Page 10 of The Sin Binder’s Chains (The Seven Sins Academy #2)

A warm body is pressed up against me. Too warm. Too close. And I know exactly who the fuck it is before I even open my eyes.

Elias. His scent is all over me, smoky, slow, like something decadent and lazy, laced with the undeniable weight of Sloth. His arm is draped across my waist, his face buried in my hair, practically on top of me like I’m some kind of human body pillow.

And hell no. I did not sign up to be accosted in my sleep.

I inhale sharply, my mind catching up to where I am, where we are, the Void, that cursed, endless wasteland, a place that does not belong to the living.

It stretches out around us, an impossible expanse of twisted, jagged earth, of shadows that move when they shouldn’t, of something watching from the edges of the dark.

We’re here to find Silas and Riven.

Not to cuddle.

Elias shifts against me, groaning softly, his grip tightening like his subconscious is clinging to me, like I’m some kind of comfort in this fucking nightmare realm.

I glare at his sleeping form.

And then I elbow him in the ribs.

Hard.

Elias grunts, inhaling sharply as his entire body jerks awake.

There’s a long moment where his brain short-circuits, where he registers that his arm is around me, that he’s practically sprawled over me, latched on like a goddamn barnacle, and his body goes rigid.

“Oh.” His voice is wrecked, low and rough with sleep. “Oh, wow. Um. Hi.”

I shove at his chest. “Get the fuck off me.”

Elias scrambles back like he’s been electrocuted, sitting up so fast he nearly falls off the makeshift bedroll.

"Okay, okay, first of all, wow, I am so sorry, this is not what it looks like.” He holds up both hands in surrender, his hair a disheveled mess, his shirt rumpled, eyes wide with something between panic and secondhand embarrassment.

I glare. “Oh? Then what does it look like?”

Elias swallows. “Uh. It looks like I may have accidentally, in my very deep sleep, subconsciously gravitated toward your obvious body heat and…possibly…maybe…used you for warmth?”

A pause.

“…Like a very sexy furnace?”

I stare at him.

Lucien, who has been sitting on the far side of the dying fire, watching this with unimpressed amusement, exhales slowly. “Elias.”

Elias turns to him, wild-eyed. “Listen, I didn’t mean to.”

I snort. “Didn’t mean to what? Throw yourself on top of me in the middle of the night?”

Elias makes a miserable noise, dragging a hand through his already-ruined hair. “Okay, but technically, I was asleep. So that makes this an innocent mistake, and I feel like we should all move on and pretend this never happened before my very fragile self-respect crumbles into actual dust.”

Lucien hums. “It was definitely not innocent.”

Elias whips around. “Okay, Satan, no one asked you.”

Lucien leans back against a jagged rock, looking thoroughly entertained. “You may as well accept it,” he says smoothly. “It’s not like this is the first time you’ve made a fool of yourself in front of her.”

Elias groans, dropping his face into his hands. “Kill me. Just kill me right now.”

I roll my eyes, standing up and dusting myself off. “I’ll consider it if you ever touch me in my sleep again.”

Elias lifts his head just enough to smirk at me. And despite himself, despite how wrecked and unhinged and deeply mortified he looks, he has the nerve to waggle his brows.

“…Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Sin-Binder.”

Panic slams into me like a physical force.

My chest tightens, my skin burns, and for a second, I swear I can still feel it, Riven’s pain tearing through me, fire scorching across my back, my stomach, everywhere.

I sit up so fast that Elias yelps, nearly toppling over from where he’s still sitting next to me.

“Shit,” he mutters, steadying himself. “Good morning to you too, Sunshine.”

I barely hear him.

My heart is hammering against my ribs, my breath uneven as I press a hand to my chest, expecting to feel the phantom wounds still there. But… nothing.

The pain is gone. Mostly. There’s still a dull weight pressing down on my sternum, but it’s manageable, nothing like before, when it felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside out.

Lucien watches me carefully from his spot near the fire, his sharp gaze assessing, calculating every flicker of movement.

“How do you feel?” he asks, his voice even, controlled.

I inhale slowly, testing the ache in my chest, rolling my shoulders.

“…Better.”

Lucien nods like he expected that answer. “Riven may have helped on his end.”

I snap my gaze to him. “Helped?” My throat is dry. “You’re saying he, what? Muted it?”

Lucien exhales, stretching his legs out in front of him. “More likely, he redirected the pain elsewhere. If he’s aware of what it was doing to you, he would have forced his body to endure it on his own.”

A slow, sick feeling curls in my stomach. Because I know Riven. And I know he would take every ounce of it if it meant shielding me from it.

