Page 57 of The Sins of Silas

The breeze was cool this morning as I shoved open the wooden door. The sky was a light grey as if rain might be on the way.

I eyeballed him beside me as we walked, his silver-white hair lying down his back. When we were far enough away, standing near a tall willow tree, he turned to me with a cocked brow, his icy blue eyes going dark once more.

“You need to read me again?” I drawled.

He gave me a deadpan stare. “I’m not my cousin. Although with all the emotions I felt—”

“I slept with Roland.”

His eyes broadened, churning back to icy blue.

“I don’t see why it’s such a big deal!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up. “Am I not a grown woman capable of making my own decisions?”

“Well, we know it’s a big deal to someone.” He crossed his arms. “I could feel his rage before even entering the room.”

I rolled my eyes. “So he can fuck Era, and that’s okay, but I am not allowed to move on? How does that make sense?”

Merrick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t agreeing with it, Lena.”

“I know…I know.” I ran my hand through my hair and let out an aggravated exhale. My eyes flickered to the inn as I saw Silas heading our way. “Fuck me.”

Merrick’s eyes darted between us. “We’ll talk more later. Good luck,” he said with a wince as he patted my shoulder. He sauntered away, passing Silas as he trudged over.

I clenched my jaw. “I-I was just going back inside—”

“No,” he said sternly, halting me in place.

I didn’t bother to hide the annoyance in my voice. “What do you want?”

“Please tell me you did not fuck him,” he growled.

I blinked, then let out a humorless laugh. “Who Ifuckis none of your business,” I replied sweetly.

He choked on a laugh, then looked away, waiting a moment before his furious eyes shot back to mine. “Why are you doing this, Lena? To hurt me?”

“Hurtyou?” I let out a dry laugh. “I have sex with someone, and you make it about you? You’re allowed to move on and be happy, and I can’t? That’s an attack onyou?”

His eyes darkened with fury, his fists shaking at his sides. “So, you admit it, then,” he said in a voice that was all too calm…it unnerved me. “You slept with him.”

“Yes. I did.” I crossed my arms, giving him my best fake smile.

His eyes flared, just for a moment, his chest rising and falling as he tried and failed to hide the signs of his rage. His body pressedcloser, causing us both to fall back under the drooping branches of the willow tree.

“Do you know how easily I could kill him?” he taunted.

I craned my head up to sneer at him once my back hit the tree's trunk. “Do you know how easily I could stop you?” I didn’t bother saying kill. We both knew I’d never do that. “Don’t you dare fucking threaten me, Silas.”

I pushed him back with both palms, but he stayed firmly planted before me.

My gaze scorched into his. “I can watch your wife run her hands along your thighs, see your flushed faces when it's so obvious toeveryoneyou two had just screwed,” I continued, my lip curled and my eyes now burning from the attempt at holding in my feelings. “But poor Silas can’t handle the thought ofmesleeping with someone.” I tilted my head up further and looked at him down my nose. “Fuck off.”

I went to trudge past him when he grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the willow tree, holding me in place. Its long and narrow leaves blew around us in the crisp morning wind.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said in a low voice. He leaned down, and his breath brushing the shell of my ear ignited something in me I wanted to shove far, far away.

My body stilled, my heart hammering in my chest. Silas’s expression changed, too, his eyes dilating, his lips parting. His golden irises studied me, dropping down to my lips, then back to my eyes again as if in a battle.

We were protected beneath this tree—its branches hiding us from any onlookers.

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