Page 77 of A Sin So Pure

“She wasn’t an empath?” I ask.

“Neither of my parents were.”

“Strange.”

“My father thought as much, with such an uncommon gift. I’m confident that if I wasn’t his spitting image that he would’ve thought my mother cheated,” she says, though her tone is laced with fondness, not spite. “Then my grandmother got loose-lipped on her deathbed and dropped the big family secret: she had a fling with an empath before my dad was born. Pretty sure that conversation aged him a century.”

I laugh. I can only imagine how that kind of conversation would have gone.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to say all of that,” Josie adds, pink rushing to her cheeks.

“Don’t apologize. I like hearing about your past,” I say. “I can tell there’s a lot of love in your House despite the bad bits.”

“Bad bits” is an understatement, but it feels wrong to refer to their traumas as anything more after such a nice night.

Though, I’m filled with the urge to reassure Josie that shecantalk about those things with me. Good or bad.

I pick at the beading on my dress.

“When I stayed over the other day, I saw the wings on the wall,” I say, and Josie’s back stiffens. “Nora told me about what Pride made you guys do. You know I’m here for both of you if you ever want to talk about it.”

She gives me a tight smile. “Thank you. But they’re not my stories to share.”

The hall grows quiet, as if speaking of him has caused the ghost of Nora’s predecessor to fall upon us. Josie’s gaze lands anywhere but on me, tracking the wall and catching on the elevator panel. She lifts a delicate finger to point at it.

“You know you didn’t hit the button to call the elevator up, right?”

“I didn’t?” I ask, feigning surprise, though I know I never pressed the button. She jabs it for me, the little down arrow lighting up under her touch. “It’s a good thing you got here in time to help, otherwise I’d be stuck.”

She laughs. It’s a warm chuckle that wraps around me like a hug.

Maybe I did need her reassurance after all.

Sliding the deadbolt into place, I flip the bar’s house lights on and shuck my jacket off. I had offered Nora a nightcap, but she declined, needing to prepare for her trip.

My fingers brush over my lips, puffy and swollen from the toe-curling kiss she’d left me with, whispering promises that she’ll see me before she leavesandmake up for her absence tenfold when she returns.

The difference between now and two weeks ago is staggering.

With light feet, I twirl across the empty bar, skirt fluttering around my ankles, humming one of Miss V’s riffs.

“You two are cute.”

“FuckingGods—” I drop my jacket as I nearly jump out of my skin.

I scan the bar, searching for the intruder until my glare lands on the signature white hair of the Unseelie King.

“You’re always showing up when you’re not welcome, you know that?” I huff, bending down to pick up my jacket and drape it over the bar counter. “That is twice tonight.”

Silas’s deep chuckle echoes in the empty space.

I approach him, shoulders taut and pulled back as I stop at the edge of the table. Silas lounges in one of the VIP booths, one arm stretched across the back, fingers tapping a chaotic rhythm on the leather. Ice clinks in the whiskey glass that he twirls on the table.

“Helped yourself to the top shelf?” I ask. “Didn’t drink enough at Gluttony’s?”

His responding smile is cloyed, an all-too-sweet falseness shining up at me.

“Wrath says I shouldn’t overindulge in public,” he says.

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