushed the hovering mass of molten mirror toward me in the air.

“What do I do?” I asked quietly.

“Help,” he answered simply.

Cautiously I released my magick, in awe as it quickly rushed through my veins, flying to the surface. It leaped out to the mirror and held it, shaping it with its own conscious will.

Ten seconds passed and it withdrew, Hades's hand reaching out to snatch it. “Lovely. Looks just like her original.”

He admired the mirror which was now cast in an obsidian setting, complete with an ornate frame and delicate handle. He gestured at Apophis with it. “Naughty boy. Hecate hasbeen looking at it for centuries. We’ll let her play with you as punishment.”

The shadow demon cats’ howls mixed with Apophis’s screams as they all disappeared in a wisp of smoke, leaving just my Sins and the God of the Underworld himself.

Pride sighed. “That’s going to be a lot of paperwork.”

Hades grinned. “Probably.”

I turned around and crumpled into Lust’s arms. He seized me in a bone-breaking hug, and we stayed that way for a good thirty seconds. As I pulled him away, my Sin flared as I punched him in the shoulder.

“OW! I–”

“Don’t ever sacrifice yourself like that again you limp noodle!” I shouted at him.

Lust winced. “My noodle is far from limp.”

Gluttony cleared his throat.