Page 106 of The Obedient Lie
“Villain isn’t just a city,” I said. “It’s a fucking pressure cooker. You know that. You feel it the second we step off the elevator. Like the walls are listening. Like legacy’s crawling under your skin.”
Still nothing.
But his fingers flexed around the ice pack.
“You fake it for a day or two, fine. But weeks? Months?” I shook my head. “What happens the first time someone talks down to you? The first time Vince looks disappointed? You’re not going to be able to swallow it forever, Bastion.”
I kept my tone even, but it cracked a little anyway.
“And when you do blow? When it finally comes out?” I gestured toward him. “It won’t be quiet.”
His shoulders tensed—like he wanted to argue. Like heknewI was right and hated me for saying it out loud.
“I just…” I dragged in a breath. “I don’t want to watch you set yourself on fire trying to be the version of you they can live with. Because I’ll end up burning with you.”
And that’s what it always came down to.
If he broke—I broke too.
Because we were never made to survive separately.
Not really.
Bastion’s free hand curled around Emilia’s wrist.
Soft. Subconscious.
Like he needed the feel of her pulse just to remind himself she was still here. Still breathing.
Her breathing wasn’t even and it was starting to worry me. I tapped my fingers, as her confessions started running through my mind again.
But the louder question, who had planned on having her like this tonight.
Then something sunk in my chest. As I stared at her beautiful peaceful face. Suddenly I stood up, fast, too fast. My blood was running hot. My thoughts wouldn’t land.
My hands felt useless.
My chest too tight.
Three months.
That’s all it took.
Three months and I was alreadywrecked.
She shouldn’t mean this much.
Not yet. Not this deep.
But she did.
I paced to the far end of the suite, trying to breathe, trying tonotlook back at her. But I couldn’t help it.
She looked sopeacefulin Bastion’s lap.
But it wasn’t peace. It was sedation.
That high, sleepy slur. Her too-sweet confessions. The way her voice dipped like it didn’t evenknowit was breaking.
