The Priest
by Tiffany Reisz
Published by 8th Circle Press
Book # 9 in the Original Sinners Series
New Orleans, four months after the events of THE QUEEN...
Søren has been suspended from the Jesuits for a minimum of one year after confessing to fathering a child.
To say he's struggling with his newfound freedom is an understatement.
Kingsley is about to be a father again and is convinced something very bad is about to happen. Nerves? Or is he right that the time has come for the Sinners to pay for their sins?
And if things couldn't get worse, a handsome private detective shows up and tells Mistress Nora that a priest has just committed suicide, and she was the last person he tried to call. He would like to know why...
She doesn't know, but Nora and her new detective friend will turn over the city to find out, meeting liars, vampires, and witches along the way. When she finds what she's looking for, she may wish she'd never stepped foot in New Orleans.
Read the book and you will understand the Doctor Who GIF choice. :)
Genre
Triggers
off-page suicide, off-page almost kidnapping/SA of child, descriptive sex with BDSM
The Priest by Tiffany Reisz is the ninth book in the Original Sinners series, and centers around Nora Sutherland, now living in New Orleans, and a new character in the series, Cyrus Tremont, a private detective. After a local priest commits suicide, after calling Nora's old phone number, these two complete opposites come together to get answers. It's a whole new genre for the Original Sinners series.
Every book in the Original Sinners series has been unique, and The Priest is no different. I have to admit though, it was a little harder to get through this novel, compared to the past eight. It's not that it isn't good. It's great! I think the jump from erotica ... with some of the most descriptive, intense sex I have ever read ... to a mystery novel (that yes, still has BDSM and is still erotica), kind of mind-fucked me at first. The mystery was good though (if perhaps a bit predictable. I guessed right away why the priest committed suicide, but was unsure why he called Nora). The Priest stayed true to it's characters, and in really showed how our main trio, Nora, Søren, and Kingsley, have settled down into their new lives and in their relationships. They are all getting older after all, and with Kingsley and Juliette adding to their family, it makes sense.
Without giving anything away, Tiffany Reisz seems to acknowledge some criticisms to the series, and weave it into not just the mystery, but the relationships between the characters. There were some hard truths in there, ones that were hard for me to swallow, loving the series as much as I do, but I can't deny that I have had the same thoughts. Her characters owned up to some questionable past behavior though, and while in the end things are shaky, I think they will all be better for it.
While The Priest is heavily focused on the mystery of the priest, Tiffany Reisz didn't forget about her characters. As with the last eight books, we discover more and more about them. She has a wonderful way of writing fictional characters that emulate real people. As people age, they evolve, and so do her characters. Nora has really settled down. She went from multiple lovers, to just two: Nico, who is her submissive, and Søren, her master and soulmate. She has grown up, while still keeping her spunk. Søren is probably the most different. After confessing to the bishop that he fathered a son, he has been suspended for a year, and has to do multiple things in order to get back in good standing with the church. At 51 years old, it seems that he will finally need to choose between his sadistic nature, and the two people he loves the most, and the church who gave him purpose, and a job he truly loves. Søren seems ... more human than ever before. Kingsley is all grown up too. He has his Juliette, whom he loves deeply, and is the mother of his precious daughter (and soon to be second son or daughter), and Søren. Big difference from a man who had slept with multiple people a day. His story feels complete to me now. He has everything he wanted. Our new character, Cyrus, is just ... meh ... to me. He is funny, and I like the friendship he has with Nora. How many friends does Nora have that she doesn't have a sexual past with? It might just be him. He is vanilla. She is wild and kinky. It leads to some funny banter between the two. I just couldn't connect with him.
