Page 21 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

Ihadto figure out how to master my magic if I had any hope of proving my dad wrong. With any luck, it would be just the thing to put him back in his grave.

Inside me lived a power born from the two most opposing forces to have ever existed. It was that living, breathing, impassioned malice that existed between a Helsing and the vampire king that had created something inside me, something as conflicting and violent as their relationship. I was learning to control the monster, to subdue the dark urges within me. And like a light switch being flipped, I suddenly realized that the only people who should fear the thing inside me were those who opposed me in this war.

My monster was destruction and chaos incarnate, and it knew the difference between friend and foe.

It was on my side.

I knew without a doubt that it was just as hopelessly addicted to my father’s progeny as I was.

My monster was the very thing that had filled the chasm between Eros and Vincent.

It was her who had given me the courage to defy the Elders’ wishes to choose a king for myself, and instead claim all four Knight princes as my mates.

It was her who’d loaned me the strength to tame a wild hybrid like Vincent Feral.

It was my monster who’d graced that stage in Boston. She who had defeated Erik Thorn in battle wearing nothing but the blood of our enemies and the cum of our mate. She’d made him kneel in the ashes of the traitor, Dr. Sharpe, and had taken his pants and sword for good fuckin’ measure.

Without my monster, I wouldn’t have formed a tight bond with Corry Cross, helping me trust again.

And Sterling... I hadn’t won his love. My monster had stolen it, chipped the ice from his heart by force andmadehim feel us. It was an emotional connection that was as blissful as it was beguiling in its strange, magical alchemy.

I’d been so scared that she’d be the reason I’d lose my new life and my mates.

But all she’d done was give.

And now my father and brother threatened to take all that away.

A banshee-like screech erupted from me. My energy pulsated and throbbed, swelling larger in my mind until the darkness around me cracked. Whatever spell held meshattered.

I felt myself falling again. Careening through emptiness until I jerked awake on a scream in my own bed.

Several scents met me all at once before my vision focused. Cigarettes and cloves. Fresh linen and hair gel. Masculine musk and ozone.

I blinked rapidly, my eyes straining to adjust to the lamplight illuminating my room. It was dim, but it might as well have been the blinding light of Heaven compared to the impenetrable oblivion of my mind.

Then three sets of eyes found me, all banked with worry.

Bright, blue eyes. Hot, verdant eyes. And warm, chocolate-brown eyes.

My breath caught. My heart slapped hard against my ribs. That’s when I realized I was trembling viciously.

“H–hold me. Hold me.” My voice didn’t sound like my own. It was frail and shook just as much as the rest of me. I didn’t have to ask them twice.

Eros sat on the edge of my bed beside my headboard and gathered me in his arms, pulling me flush against his muscled warmth. Corry took the other side and pushed his fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp like he’d done in our shower.

Vincent knelt on the mattress in front of me. Able to breathe again, air barrelled out of me when I met his stare. He looked so worried. Devastated, even.

“You passed out, Princess. You were moaning and squirming, but none of us could wake you.”

“You reek of magic,” Eros muttered in my ear, where his chin rested on his mark mottling my shoulder. “What happened?”

The icy claw of dread dragged down my spine. “I’m not really sure, but…” My mind spun for a moment, trying to summon the words to tell them all what had happened. “I saw him. I saw my dad. Do you think…? He was inside my mind. Making me see things.” I spoke slowly, making sure that my speculations felt right, even if they sounded all sorts of wrong.

“Do you think when I claimed Sterling and covered his mark with my own, that maybe I didn’t break the bond completely? Is it possible that I might have put myself in the crossfire?”

Chapter nine

Impossibilities and Priorities

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