I’d never dream of him this badly hurt.
His other hand gripped my cheek, starlight tunnelling down to my soul. “They tell you that you’re not worth fighting for, but I’d go through eternity in a cage for you. No matter what you’ve done. I know who you are, poison. I know you’re worth any suffering they could inflict on me. How could I not come for you? I should have never let you go in the first place.”
Nobody had ever saved me. Not my mother. My father. My uncle. My fiancé. Not anyone I’d called family or friend.
I’d learned to survive on my own.
But in such a short time, Sin had shown me what it was to truly feel alive. And I was as addicted to it as I was to him.
My chest ached, the feeling of his blood mixing with mine too warm as it attacked the ragged edges of damaged flesh, but it couldn’t cover the fact that I was losing too much.
“They could have tortured and executed you. I-I’m not worth getting you killed too…” I choked off.
His breath sharpened at my unspoken meaning.
Like his brother.
“I should have listened to you instead of letting my emotions spiral out of control. I’m sorry, poison. You didn’t kill Silvanus, you said it yourself.” His thumb brushed my cheek, catching a stray tear I hadn’t realised was falling.
“He healed me,” I whispered. “I’ve seen your party trick before.”
A small smile played at his lips, gentler than anything I’d seen. “Of course he took the time to revive a pretty hunter during a fight.”
“He showed me not all demons were evil, and you showed me there’s more to them than I could have ever imagined.” My voice sounded thin, and exhaustion tried to drag me under.
“My sweet poison.” His attention dipped to where his wounded arm met my chest and his features tightened. “It’s not enough.” Desperation laced his tone. “I can’t lose you, Liliana.”
He lifted his bleeding wrist to my lips.
Starlit eyes, filled with pain and hope, tried to hold me to this world. “Given all we’ve shared, if you drink from me now, you’ll live, but it will cement our blood bond. You’ll never be able to escape me, poison. Mine for eternity.”
Everything we’d been through flickered hazily through my mind. But unlike with Leo, I knew what I felt for Sin was real. It was gritty and vicious and all-consuming, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I already am.” I leaned into his offered wrist and sealed my lips to his skin.
Warm blood spilled across my tongue. It was like a shot of ambrosia. The most divine flavour with a citrus edge.
Joy like I’d never known filled me despite the pain, and it mirrored the expression suffusing his stunning features.
My chest grew hot, burning hard enough that I pulled back with a hiss. Rich blood sat thickly on my tongue. The caving sensation in my torso lessened with each passing beat, replaced by something full and tangible. A sense of more, somehow.
Soothing warmth glowed beside my heart, centring me around the feeling I knew was him.
A wicked grin curved my demon’s lips. His eyes brightened like a supernova.
“My bonded.” His fingertips brushed my face in reverence, tracing the parts I knew were bloodied and bruised, but even the pain there was fading.
I was still alive. And I was finally free.
Because of him.
Chapter 45
Sin’s fingertips left my cheek, and I mourned their loss.
Heat pulsed through my chest, as if to reassure me that our bond was there.
That he was there.