Page 66 of The Blood that Binds Us

I go deadly still as he leans in and presses his forehead against mine. “Never… sneak behind my back again, Wren.”

This time when he speaks my name, it isn’t to show respect, but rather to assert dominance. He keeps us here for another breath, his large hand wrapped around my neck and his forehead pressed to mine.

When he finally drops his arm, I resist the urge to rub my throat. I stand tall, showing him he does not intimidate me, despite the icy tendrils skittering down my spine like spider legs.

Sin walks back to the cell, and the door slams closed as he magically locks it with a wave of his hand, Cathal’s body still limp and unresponsive inside. He leans against the door, looping both arms through the bars and grabbing his wrist with his other hand. I push my collective out and envelop his, but this time, I don’t recoil as his rage and anxiety courses through me. But I don’t need to read him to see just how deep his personal torment has settled.

I push off the wall and linger behind him. The tension rolling off him charges the air between us as if his body was a thundercloud about to erupt.

“Your heart is sad. It will hurt more when you finally face all that pain you’ve buried so deep inside yourself. A lot more. But it’s got to be better than this,” I whisper.

The door to the dungeon slams shut behind me, and I head towards the stone staircase off the foyer. Dusaro barges through the entrance, and his face morphs into pure fury when he spots me at the foot of the stairs and beelines towards me.

I expect him to spew a nasty string of insults when he approaches. I don’t expect the open-handed slap as he strikes me across the face.

Stumbling backwards, my hand immediately flies to my cheek.

“How dare you question his authority in front of a crowd?” he bellows.

Lowering my hand, I say, “I tried to prevent him from making a humongous mistake. One I have no doubtyouhighly encouraged!”

Dusaro pulls his arm back to hit me again, this time with a clenched fist, but I dart out of his path. When I spin back to face him, I hold a ward taut between my palms. If he tries to hit me again, the ward will deflect the blow.

“Your prejudices are sickening. There was no need to—"

He swipes my legs out from under me, and I go tumbling forwards. My hands absorb the brunt of my fall, stopping my face from colliding with the floor. Dusaro’s weight crashes onto my back, sending my stomach flush against the stone. He pins my body between two muscular thighs and yanks my head back by a fistful of my unbound hair.

“You like making us look like fools, do you? How’s this for looking like a godsdamned fool?” Dusaro slams the side of my head into the floor, but before he can hurl it to the ground for a second time, I set myself on fire.

Phantom flames ignite my skin and erupt into a golden ring around me, the quivering tips of the blaze sneering at him as Dusaro scrambles off me, muttering a string of swears. His arms cover his head instinctively, the lapels of his black jacket smoldering as I rise to my feet once more, leaving an outline of my silhouette scorched into the floor.

I prowl around him, a facetious smile teasing my lips as I display my power, a firestorm careening through my plump, swollen veins. Dusaro glowers at me with nothing shy of ferocity beaming out from within his dark eyes. My defense is ready when he sheathes his arm in an icy blue ward and pulls his fist back to hit me again, but halts mid-swing.

Sin’s bronzed hand wraps around his father’s knuckles and forcibly lowers Dusaro’s arm to his side. He steps between us, putting me at his back as he faces his father.

“She embarrassed us in front of half of Blackreach. The bloodwitch publicly questioned your authority, and you didn’t have her arrested! What kind of Black Art would allow something sofilthyto question him like that?!”

“Kind of like how you’re questioning my authority right now, Father?”

“I wouldn’t have to question you so much if you could make a decent decision just once in your life! But you can’t, and it is an embarrassment to our family’s name. You always were weak. Just like yourmother,” he chastises.

“That is enough!” I shout, throwing my arms down to my sides. “You both should be ashamed of the atrocity that happened out there today. I am disgusted by the cruelty of you both. I can think of a thousand different things I would like to see happen to him,” I shove a finger in Sin’s direction, “but having you as a father isn’t one of them. You are an embarrassment to Aegidale and a disgrace for a father.”

Dusaro heads straight for me, aiming a finger at my chest. “If you don’t do something about her, Singard, I will. And that’s a godsdamned promise.”

In one swift maneuver, Sin pulls his father against his chest and wraps an arm of corded muscle around his neck, holding him snug in a headlock. I’ve never seen the Black Art be physical with Dusaro, but I’ve also never seen him this high on magic either.

“You’re not going to touch a hair on her pretty little head,” Sin murmurs. “You know what happens when people try to touch what ismine.”

Dusaro snickers, but his reddish-brown skin pales beneath his son’s grip. “Don’t tell me you have feelings for the bloodwitch.”

“Don’t think so low of me, Father,” he growls. Sin drops his hold and steps away from him, but remains between us, not trusting Dusaro to not lunge for me again.

Dusaro straightens and shoots me a disgusted look before turning back to Sin. “I have sent word to Sterling about what has happened here today. We are expecting the Langstons tomorrow evening.”

“You’re just telling me this now?” Sin huffs with annoyance.

“I shouldn’t have to. You should have alerted them the minute thatthingwas brought here. But to no surprise, you failed to do so, so I stepped in to do what needed to be done. Andyou,” he spits, turning his attention back to me, “will be with the Langston boy tomorrow evening. Get him to invite you to Castle Summerswind. I want that entire castle interrogated with your…” he makes a circling motion around his head to imply my ability. “Now that we have proof someone is helping them, I want you around Lady Langston, their daughters, and every servant in their ranks. I hear Sterling’s eldest son will be returning soon as well, and when he does, you can infiltrate his mind too. Your work isn’t done, girl,” he finishes, sneering down at me over his slender nose.

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