The Priest ended very ... open. I won't lie, I am very confused. On Tiffany Reisz's website, it says The Priest is "the beginning of a new era for Reisz's Original Sinners series, and the perfect jumping on point for new readers", and it ends with a lot of questions. Søren, and what he plans to do (which, depending on what he chooses, will have huge ramifications for Nora), and the church ... there is some heavy foreshadowing that Nora is going to be going head to head with the Catholic church, and I am interested to see what this leads to. The only reason I question if the series is continuing, is the fact she ended the book with "The End." ... something I don't remember being in the other books. I hope she does. I'm 95% sure she plans on it at the very least. The Priest definitely stands apart from the rest of the series. It took a while to get used to, but the new direction gives a breath of fresh air to the books and the characters that was sorely needed after eight books, and so many novellas and short stories.
Cyrus: "Catholic Church trying to cover up something embarrassing? This is my shocked face."
Celeste: "What are ovaries?"
Nora: "Nothing but trouble, kid. Nothing but trouble."
Nora: "What do you think it is, baby? A boy or a girl."
Celeste: "I don't care. I want a kitten."
Nora: "Fine. He can be the master. As long as he gets his ass home and fucks me. I haven't gotten laid in a month. My pussy has cobwebs."
Nora: "Give me a second, will you?"
Cyrus: "For what?"
She didn't answer. She took an iPhone out of her back pocket, typed something in. He waited as she scrolled. Finally, she nodded in approval.
Nora: "You have very good Yelp reviews, Mr. Tremont. 'Betty P' says, 'He caught the bastard in the act in twenty-four hours. Never getting married again but if I do, I'm putting Cyrus Tremont on the job. Five Stars.' Well done."
He smiled.
Cyrus: "You Googled me."
Nora: "ID's can be faked."
Cyrus: "So can reviews."
Nora: "Touche."
Nora: "You're teaching my German Shepard French? You're going to give him an identity crisis."
Cyrus: "My respect for the man has gone up a notch or two."
Nora: "Don't worry. It'll go down again any minute."
Cyrus: "You don't like Mr. Edge?"
Nora: "Love him. But I also know him."
Nora: "Gmork, verehre mich."
The dog dropped his head and licked the woman's toes.
Cyrus: "What command is that?"
The woman smiled.
Nora: "Worship me."
Cyrus: "Excuse me?"
Nora: "The command I gave my dog was 'worship me.' This is called foot worship."
Cyrus: "Okay. So maybe you are Nora Sutherlin."
Nora: "Do you mind very much if I change clothes before we talk? I shouldn't get paint on anything. King would tan my hide."
Cyrus: "Literally?"
Nora: "So you have heard of him."
Cyrus: "Your lover? That's what you call him?"
Nora: "I'd call him my 'owner,' but that would probably make you uncomfortable."
Cyrus: "A little, yeah. Something wrong with calling him your 'boyfriend'?"
Nora: "He's fifty-one. There's no boy in that man. Although I am seeing a twenty-seven-year-old as well."
Cyrus: "And he's your boyfriend?"
Nora: "No. He's my other lover."
Cyrus: "You're playing with me."
Nora: "I always play with handsome men. It's my job."
Nora: "I see a lot of masochists in my dungeon. Most of them can orgasm from pain or can orgasm very easily after a beating."
Cyrus cleared his throat
Cyrus: "The men do that?"
Nora: "They're allowed to touch themselves. I don't jack them off or anything."
Cyrus: "Isn't that ... unsanitary?"
Nora: "Germaphobes don't usually become dominatrixes. I make them clean up after themselves."
Cyrus: "What do they use? To clean it up, I mean? Lysol?"
Nora: "Something like that. Or their own tongues if I'm feeling particularly sadistic. And then Lysol after. And bleach. I keep a very clean dungeon."
Cyrus stared at her, stared a long time.
Nora: "Yes?"
Cyrus: "Sorry. Head swam there a second."
Nora: "Kink isn't for everybody."
Nora: "King?"
Kingsley: "Celeste, would you tell you Tata Elle I'm not speaking to her?"
Celeste: "Papa's not speaking to you, Tata Elle."
Nora grimaced but tried to make it look like a grin.
