Page 102 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

Would there be an excuse to justify why she dumped her newborn daughter at the vampire king’s doorstep? Maybe she’d been more transparent than that, simply stating she didn’t want me.

Whatever it was, I prepared for heartbreak.

“These three bumps, that’s a D. And this pattern is an E.”

My blind prince sat with me, teaching me how to read like him. The simple gesture made my entire body tingle with sensation, my nerves awakening like a piece of blinking machinery slowly coming to life.

“There you go. Now, from the beginning,” he murmured, brushing a kiss on my temple. “You’ve got this.”

“Dearest Sterling,” I sounded out in a drawl as my fingers ran over the bumps. “She’s a Helsing. Hide her. The Guild wants her dead. Love, Saph.”

“Very good,” Sterling muttered in my ear, his praise weighed down with the hint of melancholy in his voice. “Now, the message at the bottom.”

Together, our fingers moved across the paper. I sounded out the last line my mother wrote. Sterling whispered it with me as if he’d repeated the same words a thousand times since he’d first read it. “P.S. Her name is Ruby.”

When tears swam in my eyes, threatening to spill, I tucked the paper back into the book and set it to the side to keep it safe from my sobbing.

“This was a great gift, Ster. Thank you.”

“Happy birthday, Ruby Renada. You are so loved, not just by my brothers and me. Never forget that.”

“Do you think the Guild wanted her dead too?”

I twisted in his arms to catch his hardened expression. “Yes.”

“Do you think she’s still alive?”

“I don’t know. I wish I did, and I know Eros know doesn’t either.”

My heart fell. “I have to find her.”

“We will, love,” Sterling murmured, stroking my hair.

I didn’t exactly believe in God. I was probably in the same camp as my sullied priest. Who the hell knew? This kind of life had a way of making one skeptical of the people you trusted, especially when it came to something you couldn’t see.

But that aside. God Bless Sterling.

We’ll find her. Not you.We.

Eros appeared in the doorway at that moment. He leaned his shoulder against the tower’s stone archway, a diabolical grin plastered on his rugged features. “Look at you two. So sweet, and vanilla as fuck.” He held up a black plastic case hanging from two fingers and waggled his pierced brows. “You were right to call for my services.”

It happened so fast; I didn’t see Sterling get up. In the blink of an eye, he went from being curled up behind me to standing in front of Eros with his arm extended, barricading the doorway.

“Before we begin, I have some ground rules.”

Chapter forty-two

A Different Kind of Mark

“Whateveryousay,boss.”Eros gave a loose shrug of indifference. “So long as there’s no sword crossing going on.” The sadist rubbed his beard with mock thought. “Well, unless you let me be the top. Thenmaybe. And I’ll make you call me ‘sir.’”

Sterling’s back was turned towards me, but I could sense the daggers of his glare slicing into Eros. “What I was going to say is if we succeed in our task and awaken her chaotic power, you are not to fuck her. She may get vicious. With her chaos unleashed, she’ll likely be stronger than you.”

Eros’ line of sight found me over Sterling’s shoulder. “Alright, say we do wake her up. Then what?”

“ThenIfuck her,” Sterling rasped, the devious smirk evident in his tone.

“So I can’t handle our girl in her true form but you can?”

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