Page 41 of Magic of Sins

“What took you so long? I thought people like you only owned the sad rags on their backs.”

I drop into the seat next to him with a snort.

“You wanted to talk, so talk! And in the meantime, you can drive me to the palace.”

I don’t know where I get the courage to speak to the sin mage like that, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. The corners of hismouth twitch in amusement.

“First you must tell me what the hell you packed in those suitcases.”

I groan in frustration. “A few clothes, a couple of books, some old pictures. Just what you would usually take with you after you’ve been stupid enough to walk around the East End with Virtue’s most notorious sin mage and are now hunted by his enemies.”

“Notorious, huh? Shouldn’t you be a little more afraid of me then?”

“I think it’s a little late for that.”

Caden nods thoughtfully. “You might be right about that, love.”

We lapse into silence as the limousine begins to move. The morning traffic slows our progress. Caden keeps sipping his drink. He seems lost in thought. The fact that he doesn’t question me again makes me uneasy.

“How long will I have to hide in the palace?” I ask, eyeing him from the side.

I didn’t notice it before, but he looks tired. As if he hasn’t gotten much sleep the last few nights.

Caden scowls at me over the rim of his glass.

“A long time.”

“But I have a job to go to. And my roommate, my foster mom, Tinkerbell—they all need me.”

Caden snorts in amusement. “Tinkerbell?”

“My cat,” I admit meekly.

How pathetic that I have to resort to mentioning her. The truth is, Ava doesn’t need me. And Lady Rose will only miss the weekly lectures she gives me on the phone. Our relationship has never been the best. I was the last of seven children to be placed with her, and by then she was already too old for young children and had grown tired of us.

“You’re taking away my life,” I insist, though I silently wonder if there’s all that much to take away.

Caden drops his head against the back of the seat. The liquid in his glass sloshes back and forth.

“I wasn’t the one who went to a strip club with two sin mages to have an orgy, love.”

“It wasn’t like that,” I hiss.

The images of that evening reappear in my mind’s eye. The girls dancing. Jared feeding me a strawberry. Amy licking the chocolate sauce off her lips. I shudder.

Caden’s side-eyeing me intently. Then he downs the rest of his drink.

“My enemies coming after you is the least of your problems.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, irritated. A horde of vengeful sin mages seems like enough trouble for a lifetime.

“You felt something,” Caden says. “When the couple sinned, you could feel their passion, am I right?”

“Nonsense!”

I press my lips together and stare out the window so I don’t have to look at Caden anymore. The district we’re driving through is unfamiliar to me. I see a lot more green, and the houses look bigger and older than what I’m used to seeing. They have little in common with the tightly packed row houses in downtown Virtue.

“We’re not going back to the palace,” I state in a flat tone.

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