Nora: "Yes, I've noticed, baby. Can you tell your Papa he's being childish?"
Celeste: "Papa, really. You kind of are."
Kingsley: "I know. I'm enjoying it."
Nora: "Celeste, you know I love your Papa, right?"
Celeste: "I know."
Nora: "You know I'd never really hurt him, right?"
Celeste: "Right."
Nora: "Good. Now kiss him goodnight before I drag him out of your room by his hair."
Nora: "Sit. Speak."
Out in the hallway, Gmork barked.
Nora: "Not you, Gmork."
Kingsley: "That is the stupidest name I've ever heard for a dog."
Nora: "It's from The Neverending Story, which is a classic of German children's literature. Show some respect."
Kingsley: "Le bete noire."
The black beast, a fancy French way of saying Gmork was the bane of Kingsley's existence.
Nora: "My dog is not a bete noire."
Kingsley: "I meant you."
Kingsley: "Did you or did you not let a strange man into this house today?"
Nora: "He wasn't all that strange. Certainly less strange than the man who lives in the house."
Kingsley: "Juliette is thirty-five weeks pregnant. We don't let strange men near her. I'd ban strange women as well, but we need you to babysit."
Nora: "I swear to God I would slap you if I didn't know for a fact you'd like it."
Nora: "He's not a serial killer. I Googled him."
Kingsley: "We do not vet visitors to this house with Google."
Nora: "I do."
Paulina: "All right, behave, Cyrus."
Cyrus: "I am behaving."
Paulina: "Behaving bad."
Cyrus: "Behaving bad is still behaving."
Søren: "I'll take your blindfold off now, but you have to promise not to laugh."
Nora: "Laugh at what?"
He answered by taking off her blindfold. She raised a hand to Søren's face and stroked his brand-new blond and gray beard. She didn't laugh, but she did smile.
Nora: "I like it."
Nora: "I have begged to get a tattoo of the Jabberwocky on my back for a decade, and you've told me 'no' every time. Why can you get a tattoo and I can't?"
Søren: "First of all - mine is very small. Second, you can't see your own back. I can. I don't want to be forced to make awkward eye contact with a creature from a demented children's book while I'm attempting to sodomize you."
Nora: "You know you're still a priest, right? Even if they are making you take a leave of absence, you still have to behave."
Søren: "Why start now?"
Søren: "I'm still your priest, aren't I, Little One?"
Nora: "You'll always be my priest."
Cyrus: "So I should just go in?"
Søren: "You were invited."
Cyrus: "All right. Going in. I'll just take this bag of Satan's toys with me."
The Viking grinned behind his cup of coffee.
Cyrus: "He's not really a Viking, is he?"
Nora: "Nah. I'm only teasing him because he grew a beard while he was gone for a month on a cross-country road trip. I've never seen him with a beard before. I kind of like it. The Scandinavians were some of the first lumberjacks in America. We can thank them for deforesting most of the Pacific Northwest. Thanks, assholes!"
Søren: "Judge not lest ye be judged, Kraut."
Nora: "Ohh ... that hurt. He always goes straight for Hitler. So unfair. Hitler was Austrian."
Nora: "Do you know anything about male chastity?"
Cyrus: "Only that it's not all it's cracked up to be."
Nora: "I still have male subs who bring me gifts, write me poems, offer to do all sorts of things for me. One offered to have him killed." She nodded at the Viking
Søren: "You never told me that."
He gave her a look.
Nora: "I wanted to keep my options open."
She winked at Cyrus
Nora: "Stainless steel cock blocker. With that thing on, no way would he be able to get an erection without agony. Like putting your dick in a spiked vice. I need one."
The Viking's brow furrowed. Cyrus crossed his legs.
Cyrus: "And kinky men really get into that?"
Nora: "Oh, yeah. I could tell you stories, Cyrus Tremont."
Cyrus: "Don't tell me any stories. No stories at all."
The viking chuckled.
