I made sure to mimic her cold look from earlier, my voice full of malice. “Like you’ll soon regret locking me in here, keeping me from Wrath.”
“I warned you.” Envy practically bounced on the balls of his feet. “You struck the match; I hope you meant it when you said you enjoyed the burn.”
I ignored their side argument and stared at my twin. “Did you send the enchanted skull to Greed?”
“Anyone with the correct spell can enchant a skull. Even a prince of Hell.”
It wasn’t a direct answer, but it did make me wonder again if Greed had been behind the skull. Thus far, I hadn’t found anything to prove he didn’t send it to himself.
“Yes,” Envy drawled, “even lowly demon princes can do parlor tricks. Just like a goddess.”
“Have any of your wolves been attacked by demons or gone missing?” I asked. “Aside from the coup you just pulled with me and Wrath.”
“If a demon harmed a wolf under my care, that demon would no longer breathe.”
“Even if that demon were a high-ranking official of a court you’d aligned yourself with?”
“Especially then.” Vittoria’s attention slid to Envy. “If you continue smirking at me, I’ll tear your heart out a second time, demon.”
“Vittoria,” I said sternly. “Have any of your wolves been slain or stolen in the last week or so?”
“Why do you need to know that?” she asked. I gritted my teeth. It was a familiar deflection tactic that Wrath used when he was avoiding a question.
“I found out werewolf blood can overwhelm demon senses. There was quite a lot of it found around Greed’s commander’s remains. You remember Vesta, don’t you? I’m sure you must have met when you’d made that alliance with House Greed.”
“I didn’t pay much attention to Greed’s lapdog.”
“You sound bitter,” Envy remarked. “Did she refuse your advances, too?”
I wanted to press the issue, but my sister obviously wouldn’t speak in front of a demon. “Why am I here, Vittoria?”
She wrenched her attention from Envy and took my measure. “I want you to accept your full power. It’s time to shed your mortality, punish our enemies, and reclaim our House.”
“How in the world am I supposed to shed—”
I halted what I’d been about to say. A memory was rattling around, trying to slip free.
Our House… I flicked my attention to Envy, who seemed very interested in my internal struggle. At his House of Sin, I’d said seven hells, and he’d corrected me to eight. I’d been focused on the truth-spelled wine and had let it go, not wanting to waste an opportunity to gather information I’d been after then. I closed my eyes briefly, allowing the memory to materialize.
“House Vengeance.” I snapped my attention to my twin as its name came rushing back. An eighth House. “I can’t remember anything else about it.”
“That’s a story for another time,” Vittoria said evasively.
Envy chuckled. “Please, feel free to share your House secrets. I’ve certainly been curious about it. My brothers, too.”
“Have you never been?” I asked Envy, drawing my brows together. “Or Wrath?”
“No. And none of my spies or any other prince of Hell’s spies has succeeded in entering that circle, either.”
“Is it not here?” I asked, looking to my twin again. A flash of mountains crossed my mind. Snowcapped and treacherous. Isolated. “That’s what you meant by taking back what is ours by birth,” I said. Vittoria nodded but didn’t elaborate. Of which I was grateful. I couldn’t remember anything specific of our House and needed to absorb one life-altering event at a time. I was also fairly certain that was why she didn’t want me to join House Wrath. She wanted me to rule over our House of Sin. And I would likely have to give that up for our rival court. “You mentioned something about shedding my mortality. How am I supposed to accomplish that?”
“All you have to do is let me remove that mortal heart they gave you.”
Time seemed to abruptly halt. “What?”
Vittoria drifted closer to the cell. “I’ll make sure it’s quick, near painless.” She nodded to my chest, to the claw marks that still burned. “Those will heal instantly. No infection. No scars.”
I clutched a hand against my chest, stepping backward. She was serious. My twin wanted to take my heart. “I don’t… what do you mean that someone gave me a mortal heart?”