Page 49 of The Obedient Lie
She paused, toothbrush still in her mouth.
“I’m sorry,” I said, voice low. “For what I said. For how I said it. For everything.”
She rinsed her mouth, wiped her face, and turned slowly.
Her expression was unreadable?—
except for the ache in her eyes.
“You don’t have to apologize,” she said. “You were right. I blew up my life… and yours. I forced myself into your world when you never asked for it. I don’t belong here, and I’m sorry I made it harder for you both.”
She stepped past me, soft and quiet, and whispered?—
“I’ll stay out of your way. You won’t even know I’m here. I swear.”
That was when I wanted to scream.
Because the thing I’d hated most wasn’t her perfume
or her pink blanket
or her always-too-sweet smile.
It was that she’d taken them all away?—
and I deserved it.
But I didn’twantto.
And that was the problem.
And still, the scent wasn’t there.
Nothing of her lingered.
Just that one line?—
A Crow is only as weak as the mistakes he fails to admit.
And I had never felt weaker in my life.
Chapter Eighteen
LUCA
She didn’t slam the door.
Didn’t even close it fully.
Just walked in—quiet, shoulders tight, jaw set—and made her way to the other side of the room.
I didn’t need to hear what Bastion said.
I’d heard enough through the thin wall between our beds and the ensuite.
His voice, rough and low.
Hers, soft like it didn’t want to be heard.
