Page 165 of Loving the Liar

He ignores me, not about to repeat for the hundredth time that it was too late. He can keep quiet. Nothing will make me feel better.

“He’s your best friend,” I hiss.

“Was.” That’s all that comes out of his mouth, and it’s enough to send me into another crying fit.

Was because Chris isn’t anything anymore. Except dead.

Flashes of last night come back in waves that make me want to die. He made me forget everything. The outside world, the way I hate myself. He made me feel whole like he does so well. He made me love him all over again.

God, I can’t erase the broken look on his face when he learned about his dad.

Luke won’t even tell me what happened, if his family knows about his dad or him. He won’t tell me where to find his body. I can’t stop thinking of Chris’s mom…and Juliette… It’s all too much.

I didn’t even get one last goodbye.

The walk from the car to the temple is the most excruciating thing I’ve ever had to go through.

I lost the love of my life, and in exchange, the Circle is offering me to become a Hera to a Shadow they know will initiate next year. They said I’d have a choice between three of them. It buys me a year since nothing will be asked of me until they become fully pledged Shadows.

Maybe I can run away. Not maybe. I will.

Luke is allowed in, and I don’t know what deal he’s been making with Duval, but I don’t like how close they’ve become. My brother isn’t the man I knew anymore, becoming a darker person with every new step he takes to survive.

“Ella,” Eugene Duval welcomes me into his office yet again. “Please, take a seat.”

I do, but my gaze stays on the three men standing next to the president of the Circle. Achilles is one of them, and he doesn’t look happy about it. I don’t bother answering his questioning gaze. If I have to pick one, I’ll pick him. He’s my best friend; he’ll never hurt me, and we won’t owe each other anything. He can fuck around with Aphrodites until he finds the love of his life while I let myself turn into nothing at home.

The perfect couple.

“You know what I expect of you, Ella. You’re aware of the kind gesture I’m extending. I won’t make this any longer than it has to be.” He shows the three men with his hand, like presenting a show. “Choose.”

I open my mouth to get this over with, when the door slams open. All heads whip in that direction, mouths gaping at the man standing in the doorway.

He’s covered in dirt. His white shirt brown and gray from soil, his hair completely disheveled. He looks unwell, pale, with cracked, dehydrated lips. Like he came back from the dead. Quite literally.

But he’s glorious, mighty…alive.

Heart soaring, I jump out of my chair. “Him,” I blurt out. “I choose him.”

And I don’t run to his arms, I practically teleport myself. He welcomes me in a loving embrace, his lips meeting mine in a dangerously possessive kiss that has me melting against him, breathless. I don’t care that he tastes like dirt, doesn’t smell like himself, and feels weak.

He’s mine.

But then he pulls me away, holding me at arm’s length. “You know I’ve wanted nothing but to hear those words, Sweets.”

Something twists my stomach at the look on his face. Something wrong.

“But not like this.”

I blink up at him, confused as to what he means.

“If I’ve learned one thing through all of this, it’s that I want you to choose me not because I forced you to, but because you want to.”

“But…the Circle,” I panic. I won’t love him again. Ever. “I don’t want to be promised to anyone else.”

“You won’t,” he reassures me, his hands squeezing my shoulders softly. It’s already working. His protection takes over my whole being.

“That’s not up to you to decide,” Duval’s voice chimes in, sending an icy chill down my spine.

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