Page 163 of A Sin So Pure

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

Patience’s nostrils flare with displeasure. Our movements are stiff as we spin between the couples on the dance floor.

“She wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him,” he seethes.

“Clearly.”

There’s a pause, a strange and awkward beat where our words, the music, and our feet gliding along the ballroom floor lose their synchronicity.

“Do you not have questions about them?” he asks.

“Who? My parents?” I huff. “Not for you. I know their story well enough.”

My uncle spins me, and I’m caught by another Seelie man’s arms. We step for eight counts before he spins me back to Patience.

“You got upset because my mother didn’t play her part as spy to your liking. She didn’t get close enough to theright people. And then, she made the mistake of falling in love with her mark and falling pregnant with me,” I recall with venom. “You exiled her. Then you chased us across the Human Realm when you learned what I could do. As if you had any right to claim me as family after how you treated her.” I scoff. “I may have been a child, but she told me everything in so many words.”

“You might resemble your parents in looks, but your personality is much closer to mine.” Patience chuckles. “I always wanted a daughter, you know.”

Bile curls in my throat.

I focus on the tether of magic between us, the reminder that I have my reward at my fingertips. All I have to do is pull the trigger when it’s time.

“I’m surprised you didn’t shoot me on-sight yesterday,” he adds.

“I’m not planning on killing you today.”

“Oh?”

“I want to savor it,” I say. And for the first time as we dance, I meet his gaze.

We have the same eyes. A green so bright and clear, it’s a wonder no one has called out the similarity.

Patience hums. “Even so, I got what I wanted in the end, didn’t I?”

“How so?”

Our feet hop along with the music, the beat shifting to something faster, more primal, all plucky string and scaling notes.

“You’re all here, the Unseelie Court’s isolation broken. And I got my spy.”

“I’m not a spy for you,” I seethe.

Patience chuckles again, and the embers of rage stoke in my stomach.

“No, you’re not. You’re my unknowing Trojan horse,” he surmises. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t also have a spy. How else would I have known where your little lover was going to be weeks ago?”

Those sparking embers roar into full flames at the mention of Imogen. And a spy who knew where she’d be? Only Josie and Wes knew before the attack… The fire in my veins is doused, frozen over with realization.

Josie would never. Which means he got Wes to talk. How thefuckdid he get Wes to talk?

“How?” is all I ask.

“You shouldn’t be bringing such fresh blood into the field without them properly marking their loyalty, Pride,” Patience says. He makes a mockery of my title every time he says it with those sneering lips. “He was shocked to learn that daddy-dearest was slain by the people he’s supposed to trust most. And that you’re a half-breed? The poor boy was beside himself.”

I burrow into my rage, breathing deeply and trying to keep it from exploding around us. Focusing on the tether, the boon of my pain, I keep it firm and strong between us.

I can’t lose this.

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