Page 35 of Magic of Sins

Erin comes to stand beside me.

“That’s him, back there,” she says quietly, nodding toward a window at the opposite end of the hall.

Who,I want to ask, but it becomes clear once I follow her gaze.

It’s Lord Ernest Diligence.

He stands a little apart from everyone else. Everything about him seems rigid and he looks lost. If he wasn’t wearing the dark blue sash that distinguishes him as a member of the nobility, he could almost be mistaken for a lanky kitchen boy.

“He’s at least two years younger than Ophelia,” I whisper to Erin.

The guard shrugs.

“The king doesn’t care. All he ever cares about is money and the family bloodline. He’s been patient with Ophelia so far, but one day that will end. Then he’ll force her into a marriage with some richparagon of virtue.”

She screws up her face in disgust at the last words.

She sounds sad. I smile warmly at her.

“Today is not that day.”

Doubt flashes in Erin’s eyes. I wonder what it must feel like to like someone so much that the idea of losing them to someone else breaks your heart. Is that what love is?

I’ve never been in love. Back on the farm, there was a boy who used to bring us milk. We sometimes talked, and once he touched my hand.When I grow up, I’m going to marry you,he said to me, and his chest swelled with conviction. The idea thathe might really ask scared me. I didn’t want him to touch me again. Back then, I couldn’t imagine ever longing to be close to anyone.

And now? Now there’s Caden.

Caden who keeps creeping back into my thoughts. His hand on my waist, the warmth of his body next to mine as we walk through the East End.

I shake my head, as if that might get rid of my unwanted thoughts. He’s a sin mage. He’s dangerous. And he’s put me in a hopeless position. One, I admit, that I’m partly to blame for. To try and compare this tangle of emotions to what’s going on between Ophelia and Erin is ridiculous. I’m a little confused after everything that’s happened. But who can really blame me?

The murmur of voices abruptly dies down as King Henry steps onto a dais at the head of the hall. All eyes turn to him. Ophelia has finished her conversation with the elderly couple and comes to stand beside me and sighs softly.

“Here comes another one of his speeches. Prepare yourself,” she whispers, rolling her eyes.

The king clears his throat as his gaze glides vigilantly over the crowd. The room’s completely silent. It’s so quiet that I hardly dare to move for fear that my skirt might rustle.

“Loyal citizens of Virtue,” the king begins. “We are gathered here today to remember the path of virtue.”

And here I thought we were here because the king wants to fix up his daughter.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can tell Ophelia’s thinking the same thing.

“The path is what keeps us from evil,” the King continues in a dignified voice. “Never again must we let sin enter our hearts. Our ancestors did, and they bitterly regretted it in the end. We look back on a sad past. During the riots, many lives were lost. And it is only because of our discipline and self-control that wemanaged to put down those insurrections.”

“He’s always so overdramatic,” Ophelia complains quietly.

An elderly gentleman turns around and gives the princess a reproachful look. I don’t think he heard what she said, but it’s bad enough that she opened her mouth during the king’s speech. It’s disrespectful, even if she is his daughter. I wish Ophelia would just keep quiet and stop drawing attention to us.

My foster mother talked about the riots sometimes. She was a young woman then—some forty years ago. At the time, Virtue was still called London and sin was a constant companion of the people. No one thought anything of it when people kissed in the open or an angry child shouted at its mother. There were restaurants where gluttony was practiced and gambling halls where greed was a daily business.

Then sin mages all over the world revealed themselves after having lived in secret for a long time. Of course they were greeted with suspicion, but for a while it seemed that peaceful coexistence was possible.

But then everything changed.

No one knows who cast the first stone. Maybe a few sin mages got carried away. Perhaps the humans distrust was too great after all. There were deaths on both sides, and the riots started. Violence reigned in the streets; shops were looted, victims of sin magic as well as dead sin mages thrown into the Thames. No one was safe anymore.

It took new laws and the suppression of all sin for the humans to regain control. The sin mages were pushed back to the East End. The riots were stopped, but the fear remained. And what was once London became Virtue.

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