Page 25 of The Obedient Lie

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The second night, it wasblack. Thigh-length.Backless.

We both watched her walk across the room like she didn’t feel our eyes.

She did, of course. She just smiled politely and climbed into bed.

Tonight, I didn’t know what color it would be.

But I’d already startedranking themin my head.

Pinkwas softest. Barely-there lace along the hem.

Bluebrought out her eyes. Tight at the waist, with a delicate slit.

Ivorywas the one she wore when she couldn’t sleep — pacing, pulling her hair up, baring too much shoulder with every movement.

And tonight?

The water shut off.

Steam whispered beneath the doorframe.

Her shadow moved behind the fogged glass.

My hand curled tighter around the edge of my book.

Bastion didn’t move, but I saw it — the slight shift of his spine, the way his breathing changed.

He waswaitingtoo.

The door opened.

She stepped out, drying her hair with a towel, her silk clinging to her.

Wine red.

Low neckline. Lace paneling down the sides.

Thin straps she had to keep tugging back into place.

She looked soft.

Fresh.

Untouchable.

And shesmiled.

“Goodnight,” she said sweetly, walking to her bed like we weren’t both watching her every step.

Bastion cleared his throat. Rolled onto his side, facing the wall.

I didn’t say a word.

She climbed beneath her blanket, fluffing the pillow like it didn’t feel like the center of the storm.

And I turned a page I couldn’t read, pretending not to becounting the next color in my head.

Chapter Ten

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