Page 93 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

Rising to his knees, his hands moved to his fly, where he unfastened his belt. Then he slowly slid the leather strap from his belt loops. My mouth went dry. My inner monster seemed to peek her head up in interest, but it was mild at best.

He canted his head slightly, pausing. “Are you sure this is what you want right now? We can play any time, doll. I don’t want to hurt you if this isn’t what you need. Sterling will—”

“Enough about Sterling!” My voice went shrill. I didn’t mean to yell. But Eros was right. As much as I wanted to be manhandled and dominated by him, it wasn’t what I needed right now. Tears burned my eyes, and I turned to bury my head in Sterling’s pillow.

The truth was, I wanted his mark so desperately that the pain of its absence on my body was one of the few things I could still feel. “He doesn’t want me as his mate.”

A pregnant silence swelled over the room. The atmosphere seemed to shift for some reason, almost as if someone had opened a window to let in a pleasant breeze. Sensing something was off, I sat up, and my stomach flipped as I spotted a familiar face in the doorway.

The ancient priest stared straight through me, his beautiful features wearing the most haunting expression.

“Sterling…”

“Ruby. Have I really made you believe that I don’t want you? If I have, I beg your forgiveness. Because it’s not true. I want you. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my very long life.”

Sitting up, I sat cross-legged on the bed, eying him with a weary look. “Then what’s holding you back?”

Sterling took one step into the room and took a seat on a stack of books. “I haven’t allowed myself to claim you yet because I don’t believe I have any right to do so. Mainly because of my past with your parents. But it’s not due to the abuse your father inflicted. My shame lies with your mother, Ruby. And how I failed her.”

It took a beat for me to parse his words.

My pulse thundered in my ribcage, and for several seconds that felt like an eternity, I didn’t say anything at all. Maybe it would be best if I went into the hibernation sleep. Where the knife of betrayal couldn’t reach me.

Sterling quietly asked Eros to leave us. I barely felt his kiss on my head before he climbed off the bed and disappeared. I didn’t want him to go, but I knew the conversation about to go down was meant for just me and Sterling.

Once Eros was gone, I swallowed down the lump in my throat and asked the question that’d been sitting on the tip of my tongue since I’d discovered Trinity Baxter was nothing but a paid nanny.

“You…You knew my mother?”

Sterling’s physiognomy remained eerily unreadable. But it was those ghostly eyes that betrayed his guilt by the solitary tear that slid down his cheek.

“Yes, Ruby. I knew her. And I cared for your mother. I cared for her very much.”

Chapter thirty-eight

Shining Jewel

IwatchedSterlingfromacross the room, transfixed by the eyes—as pallid as two full moons—that pierced my chest, straight to my ice-numb heart.

For the first time since I’d left my room in Quincy, I felt like that weak girl with a heart so fragile it could give out at any moment.

Eros was right. The ethereal prince called to the monster inside me. There was no easing the torrent of bitter emotions that threatened to consume me. But this wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind to shake myself out of my body’s reaction to Feral’s distance. I wanted that part of me to come roaring to life at the carnal touch of my silver prince, where my monster would snap out of her depression over losing Vin by being claimed by a stronger, more formidable male.

Not because she was about to have her heart broken twice in the same fucking night.

My lip trembled so violently, I found myself thankful for the first time that Sterling couldn’t see me. “If you mated me before telling me you were in love with my mother, I don’t think I’d ever forgive you.”

“No,” he said sharply. “Let me be clear. The relationship Sapphire Lockheart and I shared was nothing romantic. I’ve only been in love with two women in my life. Elizabeth—my mate who died with our unborn child—and you. Your mother lived here for a short time, and during that period, we formed a close friendship.”

Chills crept over my arms. Some of my nerves had awakened, registering the strange combination of ice and fire that permeated my whole body. “My mom lived here?”

“Yes.”

It didn’t make a damn lick of sense. How could the leader of the Helsing Guild—a monster hunter organization—live among vampires? It was as if Sterling’s moonstone eyes could see straight into my mind because on the next breath, he explained, “She was a prisoner here, Ruby.”

I didn’t know what to say. The fist-sized lump in my throat was making it hard to breathe. With each passing day, I thought I’d lost my ability to be surprised, but here we freaking were. Sterling had not only known my mom, they’d been friends.

“Seems strange. A vampire hunter and a vampire becoming friends,” I muttered.

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