have had the problem sooner, Jasmina knew she could easily have let the sins stay with her for years before her parents noticed. Still, her father seemed to have chosen not to ignore it, chin resting on his hand as he watched her. He knew better than to try to read her though - she had learned from him how to hide any emotions quite a while ago.

"Why do you ask?" she said innocently.

"Because they're apparently living in our house," her father said," have you been sucked into a cult, Jasmina?"

"We both know that I would be the head of a cult before I would be sucked into it," she said with a distasteful shake of her head. "But to answer your question, they're just some friends of mine."

"Influential friends?" her father said.

"In a way," she said, flashing her father a charming smile," and even if they weren't, they still would stay here. The time has passed ever since you could tell me what to do, daddy dearest, and that was a long time ago."

Her father parted his lips, but she cut him off with a smile. "Don't give me your sermon about what you do with disrespect, I learned from you."

"I am in the business world with the top of the top," he sighed, the words leaving his lips in Arabic," and yet my daughter's still the only one who stops me from talking." He nodded then. "I hope you do the same with every other person you meet, Jasmina. If so, I have raised you right."

He waved a hand at the door to dismiss her and she left, surprised that her father hadn't made a bigger deal about the seven strangers in their house. She supposed the money going towards them didn't matter with how much he made though, but most of all the conversation with Alan's father had probably annoyed him. It wasn't often he spoke Arabic with her, but when he did he was either impressed by something she had done or tired. Right now she guessed it to be a combination of both.

"Jasmina!"

Someone lifted her up, but she already knew who it was before she was even set down. The white chocolate trail towards her on the carpet confirmed her suspicions and she clicked with her tongue, her feet meeting the ground again not much later. Once he had placed her down she looked around, facing a sheepishly grinning Daichi.

"Hello," he said.

"Why did you shout?" she said.

"So," he said, his eyebrows knitting together," I have something serious to tell you, before you get in trouble for it. We m -"

"You met my father?" she finished his sentence for him.

"How did you know?" he blinked.

She started walking, him following quickly. "I just had a conversation with him. It's solved, so don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" Daichi said, raising his hand as orange sparks flew from it," I know I've gotten more human now, but I'm still a sin. I can use magic if you want."

She chuckled, but shook her head. There was no need for magic to be involved, not unless it was a last resort. Besides, she knew the magic tired them out more now, the price they had to pay for becoming human. For a moment she wondered if she would be able to use any special powers as queen, but that just would have to be a thing she asked Azriel later.

"By the way," Daichi interrupted her thoughts," we were thinking and if you're up for it, we can show you around in hell. Let you see a piece of our job descriptions. The devil has placed seven temporary people there in our place, but it's still our domain."

"Yeah," she said, a slow smile starting to play on her lips," do show me."

Daichi beamed at her, his eyes flashing a vivid tangerine in excitement. Once they reached her room she could already hear the sins talking and when she entered, all of them already seemed ready for the trip. They were all wearing the same outfit they had when she had first seen them in hell, an all black ensemble with a pin on their right breast pocket, all the color their sin represented. A sharp tattoo with the same color swirled around their wrist and neck and if she looked close enough, they seemed to move.

Daichi snapped his finger, quickly donning an unbuttoned, black pantsuit after, orange marking him as gluttony. He smiled at her, but with his new outfit a bit of warmth was lost as well, like he was preparing himself to go back to the role it represented. Victor waved a hand, a portal beginning to open in the wall, but she stopped him with a shake of her head.

"What is it?" Victor said, hesitatingly lowering his hand," are you worried?"

"Let me change first," she said," I have the perfect outfit for this."

"Why do I even try?" Victor murmured to himself, but she was already off in her walk in closet.

Once she emerged again it was in a black Dior dress, the fabric spilling down her feet like a waterfall. The corset was tight, sheer tule flowing down her arms on the side. Red sparked around Ira when he saw her, but to her surprise he turned his gaze away. It was Ari who whistled first, a smile playing on her lips.

"If you ever get tired of the diamonds on your ears, let me know," she said," I'm quite the collector."

"That she is," Lucy laughed," the mountain you have in hell - I don't even know where you find them."

"My realm," Ari shrugged with a grin," passing demons, the human world. I'll wait until I have enough and then I'll bury that freezing country of mine under the weight of riches I never was allowed to see."

"As you should," Lucy nodded, lost in thought as she looked away," punishment should be dealt out, always."

Ari quietened at that, silent rage flickering in her eyes as she hesitatingly took Lucy's hand in hers.

"And you have," she said," those men will never touch you again."

Lucy smiled warmly at her, squeezing her hand.

"I already carry my scars," Lucy said," I just made sure they would never give another child the same."

Whatever darker emotion had been there before, it was now replaced by all her usual sunlight, so bright it almost seemed like she didn't believe there was any wrong in this world. She knew it better than most though and Jasmina wondered how long it had taken for her anger to soften. How sharp her revenge had been.

"Well then," Lucy said lightly," let's go, shall we?"

"Does he know we're coming?" Jasmina said.

She didn't have to specify who for them to know, but Priyanka shook her head.

"We usually don't contact him unless it's for something of utmost importance," she said," he doesn't like being disturbed."

Jasmina smiled as she took note to go and pay him a visit for that especially. If he didn't think of her as the utmost importance when she did so, she would be bitter. To her slight surprise she actually looked forward to seeing him, to the way he spoke with her and their conversations flowed.

She didn't show any of those thoughts, instead nodding at Lucy. "Let's go."

Victor continued opening the portal, a mass of black swirling and turning in the midst of the wall, only opening when he clenched his fist. It made way for a completely clear door, which seemed to head into nowhere. He gestured at her to go first and she did, taking a step through the iridescent part of the wall.

A part of her almost thought she would bump against the bricks, but instead she stepped into an icy cold nothingness. She took the other step as well and fell into the all-consuming black. The temperature had dropped in the beginning, but was considerably heating up again at the end, a light appearing after a few seconds.

Her dress flew behind her like wings in the free fall, but before she even had the chance to place her feet in front so she could land on her heels, the speed slowed down significantly just a moment before she was immersed in light. She drowned in the saturated blue then, breathing as she took her first step on the ground.

The air around her was thick with fatigue, the sky a vivid navy blue and the ground resembling ice all too much, except for the pearly white swirling around it. She wondered if it would break if she hit it hard with her heel, but didn't try it out just yet. All around her it was empty though, nothing save for a lullaby, eerily dancing in the air.

"What do you think?"

She turned around to Gio, his usually tired eyes sharp now. The portal had closed behind him and he waved a hand at it.

"They're waiting in their respective parts," he said," we can't stay too long in the realm of a sin we don't belong in." He shook his head. "Too much power in one place, I suppose."

"So this is sloth?" she said.

"Yes," he said, looking around almost sadly," welcome to my personal hell."