Chapter 27

27

T he last person he wanted to ask for advice was Sloth. His brother hadn't been all that helpful the last time he asked him about this situation, but that meeting had haunted him.

Sloth wasn't telling him everything, and that secret would burn a hole through Envy's entire being. So he left a few of his tattoos in the castle to keep an eye on Lilith and stepped through the portal into Sloth's home.

His brothers were all very different in the way that they lived. Envy liked to live in his underground kingdom with the perfection of all the marble sculptures keeping him company. Lust liked his flowers and beauty. Greed enjoyed the unbent wilderness of the desert that surrounded him. Even Gluttony allowed the swamps to grow out of control in his home and never touched their wildness.

Sloth, on the other hand, liked to bend everything he could to his will. His home was meant to be comfort personified. Though it was a desert kingdom, similar to Greed's, it was significantly more easy to traverse. Sloth had taken his time with this kingdom in the beginning, making sure every single person knew who he was and that he wanted luxury.

His kingdom and subsequent castle then became a monument to that luxury. Instead of building a castle, he had transformed the desert into what he wanted. Red sheets created walls, flapping in the wind that never ceased blowing here. Pillows decorated the ground, next to thick woven rugs that kept all the sands out. Walking through these rooms was like listening to whispers all the time.

No one spoke loudly here. It was impossible to talk without assuming someone was listening to you. Of course, that was the point. Sloth didn't trust a single person and, as such, he had spies in every corner.

A group of scantily clad women walked by him. More red spilled around their bodies, some of them in silk and others in nothing more than a sheer gauze that was beautiful, even though it revealed so much more of their body than any other fabric. They lingered in the corners of the strange halls, watching him with hungry eyes.

Because everyone here was hungry. Not for food, but for power. The people who knew the most in this kingdom were the ones who got closest to his brother. And in doing so, they were given more power and more ability to do whatever and whoever they wanted.

Brushing aside one of the sheets, he continued walking until he heard the trickling sound of water. Because, of course, in all of this strange labyrinth, his brother had also convinced the desert itself to give up its water.

Here there were actual pieces of buildings. The closer he got to Sloth's inner sanctum, the more the floor turned into cobblestone pieces. There were pillars holding up the massive sheets that had turned from red closer to a violet. And there he found his brother on a hundred pillows with fifteen barely dressed women around him.

His brother was nude, and at second glance, so were most of the women. If this was Lust, Envy would have assumed that he had walked into an orgy. It wouldn't have even been surprising back in the day when they had all been indulging their spirits a little too much.

But this was Sloth. His brother was too lazy to organize something like that, and he'd never been one to feed every bit of his desires. Instead, he just liked to look. To watch. Some of the women were stroking each other's backs, but it wasn't in a sexual way. Instead, they all seemed comfortable being nude around each other and languishing on the silken sheets that covered them all.

Sighing, he wished there was a sheet he could hold up to stop the sight of his brother's naked form from being seared into his brain. Envy had known that the scales covered nearly half of Sloth's body, but he really hadn't wanted to know just how much of it was covered.

It had been nearly a hundred years since he'd seen Sloth naked, and he had been so close to forgetting what his brother looked like naked.

"You're comfortable," he announced, his voice carrying through the relative peace of the room.

A few of the women froze. They were likely newer to this conglomerate of creatures that Sloth surrounded himself with. Soon enough, they would realize that Sloth enjoyed putting them all on display. Pretty things were something all the demon kings indulged in. But Sloth most of all enjoyed his women.

His brother barely lifted his head from the cushion where he rested. "I'm always comfortable, Envy. What are you doing here?"

"You gave me advice before, and now I need more of it."

"I am not willing to give you any more advice. Nor am I willing to help you with your problems. You're a grown man, you can figure it out on your own." He reached for one of the women, pulling her a little closer to his side. She landed against his chest with a little thud that echoed through the room, and Envy could smell blood on the air.

Sloth's scales had cut her skin. He wasn't certain that his brother even realized that, as he was so intent on glaring at Envy. But he had to let the woman go before more of that blood was smeared over his chest.

Another change, he supposed. Envy would have provoked his brother back in the day, just to see how much of that red liquid would spread before the woman said something. Or perhaps before his brother noticed. But he didn't want that to happen right now. He wanted Sloth to let her go.

"You're breaking that one, brother. Perhaps you should let her go before we injure her even more with this conversation." Envy gestured at the blood on his brother's chest. "Unless you like to decorate yourself with blood these days."

His brother's brow arched in surprise. "Since when do you care if I hurt one of my dolls?"

Envy never had before, but right now, he needed Sloth to let the woman go.

Thankfully, his brother did. Envy wasn't sure why he was thinking about getting into a fight with Sloth over just some woman, but... he would have. He would have punched his brother in the throat a few times to get him to let go.

And that was cause enough for Sloth to stand. He dumped the woman at his feet and grabbed one of the blankets that covered another. All the women made little noises of upset. Not that he had grabbed items from them or that he'd practically thrown the other one. No, they were mews of need and wanting. They desired for him to stay and not to go with Envy.

What was going on in this kingdom?

Shaking his head, he cast one last look at the countless women before following his brother deeper into the sanctuary. There were more buildings here, more privacy, because even Sloth didn't trust a single person who served him. Finally, they reached a room much deeper in the sands. The door disappeared down into the depths, but already Envy could see a wink of gold in the distance.

"Opulent," he muttered on their way down. "Even for you."

