Tazreel’s entire countenance is seething, but he nods once in agreement, and Acedia does the same, a look of disinterest on his features, like this is all just too much to care about and he’s got a nap scheduled in ten minutes that he’d really like to get to.
“Tell us exactly what’s happening,” Taz orders, so Delta and I quickly explain everything, right down to the fact that we’re all faking compulsion.
Taz’s face grows angrier and angrier with every word out of our mouths. When we’re finished, his jaw is practically cracked, that’s how hard he’s grinding his teeth. “Wait right here,” he orders, and then he, Ace, and Wrath, walk off, rounding up the others.
Soon, all of them are gathered together in a circle, and Delta and I share a look. “That was...intense,” I say with a sigh.
“Yeah. Honestly, it went pretty well, considering.”
I blink at her incredulously. “He threatened to string us up in the ballroom.”
She shrugs. “You should’ve seen him the first time I met him. He locked me up in his spiked cell of doom. Our sperm donor is a real ass,” she says, but I don’t miss the smirk on her face as she watches him. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s fond of him.
The two of us watch the Deadly Sins speaking while the raucous party continues on below. With any luck, the seven of them are coming up with a plan that will save us all, because I really don’t want to die.
But I meant what I said. If I have to choose, I’d take death over Morax and what he’ll do to me.
I just hope I don’t have to.
31
Delta huffs out an irritated sigh. “Why won’t they let us in on their talks?” she asks as we continue to watch the group at the other end of the balcony.
“I’m not an expert on the Sins, but from what I’ve been able to tell so far, they’re arrogant. And not even just our Pride father. All of them,” I note.
She scowls at Taz when he shoots a look over his shoulder at us before going back to talking. “Let’s hope the Sins don’t try to use us now that they know we’re Annuli,” she murmurs.
My stomach tightens. “I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I didn’t think about keeping it a secret. I didn’t realize—”
“It’s fine,” Delta says, cutting in. “It’s not your fault.”
She doesn’t say anything more as she continues to watch Taz, but I can tell she’s irritated. I don’t even need to check into our bond to feel the frustration coming off her in waves. I’m not sure if it’s because of Tazreel or me, or both, but it doesn’t surprise me when she grumbles that she’s going to go look for Medley and then walks off, picking up a tray of drinks from a side table before walking downstairs to bolster her disguise.
As soon as Delta is gone from my side, Ire immediately moves to close the distance between us, but I hold up a hand to stop him. Of course, he doesn’t listen and instead backs me into a corner and tries to level me with an unreadable look I can’t decipher because I refuse to look at him.
I allow myself to be herded and then trapped in the corner of the room, but I have nothing else to do except wait for the Sins to tell me how to save the world and myself.
“Look at me,” Ire commands, but I ignore him, staring past his large frame and studying the few Abdicated milling about on the balcony. None of them look familiar.
“Look at me,” Ire tries again, but the command through gritted teeth doesn’t ingratiate him to me in the slightest.
He cradles my face with both of his hands, and I wish I could say that I slapped them away, that I didn’t lean into the touch despite my better judgment, but then I’d be a liar. I feel like he puts me at war with myself. Then again, he is the son of Wrath, so what do I really expect?
“Sable,” he calls to me, softer this time.
“No,” I snap back, my eyes flitting to his for the briefest of seconds before darting away.
Ire releases a deep breath, but I don’t let his resignation or his touch coax anything out of me. Nope, I’m just mindless Sable again, empty and waiting to find out which side of this mess I’m going to come out