Page 30 of The Sin Binder’s Chains (The Seven Sins Academy #2)

The fire burns low, its embers casting long shadows over the jagged ruin of the Hollow. The others are settled, weary but unwilling to let themselves rest, not when we’ve only just escaped one war and might already be staring down another.

I sit at the edge of the gathering, hands folded over my lap, letting the weight of what I know settle deep in my chest. Caspian and Ambrose are gone. Disappeared from the house while I was bringing Layla back, taken in a fight I was too far away to stop.

And I have not yet told them.

Not because I feared their reaction. Not because I believed it should be kept from them.

But I needed to decide how best to deliver the truth.

I glance at Lucien across the fire. He sits with his usual stillness, his mind working behind sharp, calculating eyes. If given the chance, I think he would keep this from Luna, not out of malice, not out of distrust, but out of some ingrained need to shield her.

But Caspian and Ambrose are hers as much as they are ours.

And the right thing to do is to tell them all.

So I do.

“They’re gone.” My voice does not rise, does not break through the conversation, it simply lands, weighted, final.

Lucien stills. Across the fire, Luna’s gaze lifts, dark and sharp, latching onto mine immediately.

It is Elias who speaks first. “Okay, let’s back up. Who’s gone?”

I exhale slowly. “Caspian and Ambrose.”

A shift moves through the group. Not quite a snap of panic, but something close, like a thread pulled too tight.

Luna straightens, and though her face gives nothing away, I feel the force of her attention settle on me like a storm waiting to break. “Explain.”

I meet her gaze, deliberate, steady. “I was bringing Layla back to the house. When we arrived, something was wrong. There had been a fight. The signs of it were clear, magic still hanging in the air, blood on the ground. But no bodies. No sign of them anywhere.”

Riven shifts beside her, his fingers twitching against his knee. “And you’re only telling us this now?”

I incline my head. “I needed to be sure of what I saw.”

Silas exhales sharply, dragging a hand through his hair. “Okay, great. So, what, they just vanished?”

“They were taken,” I correct. “But there were no bodies. No signs of death. That means they are alive.”

Luna watches me, silent for a long, stretching moment. She is waiting for something, for me to say more, for me to tell her what she already knows deep in her ribs.

So I give it to her.

“They are not just ours to lose, Luna.” I let the words settle between us, slow and deliberate. “They are yours.”

Something flickers in her eyes, something sharp.

Lucien finally speaks. “This does not change our immediate priority.” His voice is even, controlled. “We just have two enemies to contend with now.”

Luna does not look away from me when she says, “It changes everything.”

Lucien exhales through his nose, but he does not argue.

The fire flickers low, but the weight in the air is heavier than before, charged with something darker, something ancient, something that has never belonged to Luna, but will change everything about her future.

I let the silence stretch, knowing what I am about to say will shift the ground beneath us all.

Then, carefully, I speak.

“The scent,” I say, my voice even, deliberate, measured so it does not break the world too quickly, “belonged to Branwen.”

A sharp snap of movement.

Lucien jerks his head toward me, his entire body going still, predatory, like a blade drawn before the killing blow. “That’s impossible.”

I incline my head. “Perhaps.” My gaze sweeps over them, their uncertainty, their disbelief, the way the past clings to us like rot we cannot shake. “But it was her scent.”

Luna’s voice is calm, but I hear the edge of something vicious beneath it. “Who is Branwen?”

I knew this question was coming.

And still, I hesitate.

Because there is no simple answer. Because saying her name is saying ours, is peeling back a history long buried, is exposing the rot beneath the legend.

Branwen.

The first Sin-Binder.

I exhale, watching Luna across the flames, knowing the moment I say it, there will be no turning back.

“The first Sin-Binder,” I say at last. The words land like a crack of distant thunder, and the group fractures.

Silas mutters a curse. Elias lets out a low whistle. Riven goes motionless, unreadable. Layla’s brows furrow, her fingers curling against her knee.

But it is Luna who matters.

And Luna does not react, not outwardly, not yet.

She simply tilts her head, gaze cutting through me. “You’re saying she’s alive.”

“I am saying,” I answer slowly, “that her scent was there. That it was the same.”

Lucien exhales sharply, not in disbelief, but in something worse, understanding. “She died.” His voice is sharp, precise. A correction. A warning. A prayer.

“She did,” I agree. “But before she died, she was bound.”

Luna doesn’t speak, but I see the shift in her, the way she is already piecing it together.

