Page 72
Story: The Sin Binder's Descent
Not me.
That smile should be mine.
I move forward without thinking. Not charging—no, I’m far too composed for something as impulsive as that. But I glide past Silas with the silent intent of reclaiming what’s mine, stepping over the shadow threshold. Only Silas—chaotic, maddening Silas—sees it as a challenge.
He spins, arm shooting out in front of me like we’re children and this is some imaginary line I’m not allowed to cross without permission.
“Whoa whoa whoa,” he says, blocking the doorway like a wall of grinning, unpredictable fire. “No skipping the line, Dalmar. Chivalry's not dead yet. It’s just shirtless and leading the way.”
I stare at him. “Get out of my way.”
Silas leans in like he’s about to whisper a secret, but then pivots dramatically toward Luna instead. “Babe, tell Ambrose to stop trying to steal my thunder. I earned this main character moment.”
Luna bites back a laugh—bitesit, like it’s something decadent—and that makes it worse. She shakes her head, brushing past both of us now, stepping into the doorway likesheowns it, which, of course, she does. The room reacts to her, pulseswith her presence. Even the stone seems to breathe differently around her magic.
“You’re both ridiculous,” she murmurs.
But she doesn’t take it back. Doesn’t take the smile she gave Silas and hand it to me instead.
I step forward again—this time slower. Controlled. Calculated. But Silas side-steps with me like we’re dancing, and grins over his shoulder like he knows what he’s doing. Like this is a move in a game he’s already winning.
“Touch me again, and I’ll make sure that statue you were flirting with earlier finds a way to marry you.”
He just winks.
“Wouldn’t be my worst relationship.”
Behind us, Elias groans. “Can wenotturn this into another show? Just pick an order and go. We’ve got cursed floorboards to step on, or possessed books to argue with. Priorities.”
But I don’t move. Not yet. Because I’m still watching Luna, and I’m thinking about the way her smile folded around someone else. About how she didn’t even glance at me when I opened the door. And I’m wondering—
Why the hell does that bother me this much?
The answer coils in my chest, sharp and venomous. Because I don’t want her to smile at anyone the way she smiles at him. Not unless I’ve taken that smile first. And I will.
I step inside last, but I don’t lose.
I never lose.
She stops at the top of the stairs, hand brushing Caspian’s shoulder like it belongs there. It’s not a tease, not her usual play—it’s soft, gentle. Worse. She lingers just long enough for it to mean something. He doesn’t flinch. Just tips his head like he’s grateful for it. Like he needs it. She gives it anyway.
And then she moves.
Down the steps like she’s floating, like her feet don’t even feel the weight of this place anymore. And when she passes Riven, shewinks. A flick of lashes, that small twist of her lips—his.He catches it, of course. Winks back, just as quiet, just as complicit. And the look they share? It’s some wordless language I’m not invited to understand.
I stand at the top of the stairs and watch it all happen below me like I’m some ghost to my own goddamn story. They have their moments. Their touches. Their little carved-out spaces of belonging.
Me?
I get nothing.
Because I give nothing.
That’s the lie I tell myself to keep the ache from unraveling into something I can’t patch over. But tonight, it doesn’t hold. Tonight it feels like rot. Like every wall I’ve built is a cage she keeps choosing not to step into.
And that should comfort me.
But it doesn’t.
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 (Reading here)
- 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
- 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