Page 160
Story: The Sin Binder's Destiny
She’sworried.
“Let me look at it,” she says softly, gaze flicking to mine like she expects resistance.
I should refuse. My whole nature rises up to do it—to scoff, to sneer, to say something cruel and cutting just to remind her what I am. But the words stick behind my teeth. They’re uselesswhen she’s looking at me like that. Like I’m worth a second glance. Like her fingers weren’t meant to press gently against my ruined skin but against my soul.
“I’ll live,” I mutter instead, which is neither consent nor denial. Just noise.
She shakes her head, already tugging the strap of my jacket down, blood wet between her fingers. The sting is immediate as air kisses the wound, but I grit my teeth through it, watching the way her jaw tenses. Her hair’s a mess, tangled and windblown. She has dried blood on her cheek that isn’t hers. She hasn’t rested in days.
And still, she touches me like I matter.
She doesn’t speak while she inspects the damage—Luna knows better than to coddle. Her silence is its own kind of intimacy, a steady presence that roots under the armor I wear like a second skin. And gods, I want her to stop. I want her to keep going. I want—
“You should’ve said something,” she murmurs, not looking at me.
Her fingers hover over the broken shaft of the arrow embedded deep, the barbed tip still lodged in the muscle. A clean break, if such a thing exists. I can feel the heat radiating through my back, the burn of the wound held together by sheer force of will—and her presence, grounding and infuriating in the same breath.
“I need to pull it out,” she says, quieter now.
“I’m not going to scream if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She snorts—actually snorts—as if I’ve said something ridiculous. Maybe I have.
“You’re an idiot.”
“There it is,” I murmur, almost smiling.
She doesn’t smile back. Her lips press together in a hard line as her hand steadies on my shoulder, and with her other, she gripsthe shaft of the arrow and yanks. It’s clean and fast. A sharp, bright pain lances through my entire arm, down my spine—but I don’t make a sound.
I bleed. And she catches the blood with a strip of cloth like it matters. Like I’m not some weapon wrapped in skin. Like I’m worth the softness in her hands.
The others are behind us, gathering packs, muttering strategies, sharpening weapons. Orin speaks quietly to Riven, heads turned to the treeline like they can feel something coming. I know I can. The pressure in the air is shifting again.
But all I can focus on is her.
Luna presses the cloth harder to my shoulder and looks up at me, her mouth twitching like she wants to say something—something that would unravel me.
“Why?” I ask before she can. The word is sharp. Ugly.Desperate.
“Why what?” she says, but she knows.
“Why care?”
She doesn’t blink. Doesn’t look away. Her voice is steady when she answers.
“Because even monsters bleed.”
The words gut me. Not because they’re cruel. But because they’re kind.
I want to kiss her. I want to hate her. I want to tell her that she’s the only thing in this cursed realm that makes me feelanything—but I say nothing. Because it’s not time. Because I’ll break it if I touch it. Because I’m not ready for her to know that I alreadyhavebent the knee in my own damn way.
She steps back. I’m colder for it. Like she left a part of herself there, embedded just beneath my ribs. And no matter how far we go, I’ll carry that with me. And gods help anyone who tries to take it from me.
There’s no time for softness, no time to savor the delicate weight of her attention—even though it presses into me deeper than the arrow ever did. I take one last glance at her face, memorizing the exact shade of worry in her eyes, and then I shift.
“Enough,” I say, low and final.
She stiffens, lips parting like she might argue—but she doesn’t. She knows what I feel in my bones. The pull behind us. The wrongness in the trees. The endless patience of the dead.
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
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160 (Reading here)
- 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
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231
- Page 232
- Page 233
- Page 234
- Page 235
- Page 236
- Page 237
- Page 238
- Page 239
- Page 240
- Page 241
- Page 242
- Page 243
- Page 244
- Page 245
- Page 246
- Page 247
- Page 248
- Page 249
- Page 250
- Page 251
- Page 252
- Page 253
- Page 254
- Page 255
- Page 256
- Page 257
- Page 258
- Page 259
- Page 260
- Page 261
- Page 262
- Page 263
- Page 264
- Page 265
- Page 266
- Page 267
- Page 268