Still, I finish it for her.

“To Caspian. To Riven.” My eyes flick across the fire to them, watching for anything, any trace of recognition.

Then, finally, I say the words that I have never spoken aloud.

“To Lucien. And to me.”

The reaction is instant. Layla looks between us all, realization dawning too quickly.

And Luna, she watches me like she is seeing me for the very first time.

“Bound,” she echoes. “Like I am to you?”

I meet her gaze. “Yes.”

She blinks, but I see the flash of something raw in her eyes, something desperate and sharp and hungry for truth.

I tip my head slightly, watching her. “But she did not bind us as you have bound yours. She took.”

Layla shifts beside her. “Took?”

I nod. “Branwen was not like you, Luna. She did not allow us to keep our will, our thoughts, our purpose. We were not bound as yours are. We were owned.”

Lucien exhales through his nose, gaze dark, unreadable. “And you believe that bond remains?”

I glance back toward the fire. “I believe,” I say carefully, “that Caspian could not fight her.”

Luna stills. “And Ambrose?”

I inhale slowly. “Ambrose was the one who fought.”

Silence.

“The drag marks,” I murmur, half to myself, half to them. “One was dragged. The other walked.” I look at Luna, at the quiet rage pooling behind her eyes. “If Branwen has them, it was Caspian who followed her. And Ambrose who tried to stop it.”

The fire is little more than embers now, the glow casting long, flickering shadows over the Hollow. But no one moves. No one speaks.

Because Luna is waiting. And I, the last one who should ever speak of this, owe her the truth. So I tell her.

"Branwen was not always a monster."

Luna's gaze locks onto mine, dark and steady, holding me there as if she can pull the answers from me with sheer will alone.

I exhale, tilting my head back slightly, searching the sky for something that does not exist anymore.

"At first, she was a decent person. A good person, even."

A flicker of movement. Riven shifts, but says nothing. Lucien watches, unreadable, as always.

"She was the first of her kind. A Sin-Binder before anyone understood what that truly meant. She had no guide, no warnings, no one to tell her that what she was doing would lead to her ruin."

Silas mutters something under his breath. Probably some smart-ass comment about how that should have been his first clue that this all was a bad idea.

I ignore him.

"At first, it was… symbiotic." I choose the word carefully, because it was never love, not truly. Not the way Luna is bound to hers. "She gave, and we gave in return. But power like that- " I shake my head. "Power like that is not meant to exist in a single body."

Luna's brows knit slightly. She understands. Of course she does.

"The world does not allow Sin-Binders like Branwen to live long." My voice is quieter now. This part matters. "She grew… unstable. Slowly, at first. The weight of it changed her, rewrote her, warped her. And before any of us realized what was happening, she was not the woman we had once followed."

Lucien exhales sharply. “She was a sickness.”

I nod. "The balance demanded correction. It always does."

Layla’s voice is quieter than I expect when she speaks. “How did it end?”

I hesitate. Because this is the part that matters most.

"Branwen knew the world would not let her live." I study Luna carefully. “And she refused to let it take us with her.”

Luna tilts her head slightly. Waiting.

"She sealed us."

The fire crackles, and the weight of those words seems to sink into the bones of the others.

Lucien's hands curl into fists, but he doesn't argue.

"She buried us beneath Daemon Academy, in the stone itself, beneath the weight of the curse that would keep us locked there."

Luna's voice is steady, but I hear the sharp edge of something deeper, something she is keeping buried.

"How can two Sin-Binders exist?"

I expected the question. I did not expect the way it would settle into my ribs like a weight I cannot shake.

I exhale slowly. “I don’t know.”

A flicker of something in her gaze, frustration, unease, something dark and waiting.

I continue, keeping my voice even. “But if I’m right, then Caspian is still bound to Branwen.” I pause, looking toward Riven. “And Riven is safe, because he is bound to you now.”

Her fingers flex against her knee. “But she could take you and Lucien from me.”

Not a question.

A statement.

One laced with something dangerous.

“Yes,” I say, because I owe her honesty. “In theory, it might be possible.”

Lucien exhales through his nose, his gaze flicking toward me with that sharp, calculating intensity he wields like a blade. “If she is alive, then she is weaker than before.”

“Perhaps,” I allow. “But we do not know how long she has been free. Or what she has become.”

Luna’s jaw tightens slightly. “Then we need to find out.”

I should be used to this about her by now. The way she does not hesitate. The way she takes every problem as something to cut through, not something to avoid.