Page 20 of Let Me Win You

“It’s not important.” Pandora swept her hand through the air. “What matters is that Avar is coming back in a week or two. He’ll take you home then.”

“In a week or two?” I repeated, in shock. “But I can’t stay here for that long. I have to go backnow. We’re registered for the cake decorating challenge as a team of three. They’ll disqualify Jess and Geoff without me. I can’t let them down.”

As much as I disliked competing, I couldn’t leave Jess and our one and only employee, Geoff, in the cold like that. Poor Jess, she’d be crushed by missing out on this chance, especially on top of all her troubles with her piece-of-shit boyfriend Shaun.

“You can decorate a cake here, with me,” Kindness suggested, cheerfully.

“Humans…” Charity muttered, refilling her cup from a chubby teapot painted with daisies and gooseberries. “They keep holding on to their miserable lives with all they’ve got, even after they get a glimpse of a much better place like our town.”

I tossed the virtue a probing look. “You don’t like us very much, do you?”

“Of course I do,” she bristled. “I love humans. How can I not? You’re wretched, weak creatures. You need all the love and help you can get.”

The line between charity and pity was thin, but Charity made it look non-existent. Except that I couldn’t even fight her on it in earnest. In Purgatory, I felt smaller than ever, and definitely in need of help.

“Is Avar the only one who has that transcendence potion?” I asked, holding on to the hope of being able to leave here soon. “How about anyone else?”

“Other than Avar, only Sup and Gul visit your world regularly,” Charity said. “But they also get the potion from Avar when they need it.”

“But I can’t wait for Avar,” I moaned in panic. “I need to be back today.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Kindness cooed. “Things have a way of sorting themselves out. Here, have a muffin.” She shoved a pastry into my hand. “Food makes mortals feel better, I’ve heard.”

Pandora sipped her tea, while gradually turning from pine green to baby blue. “What are a few days when you still have most of your lifetime to spend in that world? Your body seems to be in good enough health. It may last several decades still.”

“I have a very important… no, alife-changingevent happening today. If I miss it, I’ll let my best friend down—” My throat tightened in distress, momentarily cutting off my air supply.

“I’m sure everything will be just fine.” Kindness patted my shoulder sympathetically. “Just try to relax a little and have more tea.” She grabbed the teapot from the side table and filled my cup up to the rim.

The scent of chamomile made me feel nauseated. I couldn’t take another sip even if I tried.

“You humans are so dramatic,” Pandora drawled. “You fret over every little thing that doesn’t go your way and make a huge deal out of everything. A decade from now, you won’t even think about this important event of yours. And just one lifetime later,you’ll completely forget all about it. Just relax, drink some tea, wait for Avar. Nothinglife-changingis going to happen in the few days meanwhile. Trust me. Your world is so boring, it often even beats Purgatory in that department.” She stretched in her chair and hid a yawn behind her hand. “I arrived here just this morning, and I’m already so bored.”

Charity curved her lips, unimpressed. “You’re always bored, Mother. But the world cannot burn in chaos indefinitely simply to keep you entertained.”

“Nothing permanent can be entertaining forever, child. The fun is in changing things up, every now and then.” Pandora gave me a closer look, as if gauging my potential for entertainment. “Invi wants you. Badly. You should’ve seen the fit he threw here before I forced him away.”

“Invi always wants what others have,” Charity scoffed. “After what Avar did, of course he had to go and do the same. Only he did it even more clumsily than his brother.”

“A mortal body is rare in Purgatory.” Pandora rested her chin in her hand, staring at me uncomfortably long. “It wouldn’t be just Invi who’d want you. I bet Ira would like a chance to earn your affection or Sup, who always appreciates pretty novelty things. Some of the other sins may want a shot at it too.”

“But I’m not soliciting my affection to anyone,” I bristled. “I didn’t come here to look for a man, or a sin, or…whatever. I didn’t even come here because Iwantedto be here?—”

“I know, I know.” Pandora’s voice turned uncharacteristically gentle. “You were stolen, abducted, misled, and wronged. What a terrible, terrible thing Invi did to you. He absolutely needs to be punished.”

“Punished?” I wondered where she was going with it now.

“Yes. He and the rest of my sons need to know that this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated. We allowed Avar’s deed to go unpunished and look where it led.” She pointed anaccusing finger at me. “Next thing you know, all of the deadly sins will descend upon your poor, defenseless world and start snatching mortals left, right, and center. We can’t possibly let that happen.”

Kindness nodded, biting her lip in worry. “Mother is right. We can’t.”

Charity squinted at Pandora, who now flashed an exciting shade of pink.

“Mother, what do you have in mind?”

7

Invi

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