Page 30 of Wicked Salvation

I try to pry his fingers from me, trying my best to be inconspicuous, as we’re walking among the throng of students heading to the dining hall for breakfast. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, they have their eyes on us.

They always have their eyes on us.

“Your grip is hurting me,” I finally say through teeth clenched in something that I hope looks like a smile. I look at him, and when he looks down—his eyes are afire.

“Eden Grace Lockhart,” he whispers. “You’re hurting me, too. Let’s call it even.”

“What are you talking about?”

Silas huffs, pulling me into the space between two statues in the courtyard. Relatively private, enough for our voices to be lost in the pit-patter of the rain and the chatter of the students passing by.

“Where did you spend the night before last?”

I freeze. “In bed,” I say. “Where else would I be?”

Silas leans down slightly, his eyes sliding over me with something that looks close to disdain. He grips my hand, the one with the huge rock. In one deft movement he spins the ring on my finger then closes my palm over the diamond.

“Lying is a sin, love,” Silas says.

He’s holding my hand so tightly that the diamond is digging into my palm—painfully. I try to wriggle out of his grasp, but it’s pointless because he’s so strong. The pain starts to travel up my arm.

I try to keep my voice even. “I forgave you once. Don’t think for a moment that I won’t give you back this ring and call off this engagement.”

He chuckles—low, menacing, deep.

“Would you, now?” He lets go of my hand, just to grab the column of my neck and pull me closer to him. “I doubt Viscountess Lockhart would be pleased.” He squeezes my neck. “I know you’re her biggest disappointment.”

He’s slowly cutting off my breath and he knows.

I know you’re her biggest disappointment.

My anger flares and I backhand Silas, using my engagement ring to draw blood from his lip. He stands there silent for a few seconds, looking at me, shocked. His fingers tighten around my neck, pulling me so close to him his minty breath ghosts over my face.

“I’m not certain what gave you false hope,” he hisses. “But you belong to me now, Eden. It’s too late to leave.”

Then he kisses me, bloody mouth and all. I’m caught in his grip, relying only on the air he’s breathing into my mouth as our lips move together. He bites my lip hard enough to bleed, and tears prick the corner of my eyes.

This is what I chose.

When we pull apart, I lick my lips of the copper. We leave the privacy of the statues, and the rain has started falling even harder. Silas holds my hand. To the unsuspecting eye, we must look like a happy couple.

“You know what else is a sin, Eden?”

I don’t even look at him. The silence stretches on until he cuts it with a sentence sharper than a knife, like a dagger through the heart.

“Cheating.”

I stay silent, and he falls silent too.

We walk to the dining hall together. Silas sequesters us at a table in his corner. His friends are seated elsewhere in the room. I see familiar faces but not the one I want to see—Lucian.

“I forgive you,” he says suddenly.

I almost choke on my orange juice. “For?”

“Your behavior earlier. I could’ve been gentler with you.” Then he turns to me, an earnest look in his eyes. And beyond the bruises, the slightly rain-soaked hair, I see the boy that captured my heart the moment our eyes met. “I love you, Eden, and I want to love you for the rest of my life.”

I smile, leaning against his shoulder. “I love you too.”