Cyrus: "You're kind of friendly for a dominatrix. Where's the whip and chains?"
Nora: "You wanna see 'em?"
Cyrus: "You're trouble."
Nora: "Yeah, sorry. Old habits die hard."
Cyrus: "Might be going to hell for that."
Nora: "It's okay. We'll ride share."
Cyrus: "Where'd you two meet?"
Nora: "Went to Starbucks one day. Ordered a tall blond with whip. They gave me Søren."
Søren: "Eleanor?"
Nora: "Give me a sec. I'm picturing you handcuffed to my headboard."
He looked over the top of her book at her, eyebrow arched. The look was not friendly.
Søren: "You aren't allowed to do that."
Nora: "A girl can dream."
Nora: "What are you reading?"
Søren: "Where God Happens by Rowan Williams. Book of sermons by the former Archbishop of Canterbury."
Nora: "I have porn, you know. The good stuff, too. Kinky. Hot. Well-written. I should know. I wrote it."
Søren: "This is Anglican porn."
Nora: "You can't fuck me."
He bit and kissed her neck.
Søren: "I don't recall asking your permission."
Nora: "You're fucking Kingsley tonight. You need to save your strength."
His eyebrow cocked skyward.
Søren: "Are you implying I'm incapable of having you and Kingsley both in one night?"
Nora: "Well ... You aren't as young as you used to be."
Søren: "You're trying to make me punish you."
Nora: "Is it working?"
He nodded
Nora: "I'm in trouble?"
He nodded again.
Nora: "I'm in big trouble?"
Søren: "Enormous."
Cyrus: "You boosted cars?"
Nora: "My father owned a chop shop. I helped. Then I got arrested and Dad got whacked by people he owed money to."
Cyrus: "I guess you turned out pretty well. Considering."
Nora: "That's the nicest backhanded compliment anyone's ever given me."
Cyrus: "I'll do it. You man the trunk."
Nora: "What if there's a monster in there?"
Cyrus: "You're scarier than I am."
Nora: "This is probably true. Hit it."
Nora: "Houston, we have a pervert."
Cyrus: "So, he's kinky or the world's nicest kidnapper. I prefer kinky."
Nora: "You and me both, buddy."
Cyrus: "You ever flip the tables on your Viking and tie him up? Wait. Don't answer that. I don't want to know."
Nora: "Never. He's all dominant. Unfortunately. He'd look so pretty in handcuffs."
Cyrus: "Stop."
Text Messages:
Nora: The guy I told you about said he'd meet you. Can you come to my place tonight at six?
Cyrus: Your house?
Nora: My dungeon.
Cyrus: It's not normal for people to have dungeons. You know that, right?
Nora: Who wants to be normal?
Nora: "Funny, I never could sew on a button, but give me a guy with a med-fet and some needle and thread, and suddenly I'm doing embroidery on his face."
Cyrus turned his head and eyed Nora.
Doc: "He thinks you're joking, Majesty."
Nora: "Let him think that."
Cyrus: "I don't think you're joking. I think you're scary."
Nora: "CBT?"
Cyrus: "What's that?"
Nora: "Cock and ball torture."
Cyrus: "I hate this job sometimes."
Cyrus: "What's the appeal?"
Nora: "Of what? Kink? You got all night?"
Cyrus: "For a man. Submitting to a woman."
Doc: "I should think it was obvious."
Cyrus: "Not to me. I mean, I get a woman submitting to a man. That makes sense."
Nora: "Sexist much?"
Cyrus: "You know what I'm saying."
Nora: "No, what are you saying?"
Cyrus tensed. He was about to get himself hard-core murdered by a tiny white woman wearing knee-high leather shit-kickers and truck stop hooker lipstick.
Murdered. To. Death.
Cyrus: "You know, right? Don't you? You get me, right?"
