All Chapters of Bound in Silver and Scars: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Valkyrie's POV The plastic test strip was in my numb fingers.Two pink lines.I pressed my back firmly against the wall of the darkened shopfront, my chest rising and falling as the icy rain kept on beating down around me. My hand moved instinctively downwards and came to rest with my palm flat on my lower abdomen. Under the damp fabric of my coat, under my shivering skin and muscles, a secret was taking hold of Kaelen's blood.Our baby.A sob was about to burst free and tear through my throat, but I pushed it down, suppressing the sharp, metallic taste of pure panic. Only three hours earlier had I practiced exactly how I would tell him. I had imagined his eyes growing gentle, that rare and stunning smile which, as a rule, took weeks of persistent persuasion to get out of his quiet, serious manner, the way his big, warm hands would cover mine when I gave him the news. We were meant to be building a real life on the foundation of the ashes from our paper marriage.Rather, he look

Valkyrie's POV Twenty-four hours earlier. The air in the tea room in South Yarra was sweet, heavy with the smell of crushed chamomile and costly silk. Outside, Melbourne's skyline remained dry and was illuminated by the pale gold of a fading autumn afternoon, totally ignorant of the storm which was waiting to tear my life apart. Victoria Vance was sitting across the low marble table. She held her porcelain cup with a carelessness that was at the same time terrifying, her platinum blonde bob cut so precisely that it appeared to have been carved from ice. Everywhere you looked, there was the show of her vast wealth, from her perfectly tailored blazer to the large diamond band on her index finger. She had not touched her tea at all; she just stared at me with those pale blue eyes, which were cold and completely lacking any human warmth. “You're five minutes late, Valkyrie," she remarked, her voice smooth and almost melodic, at the same time having the force of an iron hammer

Kaelen's POV In Melbourne, the rain had finally ceased, so that the sky just before dawn was the colour of a bruised plum; fifty stories down on the asphalt, the streetlights reflected off the wet pavement as if it were spilled ink.I was in my corner office at Vance Global, the glass cold against my forehead, holding a glass of Scotch I hadn't touched for hours. The door of the boardroom behind me was slammed open, the leather chairs scraping noisily against the hardwood."He's still in the room," barked Arthur Vance, my uncle and senior board director, into his phone. He shut the door with a loud metallic click, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the quiet room.“Kaelen, turn around and look at the board!” I stayed where I was because I didn't want to turn around; turning around would have meant looking at the monitors fixed to the wall, which showed the trading halts, and that meant facing the red ticker symbols scrolling without interruption across the bottom of the screen.VAN

Valkyrie's POV The room seemed all of a sudden to be incredibly cramped.The gale outside kept up its attack on the cottage, beating the rain against the windowpane with the force of broken glass; inside, however, the air had become like ice.I tightened the flannel blanket around the child on my chest, my heart pounding so violently against my ribs that I was sure Hamish could hear it over the storm. I kept my eyes fixed on my newborn son's face; he blinked slowly in the warm light of the bedside lamp, his irises reflecting the light, striking, unmistakable, and crystalline silver.Not dark brown like mine. Not hazel like Hamish’s.They were just as silver as the storm clouds above Melbourne, just as silver as Kaelen Vance's gaze when he looked at me in the crowded boardroom or when he pulled me into his arms in the dark.A living, breathing ghost of the man who had expelled me."He's... impressive," Hamish said in a soft voice, his words piercing through the ringing in my ears.He

Valkyrie's POV The rain had ceased, but the fog drifting from the ocean was so dense.I stood at the kitchen window with a steaming mug of black coffee, my eyes on the driveway. All my instincts were urging me to get Lachlan and Chloe into the Ford Falcon and disappear further along the coast. The email warning the live GPS indicating that a vehicle was approaching Port Campbell was still burning behind my eyelids like a brand."Val?"The silence in the cabin was broken by a soft, raspy voice.I turned instantly, getting rid of the panic from my face. My sister was standing on the archway of the sunroom. Chloe looked delicate and pale, as if the morning light seemed to pass through her. Though she was in her early twenties, she looked older than a teenager. "You're up early, sweetheart," I said, setting down my coffee and hurrying over to her side. I slipped my arm around her waist, supporting her before her knees gave way.“I couldn't sleep,” she said, her breath coming in short