Page 134 of A Sin So Pure

“I guess I have a way with words,” I tease.

Padding over to Nora, I stand on my tippy-toes, planting a small kiss on her nose.

“Let me get my dress on and then you can help me wrangle these waves.”

Once I’ve washed up and gotten my dress on, Nora takes great care in curling my hair. She uses a heated iron—who knew an ancient castle would be outfitted with electricity?—to tenderly tame my hair into waves and gently pin them into a faux bob, while I dab makeup onto my cheeks. When she’s done, she places a kiss atop my head.

“Good?” she asks.

I smile at her through the mirror. “Dare I say, very good?”

“Verygood? That sounds better than pretty good.”

“Exactly,” I say, bouncing the bottom of my hair. “Because of this, I’m expanding the good scale. It goes from not bad, to good, to pretty good, and nowverygood.”

Nora leans into my space, face fitting perfectly, like a puzzle piece, in the crook of my neck. Our eyes meet in the mirror, both of us admiring the other with soft smiles. Her hand trails over my shoulder, running through the beaded tassels and over the exposed skin at my collar. She brushes the hair back, placing a chaste kiss at my pulse.

“What can I do to add excellent to the list?”

She knows what she’s doing, using that sultry tone that never fails in pulling gooseflesh to the surface of my skin.

“I can think of something,” I murmur.

“I’m sure,” she says. “But I’m going to have to take a rain check, or we’ll be late.”

Her electric touch leaves and I let loose a growl at how she edges me with such little effort. There’s something about the way her body speaks to mine that has me melting into a pile of mush in her presence.

Nora wastes no time in pulling on her suit jacket and leather gloves while I add a final dab of blush to my cheeks. And then we’re ready.

We’re no less than two steps out of our room when the sprite flies at us, pulling our hands into its leathery grip. We’re thrust into a shadow so thick I can hardly breathe. I stumble as we emerge, catching myself on the smooth marble wall. And as quick as it appeared, the sprite is gone, leaving us at a pair of double doors deeper in the castle.

“Creepy little buggers, aren’t they?” Envy says, walking up behind us with his Second trailing behind. He fiddles with the black tie under his light gray suit, straying from his typical green garb.

“I think they’re quite cute,” I say, righting the skirt of my dress.

“You would,” he snorts, sidling up next to me. He nods at Nora. No love lost between them in the past few weeks. “Pride.”

“Envy,” she deadpans back at him.

He pushes past us, pausing before the pair of massive double doors the sprite left us in front of. They reach the full height of the hall, a solid fifteen feet of carved wood. His warm brown hand stills on the massive brass handles.

“So, how do we think this is going to go?” Envy asks, his tone betraying his nerves. “I’ve never met one of them before.”

Nora pushes Envy out of the way, sending him stumbling into his Second.

“Stick with Greed and Gluttony, and you should be fine. And don’t let the faerie wine convince you it’d be a good idea to add a Seelie to the notches on your bedpost,” she says, pulling the heavy door open. “No one will save you from that knife at your throat.”

Envy’s throat makes an awkward, choked sound, a singular strong hand coming up to brush the pulse point of his neck.

Nora enters the ballroom like she owns the place, and I follow, leaving Envy to fend for himself.

I don’t stray far from Nora’s side, but I take my time gawking at the room. To my left, golden curtains hang in billowing waves against floor to ceiling windowpanes; they let in the sunlight of this strange spring that Casimir is stuck in.

Odd, how we’re about to celebrate Winter Solstice while bathed in warmth. Should we not be sitting, cozied up around a raging fire, drinking mulled cider?

My magic springs to life as I take stock of the bodies in the room, sensing some unease, a trickle of boredom, but no fear.

The room is far too large for the scattered groupings of two to three, even with the many sprites floating between the fae with trays of drinks and food. Some are akin to the one who woke me, but others are clearly their Seelie counterparts. They buzz through the air like worker bees, their wings refracting the sunlight onto the tiled floor.

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