Saeran

It took years for Gyro not to search every room in a building for him, sparking electricity as if playing a game. Excepting him to appear, and shoot her that grin that’s never failed to make me weak for him. Even I still do it with her sometimes, because my heart needs to make sure. Just in case.

I should have expected that. Of course, the key is tied to us. And it explains why I haven’t been able to open it myself. It needed both our energies.

Gluttony stays in bed, stretched out languidly while I retrieve it. My mouth drops open in surprise when I spy the contents. Oh .

“What is it?” Gluttony asks, sitting up and leaning against the backboard. “Show it to me.”

Crawling across the bed, I straddle his hips and pull out the necklace nuzzled inside. The scales rest heavy in my palm, with a low hum of static. The tattoos on my cheek light up, warming my face. Gluttony tracks it with interest and then trails his fingers over the lines.

“You’re reacting to it. Yours?”

“No, it’s yours.” Just like Lust’s locket and Deacon’s tattoo, it’s the physical manifestation of our connection. It makes us both stronger and keeps up entwined. My tattoos remained, but I thought this was lost with him. He would have been wearing it when he was killed. He never took it off.

“Put it on me.”

Resting the empty orb beside me, I carefully lift the chain over his head until the scales are resting on his chest. Right where they should have been all along.

“The music box had scales as well,” Gluttony muses. “What’s the significance? I assume there is one.”

I kiss him softly, lingering before saying, “Balance.” I curl my fingers around the scales, the warmth of his skin against my knuckles. “Dark and light. Day and night. You represent balance.”

Gluttony snorts in surprise. “Since when?”

I smile at the disbelief in his words. I understand his nature better than he does. What it was before this place twisted it. “Since always. You expected everything from our court, but you gave everything in return. Every gift that I gave you, you returned the sentiment in spades. You showed me every day that I was yours.” I never once felt anything less than cherished and loved. Gluttony doesn’t look at me now with the same level of devotion, one built from years of being together. But there are hints, the potential for growth. It will come back, I know it will. That kind of comfort takes time.

If we survive that long.

“What’s that look for?” He cups my cheek and forces me to look at him, a warm hand curving around my back.

“The Light are—”

“Tomorrow’s problem.” He urges me forward, slanting his lips over mine. When his tongue slides across my bottom lip, I open for him, letting him in. Being back in his arms again is intoxicating, and I can finally breathe again. Live again. “The only thing you should be thinking about right now is getting back on my dick and taking me for a ride.”

I can’t say no to that. He’s already hard and ready for me, and I’m still dripping with him, my ass slick and open. I easily take him inside, filling me so full I can feel it in my heart. There’s nothing like this, having him this close and taking over every one of my senses. I’m afraid that I’ll wake up and find this was just a dream, a fantasy conjured in my sleep.

He kisses me slowly, and I rock on him, in no hurry this time. The worst of the desperation has been tempered. It will rise again, of course, but knowing that Gluttony will sate the hunger inside me whenever I need it makes all the difference. I won’t be starved for millennia. Not anymore.

I never let go of his necklace, and by the time I bring us to a slow, powerful climax, my hair has completely extended, braid hanging low on my back. Gluttony holds tight to it, using it to thrust up into me. I fall asleep just like that, in his lap, with him still buried deep. I haven’t been so content in a long time.

A KNOCK AT THE door abruptly wakes me, and I have psychic energy hovering above my hand in an instant, rising into a crouch without thought. Even after being deprived of the full strength of it, my body remembers the depths of my magic. It’s as easy as walking, breathing, eating.

Gluttony chuckles beside me. “Easy there,” he says, running knuckles up my back. “It’s just Lust.”

Now that he’s said that, I can tell that he’s right. Lust’s energy is right on the other side of the door. Probably a good thing he knocked. I can’t remember the last time I felt this alive, this brimming with energy and magic. My wings are all but vibrating on my back, and I’m almost overflowing with it. Not back to one hundred percent but so much closer than ever. A formidable ally again. Able to protect Gluttony. Protect the ones that rely on me.

