Never Keep (Sins of the Zodiac, #1)

by Caroline Peckham

Moraine’s pained cry was a soft caress against my ears, her dark eyes widening in shock and understanding while I stared at her in uncomprehending confusion. Her hand grasped for the sliver of silver which protruded from her chest, the tip of a bloody knife jutting from her heart before being ripped away so fast I wasn’t certain I’d seen it at all. I lunged for her, catching her weight as she fell on me, her eyes holding mine in a brutal realisation which tore through me with agonising clarity as the light faded from them so fast, I could barely capture the memory of it in my palm. “Moraine,” I gasped, my knees buckling with her weight, the shadow of Cayde’s body moving closer, his expression driving through me just as forcefully as the knife that had pierced my sister’s flesh. All I could do was stare at him in horrified shock. I blinked at the man I had offered my blackened heart to, a mask seeming to slip from his features as he looked at me with feral hatred, his desires lashing against me with the bloodthirsty need for death. My lips parted on words which wouldn’t come, devastation and agony rooting me in place beneath the dead weight of the woman who I loved far more dearly than my own rotten soul deserved. “Moraine,” I choked out again, my muscles shaking with her weight as I tried to hold her up, her head falling against my shoulder, the heat of her blood pooling against my chest through the thick material of my leathers.