"Greed has the desert kingdom with artifacts hidden beneath the sands. I have the kingdom that shows how great his could be." Sloth flashed a bright grin behind him, but it was one filled with madness and desire.

The gold was what called to his brother. Not the need to be better than Greed.

And gold there was.

As they walked into the room, Envy was shocked to see mountains of gold coins and jewelry. So many mounds of it that some had melted into the others. This was a regular dragon's hoard, showing just how deep into the madness his brother had sunk.

"Sloth," he murmured, gesturing to the mounds surrounding them. "What is all this?"

"You said you were here for advice, so talk." Sloth made it to the bottom of the stairs that led into the small pathways between the mounds. But then he reclined in the gold. Not a chair, but in one of the mounds themselves. "Don't make comments about how I live my life."

"Someone clearly needs to. You're devolving down into madness a little faster than the rest of us."

"Talk to Wrath."

He would talk to Wrath if that's what Sloth wanted. Someone needed to do something about this. Spirits like themselves could go insane. Just as his brothers had changed into spirits that were kinder and softer, Sloth could turn into one more nefarious.

They could control themselves well enough, but if one of them went mad or evil? That was a problem they all needed to know about.

Sloth narrowed his gaze upon Envy, and he knew there was only so much he could say to fix this situation.

Envy held up his hands in peace. "Fine. Fine, I will say nothing. I need you to return to my kingdom with me. I have a problem, and I need another demon to help me fix it."

"You know we're not really demons."

"We are becoming demons the longer that we rule, even you cannot argue that truth."

Sloth shrugged. "If that was what we were born to become, then who are we to deny our own fate? However, no. I will not be returning with you to your kingdom, nor do I have any interest in doing so. You can fix your own problems, brother."

"Part of my problem is her."

"You can also fix your own sexual issues. Can't keep it up? She'll help you with that, I'm certain of it."

Envy blew out a long breath to steady himself. He hadn't come here to get in a fight, he reminded himself. "There are people in my kingdom who wish to kill her. She is an oracle, which is important to all of us, not just me. But more than that, I find her to be... unusually attractive and necessary for my own survival."

"Is that so?" Sloth tilted his head to the side. "So you've stopped fighting it, then. Good for you."

"I need you to help me protect her."

"No, I don't think I'm any good for that." Sloth grabbed a handful of coins and let them trickle down the pile. "One of our other brothers is better suited to that life than I am."

"Listen to me, Sloth. I need better weapons to keep her safe, and we both know there is no better weapon than you. They sent a chimera after her. Do you know where they got that from?" Envy took an aggressive step toward his brother, reaching the bottom stair too fast and then was suddenly right in front of Sloth. "Your kingdom. Your kingdom is the only one they could have gotten that from."

"Yes, they may have gotten it here. But I do not control the animal trade any more than I control the rest of my kingdom. My people make money as they see fit, and I do not seek to limit them."

He was going to hit him. Envy was going to punch him in the mouth so hard that Sloth lost all those pretty teeth that he'd bared in a grin. "It is our job to protect those who need to be protected."

"Is that so?" Sloth arched a brow. "I did not know that was a function of envy in the slightest. You take. You consume. You do it again. That is your lot in life."

"And yet, you were the one who urged me to change. You were the one who said you started all of this, so are you not at fault?" Envy was grasping at straws, trying to get his brother to see reason, even though he feared it was a waste of time. "If you truly believe you were the one who caused this all, then this is one of the moments where you could make amends for that."

Sloth stilled. His knuckles suddenly turned white as he gripped the coins so hard they must have cut into his skin. "You know nothing of what you speak."

"You caused all of this, so you have a duty to fix what you broke."

"She never wanted this to happen," Sloth spat. "Neither of us did. I have nothing to make amends for. It's been broken for a long time, brother. I was just the first one to pull a thread."

The words hung between them, unusual and baring too much of the truth.

"She?" Envy repeated. "Who was she?"

"No one I will ever speak of. And no one that you will ever hear of." Sloth straightened, then yanked himself out of the coins. "Now that you've ruined a perfectly good day, you are free to leave."

"I came here for your help. And I'm not leaving without you."

"What do you want me to do, Envy? You want me to turn into a dragon and breathe fire over anyone who comes close to her? Is that what you want?"

It wasn't a bad idea. It would make anyone who wanted to attack her think twice. He opened his mouth, only to have Sloth put up his hand and interrupt him.

"I'm not going to do that, Envy. She deserves to live her life without one of us interfering in it."

"Is that what you did? Did you watch someone from afar and then lose her?"

A ghost passed between the two of them. Cold and sharp, it seemed to pass straight through Sloth and grip his heart before the energy moved on.

"No," Sloth replied. "No, I wasn't smart enough to keep my distance. Neither was she."

Neither of them was going to save the world by beating their heads off a wall, and neither of them were going to change their minds. Clearly, his brother wanted to wallow in his guilt. Envy needed him to climb out of it. Which meant there was only so much he could do.

There was only one last choice, and it wasn't one that Sloth was going to like.

"Come here," he said, holding onto Sloth's shoulder and yanking his brother into his arms.

"What are you doing?" Sloth grumbled. "I don't need a hug."

"Neither do I." Envy used the opportunity to throw up a portal behind Sloth and then he shoved his brother through it. Directly into Lilith's bedroom, where he hoped his little love was dressed and prepared for visitors.

Otherwise, he would have to pluck out his brother's eyes. And he didn't want to do that.