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Chapter

Twenty-Eight

GREED

T he moment the power exploded out of her, I knew we’d screwed up. Not just in the we got caught acting like sex-starved demigods by a child and launched Gluttony through a wall way. No. This was different. Deeper. The kind of mistake that could rip holes in realms.

We’d forgotten what Wrath was.

Who she was.

Not just Wrath; not just some shiny new soul that Lust wanted to worship and Pride wanted to protect. She was a witch. With little experience despite her protestations.

And every damn one of us should’ve known better. G would have usually reminded us of this, or even Sloth–but we’d chased both of them off.

The aftershock of her magick still tingled across my skin. I could feel where it had entered me—like we’d cracked a seal none of us had the right to touch. And Lust—gods, Lust had taken the brunt of it.

He hadn’t said a word. Just lay sprawled on the floor frozen, wide-eyed, then running out like something had ripped open in his chest. I hadn’t seen his face look like that since the Fall. And back then, it had taken a full pantheon to steady him.

“Fuck,” I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair. “We’re idiots.”

Envy stood beside me, eyes locked on the trail Lust had carved through the hall like a wildfire. His jaw flexed, throat working silently before he finally croaked, “She doesn’t even know what she did.”

“She can’t know,” I said. “And Lust—he felt all of it first. Every ounce of that power. She let him inside, and it responded like it’s been waiting centuries.”

“She was a virgin witch, and a sin,” Envy whispered, voice hollow. “That was her first time with all of us, her mates. You know what that means.”

“A magickal bond. Permanent. Sacred. Cosmic,” I recited, teeth gritted. “Yeah. I know.”

And with the kind of power surging through Wrath in that moment, it wasn’t just a spiritual entanglement. It was a damn magickal override. Lust was probably out there right now, crawling out of his skin, high on her energy and tethered so hard to her soul he couldn’t breathe.

“Gluttony,” Envy said, turning sharply. “We need to check on him.”

Right. Because nothing screams good decision-making like slamming our most temperamental brother through a marble wall with a burst of divine wrath-fueled orgasm magic.

We found him in the ruins of his wine cellar, sitting on a collapsed shelf of vintage merlot with a busted wall at his back, shirt torn and rage barely contained. Dust had settled in his hair, turning it white.

He looked up slowly as we approached.

“If one more of you bastards steps into this room without a bottle of apology in your hands, I swear on every vintage I’ve ever hoarded?—”

“It was an accident,” Envy said.

“A magickal accident,” I added.

Gluttony glared. “I got suplexed by a goddess mid-climax and sent through a barrel rack. You want to talk about magickal accidents?”

“She’s a repressed witch,” I said. “We forgot. The sex?—”

“Yeah. I felt it,” he growled, massaging his temple. “The bond magick was like swallowing the sun and chasing it with bad brandy. Lust is out there somewhere losing his mind.”

“And it’s only going to get worse if we don’t figure out what else that did,” Envy added grimly.

Gluttony sighed, looked down at the shattered glass and crushed barrels, then glanced back at the gaping hole in the ceiling above.

“Well,” he muttered. “At least it was good wine.”

Gluttony's anger deflated like a torn sail.

He paced a tight circle around the edge of the warded room, fists clenched, jaw twitching—but there was no fire behind it anymore. Just a hollowness that sat heavy in his chest

I was shit at this lovey-dovey stuff, but it was harder to see Gluttony suffer like this–Gluttony, the one who always took care of everyone else.

So I’d give it a fucking try.

“Clio messed you up pretty bad,” I managed, sitting down on the dirty, debris-ridden floor.

Envy glared at me harshly. We had an unspoken agreement as brothers never to mention her unless we had to.

Well, it was time.

“She didn’t even look back,” Gluttony muttered, voice hoarse. “After everything. After me. Clio just...walked away.”

Envy and I shot each other looks. Gluttony never spoke openly about his feelings.

And here he was, sprawled lazily over the ruins of a collection worth millions.

“Muses are heartbreak incarnate. That’s kind of their thing,” Envy added, when Gluttony went silent again.

Gluttony’s shoulders hunched tighter. “I thought I could handle it. Thought I’d be enough.”

“You’re a sin,” Envy drawled, tapping his nails against his thigh. “Not a story. She left the moment she didn’t like how yours ended.”

There was silence for a long beat. Even Envy didn’t smile this time.

Gluttony finally stopped moving, staring at the floor like it held the answers. Something changed then in his demeanor; a sudden snap that made him feel more like the family patriarch we relied on him to be.

“We have to find Lust. Or Juniper and Lust, together. If we can siphon that power—share it equally—we can end this. Finish what Wrath started.”

Envy perked up, eyes gleaming.

“This would be a great fucking time for Hades to come back,” I said under my breath.

Gluttony’s eyes zeroed in on me.

“Good idea. I’ll send Sloth and the fae child to hunt down Hades. I will attend the council meeting. You two will go after Lust and Juniper.”

Envy covered his face with his hands, hiding an inappropriate grin.

“And do what, exactly?” I asked, not getting it.

Gluttony’s eyes narrowed at me, as though I were dense on purpose.

I was an idiot, and frequently on purpose, but not this time.

“He wants us to fuck her to spread the power,” Envy deadpanned.

Oh. Oh.

“Poor us.” It slipped out before I could help it.

“Idiots,” G grit out. “Move it.”

“Gladly,” I trilled.

Nothing beats having a mission, after all.