Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Epilogue

Epilogue

In the small cottage nestled among the flowers sat an elderly woman sipping tea and smiling at the toss of her particular dice. It had been worth fighting through her arthritis to make sure she'd painted the small details of her cottage to perfection, enchanting her modifications to be invisible to the naked eye. Her cottage was perfect: books, stove, firewood, even her favorite rocking chair which was currently on her porch.

It was amazing how much lighter she felt without Asher's brand weighing her down. She'd known the instant her great niece had been given the mark since it had disappeared from her own wrinkled flesh. It felt similar to getting two feet of hair cut off only better, the lightness was indescribable.

Celeste rocked in peace, a small satisfied smile on her face as she sipped her favorite tea from her perfectly rendered tea set. It was exactly like the one her momma had owned so many years ago. She'd gotten it down to the small flower pattern on each cup and the slight chip on the tea pot's lid. It was one of the few things she'd bothered with. She had a complete tea set, some nice furniture, but no television or radio. She didn't need them. There would be plenty to watch and hear without either one.

As she rocked, she marveled at how everything had seemed to work out perfectly. Even she had had her doubts there for a minute. Eliza was a clumsy, willful girl. It would've been just like her to ruin everything. It was lucky that Spring Dawn had picked that particular time to betray her - then again, she'd planned for that contingency too. Dante had been the only real wrench in her plan. She hadn't planned on him helping her niece so thoroughly. He'd managed to help Eliza find a way to take the Crawford boy's sin while also bargaining for both their lives and immortal souls. It wasn't as bad as it could have been though; both souls were still on the proverbial hook with that new deal Eliza had struck.

She'd watched her niece from her spot on the wall as she'd negotiated with Asher. She was a fool to bargain with such a creature. At least watching her and Dante over the next coming weeks would be entertaining. She felt a little tore up about Dante but not enough to get some form of pleasure from watching him try to stop that particular ship from sinking. Eliza really was a lost cause - a lost cause that was in way over head.

She'd find out how bad soon enough, just as soon as she opened the last vessel and saw whose soul was curled up nice and tight inside. Then again, that would only be if she got that far, and there were plenty of souls before she ever got to that one.

Celeste laughed as she rocked. It the first laugh she'd allowed herself in over one hundred and sixty years.

Dang, it felt good.

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*THE END*

(For now)

Bad Company Copyright © Wendy Nelson 2012 All Rights Reserved. No part of this literary work may be reproduced or used without written consent from the author.