Page 64 of Devoured

“You did great.” He rests a hand beside my head, hovering over me as he checks my vitals. “Your fever is already breaking, and your temperature is down. You’re going to survive. Your skin should regrow in no time.”

“Fantastic,” I mutter.

He exhales a soft laugh and brushes my hair from my face. His smile vanishes in the next breath. “I should tell you… your wrists and ankles… they’re going to scar. But with the amount of silver that made it to your bloodstream, we’re lucky you survived at all.”

“Lucky,” I murmur. Why doesn’t it feel like it, then? Why does it feel like I’m cursed?

“I know.” He continues to lean over me, his hair falling over his brow in that typical boyishly handsome way. “Does it help if I apologize again?”

“No. That makes me want to break your perfect nose,” I say honestly.

“Fair.” He searches my face, his gaze dipping to my lips. Mine falling to his.

We haven’t been this close in weeks. My heart—our hearts—skip a beat. I blush, despise myself for it, and he pretends not to notice.

“Why…” I weigh the question before I ask it, wanting to distract us both. “Why were you in Guatemala, Sin? What were you talking about in the throne room?” I wait for him to lie and stalk off, but he doesn’t.

Instead, he lowers next to me, our bodies continuing to touch. Just as before, we fit perfectly together. I despise that too. “Cora sent me to try to maintain our relations with Central America. But… the Duchess of Guatemala isn’t a fan of Cora.” He glances away, staring at the wall when he says, “I had to usurp her. We gave her position to one of her grandsons. Kaax.” His jaw clenches. “We had to promise Kaax he could mate Evie in order to convince him to ally with us, and in order to keep Evie from her throne.”

I nearly jolt upright, then realize too late that I can’t. Sin eases me back to the pillow as I curse at him. “What do you mean you promised him Evie? Did she—did she agree to that?”

“Of course not, Vanessa.” Sin rolls onto his back, keeping one hand on my stomach. His fingers twitch against my skin, and I feel the touch all the way in my toes. God, I hate him. Why does he have to keep breaking everything?

My voice cracks. “Why would you do that to her?”

“Because Cora—”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Sin, but your mother sucks. You can’t just trade Evie to another country for their military. She isn’t—”

“Chattel,” he says. “I realize. I know you won’t believe me, but I’m trying to figure this all out. There has to be a way to fix everything.”

We stare at his ceiling as if we’re gazing at the stars. It almost reminds me of our astrology lesson, lying side by side in the grass, unable to touch but desperate for each other. Only now, I’m bloody, and he’s a villain, and neither of us is going to survive the other. There are no more glittering constellations or longing glances. There is only the cold, brutal truth of reality.

“You hate me,” he breathes, as though he’s afraid the words might break if he doesn’t deliver them carefully. “It would be easier if you’d admit it.”

Yes, I think fiercely. Yes, I hate you.

“Sometimes I wish I did, but no. I don’t hate you, Sin.” I wait for the blazing pain of the lie to light up my ribs. It doesn’t come. I ignore the flicker of honesty. I loathe it almost as much as I loathe Sin.

“We don’t see each other anymore,” he says.

“You just told me you staged a coup, and you want to discuss us?”

“I’m going to fix everything with Evie,” he argues. A truth only he can believe.

“You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t kill you.”

“Great segue. That brings me back to us. Would you be happy if she did?”

“No, Sin. I can’t make this clear enough for you: I don’t want anyone else to die. Even you. Especially you.”

He turns his head to glance at me, so I do the same. It’s not the first time we’ve shared a bed, but I don’t know if those moments were real or just more dreams he implanted in my brain.

“So you didn’t poison those wolves?”

“What?” I blink at him, helpless as acid continues to burn through my stomach.

He leans up on his elbow, staring down at me with a knowing look. “Did you poison those werewolves? Was Cora right? I don’t want to believe it, but you’re smart. And you have every reason in the world to want to murder us. I wouldn’t blame you. I wouldn’t turn you in.”