My fingers clench against my thigh. “That’s not, he shouldn’t have to. ”

“He shouldn’t,” Lucien agrees easily. “But he will. Every single time.” He tilts his head slightly. “Which is why you need to learn how to cut it off yourself.”

I look at him, inhaling sharply. “Cut it off?”

Lucien nods once. “Not the bond itself. Just the pain.”

Elias clears his throat, still looking extremely uncomfortable about the whole thing.

“I mean, yeah,” he says, shifting awkwardly.

“It’s kind of a problem that you, uh…feel everything your bonded Sins feel.

Like, not to be rude, but if one of us gets impaled on something, which, honestly, probability-wise, seems very likely, you’d just drop dead on the spot.

Which, for the record, would be extremely inconvenient for all of us. ”

I glare at him. “Wow. What a heartfelt concern.”

Elias puts a hand on his chest, mock-offended. “I care, Luna.” A beat. “Mostly about my own well-being, but like, you matter too, I guess.”

Lucien sighs heavily, rubbing his temple. “You are unbelievable.”

Elias grins. “Thank you.”

I exhale sharply, shaking my head. “Okay, focus.” My gaze locks onto Lucien. “How do I do it?”

Lucien studies me for a long moment. “You find the thread in the bond that carries the pain,” he says slowly. “And you sever your connection to it.”

I stare at him.

“Yeah, that’s super helpful, Lucien. Wow. Thank you so much for your deeply specific instructions.”

Elias snickers beside me, earning another withering glare from Lucien.

“I can show you,” Lucien says, ignoring him. “But you have to focus.”

I blow out a breath, nodding. “Fine.”

Lucien shifts, straightening. “Close your eyes.”

I do.

“Find the bond.”

I inhale deeply, reaching inside, past the surface, past the immediate pull of my connection to the Sins, past the weight of Riven and Silas woven into me like they belong there.

It’s there. A thread. Thin, but burning, searing hot, a direct pathway between me and Riven’s agony.

Lucien’s voice dips lower, guiding me.

“Now sever it.”

I grit my teeth, grasping onto the pain, willing it to break, to lessen. And suddenly, it’s gone. The burning weight lifts, replaced by something lighter, something bearable.

I snap my eyes open, exhaling sharply.

Lucien nods once, approving. “Good.”

Elias claps. “Nice job, champ. You didn’t explode.”

I shoot him a look. “Wow. High praise.”

Lucien rolls his eyes. “Let’s not celebrate yet. You’ll have to do this every time you need to block it.” He levels me with a sharp look. “And you need to do it faster next time.”

I nod, jaw tight. “I will.”

Because there will be a next time. Because Riven is still out there, and I am not leaving him in this godsdamned place for a second longer than I have to.

I shove the last bite of whatever-this-is into my mouth and glare at Elias, who’s very pointedly avoiding eye contact with me.

The fire from last night is just embers now, barely flickering in the dim, colorless stretch of the Void, but I don’t need the light to see how miserable he looks.

Because we both know what’s coming. Lucien is going to make me ride with him again.

And he is dreading it.

I swallow my food, wiping my hands on my pants before standing, stretching out my sore muscles. “So,” I say, sweetly, turning to Elias. “You think you can handle it today?”

Elias physically recoils. “I \, what? Handle what?”

I grin. “Riding with me.”

His entire body locks up like I just threatened his entire existence.

“Oh. Oh, wow. Um. I, yes? I mean, of course. Obviously. That’s fine. Totally fine. Just, uh, super casual. Super normal. I’m just, I mean honestly, Luna, when you think about it, we already did this once, so it’s like. "

I tilt my head. “You’re panicking, Elias.”

He clears his throat aggressively, dragging a hand down his face. “I’m not panicking, I’m just mentally preparing.”

I snort. “Uh-huh. Because last time went so well.”

He groans, running both hands through his hair like he’s about to fucking implode. “Okay, but in my defense, last time you, ” He stops, exhaling sharply, muttering to himself. “Nope. Nope. Not even gonna think about it.”

I smirk. “What? Can’t focus when I’m in your lap?”

Elias makes an actual choking sound. Which, honestly, is so satisfying.

His hands shoot up in pure, unfiltered desperation.

“Okay, listen, I, listen, I will be so normal about this, okay? So normal. You’re gonna be shocked at how respectful and composed I can be.

You’ll be like, Wow, Elias, I didn’t even know you could be so serious and professional and unbothered.

And I’ll be like, That’s right, Luna, because I am a mature and responsible adult who is not affected by your proximity in any way. ”

I stare at him, unimpressed.

“…You’re already sweating.”

Elias freezes, then discreetly wipes his palms on his pants.

I point in the direction we need to go, my focus sharp, determined.

But then, I make the mistake of looking at the damn horse.