Page 87 of Can you take it?

The waiter held a glass out and quite literally wafted it under Bexley’s nose. Bexley’s eyes closed and he instinctively reached out to grab the glass. As soon as he grabbed one, I saw Anna deflate.

Obviously, we knew the real battle would be for years to come and not just a one-day struggle, but he had seemed so sure.

Bexley held the glass, took a big sniff, and then set the glass down on the tray. “No, thank you. I don’t drink anymore,” he said proudly.

Anna flung herself around him and this time I wasn’t jealous because I found myself giving him a big hug as well.

As soon as the waiter picked up the glass, the tray he held and all of the glasses evaporated into thin air. We all gasped, looking over the bar to the pile of clothing and spilled alcohol that was left in their wake.

In its place was a familiar small card with gold lettering on it.

“Tier Nine: Lust,” I read. “What?” Bexley said, perking up.

“You must have been the only one being tempted by gluttony,” Anna said.

“So what does that mean? We’re in the next tier? Just like that?” he asked.

Anna shrugged. “Looks like it.”

“Lust,” I said under my breath. If we were being honest and worrying about getting stuck in the tiers, with Anna in my presence, this was the only tier I was truly concerned about. If I could make it through Lust, then I only had one more tier to go before I was free and on my way to the Elysian Fields. Anna apparently had the same thought and concern with this tier as me, as her eyes found mine.

Another servant, looking oddly similar to the last but with coppery-red hair, entered.

“Your bedchambers are this way,” he said. Both Anna and I shook our heads, while Walter and Eletha jumped up eagerly. “We are most definitely not going in a bedchamber.” I

splayed my hands out in front of me.

“What?” Walter and Eletha said, looking confused when Bexley smiled at them.

I realized they’d missed out on some stuff. “Bexley liked saving you, Walter. It changed him. He’s given up drinking.”

“What?” Walter said with a giant grin.

“He’s given up drinking and dust for good and is going to the human realm to help the humans not be sent to his father,” I stated.

“If we can make it out of here,” Bexley interjected.

Walter gave Bexley a giant hug. “That’s great, man,” Walter said, beaming as if his own son had come home with an award. “You’ll do great there.”

“Just watch it with the—” I held my hand up to my throat and made the motion like I was being electrocuted with my hand.

“The whole hand thing. The humans are way more fragile than we are,” I said with a grin. Mostly I brought it up to see if I was the only one who hadn’t known about his powers working here.

Though apparently I wasn’t because no one said another word about it.

“Listen,” Eletha said, interrupting, “I’m exhausted. I am tired and hungry, and I want a bath that isn’t a crimson ocean.” She sounded short. “Though time down here is different, we have been on this journey for what feels like forever, and if you don’t let me stay in this bed with my boyfriend, we’re going to have some new issues.”

“She said, ‘My boyfriend,’” Walter said, sidling up next to her. Though he sounded surprisingly unhappy with the term boyfriend, which surprised me.

“Yeah, boyfriend,” Eletha said with a smile. “What, do you think we just go straight back to being engaged? That’s not how this works.”

“Whatever you say,” he said, dusting the hair off the back of her neck and leaning in to give her neck a kiss.

I couldn’t help but smile and look away. The two of them were magnetic together. Happiness seemed to emanate from them and it was such a difference. It was a true testament to the changes that love could make in a person.

Eletha grabbed Walter’s hand and the two of them scurried off, following the servant as if they were two newlyweds.

“Nothing like being aware in the deathly Tiers of Tartarus,” I said sarcastically.