Page 80
Story: Till Death and Daisies Bloom
“Oh, you poor thing,” she cooed. “You're like a baby unicorn—shiny and scared. That’s okay. I like a challenge.”
I wasn’t a challenge. I didn’t even want to be here!
Dear gods, strike me down. Or strike her down. Either would suffice.
I grabbed a roll from the bread basket, tearing into it viciously with my teeth. Even the perfect, fluffy consistency couldn’t quell my mood. Or the hot, rosemary butter inside.
It had to be a cruel joke on Juniper’s part, or possibly Lust. Yes, that was it. Lust was playing a joke on me, and Juniper was in on it. Lust had done things like this before, but pranks were usually more in Greed’s wheelhouse.
Still, it wasn’t unprecedented.
Yet...this tight feeling in my chest was new. It felt like an elephant on my chest, or worse–all five of my brothers at once.
With dawning horror, I realized I was fighting back tears.
Savagely I stuffed it all down, forcing a blank expression on my face. If Daphne noticed, she didn’t say anything or care. Her hand was cold as she tried to stroke mine, her perfume horrifically sweet; almost like rotting fruit as it tickled my nostrils.
I endured thirty-seven more minutes—yes,I counted—of suggestive fruit metaphors, nymph poetry that could only be described as ‘horny drivel,’ and at least two more accidental brushes of her foot against my calf, and a go at her hand in my crotch when she was ‘looking for the fork she dropped.’
Never mind we hadn’t even gotten our main courses yet.
Then I saw him.
Lust, leaning up against the doorway to our dining room, arms folded, expression amused.
Until he saw my face.
He blinked, and frowned, then crossed the room in a storm of silk and designer pants.
“Daphne,” he said smoothly, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I need to borrow Pride for a moment.”
She pouted. “But we need to order dessert after the main dish. I was gonna let him lick cake off my?—”
“Nope,” Lust interrupted, already pulling me from my chair.
I didn’t resist. Why would I? I still had my sin: my pride. Unfortunately.
He led me around the corner, to a quiet alcove lit with floating candles. He turned to me with a look I rarely saw on him.
Regret.
“You okay?” he asked simply.
I adjusted my cufflinks and cleared my throat. Lust had filled a caretaker role among us brothers, but it was always subtle, and certainly never this overt.
“Fine,” I coughed out.
Don’t fucking cry.
“Pride,” he chastised me.
“I thought it was a date,” I admitted after a beat. “With Juniper. I wore the ivory cravat,” I trailed off in a whisper, knowing how fucking pathetic I sounded.
I almost never wore the ivory cravat, for fear of getting it dirty.
“I know,” he said patiently. “She thought it’d be funny.” He hesitated for a beat before continuing. “And so did I, I must admit.”
“It wasn’t,” I argued vehemently.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80 (Reading here)
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150