Page 81 of The Sin Binder's Chains

"I wish I were," he breathes, as if overcome by the revelation. "Because this is too much power for me to handle right now."

I roll my eyes, shifting slightly in his hold. "You are-"

"No, no, let’s break this down properly." He angles his head toward me, a grin curling at his lips. "Like... like how?"

"What?"

"Like, like a friend? Like a trusted ally?" He pauses. "Or, " his voice drops into something far too pleased with itself, " Llike, like like?"

"Absolutely not."

"Interesting. No hesitation." He hums thoughtfully. "But would you say you like me in the same way you like, say… a particularly well-trained dog?"

"Elias."

"Or, let’s say, a stray cat that occasionally brings you dead birds? Appreciated, but vaguely off-putting?"

I sigh deeply. "Why do I even talk to you?"

"Because you like me," he says smugly. "Your words, not mine."

"I take it back."

"Too late. It’s out there. The universe heard it. I heard it. Lucien probably felt a disturbance in the force."

"Lucien doesn’t care about you."

"Incorrect." Elias grins. "Lucien cares about me deeply, he just expresses it through aggressive silence and thinly veiled threats."

"So basically the way he expresses everything?"

"Exactly."

I exhale, shaking my head. "Gods. I hate that you’re fun to talk to sometimes."

Elias gasps.

"Luna Evernight, did you just call me fun?"

"I should have let the Void consume you."

"But you didn’t, he points out. "Because you like me."

I close my eyes. "I regret everything."

"No take-backsies, sweetheart." He shifts his grip, keeping me steady, warm, and close, and I can feel his grin against my temple.

He spent a full ten minutes needling me over the fact that I admitted to liking him, picking apart every possible interpretation, delighting in my suffering, truly thriving in my discomfort.

But now?

Nothing.

The absence of his voice is more unsettling than his usual obnoxious banter.

I shift slightly in the saddle, lifting my head from where I’d been resting against his shoulder. "Elias?"

No response.

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