Page 37 of The Obedient Lie
Chapter Fifteen
LUCA
It had been three weeks since Bastion snapped.
Three weeks since he told her she was a mistake.
That her kiss wrecked everything.
That she forced her way into our lives — and our room — and we never asked for it.
Three weeks since she started disappearing.
At first, we told ourselves it was a relief.
No more perfume clouding the air.
No more humming while she folded things that didn’t need folding.
No more unsolicited sweetness in a house built on bone.
But the silence?
It wasn’t quiet.
It wassuffocating.
It started with the food.
The deliveries stopped.
No fruit platters stacked with sugared citrus and perfectly sliced grapes.
No cheese boards with prosciutto roses or those ridiculousbrie wheels she always sent two of — one with honey, one without.
No cinnamon croissants or pistachio cannoli. No lemon tarts. No almond glaze.Nothing.
She’d been sending them without asking.
Every day.
Quiet little offerings nobody thanked her for.
Now?
Every Crow in the house was in withdrawal.
Rome pushed his tray away with a dramatic sigh. “I’m gonna die in this fucking academy without one of her raspberry pastries.”
Kingston muttered, “I miss the cannoli.”
Cameron shook his head. “You know she used to send extra boards on Thursdays? That was for us.”
“She’s still in the dorm,” someone said. “Right?”
No one answered.
Because technically… yes.
