Page 103 of The Obedient Lie

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His eyes—glassier than they should’ve been. Red around the edges. Wet.

“Hey,” I whispered, reaching out and touching his cheek with clumsy fingers. “No, no… don’t be sad.”

He flinched just slightly when I wiped the tear off his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered again, still not sure what I was apologizing for. “Don’t be sad.”

He didn’t say anything. Didn’t move.

“It’s okay, Luca,” I murmured. “You can keep my favorite hand.”

I sighed, my eyelids dragging lower.

“But…” I added softly, “you have to take care of him, okay? He’s really special.”

There was silence.

I nestled into Bastion’s lap, blinking hard.

“And you have to look after my other favorite hand too,” I whispered, almost too quiet to hear. “Because they’re a pair.”

My hand slipped from his cheek, falling softly between us.

I smiled faintly, breath catching. I let go of Bastion’s hand pushing him toward Luca again, weak but insistent.

“They have to be together,” I whispered. “They do great things together…”

I tried to sound stern. Tried to warn him.

“Okay, Luca?” I breathed. “You can have both.”

And then everything went quiet, the world tilting gently as I drifted?—

Surrounded by their warmth, and something heavier than either of them would say aloud.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

LUCA

She was asleep.

But not because she felt safe. Because she wasdrugged.

She was still curled against Bastion’s thigh, breath slow and uneven. Her arm draped lazily across his lap, lips parted like she might still be murmuring pieces of that confession.

“People like me still.”

“Griffin’s tins were blue.”

“You two would be on the trust list.”

And we just sat there.

Burning.

I’d walked away when her words started slurring. When her eyes dimmed into something too floaty, too loose. I saw it immediately, the way her head dropped with that heavy drift like gravity had finally caught up with her.

She didn’t even realize what she was saying. Didn’t realize how much she gave us.And then she passed out.