And without the guilt of having sacrificed them for it. Us joining hasn’t brought the attention of the Light. They already had their sights set on me and mine. They know, and it has nothing to do with my connection to Gluttony. Emrys got so close to the other Dark who are still alive that it was inevitable he would find me. We’ve always been drawn to one another, all the Seven Sons and their guardians.

Gluttony tugs me back against his chest, covering us with a sheet before he tells Lust to enter.

Lust glances around at the room and the broken furniture. “I take it that was your doing?”

“I heard what happened when you and Deacon had sex the first time, so you can shove that judgment up your ass.”

“I don’t believe that Deacon and I destroyed half of the building,” Lust replies dryly.

I can’t hide my wince. I knew it would be powerful, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad for the destruction. Gluttony caresses my shoulder and then kisses the curve.

“It’ll fix. What do you want, Lust?”

“There have been numerous situations all over the city and across America.” He turns to me. “We’ve confirmed some are from Virtus, possibly purging some of their facilities, including the one we found the other day. Others are… interesting. Deliberate.”

“What kind of deliberate?” Gluttony asks. His hands moves under the sheet, and I grasp his wrist before he can go further. He’s not touching my dick while his brother is in the room.

“Messages, though I can’t even begin to work out what they’re meant to convey. I can only assume they’re Light Fae, based on the magic used. Unless you and yours are into public destruction for the fun of it?”

I shake my head wordlessly. We’re not into drawing attention to ourselves. The Light move quickly. Why send messages, though? Why not kill us outright? “Do you have visuals?”

Lust gestures with his head. “Get dressed and meet us in the kitchen.” He leaves without another word.

I raise a brow at Gluttony. “The kitchen again?”

Gluttony shrugs. “We get hungry when we’re strategizing.” He stretches, impressive chest twisting. Seemingly in no hurry. “Do you think they’re after you already?”

“I guarantee it.” No matter how powerless I was and am even now, I’m still a threat in their eyes. They won’t stop until I’m dead. And then they’ll start a hunt to ensure I really am the last one.

Gluttony drags me into a long kiss, and only when my brain has switched off completely does he let go to get out of the bed. He walks naked over to the door leading to his bathroom and then looks over his shoulder. “Time to shower, Saeran.”

I almost trip in the sheets in my haste to go to him.

It doesn’t take him long to have me sandwiched against the glass, thrusting deep, my screams echoing off the tiling. I’ll never get enough of this.

I refuse to lose it again.

ENVY, GREED, WRATH, LUST , and Deacon are all waiting for us in the kitchen when we finally get there. None of them are surprised by our lateness, though Envy does give me a wicked grin before offering me some bread.

“No, thank you,” I say politely. Envy shrugs and shoves my slice into his mouth. He’s wearing cupcake pajama bottoms and a bright-orange tank top, with “marry me” written on it. His pink bear slippers with floppy ears, tucked under him where he’s sitting cross-legged on his chair, complete the look. I remember the bright clothes he once wore, scandalizing some of the older Fae. It makes my heart happy to see that he hasn’t changed at all.

Though the dark lines under his eyes worry me. As does the way he winces every so often, and his head turns like someone is talking to him. The dead speaking and taunting. He shouldn’t be allowing them this close without his permission. That he can’t control them to that level is a frightening prospect.

My gaze moves to Greed, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, and I know I can’t stay silent. “I need to tell you something.”

An eyebrow raises above the line of his glasses. “Perhaps introductions first? Saeran, right?”

Oh. Right. He doesn’t know me. For a moment, I’d almost forgotten that I’m in a roomful of what amounts to total strangers. It felt for a moment like I’d been transported back in time.

“Yes. Sorry. It’s been a while.” This isn’t the most awkward conversation I’ve ever had, but it’s up there.

Envy snickers beside me and then kicks out a chair. “Sit down, man, you’re making the place look untidy. What did you want to tell him?”

Part of me wants to go back to the awkward part of the conversation. Clenching my hands into fists on my lap, I stir up the courage to just get it out. “When we were attacked, and you were killed, I thought you had all died. I thought I was the only one left. It turns out I was wrong, and that one of our own is still out there.”

“One of our own?” Wrath asks. “What does that mean? There are only seven Sins.”

