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I bristled at her forwardness.

“I’d imagine not,” I spit out, and brushed by her and walked down the hallway. I didn’t need her permission to visit my own brother.

“Pride for sure!” Her high-pitched voice grated on my nerves as she called after me, and I tried to shake it off. What was Diana thinking, having a succubus for a receptionist?

She’d probably just say it was good business, I thought snidely.

I pulled my shoulders back and strutted into Lust’s office.

“Get your dick out of your ass, we have a prob—” I began, but came to a screeching halt in front of Lust’s desk because the figure sitting behind was not, in fact, Lust. Neither was the voice.

Holy shit. It was her.

The girl–witch–I’d re-animated. She sat at Lust’s desk, completely unaffected by my presence and if anything, looked rather annoyed at my intrusion.

Lust had his back to me, not noticing my arrival.

“I assure you there’s no dick up my ass presently. Though with the right lubrication–” he responded.

I backed up almost to the doorway, my fingers twitching behind my back to subtly test that the fabric of reality was still intact. Why else would she be here?

Mate.

It was a concept I hadn’t been able to get out of my head ever since it wormed its way in. It was the only explanation I could come up with that made any sense–she was the only female I’d felt bothered by, seeing her arrive to the Underworld so cold and lifeless. It wasn't right.

But still, what were the odds she’d be here? Did Lust know?

Be cool. Play it off.

I cleared my throat and entered the office.

“Excuse me. I was...expecting my brother.”

One eyebrow raised as she closed the flap on the electronic device she’d been working on.

“Obviously,” she said.

Her eyes studied me, but in a much more thoughtful way than the shameless succubus out front. I distracted myself by replacing new memories with old–instead of her cold, lifeless corpse on the Underworld ground, I catalogued the pink flush in her cheeks, how her brown eyes shone with bits of gold, and the steady rise and fall of her chest.

“Can’t tell which one you are. Maybe Greed, by how you’re staring?”

My jaw dropped with indignation.Greed? I should think not! I was saved further embarrassment by Lust.

“Ah. Pride. This is...Juniper.” He hesitated on saying her name as his gaze danced between us, analyzing and plotting. Behind us, at Lust’s desk, Juniper made a small sound of ‘ah ha’ upon hearing what sin I was.

“It’s about time the two of you met,” he continued, making a shooing motion at Juniper to move from behind his desk.

She ignored him.

“And why is that?” Juniper asked him, her fingers continuing to dance along the glass top of the electronic device.

I blinked at both of them. Lust pulled one of his chairs from in front of his desk to behind, right beside Juniper.

Juniper. That name didn’t seem familiar. Had Janine even given me her name before the reanimation?

Oh boy, re-animating someone and you didn’t even know their name. Hades is gonna love that.

“Well, seeing as he’s the one who–” Lust cleared his throat and faked a couch.