Stained By Sin

NINETEEN

Ava slowly walked inside the mansion, carefully calculating each step, making sure that it wouldn’t

trigger the sudden pain that would suddenly plague her body.

It had only been a couple of days since she mated with Jaiden and hadn’t consumed his blood, yet the effect on her was already tremendous. She had been suffering in mere hours after her last feeding from him, but she made sure not to tell her brother. She knew that if he found out about it, he would worry about her. She didn’t want to add any more stress on her brother. The mess she created was enough to take up all his time. She needed to bear this suffering on her own.

She breathed in slowly, filling her lungs with as much oxygen she could manage before letting it out. As she inhaled, the scent of her brother immediately filled her lungs. Ava instinctively straightened up her body, as if her slouch was enough to clue in her brother about what was going on with her. When she took another breath, she noticed that there was another scent mixed in with her brother’s. It was the Crow queen. Shocked and intrigued, Ava looked around, searching for the two.

She saw both her brother and the Crow queen, walking side by side. The Crow leader appeared annoyed while brother was smiling fondly at the girl. The unexpected sight caught Ava off-guard. She never saw her brother smiled like that before. The closest she’d seen him smile that fondly was with her, but even then, it was only a brotherly smile. But this time, it was something different. It was more sincere...

Ava took an involuntary step backwards, her heart beating wildly against her chest. What was going on? Her brother was supposed to be using that female as a leverage to get back Jaiden. He was only supposed to guard her because she was dangerous. He wasn’t supposed to laugh with her and give her fond smiles.

Ava had long known that her brother still felt guilt over what happened twenty years ago. She kept telling him that he only did what was best for the entire vampire-race, but that wasn’t enough to appease his heart. He was angry at himself for killing an innocent boy and living a female vampire like her with no family. But that guilt shouldn’t make him smile like that. If anything, her brother should be tormented whenever he looked at the Crow queen. He shouldn’t be smiling like that.

With her emotions in turmoil, Ava had all but forgotten about the physical pain that tormented her. She ran as fast as she could to her room, then locked herself in. Throwing herself on the bed, her tears started to fall, her heart aching from the betrayal she just saw.

Ava sobbed as she realized that while she was desperately hiding her pain from her brother to lessen his worries, he was busy flirting with the enemy. Had her brother forgotten the their real goal was to get back her mate, and not to capture the enemy’s heart?

Betrayed and frustrated, Ava cried her eyes out while trying to keep her sobs silent. Slowly, her tears started to stop falling until she finally fell asleep.

When she woke up, the first thought that crossed Ava’s mind was that she needed to rescue Jaiden herself. If her brother wouldn’t help her, then she would do it herself. She wasn’t a princess for nothing. She could do this, if she just put her mind on it.

Ava got off her bed, decided to take matters into her own hands, when the dreaded pain suddenly assaulted her. In a flash, Ava was lying on the floor, gritting her teeth to stop herself from crying out loud.

The pain started from her throat, where it felt like a hot iron rod was being pushed down from on her down. And slowly, it began to spread from her neck to her shoulders, down to her stomach. As the pain continued to spread down her legs, Ava was already on the verge of screaming. She flung her hands wildly on the floor, searching for something to bite on to. Her hands felt the tip of her bed sheet. With sheer willpower, Ava managed to pull the entire bed sheet off her bed. She quickly bit on it, then let out her screams. She didn’t know how long the torture lasted, but eventually, it began to recede.

Ava laid panting on the floor, tears streaming continuously on her face. She took a few minutes to compose herself before gathering the strength to stand up.

With Jaiden’s face plastered on her mind, Ava immediately sprang into action, preparing herself for the one-man rescue mission she planned for herself.