Page 10 of The Sin-Binder’s Fate (The Seven Sins Academy #1)

I swallow. “It looks like one to me.”

He chuckles, a low, sinful sound that coils deep in my stomach. “That’s because you don’t know what you’re looking at.”

I hate that. Hate that I don’t understand, that there’s something big, something vital I’m still missing .

Caspian watches me, “The academy is a prison, little binder,” he says at last. “A cage dressed in dark halls and gothic spires, made to look like a place of learning.” His smile turns sharp. Dangerous. “But for us? It’s a leash.”

My pulse stumbles. “A leash?”

He hums. “Daemon Academy was built to contain the Sins. To keep us… controlled.”

Controlled.

I think about Blackwell, about the way he spoke of me. About what I’m meant to do.

Caspian smirks, clearly reading my thoughts. “Now you’re catching on.”

I exhale, shaken, restless. “So what, they just keep you all locked up here forever?”

He shrugs, casually. “Something like that.”

Something cold presses against my ribs.

I think about the way Lucien, Riven, the others, all of them, looked at me. With resentment. With contempt. The way they hate what I am.

I thought it was because I was human. Because I was weak. But it’s more than that. It’s because I’m their leash.

I wet my lips. “And you just… let them keep you here?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmurs, leaning in so close I can feel the heat of him, the heady pull of his power licking at my skin.

His voice drops to a whisper. “Who said we don’t fight back?”

They're not just students. They're not just supernatural creatures forced into an academy. They're prisoners, gods bound in mortal flesh, shackled by something stronger than them.

Something like me .

I swallow, my throat dry. “Have… have there been others?”

Caspian leans back, stretching his arms over the back of the couch like he’s lounging on a throne instead of unraveling the secrets of my bloodline.

“Of course,” he says smoothly. “Your kind isn’t common, but it isn’t unheard of either.

” His golden gaze flickers with something unreadable.

“You’re not the first, little binder. And you won’t be the last.”

I shake my head. “But… but I don’t understand. If there have been others, why doesn’t anyone….”

“They die.”

The words are spoken so casually, like he’s telling me the weather or reciting a long-forgotten fact. It takes my brain a second to catch up, to process the full weight of what he just said.

My stomach turns. “What?”

Caspian’s smirk deepens, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Sin Binders don’t get happy endings, sweetheart.

Your bloodline skips generations, waiting for the right moment to awaken.

One dies, and eventually, another takes her place.

” His voice is too smooth, too amused, like he enjoys watching me squirm.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had one, though. Centuries.”

A sharp, uncomfortable weight settles in my chest. “And that’s why they hate me.”

His smirk sharpens. “That’s why they’re opposed to you.”

I scoff. “Same thing.”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “No, it’s not. They don’t hate you, little binder. They hate what you represent.”

My fingers curl into fists. “And what’s that?”

His golden gaze darkens. “Chains.”

The breath catches in my throat .

“You think they want a repeat of history? Of some fragile, breakable girl binding them to her will? You think they want to watch you die?”

I flinch. “Is that what happened?”

Caspian hums, dragging a finger along the seam of his lips as if debating whether he should tell me. Then he sighs, like this whole conversation exhausts him. “The last Sin Binder got three of them to bind.”

I blink. “Three?”

His smirk returns, teasing and taunting. “What, did you think you’d just snap your fingers and have all seven of us at your feet?”

I glare at him.

His laughter is warm and rich, seeping into my skin. “No Sin Binder has ever bound all seven. Ever. And the last one, well…” He clicks his tongue. “She was special. They liked her.”

That makes my stomach twist in a way I don’t understand.

“What happened to her?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

Caspian grins, slow and wicked. “She died.”

“How?”

“Now that,” he murmurs, standing and stretching, his body all smooth, liquid movement, “is a story for another time.”

I clench my jaw. “That’s not an answer.”

Caspian leans down, bracing his hands on either side of me, caging me in. The scent of him, spiced wine and something sinful, wraps around me like a noose. His voice drops to a dangerous murmur.

“No, little binder,” he purrs, so close our lips almost touch. “It’s a warning. ”

That’s why they’re so resistant. Why do they resent me. The last time someone like me existed, it ended in blood and ruin.

The question leaves my mouth before I can second-guess it. “Have you ever been bound before?”

“Yes.”

That one word, spoken so effortlessly, coils tight in my stomach.

I shift in my seat, frowning. “Who?”

His lips curl into a slow, mocking smirk. “I don’t need to be bound to fuck the Sin Binder, sweetheart.”

Heat creeps up my neck, embarrassment and something far worse twisting inside me. “That’s not what I asked.”

He laughs, a rich, wicked sound, shaking his head. “No?” He cocks his head, studying me. “Then what exactly were you asking, little Binder?”

I press my lips together, pulse hammering. I don’t know. I don’t know what I wanted him to say, only that the way he said that, the way he’s looking at me now, makes my skin feel too hot, too tight.

Caspian pushes off the table in one smooth motion, moving toward me with predatory ease, his presence licking at my skin like a slow burn.

“Here’s the thing, Luna,” he murmurs, circling me like he’s deciding where to sink his teeth in first. “I’ve had every Sin Binder that’s come before you beg for me, and I never needed some little spell to make it happen.”

I grip the arms of my chair, knuckles white. “You’re disgusting.”

He grins, slow and devastating. “I know.”

A shiver crawls up my spine, and I hate that my body reacts to him, that his very presence feels like a trap I want to step into .

He leans down, voice dropping to a velvet murmur. “The question you should be asking, sweetheart, is if you’re going to be any different.”

I glare up at him. “I’d rather die.”

His smirk deepens, his hand lifting to brush a stray curl from my cheek, his fingers barely grazing my skin. But it’s enough. Pleasure blooms like poison, deep and consuming, curling through me in a way that makes me want more.

Caspian watches the way my breath catches, how my thighs press together, how my body betrays me. And then, just as suddenly, he pulls away. The loss is instant. Jarring.

I let out a shaky breath, heart pounding.

“You’ll learn soon enough, little Binder.” He flashes that lazy, sinful grin before turning for the door. “Some things are inevitable. ”