Doc: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what you're saying, young man, is that you understand why women desire - sometimes, not all the time, and certainly no all women - to submit to a powerful man as it's so hard to be a woman in a world so hostile to women. The fantasy of having a powerful protector is a potent one when it seems like the threats from dangerous men are everywhere all the time. And of course, in an ideal world, a woman's first male love is her father, who was affectionate, adoring, and yet an authority figure. Why wouldn't a woman desire a man to be - as her father was - her protector, first and foremost, but also a source of unconditional affection as well as an authority figure and disciplinarian? Ergo, your statement that it's more understandable that women wish to submit to men was simply an acknowledgment of the sexist socialization that women experience in patriarchal cultures."
Cyrus: "Yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying. Took the words right outta my mouth, Doc."
Nora: "Good save, Doc. But can you explain male submission to women that succinctly?"
Doc: "Mr. Tremont, have you ever had a pretty girl in a short plaid skirt and white cotton panties stand over your head and piss through them onto your face?"
Cyrus's eyes went very wide. He couldn't find the words to even respond to that.
Doc: "Not even fantasized about it?"
Cyrus: "Hell no."
Doc threw his hands up in defeat.
Doc: "Well, you can't say I didn't try, your majesty."
Nora: "Any other questions, Cy?"
Cyrus: "Not a damn one."
Cyrus: "That man is nuttier than a fruitcake. Makes you look almost normal, and God damn, that's saying something, isn't it?"
Cyrus: "No other shirt?"
Nora: "Look, you want answers from strangers, my tits will get us answers."
Cyrus: "True. I'll drive."
Nora: "I don't mind driving."
Cyrus: "Can you see the road over your tits?"
Nora: "Okay. You drive."
Nora: "If you know vampires and you've been holding out on me, I'm not going to be friends with you anymore."
Guy: "What's your hurry, baby?"
Nora: "I'm thirty-eight. I'm not a baby, baby. Let me go."
Guy: "Don't leave me. We just met."
Nora: "Fuck, please don't make me kill you tonight. I'm busy."
Cyrus: "I was just trying to scare him."
Nora: "Yeah, well, I was just trying to break his fucking foot so he can never walk straight again."
Guy: "You fucking bitch. What's wrong with you, you psycho?"
Nora: "Do you have all night? Five bucks says he calls me a cunt next. Wait for it."
She won the bet
Cyrus: "What if he's really hurt, though? Like, for real. That bother you?"
Nora: "He could have hurt me for real. You think I should feel guilty?"
Cyrus: "Oh, fuck no."
Nora: "And this is why we're friends."
Nora: "Can you help me find someone I'm looking for?"
Chaz: "Depends. Who are you and what are you gonna do to them when you find them?"
Nora: "Kill them and eat their hearts."
Chaz: "Are you sure you weren't my ex-wife in a past life?"
Nora: "No, but I could be your ex-wife in this one."
Nora: "Bite me."
Cyrus: "Nora."
Nora: "I was being literal."
Cyrus: "Let's not do that."
Nora: "If that was my only chance to become a vampire, and you blew it for me, I'll never forgive you, Cyrus Tremont."
Nora: "Oh, come on. We had a good day. So many clues. I feel like Scooby-Doo. Never solved a mystery before. Give me a Scooby Snack."
Cyrus: "We haven't solved it yet."
Cyrus: "I guess if he doesn't trust you by now, he never will."
Nora: "Søren? Trust me? Ha!"
Cyrus: "What? He doesn't trust you?"
Nora: "If by 'trust' you mean Søren has full faith in me and can sleep at night knowing that I will not do anything stupid or dangerous, then no, he doesn't trust me. He'd be insane to trust me."
Cyrus: "And that's okay with you?"
Nora: "He doesn't trust me, but he accepts me. And I'll take that over misplaced trust anyway."
Nora: "I'm not going to try to seduce you. Even if you are cute."
Cyrus: "Fuck, I am not cute."
Nora: "I'm keeping that tuxedo pic in my spank bank."
Cyrus: "Go away, Queenie."
