Page 47 of Spit

He nodded silently, studying me. “I apologize for earlier.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” I shrugged. “I didn’t realize how bad the stab wound was until I couldn’t get out of the car.”

Sev cocked his head to the side. His brow furrowed. “No. Earlier. When we met at the club?”

I frowned, trying to think back to what had happened, but it seemed so long ago, even though it was only yesterday. Realization dawned slowly. “My reaction to your magic? That’s not on you. That’s on me.”

Sev bristled, shifting his shoulders as if he wad uncomfortable in his skin all of a sudden. “People think that Lust is only about sexual desire.”

I looked at his profile as he looked out onto the moaning people below. “It’s not?”

Sev shrugged. “Lust is desire. Desire can be directed at many things, but more often than not, we desire that which we cannot have.”

“Okay.” I had no idea where he was going with this.

“My magic lowers inhibitions.” He told me delicately. “It gives many the freedom to go after their desires. I cannot create a desire from nothing; I can only make what is in your heart grow.”

I had nothing to say, so I stayed silent.

“You do not react to my magic.” Sev turned to face me, his hand resting on the balcony railing. “What is it that you desire?”

I considered his words. “I don’t know.”

Sev’s hand shifted as if he wanted to touch me but held himself back. “Many want sex. Money. Power. What is it that you want?”

“I guess Lust just isn’t my sin.” I joked, laughing though the sound felt flat.

Sev eyed me shrewdly. “You are Gluttony. You wish for abundance.”

I wished for enough money to pay all my bills and still afford to go on vacation. We didn’t always get what we wished for.

“You shouldn’t have reacted that way to my magic.” Sev winced. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. No one has ever…”

I turned back to the ballroom below. “I don’t have a good history with…” I waved towards the debauchery below.

His gaze sharpened. “Did someone hurt you?”

It felt like someone had plunged a hand into my chest and wrapped it around my heart. “This conversation is a little deep.” I laughed, but the sound was pithy and empty. “Normally, people buy me dinner before getting to the heavy stuff.”

“I can feed you dinner if you give me a list of names,” Sev said, but when he smiled, it felt more like a shark bearing its teeth.

My nose wrinkled. “Why? So you can kill them?”

He waggled his eyebrows.

I waved my hand, dismissing the conversation like a bad smell. “Shouldn’t you be down there? Sucking up all the Lust?”

Sev’s dark eyes sparkled with mischief. “Who’s to say I’m not standing here, filling my metaphorical stomach on the bundle of repressed lust and denial right in front of me?”

I scoffed. “That’s why you’re talking to me? I thought you found my company scintillating.”

“That too.”

I sighed, and Sev’s smile turned close-lipped and sympathetic.

“I needed to tell Legion something,” I said.

“You can tell me.” Sev cocked his head to the side the way that demons did. The movement was distinctly bird-like, so at odds with his human appearance. Sev took that moment to turn to face me completely. Though I would have stepped away if it was anyone else, for some reason, I remained where I was and allowed him to move closer.

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