Page 206 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

“You’re going home,” he says.

“Yes.”

“We do what we have to do, even when it’s hard.” He pulls something from his pocket. Something silver and small—the thing I asked him about the night we drank and danced. He picks up my hand, and the small gesture sends my head up and my gaze to his. The chill from whatever he puts in my palm cuts through the fire in my blood.

“I’ll find you when this is over,” he whispers, his breath uneven. “I swear it.”

I nod, trying to find something to say and coming up utterly dry.

“Until then, keep your wits about you, Marquees.”

He lifts my hand to his mouth, kissing it once, and he doesn’t say another word when he turns and opens a portal.

Then he’s gone and I’m left staring at my open hand and a little silver wolf.

I open my portal home too.

My legs take me running to Damien’s house without my brain giving it a second thought. Pounding at his door, my heart races with excitement. I’m home. I got my life back. These last four months can be forgotten, and I can just be me again.

The me without Lucian, Leiholan, and even Aralia.

Suddenly, I’m not entirely sure what that looks like.

But when I see Damien, all that goes away. He opens the door and looks at me like I’m a ghost. Then his arms wrap around me and he lifts me off the ground, whirling us around. He sets me down, and when he meets my eyes, his are stricken by fear.

“What? What is it?” I ask in a rush.

He backs away and I take steps forward, following him. He falls, still trying to crawl backward. “Mom! They’re back!”

Elliae and Janice come to the door, standing behind him with their eyes on me. Elliae drops to her knees, clawing at Damien’s shirt, trying to pull him inside.

This is about my eyes.

“No, I’m—I’m not one of them, I swear,” I try to explain. “What do you mean, they’re back?”

Once Damien is beyond the barrier of the door, it slams in my face. They can’t seriously think this would keep an Arcane out.

That it would keep me out. I knock on the door again. “Please, Damien. Just talk to me. Elliae! I’m not an Arcane, I swear.” Knocking turns to pounding and pounding turns to pleading. “Do you know how hard I’ve fought to see you guys again? Please, just talk to me!”

This is everything I’ve wanted.

My back collapses against the door and my hands drag through my hair. Tears fall from my eyes and snot fills my nose.

“Please,” I whine. “You’re all I have left,” I cry. “My mom’s probably dead, and she never even cared about me. You guys are all I have. Please.”

Please, please, please.

Chapter 43

I Know What I Didn’t Before

LUCIAN

Soma is the world with the fewest casualties and deaths of civilians, losing only 10,000 of their population of 300,000. They claim this is due to the cleanliness of their genetics, as they are the only species of orphia to descend from a god.

— THE TRUTH OF THE ARCANIAN WAR (REDACTED)

This room of mine reflects a person I’ve lost. Someone I am not sure I want to hold onto. I look back to the mirror I’ve stepped out from, the hopeful part of me thinking she’s followed.

---