Page 82
Story: The Sin Binder's Destiny
His voice bounces off the hollow stone walls, ricocheting in the eerie quiet of the spiral grounds. The crumbling buildings loom around us, their windows empty, doorways gaping like mouths ready to swallow anyone dumb enough to step inside.
The cold presses against my bare skin, damp and biting, but none of us notice anymore. It’s not the weather that matters. It’s the fact that her footsteps stop here—like she vanished.
I glance down at the cracked stones under my feet, the mud smeared and broken by her prints until they simply… don’t continue. No exit. No signs she circled back. Just absence. The worst kind.
Silas keeps going like a man possessed, stalking the courtyard, spinning like he thinks if he turns fast enough, she’ll appear. "Luna, baby, if you come out now, I’ll let you lick whipped cream off Ambrose’s abs!"
Ambrose shoots him a look that could kill lesser men, but Silas is immune to death threats. Has been for centuries.
"I’ll even add Riven’s ass to the deal," Silas adds, winking over his shoulder, like this is a goddamn carnival and not a hunt for the girl who’s unmade all of us.
Caspian huffs beside me, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. "You're going to scare her deeper into hiding with that mouth."
"I’ll scare her into running straight to me," Silas counters, grinning wildly, though the corners of it fray. His voice fractures when he yells again, louder this time, as if sheer volume will shake her loose from wherever she’s buried herself. "Come on, love! It’s a full Sin Binder flesh buffet out here, and it’s only for you."
I scan the buildings, the jagged outlines of broken towers and fractured walls. Too many places to hide. Too many shadows that could swallow her whole. My stomach knots tight.
Behind me, Orin stands quiet, watchful, and shirtless like the rest of us—except Lucien. Lucien's the only one who refused, arms crossed, shirt still intact like he’s above all this, even now.
"She’s here," I mutter, half to myself, half to the others. "Her tracks stop here."
"And she’s hiding from us," Ambrose says flatly, scanning the buildings like he’s cataloguing every exit.
Silas breaks the moment by cupping his hands again and hollering, "Luna! If you don’t come out, I’m going to tell everyone how you begged me to touch you last week!"
I choke on a laugh despite myself. "She’s gonna kill you when she hears that."
"If she’s here, she’s listening." Silas’s voice drops, the edges of it softening just enough to hurt. "I just need her to come out."
He keeps circling, calling her name like a curse, a prayer, a lifeline.
We’re all standing there like idiots—immortal, lethal men, stripped bare and exposed for a girl who keeps slipping through our fingers.
And somewhere in this crumbling courtyard, she’s listening.
Silas is pacing now like a man with no earthly shame, bare-chested, mud streaked across his chest, like he’s auditioning for the world’s most depraved burlesque act.
"Maybe," he says, dragging out the word like he’s delivering divine wisdom, "we need to strip more."
I scrub a hand down my face. "No."
"But hear me out," Silas presses, turning to the rest of us like we’re the idiots here. "What if—just what if—we all pretend to be strippers? A private show. For Luna. She’d love that."
Ambrose’s groan is somewhere between dying and homicidal.
Before I can shut him down, Silas flings his arms wide and bellows into the courtyard, "Luna! Baby! I’ll let you have as many clones of me as you want!"
I freeze. "What the fuck does that even mean?"
He doesn’t answer, too busy spinning theatrically, throwing his voice up to the cracked towers like she’s a princess trapped in one. "Endless Silas’! Your dream, right?"
I’m halfway to telling him to shut the hell up when the courtyard itself bites back.
"Silas Veyd, shut up!" Her voice cracks like a whip, sharp, furious, and impossibly near. It ricochets between stone and shadow like she’s everywhere at once. "That was a private thing!"
Silas halts mid-spin, jaw dropping. "Oh, she’s listening."
A grin splits his face, wild and wicked, and he cups his hands again. "Baby, come out! I can do the thing with the rope too!"
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 (Reading here)
- 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
- 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