Let Me Win You (Seven Horny Sins #2)

Chapter 8

8

Nicole

T he warm scent of freshly baked pastries tickled my nostrils, waking me up. I climbed out of the white frilly bedding in the cute little bedroom on the second floor of the teahouse in Purgatory and padded to the ensuite bathroom, then put on the dress that Kindness gave me.

Most of the spirits in Purgatory wore no clothes at all. Some had clothes that appeared to be an extension of their beings, like Pandora’s flowy gowns that changed colors along with the rest of her. But Charity and Kindness wore real garments made from fabric.

Kindness was about the same size as me but slightly taller. The brown dress with a high neckline, long sleeves, and a lace collar would probably reach down to mid-calf on her, but it was ankle-length on me. I used the wide ties on the sides to make a bow on the back, cinching it in the waist.

After gathering my long, wavy hair into a bun on the back of my head, I looked like a governess from the eighteen hundreds or a pilgrim woman from a few centuries before that. Not that it mattered. My appearance was the least of my worries. I’d spend an entire day in this bizarre world beyond death, the world that no one alive was supposed to see and where people like me were not supposed to be.

Meanwhile, the cake decorating challenge was now over back home. Aidan must’ve won it and would be gloating, as he always did. Jess had probably filed a missing person’s report, searching for me. I wondered if she was angry with me or worried for me, but she probably was both.

Jess had put so much hope into this and worked so hard for us to get to the finals, only to lose it all at the end. I was prepared to lose the challenge. I’d even secretly considered dropping out of it, worn out by the stress of the competition. Now that it was over, however, I bitterly regretted not getting the chance at winning it at all, not giving Jess and Geoff that chance either.

And all because of an impulsive, careless action of a mortal sin.

A shiver ran down my back. The charming, adorably awkward man I thought I’d sparked a connection with turned out to be not a man at all. Invi was a supernatural entity, a monstrous embodiment of a belief, of an idea—a mortal sin.

How was I supposed to wrap my mind around that?

The noise of a busy morning reached me from downstairs. Kindness must be baking with her helpers, getting ready to serve breakfast to all the souls who were stuck in their morning habits from their past lives as much as they were stuck in Purgatory now.

Not feeling ready to face them all yet, I opened the glass doors that served as the window in my bedroom. An ornate wrought-iron railing guarded the lower part of the opening, but there was no actual balcony outside of the room.

I gripped the railing, looking out over the field of sunflowers and at the green forest beyond that housed Invi’s “swamp” as Charity had called it.

In contrast to the turmoil in my chest, the morning was lovely. Sunshine flooded the fields of tall sunflowers that hadn’t quite grown enough to open their golden petals yet. Birds chirped in the lime trees that grew around the teahouse. Several larger birds separated from the luscious green line of the forest in the distance and headed toward the town.

As they approached, I spotted the distinct coloring of the male ducks’ feathers, with the iridescent green sheen on their heads. One of the ducks carried a flower in his beak.

The bird swerved toward me. I screamed as it flew right at me. Scrambling back, I tripped and fell on my butt. Flapping its wings just above my head, the duck made a turn inside my room.

With a loud “quack,” it released the flower from its beak, then flew back out, leaving me sitting on the floor with the white calla lily in my lap. The faint but pleasant scent of jasmine and green tea wafted from the flower.

“What the hell?” I tried to wrap my mind around what had just happened when I noticed a wide piece of parchment wrapped around the thick stem of the lily.

I got up from the floor, unwrapping the parchment. It looked like a letter, written in ink.

“My dearest Nicole…” it started with.

I quickly ran my eyes down the letter, without reading it, to the signature at the bottom of the page.

“Invi.”

Air rushed from my lungs with a heavy sigh.

I knew what I had to do. I had to tear the parchment to pieces then toss them out through the balcony doors.

Instead, I stared through the open doors at the wide line of the green forest on the horizon.

