Page 9 of The Sin Binder's Chains

I force my gaze back to the path ahead, locking down whatever unwelcome thing had started unraveling in my chest. We have more important things to deal with. This is irrelevant.

But as Luna takes another step forward, unaware of the way we’re still watching, still wanting, I can’t help but think of one simple, inevitable truth.

She’ll have to understand it eventually. Because no matter how much she tries to fight it, the bond isn’t done with her yet. And neither are we.

She curses under her breath, sharp and irritated, the sound barely cutting through the thick, unnatural quiet of the Hollow.

I glance over just in time to see her stumble, catching herself with a sharp inhale, and for a moment, just a breath of a second, something surges in me that I don’t have time to analyze.

She doesn’t fall. She doesn’t even waver long enough for me to reach for her. But she reacts. And it’s that raw, instinctual flash of something in her face, the quick exhale, the clench of her jaw, that keeps me watching.

She stops moving, exhaling sharply as she mutters, “Fucking shoelace.”

I watch as she crouches, one knee bending, the other stretching forward, her hand moving to tug at the offending lace.

And fuck me.

Elias whistles under his breath, low and appreciative. “That’s a sight.”

Luna pulls the laces tight, fingers deft, movements quick and efficient. But it’s the position, the sharp angle of her bent knee, the way the fabric of her pants pulls snug around her thigh, the way her spine curves ever so slightly, that makes something tighten deep in my gut.

She’s close enough that if I reached forward, just a fraction, I could grip her by the hip and drag her back. She’d fit against me too easily, her body already shaped into something that shouldn’t be this tempting.

Something I should not be fucking thinking about.

Elias makes a quiet sound beside me, more exhale than a laugh, shifting his weight like this is amusing him like, he knows.

I clear my throat, voice perfectly even. “Are you done?”

Luna, completely unaware of the problem she’s just created, pulls the last loop tight, glancing up at me as she rises to her feet. Her expression is annoyed, irritated at the interruption, but I catch the flicker of something else, something tired, something strained.

Something that reminds me why we’re here. Why she is here. The moment snaps. The spell shatters. I exhale, dragging my attention back to the road ahead, my thoughts settling into something cold, something hard.

“Try to keep up, Evernight,” I murmur, forcing the words into something distant.

She rolls her eyes. “Try to get a better personality, Virelius.”

Elias snickers. “Gods, I love her.”

I don’t look at him.

And I don’t look at her again. Because if I do, I might not stop.

The ground vibrates beneath my boots, a deep, rolling tremor that slithers up my spine before settling in my ribs. Not natural. Not distant. Coming straight for us.

Elias stills beside me, tilting his head like he’s listening to something the rest of us can’t hear yet. A slow grin spreads across his face, all teeth, all wicked amusement. “Well, that’s inconvenient.”

The first sound reaches us a breath later, thunder, except not from the sky. A relentless, rolling percussion pounding against the fractured land, growing louder, closer, more hungry.

Luna tenses. “What the hell is that?”

The shadows in the distance shift. And then, they emerge.

A stampede of blackened, half-rotted creatures surging forward, skeletal frames twisting beneath charred flesh, hooves striking the earth with impossible force. Their eyes burn, hollow sockets filled with a sickly, white-blue glow. Some are missing patches of skin, ribs visible, bodies held together by something more than just decay.

The Hollow’s creatures. Not alive. Not dead. Just remnants.

Elias exhales. “Fucking wraith horses.”

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