Page 1 of A Story of Sinners

Chapter1

Dahlia

Considering the opening of the portal to the Otherworld, the betrayal of my alleged mate, and having been hurled into the iron dungeon beneath the palace, my situation surely couldn’t get any worse.

However, after a mere week spent in the dank and desolate prison, the day I’d been dreading for ten years had finally arrived in all its inevitability. Malachi stood before me, only iron bars separating us, his wings stretched out in a ghastly, awe-inspiring sight. The appendages were covered in black, leathery skin, lined with stark white bones that flexed with each movement. His black wavy hair was almost blue, a sheen of turquoise that matched his eyes reflecting in the dark strands. Small, white horns and a crown of bones were nestled on his head, a perfect complement to his ivory skin, that looked as if left untouched by sunlight.

He was no longer a little boy. No, Malachi was older and stronger than I could have ever imagined. Time passed quickly in the Otherworld—a mere second in our world transmuted to minutes or more on the other side—and the ten years apart had to have been hundreds, if not thousands, from his perspective.

There was no knowing how old he truly was.

“Duana, I’ve missed you.”

“Malachi…” I whispered, unsure what to say. I felt terrified, but the relief I experienced glimpsing upon another face was almost tangible. I’d been locked away for nearly a week, waking occasionally to a small bowl of food and glass of water seemingly left by a ghost. I’d been forgotten, abandoned, and there was no sign of freedom in sight.

My focus remained glued to Malachi. His body was sinewy but well-muscled, dark pink circles crowded under his eyes, and dried blood crusted his crown. The small, curled horns that peeked out through his hair seemed almost demonic. I couldn’t help but brush my fingers along the top of my head and feel for horns of my own, but there was nothing. As I dropped my hands, my vision narrowed onto his, studying the skin lined with silver scars. Scars from untold terrors. Scars signaling a life that must have been the farthest thing from easy. “Brother.”

Malachi hissed at the word, baring his fangs like a cat. “I am not your brother. You have a different mother, a different father.”

I winced, forgetting how furious that word made him, even when we were children. I never understood why the wordbrotherinfuriated him, but after everything I’d been through and all the men who’d tried to use me—Aiden, that nameless captain of the guard, my own mate—I now knew.

He wanted me as more than family. He wanted to own me, just like the others did.

My eyes widened as Malachi approached my cage and wrapped his fingers around the iron bars, as if the ferrous material didn’t bother him in the slightest.

“It seems you are in quite a predicament, my light,” he paused. “It’s a disappointing sight, considering what you are, but I expected nothing less.”

“Are you here to help or gloat, Malachi?” I asked, surprising myself at the contempt underlining my voice. That nickname, so at odds with how he’d treated me when we came of age, incensed me. The endearment was precious, reflective of the pure, beautiful bond we’d once shared, now stained, soiled by his actions.

“If you knew how to handle your powers, you wouldn’t need my help. Simple chains and iron bars should never be able to hold something like you back.” Malachi pushed off the bars and cocked his head. His eyes lingered along the red strands of my hair, tracing down to the split ends, and his gaze flickered. My hair had always held some strange hold over him, so much so that it had moved him to chop it all off when we were a mere thirteen years of age. “I can free you, if you agree to come with me.”

My eyes narrowed as I subconsciously smoothed my hair, as if the action would somehow divert his attention from the strands, and a low snort sounded beneath my breath. Of course he hadn’t come to rescue me. It was always quid pro quo with him, and nothing had changed, despite all these years spent apart. “No, thank you. I’d rather rot.”

Malachi’s lips tilted up on one side, and he shrugged. “All right, then. As you wish.”

He backed up a step, and, despite my vehement rage towards him, my body moved of its own volition, diving towards his retreating form. My palm gripped the bars separating us, burning at the contact, and I winced, reaching out with one arm to grasp the closest part of him—a leathery wing. “Wait!”

Malachi’s gaze zeroed in on my hand, then shifted to where my other palm wrapped around the bar, noting the reddening of skin against iron. He tilted his head, moving closer. His hands shot out to fist around mine, grinding my palm against the bar as he watched my skin burn. I released my grip on his wing and used my free hand to pry his hold off me.

“Interesting,” he lilted, his gaze studying my reaction to the iron as my nails scratched his skin. His eyes clashed against mine, deadly shards of ice burrowing into my mind. “You’re stronger than this,” he hissed, gripping my hand tighter. “This small amount of pain shouldn’t affect you. Hold tighter.”

A strangled sob tore from my throat as my palm fizzled, and he released his grip, tutting. I fell to the floor, heaving and cupping my shaking palm.

“You’re weak.”

“I’m not weak. I’m exhausted, faint from starvation and thirst,” I argued, then held up my wrists to display the manacles wrapped around them like bracelets. I’d tried so hard to remove the rune cuffs, but I’d only managed to destroy the chain attaching the two. “These are draining me. Iron doesn’t usually affect me in this way.”

“That’s no excuse.” Malachi gripped the iron bars with a straight face, his eyes tracking my motions. “Come with me, and I will train you. You won’t find yourself trapped again, because no one will be able to corner you once I’m through.”

Like he would ever be through with me.

He was the shadow that stalked through my nightmares, the darkness that dimmed even the brightest spots of my life. He would be my ruin, whether I allowed it or not, and I refused to go anywhere with him willingly.

I wouldn’t allow myself to be ensnared by yet another male, not again. I rose from the ground and lifted my chin, tossing a lock of ruby hair behind my shoulders, accidentally revealing what hid beneath.

The mating claim on my neck.

A loud rattling ripped from Malachi’s chest, and his glowing eyes zeroed in on the bite mark. His wings spread out in fury, the bones cracking like knuckles.

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