A monster lived there, who looked like a giant snake with horns. He stole women from their beds at night while they were sleeping. I had to remember that, instead of the way he kissed me or the way he worshiped my body like I was a goddess he prayed to…

I shook my head, chasing the memories out of my mind and the echo of those sensations out of my body.

Invi was a monster. Inside and out.

Yet instead of tossing the lily, I grabbed the glass from the bathroom sink, filled it with water, and gently put the flower in it.

“Are you married, Kindness? Or how does it work with sins and virtues?” I asked, nursing my second cup of jasmine tea over a plate of pastries in the virtue’s sitting room downstairs that she called “parlor.”

“Married? No, honey. We don’t procreate and don’t need a partner to feel fulfilled. My sisters and I gain satisfaction from being the best we can be. Watching people’s souls grow by making the right choices brings us more joy than any flitting carnal pleasure ever could.”

“Do you brothers feel the same?”

She sighed, stirring a spoonful of buckwheat honey in her teacup. “My brothers are very different from us. They indulge in vice often and with no restraint.”

I’d been thinking so hard about what had happened between Invi and me, trying to understand his motivation and figure out his true feelings for me. But maybe things were much simpler here?

“Do the sins just do whatever they want?” I asked.

“Pretty much.” Kindness shrugged. “Who is to stop them?”

“So…” I stared into my cup. “And Invi… Does he often behave like he did?”

“You mean does he often get as angry as he got last night? No, not really. My brother Ira, the Sin of Wrath, gets far more destructive in his anger. Invi mostly just sulks when he’s upset. He’d just say something sharp and derisive in the heat of an argument, throw a few punches here and there, then he would let his anger simmer out in his swamp…I mean in his home. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him turn red like he did yesterday.”

“I just don’t know what he expected.” I threw my hands in the air in frustration. “Like did he think I’d be fine with waking up in a strange, unfamiliar place and finding out I’d been abducted?”

“It doesn’t look like he quite thought it through,” Kindness agreed.

He just did what he felt like at that moment. He “indulged” his impulsive desire. Why would he care about the consequences? He clearly didn’t plan to keep me for long and didn’t worry about anything long-term.

“So, the sins don’t have romantic relationships then?” I asked.

“Oh, they have plenty of romantic encounters,” Kindness chuckled. “I’m not sure if I’d call them ‘relationships,’ since most don’t last long enough to define them as such. It’s not entirely my brothers’ fault, though. Souls don’t stay in Purgatory for long. And those that do can leave any moment, so it’s difficult to build anything lasting. Since you have a physical body, it’s possible to have a relationship of some permanence with you. A living body stays put for a while, doesn’t it?” She smiled over the rim of her cup.

“But are your brothers even capable of keeping a partner? Or staying in a relationship?”

She peered at me closely.

“Is that what you want? A relationship with Invi?”

“Oh God, no,” I protested, as my cheeks warmed up with blush.

That’d be the last thing for me to want. Invi was one giant, walking red flag, despite being green.

Yet something drew me to him, and I suspected it stemmed from the memories of my brief time spent with him. I wished it hadn’t been as wonderful as it had. I wished I could convince my heart it had been just a dream. A sweet, beautiful dream that threatened to haunt me forever…

“Kindness, please tell me he isn’t good for me,” I begged. “Tell me he’s a monster, inside and out.”

“Is that what you really want?”

That was what I should want. I couldn’t keep daydreaming about Invi’s hands on my body or the way he looked at me that night. Otherwise, I risked going insane and doing something stupid like…miss him.

“Yes.” I nodded. “It would really, really help me to hate him right now.”

I needed to hate him for what he was, not to like him for what he pretended to be.

“Well…” She made herself comfortable, folding her hands on her lap over the crispy white apron. “Invi is a bit of a hermit, but he does come to the dinner parties that Gul, the Sin of Gluttony, often has at his farmhouse.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad. Being introverted or even anti-social doesn’t make one a monster. I live alone just outside of a small town, too, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.”

I probably was even more introverted than Invi then, since unlike him, I didn’t even go to that many dinner parties. I preferred to stay in with a book, a show, or just Jess for company whenever she didn’t have a date and came over for a visit.