“His name is Emrys.” I glance at Greed, so tense that I’m surprised I haven’t turned into stone. Gluttony sits beside me, so close I can feel his body heat. He squeezes my hip, letting me know that he’s here. That helps more than he knows. “He’s Light Fae, but he was one of us. Your other half.”

Greed frowns, the colors moving in his gaze, visible even through the glasses. “My what?”

Envy leans over the table and pats his hand. “I’ll explain later. You missed a lot.”

“Apparently.”

“You want some bread?”

“Sure.” Greed takes the offered slice and the jar of strawberry jelly.

“He’s not here, though,” Lust says. He slides his plate with a peanut butter sandwich to Deacon, who bites into it without a word. I deliberately look away from that side of the table. “Why didn’t he come back with you?”

He’s always known how to get to the heart of everything.

“Well?” Greed asks, insistent. “Where is he, this ‘other half’ of mine?” He looks around as if Emrys will somehow materialize out of thin air. Unfortunately, none of us want that.

“He’s with the Light. He… had something to do with the night we lost everything. I don’t know what, I didn’t get time to ask him. He left quickly.” A good thing, too, since he could have killed me with one snap of his fingers. I’d gotten lucky. Very lucky.

“It’s safe to say that he’s not on our side and poses a great threat to our survival.” I can’t disguise the thickness in my throat. Emrys. Our enemy. I can’t process it properly.

“You know, I think we have great taste in men,” Envy says dryly. “Deacon tried to kill Lust, Saeran’s been deliberately hiding from us for centuries, Conor is on a crusade to wipe us all out, and Greed’s asshole was one of the main players that destroyed us in the first place. Good job, guys, we’re doing great. Four out of seven is a passing mark.”

I want to argue with him, but I can’t. None of it is a lie. We’re not exactly covering ourselves in glory.

“Stop running your mouth,” Lazarus says with a roll of his eyes.

“Conor is not one of ours,” Wrath snarls. “Once we find him, we’re killing him.”

“You’re not,” Deacon says angrily, looking ready to fight. I imagine they’ve had this conversation more than a few times already.

“I don’t even know who this Emrys is. Can it be counted as my taste in men when I haven’t even met the guy?” Greed’s mouth tips sideways. “Seems a little unfair to lump me in there.”

“Not in this lifetime, but you chose him once,” Envy points out.

“I still don’t think it counts.”

“That gives us a long list of enemies,” Lust says, lips flat. “What’s the plan here?”

“We need to find the rest of the Sins and your demons. If Virtus learn too much, we’ll be at even more of a disadvantage. Now that I’m… stronger”—I’m not ready to get into that; the last thing that we need is for the conversation to devolve into sex and ribbing—“I can help you pinpoint them better.”

“Like the orb you gave Gluttony earlier that Deacon used?”

“Sort of.” I won’t need the orb now, though it will definitely be useful. “Where is it?”

“I have it,” Gluttony says with a scowl. “He’s not getting it back.”

With a small secretive smile, I rub his thigh, comforting. I would never ask him to give up his gifts. The only reason I did before was because I had no other choice. There was no way I could get it into Deacon’s hands without going through Gluttony. It was the only way to ensure they actually used it and didn’t simply discard it.

“Does it still work?” I ask.

“No,” Deacon answers. “It went dormant and wouldn’t respond to me. Like it was out of power.”

I’m not even sure where to start with my brother and how to sift through all the feelings he brings up in me. Bracing myself, I turn to look at him. So familiar to me and yet a complete stranger. Even more than the others. There at least I have some history to draw from. “That sounds right. You’ll need to inject more of your Fae magic into it, in order to get it working again. You can even do it yourself. I can show you how.”

Gluttony tenses underneath me, and I squeeze. I’ll give him ten times more gifts to make him feel better. Shower him with them every day until they spill out into the rest of the building. Until we have to build our own home again just to house them all.

“You’re really going to train me?” Deacon asks, squinting suspiciously at me.

“I have to.” The honest truth. If we can’t get his wings out, we’re all in trouble. The level of magic he has was never meant to be contained. It will start feeding on him from the inside. Luckily, he was always a fast learner, and it shouldn’t take much. He just needs a push, one that only one of his own can give him.

Deacon grins, and he looks so much like my brother that my breath catches, pain in my chest. “When do we start?”