Page 165 of A Sin So Pure

It’s all-consuming. White-hot, like being burned from the inside out.

I feel it this time, his magic, swirling beside mine; it rearranges the cells of my body, building new tissue and cutting through muscle. I fall to my knees, screaming through the pain.

My core splits open. It’s a reawakening of something I had lost a decade ago.

Wings. They sprout from my back, reborn.

An ache lingers in my bones as the agony subsides and I push up from the floor. The world tilts on its axis as emerald meets amber; Imogen’s face is stricken white across the room. Her hand covers her parted lips, devastation racking her features as she takes in the impossibility unfurling from my back.

And then she’s gone, Wrath’s shadows engulf her.

And I’m left with my rage.

I turn and unleash it on my uncle.

I don’t care about plans. I don’t care about Silas. All I care about is killing him. Rightfuckingnow. In the most violent way possible.

Patience laughs as I launch at him. He laughs as I tackle him to the ground. And he laughs as I punch his stupid face bloody.

Any bit of restraint I had breaks. I grip his suit lapel, hauling his face into the air, only to punch it back into the marble floors. With all the reckoning of an avenging god, I rain down on him the violence of a hurricane.

“You’re going to regret leaving me alive that day. When I’m done with you, you will wish you could die so easily.” Spit flies from my mouth as I speak. My fist meets his face on every word, bone crunching under my knuckles. He laughs through the pain, his bloody teeth curled into a smile.

Bullets whiz past me. It’s a miracle that I haven’t been hit yet.

Patience’s face heals as fast as my blows are dealt, his flesh stitching back together every time my knuckles rip it apart. I losemyself completely to my fury. My magic roils and cheers in my belly, pushing me closer to using it in its full might, but I hold tight to that tether. I make it strong, weaving it with the iron thread of my will.

I will not let it break.

But Iwillsavor his death.

This pain will be worth this reward.

Patience’s eyes flick beyond my shoulder, but I’m too slow to catch it, the back of my head blooming with pain as I’m knocked onto my back.

My vision is blurry, but I can still make out the curled mustache of my cousin standing above me.

“I’m sorry.” I hear.

The world goes white around me. I’m thrust into the heart of a star, burned whole.

39

IMOGEN

We stumble out of Wrath’s shadows, Leo falling to the ground with the momentum. He mutters a curse, pushing up from the sand and brushing off his hands. The wet specks of red seashell and crumbled white sand stick to his skin—the ones that do fall away leave behind little indents on his palms.

Rain mists down on us, dampening our gowns and flattening our curls.

My body is taught and pulsing, my blood thrashing through my veins. The edges of my vision cloud, and I blink hard, trying to push the haze away. My chest heaves; the air is too thin, and it doesn’t fill my lungs.

Pain lances my side, but when I press my hand to the stretch of abdomen there, it runs over unscathed fabric. There’s blood on my hands, but it’s not mine.

There are voices shouting around me and somebody pushes me past the stormy edge of the lake. We cross the stone bridge. Waves slosh against the stone and splash over the edge, soaking our shoes.

Josie ushers me and Leo away from Casimir with a firm hand on my back. I peer over my shoulder, my hair whipping around my face with the wind. The hard set of Josie’s jaw betrays herworry, despite the resolve in her tone. The words she speaks are garbled and slurred together through the rain, but I somehow get the meaning.

Get to safety.

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