“But Nicole, sweetie, he’s a mortal sin,” Kindness protested, “and as such is capable of every vice in existence. Like, he spends his nights in complete debauchery, with hundreds of souls fornicating with him.”

“Fornicating? With Invi?” I blinked in shock. “Really?”

Kindness nodded quickly.

“He beds three hundred and fifty souls a night. How filthy is that? Can you imagine?"

I rubbed my forehead, feeling suddenly extremely uncomfortable in my dress. Its ties seemed to cut under my ribs, hindering my breathing.

“I’d rather not imagine anything like that,” I said quickly. But my overactive brain already provided me with vivid images of an entire rainbow of souls, writhing in pleasure inside the green coils of Invi’s monstrous tail. “Three hundred and fifty, huh? How is it even possible?”

Kindness pursed her lips.

“One of my brothers is the Sin of Lust, honey, but they’re all made from the same cloth. Sex, over-indulgence, and greed. They’re all guilty of those. They’re not just horned, but also always horny. Add to that that none of my brothers is used to hearing the word no very often. They never deny anything to themselves. Invi isn’t an exception. He takes whatever he wants.” She gestured at me. “As you know.”

I nodded, feeling ashamed of every tender feeling I had ever allowed myself to have for this abomination of a man.

“He steals. He lies. He kills—” Kindness folded a finger with every accusation.

“Kills!” I gasped. “Has he really killed someone?”

“Of course he has. Plenty of times. He has no shame, no restraint, no compassion, no respect for women, either, not even for his own mother.”

“That’s…not how he came across to me,” I mumbled, vividly remembering everything that happened that night, including Invi’s impeccable manners toward both Jess and me.

“Oh, Invi is a master of disguise and pretending. You saw it yourself, how easily he changes his appearance. Now, I must tell you, although it is possible for all of us to alter our shapes in an emergency, it isn’t easy to pull off the dramatic transformation like Invi did yesterday. I wouldn’t be able to change my shape that completely or to stay in the altered form like that for any period of time. But Invi has mastered it, just to deceive others.”

“Oh, wow…” I took a huge gulp of my cooling tea, trying to absorb all the disturbing things I’d just learned. “He truly is a monster.”

“In every way, honey. You definitely deserve better than my good-for-nothing brother. I’m sure there is a nice human man waiting for you out there somewhere.” She patted my hand, sympathetically. “Was I too harsh, sweetie?”

“No. Thank you, Kindness. I needed to hear all of that.”

It was best to hear the truth, no matter how harsh, than live in some sweet illusion fueled by memories that turned out to be based on nothing but lies.

“I’m glad to help.” Kindness brushed down her apron, getting up. “Well, I need to bake some more scones with those blueberries a soul has brought in earlier this morning. You can bake with me, if you wish.”

“I’d love to.” I got up quickly, eager to clear my mind. Baking was the one thing that always helped me get in a better mood. “Let’s make the scones.”

Kindness ran her kitchen in a relaxed manner. Plenty of souls came to help, but most just hung around with nothing to do other than chat while she worked.

I ended up spending almost the entire day downstairs and didn’t make it back to my room until late afternoon.

The balcony doors were still open, just like I’d left them. A wicker basket with a checkered cloth tied over it stood on the hand-knotted rug.

I approached the basket cautiously, wondering how it got here. There were no locks on any doors in the teahouse. A crowd of souls had passed through the house since I’d left my bedroom. Someone might’ve gone upstairs and dropped the basket off while I was baking.

But why wouldn’t they give it to me downstairs instead? Or at least tell me that they had it for me?

I lifted the cloth carefully, finding a round plastic container inside. A mouth-watering smell filled my nostrils when I opened the green lid of the container. Inside was a mound of mashed potatoes and a thick slice of meatloaf with a generous serving of golden-brown gravy. A second container held a green salad with herbed oil for dressing. A set of cutlery was wrapped in a pretty lace-trimmed napkin.

Drawing in another lungful of the delicious aroma, I grabbed the fork and dug in.

