Page 31 of A Sin So Pure

“I just want to ex?—”

“No. You don’t get to talk right now, Imogen. I thought you were better than the rest of them,” I seethe.

There are a few feet between us, and our voices echo in the empty hall. I take a step forward.

“Since college, you’ve kept your House business to yourself. I was fine with that. I don’t tell you everything either. But that’s because it’s bloody business that youshouldn’thave to hear about. I didn’t realize you kept quiet because you were rattling secrets off to Silas behind my back!”

“I haven’t been rattling secr?—”

I cut her off with a huff of sardonic laughter.

“I’m not an idiot, so spare me. It’s clear you’re just as much a sellout to Silas as the rest of them.”

My words are pointed, aimed to hurt. They land their marks, each one hunching Imogen’s shoulders more than the last. And I don’t hold any of them back.

“Iknewsomething wasn’t right this morning, but Hattie said she saw Wes with one, andhesaid I gave it to him—whichI’m now realizing means he tried to sneak one for himself,that stupid little shit.”

I groan and shake my head, a physical attempt to break the spiral I’m headed down. I turn my attention back to the woman in front of me, lips curling into a sneer.

“Did you have one of your staff slip it from my coat while we were dancing, or were you the one to do it?” I ask.

The accusation has Imogen pulling her shoulders back, a determined glint filling her eyes.

“No.No. I didn’t take it on purpose. It fell out of your coat and rolled under the bed, and then Silas showed up before I could tell you and?—”

“Before you could tell me?” I snap. I step forward again, closing the distance between us. She takes a step back in turn and her shoulders hit the wall. “Iaskedif you saw it, and you lied to my face. Why wouldn’t you tell me right away?”

Imogen scoffs. “Because me saying‘Hey, I found illegal substances in your coat. What’s up with that?’right after I caught you trying to sneak out would have gone overrealwell.”

“It would have been better than Silas blindsiding me.”

The tension between us buzzes as I cage her in against the wall. The position is familiar, one we’ve been in too many times before. My eyes fall to her lips; they’re puffy from her nervously biting at the skin there. I’d usually be capturing them in a kiss—Istillwant to capture them in a kiss.

Instead, I meet her gaze. I stare into those golden globes as I systematically shut down my emotions. I wrangle every drop of lust pumping through my veins. My shock and my hurt go too. I lock them all in tiny boxes in the back of my mind, despite the fight they give me for doing so.

I only leave my rage alone.

And then I land a final, cruel blow.

“I’m damn lucky I was prepared with a proposal and that Silas seems so interested because otherwise I’d be screwed. I’d probably be dead. And it would have beenyour fault.”

Her mouth twists into a pained expression, and her amber eyes glow with gathering tears. She tears her gaze away, unable to meet my eye; the action douses the burning flames of anger within me, leaving my insides as steaming, bitter ashes of betrayal.

I can count the number of people I trust on one hand—Josie, Hattie, Claude—a chosen few. Ihadthought Imogen could be included in that list. We’ve been friends long enough, and we had whatever thisthingwas between us.

Unfamiliar pain stabs my gut. It’s the kind of foreboding ache that alludes to future regret.

I try to ignore it, erecting another wall around an inconvenient emotion.

A numbness takes over me.

“He’s been having you spy on me,” I say. Not so much a question as a statement of her duplicity.

Imogen swallows on her nod.

“How long?” I ask.

Quick footsteps approach from behind us.

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