Cyrus: "Hanging with her is like hanging with one of the guys. Except it's easier to talk to her sometimes. That make any sense?"
Paulina: "Like she's maybe ... a friend?"
Cyrus: "Now I wouldn't go that far. The woman is ten kinds of crazy."
Nora: "Guess we're safe for now."
Cyrus: "Famous last words."
She glared at him.
Cyrus: "Just saying. Give me your keys. I'm going up first. Don't come up until I text you."
Nora: "You're being very chivalrous."
Cyrus: "I'm being a damn fool is what I'm being."
Nora: "You could take the elevator."
Cyrus: "I've seen too many horror movies."
Nora: "People get killed on the stairs in horror movies, too."
Cyrus gave her the dirtiest look he could muster.
Nora: "That was payback for the 'famous last words' comment."
Cyrus: "Just stay here with your stupid dog."
Nora: "Believe it or not, I don't get too many kooks following me around."
Cyrus: "You're a dominatrix dating a priest and a French farmer. You got a dog that worships you on command. You got a witch stalking you. You have your own dungeon on the third floor of a bank building. Lady, I hate to tell you ... but you are one of the kooks."
Nora: "That would hurt, except it's true."
Cyrus: "And you really, actually, swear-to-God liked that? If not, I may have to settle things with him."
Nora: "I really, actually, swear-to-God loved it. Don't beat up my dominant, please. But if you do, I'd appreciate it if you left his pretty face alone."
Cyrus: "What happened to you as a child?"
Nora: "Nothing. Totally normal childhood. I mean, other than getting arrested for grand-theft auto, my Catholic priest falling in love with me when I was fifteen, and my father getting whacked by the mob. Why do you ask?"
Nora: "Go to her house, pick her up, carry her to bed, put her down and say, 'I'm going to go down on you until you come on me and you're going to like it. That's an order.'"
Cyrus: "She would not go for that."
Nora: "Hmm ... good point. We don't know if she's kinky yet or not. Better just ask nicely. 'May I please eat your pussy?' Try it. Dare you."
Cyrus: "Dare me? You just dared me? Are we in the seventh grade now?"
Nora: "Double-dared you."
Cyrus: "Why do I talk to you?"
Nora: "Bet you're good at it."
Cyrus: "Hell yes I am."
Nora: "Because if you aren't, you can ask Søren for tips. For a priest, he's surprisingly good at eating pussy."
Cyrus: "I hope that witch hexes you."
Cyrus: "You're ten kinds of crazy."
Nora: "Only ten? That's for keeping me company. I feel a lot less freaked out now."
Cyrus: "That makes one of us."
Søren: "I wanted to check on you and when you weren't home ..."
Nora: "You thought I was in jail, didn't you?"
Søren: "It did occur to me."
Nora: "I'm never going to leave you."
Søren cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to him.
Søren: "Where did that come from?"
Nora: "I just wanted to tell you that."
Søren: "Are you worried you're going to, Little One?"
Nora: "Sometimes it doesn't feel like telling you I love you is enough. I was in love with you when I left you. And I was in love with you the whole time we were apart. Saying I'll never leave you means more than just 'I love you.' Besides, you already know and believe I love you. But I'm not sure you believe I'll never leave you again."
Søren stroked her cheek, ran his fingers through her hair.
Søren: "Eleanor, you really should know better by now. Never flirt with a sadist in a well-stocked dungeon."
Søren pulled out a massive twelve-inch dildo out of the drawer and held it up.
Søren: "Really, Eleanor?"
Nora: "That's not mine, I swear. I only use it on Sheridan."
Søren: "She's tiny."
Nora: "She's bigger on the inside. That's a Doctor Who joke."
Søren: "I went to school in England as a child. I fully understood the reference."
Nora: "Did you really not beat and fuck King tonight?"
Søren: "I did not. After last night he'll be needing more than a day to recover."
Nora: "Oh, great. Now I have an erection."
