Page 127 of The Obedient Lie
“And it’s driving you insane,” he said quietly.
“No,” I muttered. “It’s already driven me.”
There was a beat of silence.
Then: “Luca…”
“I had her against the vanity tonight,” I said, voice low, hands shaking. “Towel. Wet. Breathing hard.”
His eyes darkened.
“But I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t evenkissher properly.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Because I looked into her eyes and saw her slipping away.”
Bastion shut his eyes like it physically hurt him.
“And I can’t—” My voice cracked. “I can’t watch you fall apart and hold myself together while she pulls away from us both.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. Midnight.
I already knew what was coming.
“She won’t come to bed until one,” I muttered, voice hollow. “That’s when she thinks we’ll be asleep.”
Bastion didn’t respond. He didn’t have to.
I sat down hard on the edge of the mattress, then let myself fall back against the bed, my arm flung over my face.
“In a few hours,” I said quietly, “she’ll come in here, crawl into that bed... and just ignore us.”
The silence that followed wasn’t empty.
It was filled with all the things we didn’t know how to fix.
And the one thing we couldn’t bear to lose.
Chapter Thirty-Two
EMILIA
Luca watched the world like he was already bored of it.
Bastion walked through it like he was ready to burn it down.
One controlled his chaos with cold detachment.
The other weaponized his silence with the weight of every scar he refused to show.
And me?
I was caught in the middle of them—wanting both.
And that was the danger.
Dynasty daughters didn’t get towantthings.
We followed rules.
We obeyed alliances.
