Page 86 of The Sin Binder's Chains

I thrive in it.

"Nice try, darling," I purr, tilting my head, my grin wicked and bright. "But you forget, I like myself."

I let my magic flicker, just briefly, a sharp, biting hum of stolen power curling through my fingers, reminding him that nomatter how much he hates me, no matter how much he resents what I am, he will never be able to take it from me.

I smile, slow, indulgent. "Still jealous?"

His eyes flash. "Still better?"

A stalemate.

But one of us always gives in first.

And it’s never me.

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose like my mere existence is exhausting. "Tell me," he mutters, "why are you still here?"

I stretch, slow and unbothered. "Trapped, obviously."

"By what?"

I raise an eyebrow. "By whom."

Malachi tilts his head, his mouth curling into something cruel. "You could leave if you really wanted to."

I match his expression. "And yet, here you are, still in my shadow."

Then, he laughs, something low and jagged. "You know what, Silas?" He steps closer, stopping just at the edge of the chaise lounge. "Maybe I should be grateful. Maybe it’s a good thing you’re locked away like a spoiled pet. Because if you were free, " He leans down, voice dropping. "You might realize you don’t belong to yourself anymore."

My pulse doesn’t change.

My expression doesn’t shift.

But I know what he’s doing.

I know what he’s implying.

And he knows that I know.

I smile. "You sound so bitter, Malachi."

"And you sound so fucking possessed."

A long pause.

"You know," he says, his tone too light, "I think I’ll stay a while. Keep you company. It’d be cruel to leave you all alone with nothing but your raging inadequacy to talk to."

"Mm." I lean back again, smirking as I settle into obnoxious ease. "Stay as long as you’d like. I don’t mind an audience."

Even in a cage, I will always be the better Veyd.

"Do you want to know what Severin has planned for your little Binder?"

I snort. "Oh, do tell."

He leans against one of the gilded mirrors, watching me too closely, his silver-ringed fingers tapping idly against the glass. "It’s quite poetic." His smirk is all teeth, all rotting amusement. "He’s going to use her to control you. To control all of you."

I arch a brow, unimpressed. "That’s adorable."

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