at me. “What? No.” She waves me toward her where she’s sitting down at the long formal dining room table. “But these Abdicated assholes seem to think that we should start breeding a new crop of Annuli and be beholden to them and anyone else in Hell who may have need of their services.”
I turn a shocked gaze over to the two Sins in question.
“We said nothing of the sort,” Envy snaps, her dark brown hair pulled up at the top of her head. “We said the numbers need to be replenished for the sake of balance, and you three have a duty to Hell.”
“We have a duty to no one, thank you very much,” Medley interjects. “We aren’t bound to Hell or to Heaven, we’re neutral by blood and by nature. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”
I step between my sisters, resting my hands on the backs of their chairs. “It’s not like you’ve protected the Annuli that came before us. So you should think long and hard before you go claiming things that don’t belong to you. Maybe look at the reasons why Annuli and Gatekeepers have been forced into hiding in the first place. If you’re concerned about the numbers and balance, then you should make sure people like Morax can never get to us again,” I interject.
“Oh, Morax was a one-off,” Lust defends, dismissing me as she flips her red hair behind her shoulder.
“A one-off that almost decimated all of Hell,” Delta argues.
“We had that well in hand, as you can see,” Avarice counters, the bracelets on his arms clinking together as he waves her off.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Delta shouts again while her mates sitting in a row to her left stiffen on her behalf. “You call what happened to my sisters and me, and all the demons Morax killed, having it well in hand? Are you fucking delusional?”
I snort and shake my head at them. “No wonder our kind has been practically wiped out. You idiots think you have it all under control.”
“Watch your mouth, pup,” Acedia says with a narrowing of his eyes, even as he’s slumped back against the chair, ash-colored wings plumped behind him. I feel Vudu take a growling step forward at my side, his muscles bunching.
“Or what?” Medley challenges, sitting back in her seat. Her inactivated scythe flashes into her hand, and the Sins gasp, chairs screeching back in alarm.
“How dare you threaten a Sin of Hell!” Lust screams like a banshee, making her already flushed skin go even redder, her outraged eyes snapping to Lucifer sitting at the head of the table, demanding that he do something.
The Devil just sits back, his fingers steepled, his light blue eyes taking everything in.
“I promise, sweetheart, if I was threatenin’ you, you’d be a pile of ash right now,” Medley purrs darkly, so at war with her pretty dress and sweet voice. “Oh, and the next time you reach over and touch my mate, I’m gonna mess up that pretty little face you like to hide behind,” she adds saccharine sweet, and I shoot Lust a glare.
She better not be disrespecting Medley like that.
“Pride, I think it’s time you put your progeny in check,” Envy announces, her driftwood wings twitching in agitation.
“I disagree,” Taz replies simply, and Delta’s eyes flash over to him with surprise. “I think my girls make some very good points, and maybe if you weren’t so stuck in your ways, you’d see that. This isn’t the old days where we crushed rebellion under the heel of our boot because it was all but a tiny ember. Morax and the unrest he stirred up almost burnt everything we built to the ground. And we didn’t even know he was a threat until he had us by the throat.”
The other Sins go quiet, some of them looking on contemplatively and some seemingly stewing in anger. My eyes land on Ire’s bright blue gaze, and he stares at me for a moment, his body tense, like he’s anticipating that things are going to escalate.
“Tazreel is right,” Wrath declares from beside Ire, her strong voice cutting through the weighted silence like a knife. “We haven’t done enough. We’ve become too comfortable in our roles, too sure of our own immortality. This business with Morax serves to show us how quickly we could have lost it all.”
She looks to each of her fellow Sins, allowing her words to sink in.
“We shouldn’t be sitting here telling jokes about Gatekeeper or Annuli progeny