The Seven Sins

32. The Aftermath

Pride

I watched her go through the portal. I watched her disappear as it closed behind her and Desiré. I knew the moment the portal would close, I would get an onslaught from my brothers, but right now all I could think about was Ava. About the hurt and betrayal that filled her face. The hate. It didn't feel like I was breathing, it felt like something was being ripped out of me. I knew this day was coming and I feared it from the moment I had laid my eyes on her. It's too late, Pride. I thought I was saying goodbye to her in the past days, but it was when she said that I felt a finality between us. Like she had closed the door. I couldn't really blame her. But it would keep her safe. When she gets through her month with Despond, she will go home and be safe. I thought about the first time I saw her. She was talking with Sevrin and there was just something about her that made me know. Know that she would resist them all and that she would overturn our lives completely.

Ava.

I should've told her everything. I should've told my brothers but that was a whole different story. When Marek was the one who could resist all sins, when I saw him get closer to Griffin, then to me. I had felt fear too, but he was killed before he could go to her. But whatever I felt for Marek, it's different with Ava. I didn't know what it was, but it just was more. Ava, she was -

I was pulled out of my thoughts when my head was snapped back in full force. My neck made a sickening cracking noise. My eyesight was a little blurry when I looked back. But I could see clearly who it was. Sevrin. He was red in the face and furious.

"You fucking asshole!" He grabbed my collar, his face hoovering an inch from mine. "How could you let her go with her? You know how mental Desiré is! You don't deserve a second of her time! Here I thought you actually cared for her."

Wymond pulled him back, but he looked as furious as Sevrin. "How did we forget about her?" He asked, his voice tense.

I touched the bruise that was forming around my eye. Sevrin's punch was quite impressive. "You always do."

"What?!" All of my brothers shouted.

"Think back to Esmee." I said. "What happened then?" They all stared at me in complete silence. "It's part of the curse, I think." I scrubbed my stubble that I kept for her. This was all so confusing. I didn't even know the half of what the curse did to us. "You all forget about our sister until you see her again. All of you except me."

Gideon sat down on the dais, looking more frustrated than I've ever seen him. "I remember." He pulled at his hair. "But we'll forget again, won't we?" I nodded. He glanced to the spot Ava disappeared. "I'm afraid for her. Desiré hasn't been in her right mind for centuries."

"Why do you remember her? Why didn't you warn us?!" Lucien gritted his teeth.

"We all know she hated me the most." I said. My brothers all looked down at the ground because it was something else too. A reason she should never know how I felt about Ava. Desiré was my sister but that didn't stop her from wanting me. That didn't stop her from forcing herself on me. Desiré had a power none of us possessed. We never knew where she got it from, but it made her stronger, crueller than the rest of us. We haven't talked in years since we only saw her when someone could resist seven sins. She was trapped here like the rest of us, but it didn't seem to faze her.

I don't want to know what she would do to Ava if she found out. Leon, who has been here a hundred years, never looked so mad. Not even when I forbid him and Elmir to see each other. And he never even looked me in the eye, but now his eyes bore through mine.