Page 94 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

I swallowed thickly, trying to hold back the thick tears that stung at my eyes. “I don’t look like him, you know. If you’re wondering.”

Sterling’s expression softened some, the anger fizzling away to leave only hurt etched into the corners of his eyes.

A long beat of silence swelled between us. When he finally spoke, his question came out in a tentative whisper, free of all the hurt and anger that had been present in his voice before. “Can I look at you?”

I wasn’t really sure what he was asking, but I found myself nodding.

Releasing my hair and my wrist, he brought his hands to my face. His fingertips went to my chin first before trailing up to trace my lips. He took his time feeling them out, exploring their shape. Then he felt out my nose, the apples of my cheeks, my brow, even my ears.

He was mapping out my face with his hands, and when he finished, he gave me a doleful smile that deepened the ache in my heart.

“I may not see in the traditional sense, but my senses have developed so much over the centuries, I can make out things that humans and even other vampires cannot.”

“Like what?”

“Sometimes, I can see heat patterns. I can detect the vibrations in the air. I can even see the kind of energy gathered around a person.”

“Like…auras?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“And what does mine look like?”

His hands dropped from my face, and he took a step back, placing distance between us once more. All traces of the smile he’d worn were now gone. “Like your father’s.”

My heart froze, and suddenly I felt so damn cold. I wrapped my arms around myself, my gaze falling to the floor. “I’m not like him.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you letting him get between us? He shouldn’t have anything to do with us.”

I watched Sterling as he moved to his bed and sat on the edge of the mattress, resting his head in his hands with his elbows propped on his knees. “Miss Baxter… Understand that ours is going to be a complicated relationship. I already knew that even before discovering the way our bodies seem to respond to one another.”

I moved to sit beside him, keeping about a foot between us. When he felt the bed creak with my weight, he looked up from his hands, and the expression he sent me caused all air to empty from my lungs. It was that same hollowed look the painter had captured in the painting I’d seen in the library.

“You are the daughter of the man who haunts my every nightmare. When I see your aura—hisaura—I want to hurt you. But when I scent you, and I touch you, I want to do the opposite. I want to hold you and feed from you, and I want—” His voice dropped an octave, and when he spoke next, his words came out in a rasp, like he was confessing some dark fantasy. “I want things from you I’ve never wanted from anyone before.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” He looked right through me, eyes warm with something that sent a rush of fire through me. It was a wild heat that burned so hot I thought I might turn to ash. And if the flames didn’t eat me up, I was sure the terrifying darkness swirling in Sterling’s blind gaze would. “Like someone to call my own. Someone to warm my bed. Someone who knows the things that have been done to me yet still looks at me with desire rather than pity.”

“I can give those things to you.” I reached for his hand, lacing my fingers through his. For a second, I thought he might pull away, but he didn’t. He stared down at where I held him as if he was imagining my hand and how it might look nestled in his.

“But to do that, Sterling, you have to tell me what my father did to you.”

Chapter forty-five

Reborn with a Silver Spoon

Sterlingletoutaheavy sigh that felt like it carried the whole weight of the world. His hand tightened around mine, giving it a squeeze. He then unfurled his fingers from mine, patted my knee, and got up from the bed. I watched as he crossed over to one of the windows and leaned against the wall, staring out at the ocean with an unreadable expression on his face. I could almost see his frustration not being able to see the view of the ocean that stretched beyond the window. Or the view behind him stretched out on his bed. His shoulders fell, and he ran a hand over his face. With where he stood, the moon created a halo effect around his head, bathing the tortured prince all in silver.

“You don’t have to tell me,” I amended. “I thought it might be a relief to get things off your shoulders.”

“You’re asking me to tell you things I haven’t even told my brothers.”

I frowned. “You act like you guys are close.”

The vampire turned his head in my direction, his lips quirking into the faintest of smiles as his blank gaze bore right through me. “Vincent and Eros may butt heads, but they won’t be at odds forever. We’re den mates, the closest to family creatures like us have.”

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