Page 19 of Let Me Win You

She gazed at me with compassion.

“You see, travelling between the worlds isn’t that easy. I hardly ever go to your world myself. Your situation is not a typical one…” She took in my crestfallen expression and rushed to me. “Now, now, no need to get upset yet. Let’s talk to Mother. I’m sure there is something that can be done.”

Without even crossing the threshold of the pretty bedroom, I followed Kindness downstairs again.

The front door to the teahouse remained closed, with both Pandora and Charity now sitting in the armchairs with the ever-present tea tray on the small table between them. Pandora’s current forest-green color matched that of Invi’s.

I nervously swept the room with my gaze. “Ishe…gone?”

Pandora nodded. “For now, anyway. But I’m not sure how long my wards can keep him away. Children get so much harder to control as they grow older.”

“Technically, he shouldn’t be coming here without Kindness’s explicit permission,” Charity snapped. “It’sherteahouse, after all.”

Kindness hugged me again. “Aw, sweetie, he terrified you, didn’t he? It’s a lot to take for someone with your limited mortal mentality. Come here, take a seat, have some tea. And don’t be afraid. You’re safe here.”

She put me in one of the comfy armchairs across the table from the other two women and thrust a porcelain cup with chamomile tea in my hands.

“Invi is back in his swamp now,” Charity assured me. “Where he’ll hopefully stay."

“I wish I could make him behave.” Pandora sighed. “But I’m afraid things will get only worse once his brothers find out about another human mortal in Purgatory.”

Kindness nodded, her apple-green eyes growing big with alarm behind her glasses. “Oh, Invi will go livid if one of the other sins claims you for their own. The difference between envy and jealousy isn’t great, and Invi has them both in spades.”

“But I’m not interested in any of his brothers. I don’t even want to meet them. I need to go back home. I have a very important event happening today that I absolutely can’t miss…” My voice trailed off.

What time was it? How long did I sleep? What if I missed the cake decorating challenge already? Making it all the way to the finals was the best thing that had happened to our bakery. Did I blow our chance? Did I let Jess down?

Dread seized my chest. Jess would be devastated, looking for me. She had probably called the police already.

“I really, really need to go back,” I said firmly. “How can I do it?”

Charity winced. Pandora shrugged. And Kindness sighed. Neither of their reactions gave me hope.

“Please,” I begged, pressing my hands together.

“Traveling to your world from Purgatory isn’t exactly natural,” Pandora explained. “The traffic usually moves in the opposite direction. To come here, one just needs to die, but to leave here, one needs a transcendence potion. Avar found the recipe for the potion and, the Sin of Greed that he is, he keeps it under a lock on his mountain.”

“Invi must’ve stolen some,” Charity chimed in. “Or maybe he made a deal with Avar in exchange for something. Our brothers are guilty of all sorts of shady dealings.”

“I don’t think he made a deal.” Kindness put a small basket of scones and muffins closer to me. “I heard from a few souls here, at the teahouse, that Invi stole both the potion and then the moonstone ring that gives a mortal body to a spirit. Avar was raging mad when he discovered the ring gone after a dinner at Gul’s last night. He was supposed to go back to Maddy’s world and couldn’t do it without the ring.”

I remembered the antique-looking ring on Invi’s finger last night. It had glowed with pale blue and shimmering green, looking expensive, like everything else about him.

I should’ve known better and stayed away from him then, like my common sense had screamed for me to do. But something drew me to him, despite all the red flags I’d usually steer away from.

If only he hadn’t been so sweet and charming last night.

I halted my breath against the tightness gripping my chest. I should’ve known it all was too good to be true.

“Does one absolutely need the ring to bring me back?” I asked the otherworldly ladies.

“No.” Pandora stirred the tea in her cup. “The ring is for deception, not for traveling. But without the transcendence potion, it’s impossible to go to your world.”

Sensing my crushing disappointment, Kindness added quickly, “Avar travels to your world often, now that he has Madison, who has a family and a business to attend to.”

“Who is Madison?” I asked.

“Um…” Kindness stumbled in her answer, then glanced at her mother and sister uncertainly.

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