and they sparkle like crazy where they’re wrapped around her, draped very carefully over her intimate bits.
“Ooh, role play,” she purrs as she looks at Delta’s maid outfit. “Positively wonderful.”
“Elle, not now,” Taz snaps.
I lean in toward Ire. “Is that…”
“Lust,” he confirms. “Careful around her. People tend to overlook the Sin of Lust and think that she’s not dangerous. But you know that saying, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Well, that’s about her. You don’t want to see Scorned Lust when she’s not satisfied. It’s not pretty.”
“Good to know,” I say warily as she looks my way, her eyes travelling up my body like she wants to eat me up. Ire places a possessive arm around my waist.
“Look, we don’t have time for you guys to keep having your little team huddle,” Delta snaps as she stops in front of them. “In case you didn’t notice, our damn guise just wore off, either purposely or not, which means if there’s a move to be made, it needs to be made now.”
A male with bronzed skin, wings, and hair raises a brow at her. He’s nearly as shiny as Lust, though instead of a gemstone chain dress, he’s rocking bracelets up to his elbows, several necklaces, and all ten of his fingers are adorned with multiple rings. It’s like he’s obsessed with wearing as much priceless jewelry as he possibly can. He must be Avarice—materialistic greed.
“But we did just make a move,” he tells Delta with a smug grin.
She frowns. “What?” she asks, the two of us frowning together as we look over at Taz to explain.
“Your disguise didn’t fail because of Morax or his followers. We broke the illusion,” Taz says.
Delta and I both blink at him.
“What the fuck? Why? Why would you do that without telling us first? Medley is still out there!” Delta demands, staring daggers at Taz.
But it’s a gorgeous bald male who answers this time. He’s holding a comically large goblet in one hand and a big donut-looking thing in the other, and there’s a short imp beside him with a full pitcher of more wine just for him. “Did you think we threw this gathering for no reason?” he asks before downing his drink and holding it out to the imp for a refill.
In Delta’s words: Fucking Gluttony.
Delta grits her teeth with impatience. “Can you guys stop talking in circles and tell us what the hell is going on? We need to find our sister!”
“Pride’s progeny is right,” another female says, whose wings look like smooth wood. “Do we have what we need?” she asks, looking at the others.
Lust nods. “We have confirmation. The room is sealed.”
“Perfect, then the lure worked. We have him,” Gluttony grins.
“The lure?” I ask, taking a moment to look around and let the meaning of that statement sink in. “You mean you purposely threw this gathering so that Morax would come?”
Taz looks right at me. “That’s precisely what we did.”
Delta curses. “Of all the arrogant, fucking dum—”
“Quiet, girl,” Acedia says boredly, making Delta seethe. He looks to the others. “Let’s get on with it.”
They share mutual nods and then the seven of them walk to the railing of the balcony. With growing apprehension, my sister and I watch as they each raise their hands in front of them and then with a strange flourish, something in the air wavers like a mirage in an overheated desert.
The next thing I know, the raucous noise of the party below is just...gone.
I don’t mean that the noise suddenly died down. I don’t mean that the musicians took a break. I mean that it’s completely, utterly quiet. The change is so startling that Delta and I both immediately rush forward to the railing and peer over.
The hundreds of dressed up Abdicated, the dancers, the fountains, the tables of food...it’s all gone too.
What the heck?
No one is down there anymore, save for a few dozen Abdicated who are looking around with shock. Morax’s followers. And there, standing right in the center of the room, his disguise dissolved, is the Ophidian himself, staring up at us. But instead of seeing panic or rage in his white, slitted eyes, I see cunning amusement.
Slowly, the snake-haired male raises his hands and gives a loud, slow clap, the sound echoing sharply. “Well done,” Morax says as he looks around the nearly empty room. “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting the mirage part. It was very convincing.”
Taz braces his hands on the railing and leans over,