Page 180 of The Sin Binder's Chains

Elias leans closer to her, lowering his voice like it’s a secret and a dare. “But if you ever get tired of being psychoanalyzed by candlelight, I could offer you a very chaotic rebound. The kind that ends in… absolutely no character development.”

She blinks. “Did you just proposition me with trauma avoidance?”

“Yes,” he says, proud. “I also come with snacks.”

She rolls her eyes, but her smile breaks through fully this time. And for a moment, the weight of the world lifts just enough for her to breathe.

I watch it happen. That flicker of ease.

He’s not competition.

He’s distraction.

And she needs that too.

“Go back to sleep, Elias,” she says, turning from both of us. “Before I let Riven stab you just for the quiet.”

He salutes, backs away, stumbling over a root, and vanishes behind the ruins, humming something obscene under his breath.

Luna watches him disappear behind a fractured stone pillar, arms crossed, jaw tense. Her shoulders are still lifted, half-defensive, half-considering. She thinks she's hiding it. She isn't.

I wait. Let the silence stretch, not the kind that weighs, but the kind that reveals.

Then I say it, quietly.

“He likes you.”

She flinches. Just a flicker. But I see it.

Her lips press together. Her eyes narrow like she’s about to deny it, then don’t. “He doesn’t even know what that means.”

“No,” I agree, smiling faintly. “But he knows how it feels.”

She shifts her weight, discomfort flickering in the angle of her hips. Not because of Elias. Because she’s thinking about what it would mean to let someone else inside again.

“I’m not sure I’d survive binding with him,” she mutters.

I chuckle. “It’s a good thing, Luna. To be wanted. Even if Elias has the emotional maturity of a warlock with a god complex and a sugar high.”

That earns a small huff. Almost a laugh. Almost.

“But,” I continue, tone gentling, “I’m not certain he’s the best next one.”

Her brow lifts. “You think I should pick one like it’s a feast?”

“No,” I say. “But you’re consuming us. Piece by piece. You’re not just linking to us. You’re absorbing. And each bond shifts you. Riven’s cruelty. Silas’s obsession. They’ve already left their marks. Can you feel it?”

She doesn’t answer.

That’s answer enough.

“Another screw-up like Elias,” I say carefully, “and you’ll be off-kilter for a while. Until you bind with someone… steadier.”

She looks at me now, fully, as if she’s weighing me in her hands.

“Is that what you are?” she asks. “Steady?”

“I’m not safe, if that’s what you’re asking.”

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