Page 61 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

“How?” I blinked several times, wishing like hell that I could see what was happening in the memory instead of having to guess based on sounds and scents.

“By luring him into this memory.”

“What’s so special about this one? You said he showed a different side of himself?”

“Yes. A side that confirms he does indeed have a weakness. He didn’t take to that news well. Watch.”

Like most of Sterling’s memories, this one was also pitch-black, and everything had to be mapped out by sounds, auras and scents. The musky fragrance of old leather and mildew-laden parchment welcomed us. The coven’s library.

My mate was seated in one of the wingback chairs beside the hearth with a book in his lap, fingers skimming over the braille. I was about to ask again what the importance of this piece of his past was, when the sound of the door being bashed open shattered the peace. My lungs emptied, and I fell deathly still.

The aura of the newcomer was made of purply-pink fire with shimmery golden flecks that reminded me of glitter.

The mere sight of it struck an unexpected chord in my chest like I had finally found something that a part of me had been searching for; a part I hadn’t even known was there.

Suddenly I was out of breath, like I’d just run a damn marathon. “Who–who is that?”

The ancient vampire didn’t answer me.

“Sterling. Help me,” the stranger said.

The voice was feminine, fraught with the most vulnerable despair. From those three words, I knew whoever this woman was, she trusted the eldest Knight prince implicitly.

The priest closed his eyes, allowing the voice to wash over him. His brows pinched in an eerily somber expression while Sterling from the memory shut his book, placed it on the table beside his chair and was on his feet in a snap. “Sapphire. What’s happened?” His timbre turned grave.

“What has he done to you?”

It felt like someone had stuffed a chloroform rag down my throat. I swayed, and Sterling caught me, steadying me as we listened. “Ster, my mom...” My voice swam with emotion.

“This was the last night I ever saw her,” he said in a scouring whisper.

Thatvoice.

I’d never met Sapphire Lockheart before, so it didn’t make any sense to say that I recognized her voice. Yet, I did. Or at least, it felt familiar. Like it was ingrained in my very being.

“He hasn’t—not yet. But he will. Once he finds out. You have to help me.” She sounded freaked out.

What I would give to see her…

I stared intently at her aura. In a way, it matched her old Helsing Guide—the one that Sterling had gifted me for my birthday. Full of Lisa Frank stickers and glittery ink, completely out of place. Like that book suggested, she was a ball of light. I felt so drawn to her, even now, with her tone fraught with panic.

“What are you not telling me?” my priest of the past hedged.

“Sterling,” she said, the prince’s name on her lips full of familiarity.

If we made it out of this situation alive, maybe one day I’d ask Sterling to show me all the moments he’d shared with my mom, starting from the day she’d first come to the Knight Mansion as the vampire king’s prisoner. The day she’d entered the library with the mission of killing the vampire prince on her mind and had instead left with a friend.

If my mom was even half the woman I’d built her up to be, I knew she hadn’t gone through with it because she saw that there was so much more to the priest than his fangs, his bloodlust, and his unfortunate position in the vampire hierarchy.

She had met an ally.

So many questions whirled in my mind. How long exactly had she stayed at the Knight Mansion? How many nights had she snuck off to the library to see its enigmatic keeper? Did my father know about their friendship?

I wanted to see them build their relationship and hear the things they’d talked about, the books they’d read and the dreams they’d shared.

Then again, if everything went right and my plan of using Vincent’s storm glass needle to find my mother worked, maybe she could fill me in on the details herself.

For now, my only glimpse of the odd relationship between the leader of the vampire slayers and the vampire prince was this night...

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