Page 22 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

Vincentkepthisexpressionmasked, but there was no hiding the emotions churning in the green pools of his eyes like an underwater chasm.

“You—” His voice faltered. A dark vein strained against his ivory skin with the clench of his jaw. The rest of his words came out pinched. “You saw your father?”

My fingers wrung the edge of the duvet covering me as I dipped my chin in a consecutive string of frantic head bobs. Vincent’s gaze dropped to my hands, eyes narrowing when he registered the way they trembled. Taking notice a second later, Eros moved his palm over my quaking digits, his large hand easily covering both of mine while his thumb stroked my knuckles. He gently asked for my attention instead of demanding it like Vincent.

“How did you see him, Doll? Did you have a bad dream?”

“N–no. It wasn’t a dream. It was real. I could scent the decay of his rotting body, and Dagon’s greasy magic kept him animated. He was inside my thoughts.” My voice dropped to a low whisper. “He could hear what I was thinking.”

On either side of my periphery, Corry and Eros exchanged dark glances. Caught in the dread of it all, I shivered.

Vincent ran a hand over his face as if he found this whole thing more aggravating than horrifying. “That’simpossible.”

When his hand dropped from his face, he curled it into a fist on his thigh. I lifted my gaze to meet his and resisted the urge to flinch at the stark coldness etched into the lines of his scowl.

It reminded me of how he used to look at me before Boston. Before The Warehouse match.

Before he loved me.

At this moment, he was every bit the violent, standoffish monster he was beneath the thin layer of menace he wore like a mask. Now that I eyed him longer, I realized his demeanor was just that. A mask. He was scared. Terrified even. He wasn’t questioning me because he didn’t believe me out of distrust.

He didn’twantto believe me because of what it meant for us if I was right.

“Itispossible because I’m telling you it happened!”

Vin’s nostrils flared with challenge. “Even if you somehow inserted yourself between Sterling and Master’s connection by covering your father’s mark on Ster’s throat with your own, it still doesn’t make any damn sense. The mating bond doesn’t work like that. The invisible tether connecting a bonded pair is powerful, but it’s purely physical. You can’t enter the other’s mind.”

“You entered mine the night you left for Fairie.”

The fae’s brows contorted. “That’s different. I entered your dreams because that’s an ability granted to dark fae with the raven familiar. It’s not something vampires can do. You probably just fainted from shock and had a nightmare while you were passed out.”

Burning anger trickled down my throat as I glared smelted blades into Vincent. “It wasn’t a dream, damn it! There’s no way I imagined the shit I saw. My mind is twisted, but it’s not that cruel.”

Corry shuffled on the bed beside me. “What did you see, Red?”

A brutal series of tremors shot down my back at the memory. Eros’ arms cinched tight around my waist where he held me and pulled my shoulders flush with his pectorals. The wall of stony muscles resting against me, paired with his spicy aroma mixed with Corry’s clean scent, grounded me.

Stamping down my nerves, I turned to look at Corry.

Then I blinked. That’s all I did, and in the split second my eyes were closed, the image of my mate’s crushed and broken body laying in that intersection flashed before me, taunting me.

I swallowed back a strangled gasp, eyelids flinging open to find my youngblood’s unmarred face inches from my own.

I reached to touch him, curving my fingers around the edge of his jawline. There was no sign of even the faintest scarring. He’d completely healed like the accident had never happened. His lips flattened with restrained distress as he cupped my hand where I caressed his cheek.

“Red, baby. What’s wrong?”

“I–I saw you the night my dad hit you,” I answered on a croak.

The apples of the youngblood’s cheeks drained of what little color they had, leaving his skin as white as chalk.

“You were so hurt. He asked you if you believed in—”

“Satan,” Corry muttered, finishing for me in a dry whisper.

“Yeah...” I pulled away from Cor and repositioned myself in Eros’ embrace so that I was now facing the blond prince. His pierced brows knit together as he deciphered my screwed-up expression the second he took it in. “I saw him order you to kill your friend from the Guild. And Vin—” Vincent’s demeanor sharpened around his edges, apprehension heavy in the air. “I saw when you were forced to feed the king at a council meeting. Everyone was there.”

I gripped my duvet again—harder this time until the joints in my fingers screeched from the pain. Gnashing my teeth, hot tears scalded my eyes as I tried to summon my next words. “Sterling... I saw— I saw...” My voice died out. I couldn’t talk about the memories I’d seen of the priest.

---