Page 18 of The Sin Binder's Chains

“Now,” he murmurs, voice dark, starving, “who’s suffering?”

I do not move.

I do not speak.

Because for the first time in my goddamn life, I am completely, utterly fucked.

Elias stops breathing. Not in a dramatic, gasping way. Not in a fuck, I might be dying kind of way. No, it’s worse than that. It’s the kind of stillness that only happens when a man has completely shut down, like his soul took one look at the situation and noped right out of his body.

Which, honestly? Fair. Because I know him. I know he’s all false bravado and sharp-edged jokes. I know the second someone turns the game on him, he fucking crumbles.

And right now? I’m proving that theory spectacularly.

I keep my movements slow, deliberate, leaning in just enough to brush my nose along the column of his throat, breathing in the scent of cedar and heat, the faintest trace of something wicked lingering beneath his skin.

His hands lock around me, and I drag my hands up his thighs, tracing the shape of muscle beneath the fabric, pressing my fingers just hard enough to feel the way he tenses.

The way his entire body reacts.

I reach his ear, pause, then bite. A quick, teasing scrape of my teeth against his earlobe.

I grin against his skin.

“Something wrong, Elias?” I murmur, dragging my lips just barely along the shell of his ear.

I pull back just enough to glance up at him, taking in the sheer chaotic devastation playing across his face. His jaw is locked, hiseyes blown out, and there’s a faint flush creeping up his neck, something he’d probably rather die than admit.

I raise a brow. “No comment?”

His mouth opens. Closes. Then, with all the confidence of a man whose entire nervous system is currently on fire, he says.

“I think I just saw God.”

I blink. Elias immediately realizes what just came out of his mouth, physically recoils, and follows it up with.

“NO. Not God. I meant.. I mean. Wow, fuck okay. So hi. ”

I burst out laughing. Loudly. The kind of laughter that guts you, that shakes your shoulders, that leaves you fucking breathless. Because I’ve broken him. Irrevocably shattered him.

Elias groans, dragging a hand down his face like he wants to disappear entirely. “I need a reset. A whole-ass restart. I need someone to unplug me and plug me back in.”

I wipe a tear from my eye, smirking up at him. “What’s wrong, Elias? I thought you were the one making me suffer?”

His gaze snaps to mine. It’s darker now. Sharper.

And then, He fucking grins. Slow. Dangerous. Something inside me shifts.

“Alright, Evernight,” he murmurs, rolling his shoulders, settling in. “You wanna play?”

His fingers twitch against my waist. His smirk deepens.

“Let’s see who wins.”

The first spark of pain is small, sharp, a bright ember searing across my skin. A flicker of heat, quick and fleeting. Almost ignorable.

Then the fire catches. It spreads. A white-hot brand tearing through my back, racing over my ribs, sinking deep into my bones like molten iron. It doesn't stop. Doesn't ease. It only grows, a brutal, relentless agony, and I don't even register the scream that rips from my throat until it's already splitting the air.

Elias jolts behind me, his arms tightening around my waist, his entire body locking up.

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