Søren lowered his head
Nora: "What?"
Søren: "Nothing. Except I'm glad you've decided you'll never leave me. Because even if I could live without you, I would never want to."
Nora: "You should kiss me after you say stuff like that."
Søren: "Broke a man's foot. tore open my back. You are bloodthirsty, Eleanor. It's no wonder you fell in love with me."
Nora: "humph"
Søren: "What was that?"
Nora: "Nothing. Just ... you're the second person tonight to tell me I'm violent."
Søren: "Only the second?"
Søren: "Zachary's a good father to him."
Nora: "He is."
Søren: "I hate him."
Nora laughed. Søren did, too, a quiet self-deprecating laugh that turned into a soft groan. He rubbed his forehead.
Søren: "Being apart from him is harder than I ever dream. Why did I do this to myself? To you? To us?"
Nora: "Here. Here's my TARDIS key. Take it. Hop in. Go back in time and stop yourself from conceiving Fionn. Would you if you could?"
He took a long breath then reached out, not to take the keys but to stroke her face.
Nora: "I thought so."
Cyrus: "You trying to see if I'm tough enough to hang with Nora?"
Søren: "You've survived four whole days in her company and don't seem any worse for the wear."
Cyrus: "She does wear me out though. How do you sleep at night knowing your woman is that wild?"
Søren: "Helps to tie her ankle to the bedpost."
Cyrus: "That girl loves you, man. In case you didn't know."
Søren: "I know. But it never hurts to hear it again."
Søren: "The girl in question has little to no interest in marrying me. I ordered her to marry me once and didn't see her again for a full year."
Cyrus: "Damn. Most girls just say 'No, thank you, let's be friends.'"
Søren: "I promise you, Cyrus, you do not want to go anywhere near my psyche. You'd be better off walking blindfolded through an active minefield.
Cyrus: "That bad, huh?"
Søren: "Worse."
Nora: "Cyrus, cover your ears."
Cyrus: "What?"
Nora: "Trust me, you don't want to hear this."
Cyrus: "Weird sex stuff?"
Nora: "Gay stuff."
Cyrus: "I'll just go stand by the fountain."
Kingsley: "Gay stuff?"
Nora: "Okay, bi stuff. Whatever."
Mercedes: "So easy to choose between good and evil. So hard to choose between good and good. Hardest of all is choosing between what you want to do and what you ought to do."
Nora: "After we found out about Father Murran and Melody, I wanted-"
Nora slapped a hand over her mouth hard, silencing a sob that seemed to come from nowhere but in fact came from deep, deep in her heart.
Nora: "I wanted my mom. My mom. Søren's mom. Any mom. Why the fuck do mothers have to go and die five minutes before you figure out how much you need them?"
Mercedes reached out and put her hand over Nora's
Mercedes: "I'm a mom. And it's going to be all right"
Nora: "I love you."
Søren: "Still?"
Nora: "Always. You are a wicked priest, but I'm a wicked woman. Let's just accept we deserve each other."
Søren: "I'm more than happy to accept that."
Søren: "I'll stop the day you stop enjoying it, Little One."
She snapped her fingers in his face as he'd done to her a thousand times.
Nora: "That's Mistress Little One to you."
Nora: "Stand there."
Søren: "Here? Or here?"
Nora: "Submitting for five seconds and you're already a brat."
Nora: "Safe word?"
Søren: "Yours will do."
Nora: "Hard limits?"
Søren: "Decapitation."
Søren: "If you ever asked me to choose between you and the Church..."
Nora: "I would never -"
Søren: "I know you wouldn't. But if you did, I would choose you. When I was trying to stop you from calling the media, it wasn't only because I was afraid it could come to that. If the Church turned on you, accused you of something, make you into their scapegoat -"
Nora: "I know you'd leave them if they did that to me."
Søren: "I wouldn't leave them. I would destroy them."
Check out the Original Sinner Series below