Page 39 of The Sin Binder's Chains

Layla’s jaw clenches.

Her voice, when it comes, is hoarse, full of something wretched and breaking.

“I don’t want to contain anyone.”

I hum, thoughtful. “Neither did your sister.”

She freezes.

And I know, without a doubt, I’ve won.

I watch Layla as she processes, as the weight of what I’ve told her settles in her bones.

She doesn’t speak right away. She’s too sharp for that, too calculating, and I can see it, the way she cycles through her options, searching for a way out. She won’t find one. Not unless she wants to ignore what she already knows.

“You need to understand something,” I say, voice even. “This won’t be like it was for Luna.”

Layla’s head snaps up, her glare sharp, defensive. “And what the hell does that mean?”

I study her, deliberate. “It means Severin is not Lucien. It means his Sins are not like us.”

She laughs, short and bitter. “Yeah, I think I figured that out from the whole they kidnapped my sister’s bonded lovers and are probably torturing them right now thing.”

I nod, conceding the point. “But it’s deeper than that.”

Layla watches me warily, arms still crossed tightly over her chest, as if she can physically hold herself together.

Good.

She needs to be guarded.

Because the truth is ugly.

I lean forward slightly, voice dropping. “Severin was once like us. A Sin, powerful, unrestricted, free. But when the first Sin-Binder was created, when our kind was forced into bonds we did not choose, he did not accept it.”

Layla’s brow furrows. “And you did?”

I tilt my head. “We were given balance. Purpose. Do you know what happens to an unbound Sin?”

I see the unease in her eyes. The hesitation, the way she knows the answer will be something she doesn’t want to hear.

“We consume,” I murmur. “Everything. The world was not built to sustain us in our true form. Without balance, without a Binder to temper us, we spiral into excess. Wrath, unchecked, does not just destroy enemies, it destroys everything.”

Layla swallows hard, but I don’t let her look away.

“Severin fought against that. He refused to be bound, refused to give his power to another.” I pause. “But a Sin that refuses balance doesn’t gain freedom, Layla. It loses itself.”

Her lips part, something flickering behind her gaze.

I nod. “That is what you will be walking into. You won’t have the luxury of time, of slow, careful trust-building the way Luna has with us. If you are his Binder, if he recognizes your bond, he will feel what we feel for Luna, he will be unable to harm you. But that does not mean he will not try.”

Layla bristles, straightening. “That’s supposed to make me want to do this?”

I let a slow, knowing smile unfurl. “It’s supposed to make you understand that if you don’t, no one else will.”

Her jaw tightens, the fight visible in the rigid set of her shoulders, in the way her fingers twitch like she wants to strike me, shove me away, curse me out.

“What happens if I fail?”

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