Page 29 of A Sin So Pure

My thoughts run fast and swift through my mind, carrying with them a slew of emotions. I catalog the last twenty-four hours, scouring over every interaction. The tonic. The Den. Imogen, this morning. Wes—who was carrying a tonic this morning,human-side, not in Faerie.

It all leads me to one harrowing conclusion.

My eyes cut to Imogen, whose back is ramrod straight and eyes are trained on the bottle. Her lips are parted in shock. But it’s her eyes, which are laden with guilt, that have betrayal cutting through my own shock. I’m so,sostupid.

I knew I didn’t leave it at the office.

My tongue runs over my teeth as I push all my muddled thoughts and inconvenient emotions away. I lock it all away, falling into the practiced persona of Pride to get me through this conversation.

“If you would have waited about thirty seconds, I would have gotten to that,” I say.

“So, you’re not denying you brought Seelie goods across the Veil,” Silas says, eyes narrowing at me.

Envy whistles. “Busted.”

“Zip it, Envy,” Imogen snaps.

“I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking,” Envy whisper-yells.

Ignoring them, I slide my folder across the table.

“I have all the permit applications right here. Before you interrupted, I was going to walk you all through my proposal.”

Silas’s white brows knit together, and a frown tugs his rosy lips down as he flips through the papers. He’ll find everything in order, including a prepayment for taxes. I knew if I was going to do this, I had to stack the odds in my favor.

“That bottle is simply a sample. Risky, I know. But all great business decisions require a level of risk,” I add.

“So, youdon’talready have a stockpile of these healing tonics?” Silas asks.

“Nora—” Imogen whispers a warning.

“You’ve done enough,” I snap back at her before returning my attention to Silas. “No, I do. However, I have them stored human-side. Where you technically don’t have jurisdiction.”

“That’s bold of you,” Silas says.

“Some would argue it’s smart.”

He points to the bottle on the table. “This wasn’t smart.”

“I’ve already explained that. And I don’t take kindly to being scolded.”

That pulls a snort from him. “It’s only scolding if you’ve done something wrong, Pride.”

“Have I?” I challenge.

“Done something wrong?”

“Mhm.”

There’s a beat of silence where the tension in the air grows thick. But then, a white-toothed grin spreads across Silas’s face.It’s not one that eases any of the nerves firing up and down my spine, it’s one of devilish intrigue.

“Tell me why,” he demands.

My throat bobs.

Whywhat? Why would I take the risk? Why healing tonics specifically and not something else?

Or is it deeper than that—why work with the Seelie at all? And how does my gut already know that he means the latter?

---