Page 23 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

Sensing my internal struggle and the clusterfuck of emotions robbing me of my ability to speak, my Deathwish planted an achingly slow, tender kiss on his mark on my shoulder. Instant relief washed through me, as soothing as aloe on a burn.

“You’re right about vampires having a strictly physical bond with their mates. But not in the case of the vampire king,” he told Vincent in a matter-of-fact you-don’t-know-shit tone.

The sound was intended for Vin, but it rumbled from Eros’ chest and sunk straight through me, making my body hum. Had this been yesterday or any day before that, these two would be at each other’s throats. But since our dark game in the cemetery, I’d sensed a permanent shift between the two.

Eros and Vincent would always butt heads, and their disdain for one another would probably never disappear completely. But a new component had been introduced into their relationship: Respect. And maybe something else, something that I felt very much a part of—caught in the middle of the barbed-yet-smoldering tension flitting between them, even now.

There were so many reasons to fight Thomas Knight with every ounce of strength we could muster, and exploring more of the ravenous energy coiling tight between Feral and Deathwish was near the top of the list. Because what a bloody flipping travesty it would be not to experience the bliss I now knew was possible as a woman caught between them.

Vincent’s eyes were at half-mast as they slowly crept over his den brother. Unless I was totally off base, I was pretty sure he was just as enthralled by their shift in dynamic as I was.

The hybrid’s upper lip peeled back to tongue the points of his fangs, creating an expression that was half-sneer, half-grin. “How do you figure that?”

Eros’ chest heaved beneath my shoulders with a cumbrous breath. “You know as well as I do that ancient vampires can gain abilities once they reach a certain age. Who’s to say mental communication with his mate isn’t one of our master’s freaky party tricks?”

Corry and I swapped a look before I peeked back at Vincent to see the way his fiery gaze probed Eros. We all sensed our sadist was getting at something. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was bound to be one fucked-up mic drop. Where Thomas Knight was concerned, it always was.

My fae seemed to follow my exact train of thought. “And why do I get the feeling this isn’t just a guess, Brother?”

A brittle moment of silence spanned between us before the pierced prince spoke next. “Look, Sterling doesn’t know that I know this. I never planned on saying anything because it wasn’t my business. But now that it’s relevant...” The vampire expelled a frustrated snarl. “I caught him screaming in his sleep once when I went looking for him in his tower one night. The thing is, he wasn’t sleeping. He was in some kind of trance.”

“A trance?” Corry’s brows arched, speaking for the first time in a while. “Did you try to wake him up?”

Eros flung a blistering look in the youngblood’s direction, but the ferocity of it was dulled by the way he swallowed thickly, his chocolate orbs growing distant. “No shit, I tried to wake him up. I tried everything to pull him out of the spell, but nothing worked. He kept screaming for Master to get off him. It was hell just being there, unable to do anything but watch. I’m telling you, I know the difference between the screams of a man tortured by his own mind and a man getting reamed by the vampire king. It wasn’t a nightmare. Master was inside his head, hurting him.”

The horror that washed through me was as visceral as a knife point being taken to every nerve ending in my body. My father hadn’t only violated Sterling physically. He’d entered his mind and tortured him there too, body and soul. Every time I thought my father’s atrocities couldn’t surprise me anymore, another disturbing fragment of the past came hurtling to light.

More silence ensued.

My tongue went numb. In all the havoc, I realized Sterling wasn’t even here. Why wasn’t he here?

I needed him, and I knew more than anything he needed me.

Thrusting myself out of Eros’ embrace, I threw back the bed coverings and pushed to my feet, whirling to face the three princes. “W–where is Sterling? I need to tell him about something I saw in my father’s memories.”

I need to tell him his name.

My princes looked nervously between themselves. Immediately, my stomach knotted with unease. “Guys. What’s going on? Where is Sterling?”

Corry was the first to grow a pair by answering me. “He’s sleeping, babe.”

My eyes practically popped out of my head. I blinked at least a dozen times as I gaped at the youngblood. “Sleeping?How can he sleep knowing the vampire king is back from true death and probably coming for us as we speak?”

Eros rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace. “See, that’s the thing, Doll. No one’s told him yet. He doesn’t know.”

All my insides crystallized at once.

It didn’t make sense. Why in the bloody hell would no one have told Sterling that Thomas Knight was back from the dead? “What?Why?”

“It’s only been about an hour since we discovered the truth, Ruby. We were waiting for you to wake up first.”

Holy shit. The time I’d spent with my dad in my head had felt like an eternal family reunion from Hell, the cherry on top would have been if Satan himself had shown up. Had it really only been one hour since I’d passed out in my father’s tomb?

“We thought it was best for you to tell him,” Eros said softly.

“Youthought,” Vincent snapped. “I wanted to tell him the second we got back to the mansion.”

Deathwish gave an irate toss of his eyes. “Like I said, Feral. Ster needs to hear it from her. He’s going to be in a vulnerable place when he finds out that Master is back. He won’t want us there. Plus, with any luck, he’ll finally seal the bond with her. As fun as that would be to watch, given the delicate state of mind he’ll be in, we should leave them to it.”

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