Page 103 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

I stepped in front of Corry, took his head in my hands and dragged his lips to mine.

I kissed him like I needed him to breathe.

I kissed him like it was the last prayer I had.

I poured all of myself into the connection. My fear, my regrets, my love.

At first, he was unresponsive, his lips slack against mine. Then he gasped against me as if he was waking from a nightmare. “Ruby. Wha–what is this?”

Tears stung my eyes as I searched his. “I think—I think you’re a blood mage. But I’m not really sure what that is.”

Corry pulled back, dark shadows cutting into the lines of his face, making him look older. “It’s dark magic. I only know about it because V told me. It’s rare. I’ve only heard of demons casting it. It’s sort of like necromancy, where you can control people, but instead of taking control of their minds, you control them with their blood. It’s… It’s evil.”

The tug of his voice made my heart fracture with sympathy because I got it. I knew better than anyone what it was like to carry dark magic inside and not know what the fuck to do with it. To live with the fear that it might corrupt you.

But maybe this discovery wasn’t such a bad thing. This had the potential to be some kind of dark blessing in disguise.

I wanted to comfort him, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I said everything I felt within me by crushing my lips to his in a tearful desperate kiss. He leaned into me for a temporary escape.

A reprieve.

That’s what it always was with my guys. Our moments together were just breaks from all the bullshit raging around us. It all just disappeared in the arms of my princes.

I knew we’d survive all the stress of political wars, a bit of literal war, coven feuds and dark magic if I held onto them tight enough.

And I felt myself falling, slipping out of their grip. Like something big was coming that would rip us apart.

Corry lost himself to the union of our lips, to the way we fit together. The magic he’d uncovered in his distraught state slipped out of his grasp.

I heard Vincent’s heavy footsteps charging toward us before either of us could react.

My feet left the ground as I was jerked away from Corry. Large hands squeezed my waist and pinned me against a chest as hard as stone. I screamed against Vincent, twisting around and fighting him with as much power as I could muster in my weaker form. It wasn’t much, not against this monster.

“Let her go!” Corry snarled, grappling for me.

A powerful gust of wind rushed behind Vin as he unfurled his wings and launched us into the air. My youngblood caught my ankle, holding on to me for dear life. Our eyes locked, and the fear I saw there broke me.

He knew if he let the feral fae carry me off, he might not bring me back.

Vincent’s fae side didn’t care about the affairs of vampires.

We were several yards in the air now. Corry clung to my leg, refusing to let me go. He tugged and struggled, trying to pull us apart from Vin. His weight was a joke compared to the monster carrying us off.

The red glow of Corry’s eyes flickered on and off as he tried to summon the magic he had before, but in the chaos and the rapidly growing distance between his feet and the ground, he couldn’t do it.

“Fuck!” At Corry’s scream, I directed my attention to where he looked.

Vincent was carrying us toward the ocean, the horizon’s edges lined with the first traces of the coming dawn.

“You have to let go now!” I shrieked down at Corry, my throat flayed and raw.

“No, no, I know where he’s taking you, and I won’t let him!”

My stomach plummeted.

Vincent did stupid, selfish things when his monster was out in full form. But I hadn’t thought it would go this far… I shouldn’t have ever taunted him, no matter how horny or upset I was. I could have fought the influence of Lexi’s blood. I could have fought my own dark urges.

Instead of guilt hitting me this time, it was just plain cold fear. Like Corry, I knew where Vin was planning on taking me.

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