Page 155
Story: The Sin Binder's Descent
I snort quietly, thumb brushing the rim of my knee. "Wasn’t trying to."
The corners of his mouth twitch, not quite a smile. "You’re a shit liar."
I cut him a glance, dry. "You’re not here for a heart-to-heart, Dalmar. What is it?"
He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he studies me the way he always does—like he’s cataloging every fracture, every flaw, every inch of my broken skin. His gaze settles like a weight.
"You remember what she said?" he asks eventually. "The clone."
My stomach knots. I swallow against the sour taste of it. The prophecy.
The sexy, seductive Luna-copy with sharp teeth and honeyed words, conjured out of Silas’s idiotic chaos magic, had whispered it into the air like it was a curse meant only for him.
"For a while, I thought it meant you," I say quietly. "That she was going to kill you. That you were going to let her."
Ambrose hums under his breath, gaze still forward. "Maybe she did."
I glance at him then, frowning. "You're not dead."
"No," he agrees, voice soft, thoughtful. "But I’m not who I was either, Vale."
There’s a thread of something strange in his tone, something brittle beneath the cool calculation. Like he’s peeling back a layer I wasn’t supposed to see.
"You think binding to her was your death."
His lips quirk, bitter and knowing. "It was the closest thing to it."
We both fall quiet again, the weight of those words settling like ash between us. The thing neither of us wants to say out loud—he bound himself to her, and it killed something in him. Something he thought he needed to survive.
Maybe it’s the same thing that’s been rotting in me since Branwen.
"You know she’s going to rewrite it," I say after a beat, voice rough. "The prophecy. She’s going to tear it apart and make something new."
Ambrose finally looks at me then, and for the first time, there’s something almost soft in his eyes.
"I know," he says. "That’s why I stayed."
His words settle deep in my chest, a quiet, brutal truth. I stare out at the empty village, the shadow of the cathedral on the horizon like a wound against the night.
And for the first time in weeks, I don’t feel alone.
“She gutted you,” he says, like he’s commenting on the weather. No pity, no softness. Just fact. “Not physically. That would’ve been easier.”
I huff a humorless laugh, glancing sideways at him. “You always were good at small talk.”
His lips twitch, a ghost of something that almost resembles a smile. Almost. “I don't do small talk. Waste of air.”
My throat tightens, and I look back toward the cathedral on the horizon, its silhouette jagged against the sky. “It wasn’t just the binding. It was everything. The way she looked at me like I was her weapon and nothing else. Like every piece of me belonged to her because of the mark on my soul.”
Ambrose shifts, one arm resting casually along the back of the bench, but there’s nothing casual about the way he’s watching me.
“You let her hollow you out,” he says quietly. “And now you’re trying to figure out how to fill it.”
I scoff, shaking my head. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t have done the same.”
That earns me a glance, sharp and cutting. “I wouldn’t have.”
I know it’s true. He never belonged to her. Never gave her a piece of himself. He was too careful, too ruthless. Ambrose doesn’t give unless there’s something worth taking back.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155 (Reading here)
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192