Page 115 of A Sin So Pure

I’m out of my depth here.

“First, this Virtue kills a family from your House, then burns one of your warehouses and leaves your supplier for dead.Then, they try to kill us?” I list, ticking off a finger with each event. “This feels bigger than retaliation for some petty revenge plot.”

“That’s because it is bigger than us, Imogen. It’s because she’s—” Josie cuts herself off with a frustrated groan—she sounds more irritated than I’ve ever heard her before. She scrubs both hands over her face. When she pulls them away, she levels me with a pained expression. “Because Nora’s athreat.”

My own anger fades in an instant, regret filling its place in my gut.

“Because she’s a soul-stealer?” I ask.

Josie glances at the bedroom door, which stands open a crack, a small sliver of light filtering in from the living room.

“You should ask her yourself,” Josie whispers.

A commotion sounds beyond the door, footsteps and shouts collide in the hall outside the bedroom, cutting off that sliver of light from the cracked door.

“Let me see her.”

“She’s in stable condition, but she will need rest, Pride. You should let her sleep and come back when?—”

The door bursts open and there, with light haloed around her like an avenging god, Nora stands.

Her chest rises and falls with heavy breaths.

In a few frantic steps, she’s at my side. Reaching out with a shaking hand, she pauses. She pulls her hand back. Her eyes are wide and wild as they scan over me; her searing gaze is tangible as it lands on my face. It burns a trail over my lips, cresting over my cheeks and up my nose until, finally, it meets mine.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” I whisper.

Nora’s hands flex at her sides. I reach out, my hand waiting for hers.

It’s the sign she needs to move. Nora falls to her knees at my side and squeezes my hand. She lifts it to her mouth, turning it over and placing a gentle kiss to my pulse point.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

My throat is tight again, and I can’t find it in me to speak, so I nod.

Her lips form a hard line, taking a deep breath through her nose.

“Good,” she says, clearing her throat. “Good.” Nora doesn’t let go of my hand as she tilts her head to address Josie. Her voice spreads, as slow and cold as frost, through the room. “What were you thinking, taking her out there?”

“Nora, I?—”

“I don’t want to hear excuses,” she snaps. “We talked about this before I left. You were supposed to watch her.Protecther. You, of all people, know better.”

Josie doesn’t respond. She turns her head to the wall, jaw feathering, and accepts the verbal lashing.

But what happened isn’t Josie’s fault. She doesn’t deserve to be reprimanded for doing what I asked. We were lucky that she and Wes were unharmed, and it sounds like a miracle that I survived.

Nora should be focusing on the good. She should bethankingJosie for her quick action, not scolding her.

“How did they even know where you guys were? Hattie says you were at some shop in?—”

“Nora,” I cut her off. “Stop it.”

The silence in the room is deafening. Nora’s green eyes are a dark, churning sea when they slide back to me.

“It was my idea,” I say.

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