Page 11 of The Sin Binder's Chains

His silver eyes flick to Luna, assessing, considering. Then, begrudgingly, he mutters, “Fucking hate this.”

“Noted.”

The air around us shifts, the edges of Elias’s slow-time magic fraying, unraveling. The wraith horses twitch, muscles preparing to move again.

I move first, grabbing a handful of mane and swinging onto the back of the nearest creature. The sensation is strange the body beneath me not flesh, not bone, but something suspended in between, something given form by the Hollow itself. It shudders beneath my weight, an unnatural thing bound by unnatural rules.

Elias follows, his approach less urgent, more casual disdain. He swings up onto his mount, then looks at Luna expectantly. “Up you go, little star.”

She hesitates.

A half-second too long.

Elias grabs her.

She makes a sound, pissed off, indignant, but Elias just hauls her onto the horse in front of him like it’s nothing, like she weighs less than breath, settling her between his arms with a low exhale.

Luna stiffens immediately. “I hate this.”

Elias hums, a smirk curling against her ear. “Yeah?” He leans in slightly, just enough to make her aware of the heat between them. “Then you’re gonna hate the next part.”

The Hollow snaps back into motion. And we ride.

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