As tasty as Kindness’s pastries were, eating nothing but scones and muffins the second day in a row got old pretty quickly. There was just so much tea a person could drink in a day. I was hungry for real food, and the meatloaf with wild mushrooms hit the spot perfectly.

“Oh, it’s so fucking good…” I moaned around the mouthful, stuffing my face with buttery mashed potatoes.

I hadn’t even seen anything edible other than the baked goods for two days now. The beings in Purgatory seemed to know that my body needed food for maintenance, but they didn’t particularly care what I had to eat.

Well, someone seemed to care. As my belly filled, I wondered who my secret benefactor could be. Digging through the basket, I found a folded piece of parchment.

“My dearest Nicole…” it read, written in the familiar strong, decorative handwriting.

I dropped the note quickly, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach. The food came from Invi, even as I had no idea how he got it in here.

I glanced back at the calla lily in its makeshift vase on the night table.

Did he make a duck to deliver the basket too?

“That’s some really smart ducks he has in his swamp ,” I muttered.

The image of his sprawling treehouse with its open to the air construction, billowing gossamer curtains, and the surrounding whispering tree canopies rose in my mind. Had I not been so confused and frightened the morning I woke up there, I might’ve found his home peaceful and beautiful.

“He’s a monster, Nic,” I reminded myself, but opened the note anyway.

It was short. Just one sentence.

“I’m living in hope of you considering my invitation.”

“What invitation?” I turned the note around, but it was blank on the other side.

Then I remembered the letter that the duck delivered to me that morning, the letter that I really should’ve thrown out, but I kept it on the night table under the glass with the lily.

Apprehensive, I opened the letter now.

“My dearest Nicole,

No words can describe the regret I feel about having offended you. Scaring you was never my intention.

Ever since you left me, I’ve been thinking about where I went wrong. My mistake was in part due to my inexperience. Before I met you, I hadn’t seen a live human for decades and hadn’t interacted with them much at any point of my existence.

I understand the right thing would’ve been to discuss your visit with you when you were awake. And at first, I planned to do just that. But I panicked when another man appeared on the threshold of your hotel room. At that point, I had already glimpsed my future with you, and even the slightest prospect of giving you up to him felt unbearable.”

What another man?

I didn’t recall anyone knocking on my door that night.

And why would anyone knock, other than if the building was on fire and I slept through the evacuation alarm?

“My biggest hope now is that in your kindness, you will give me a chance to apologize in person.

I would like to invite you for dinner tonight or on any other night at your convenience. I’d be honored to welcome you properly to my home and apologize to you for my actions, if not in hope for your full forgiveness, then at least in hope of lessening any ill feelings you may harbor toward me.

Sincerely, Invi.”

I stared at the ornate scroll that he drew at the end of the last letter “i” of his name. The entire message was written in a confident hand, with neat, pretty scrolls and ornamental twists of the cursive. It was by far the prettiest handwriting I’d ever seen. I wondered if he’d practiced beforehand to get it so perfect.

The style of the message was definitely of someone who didn’t speak or write to modern humans very often.

I glanced at the word “sincerely” next, wondering how much sincerity there really was in this letter. Invi was a mortal sin, after all, susceptible to every vice and skilled in pretending, by the admission of his own sister.

The entire letter could easily be a lie. But a note of plea and even desperation seemed to be woven into its every word, though I had nothing to go by here but my gut feeling that had led me astray before.

The letter had more writing on the reverse.

“Either way, I’ll make sure that you receive proper meals for dinner for as long as you will stay in Purgatory.”

The basket was from Invi then, and he promised a regular delivery of them in the future.

“How the hell does he train the ducks so well?” I wondered, folding the letter and putting it away. “Is he going to send one to pick up the empty dishes too?”

I caught myself smiling.

A part of me wished to see Invi again, if just to make sure he truly was a monster I had to stay away from. But maybe it’d be good to have a conversation with him before leaving Purgatory in a few days.

If he wished to apologize in person, I believed I needed to hear it from him too.