Page 214 of The Obedient Lie
I curled around her from behind, palm still resting over her heart.
Counting.
Still counting.
She didn’t wake.
But she breathed.
Soft. Steady. Safe.
And so we held her. Not because she needed us to. Becauseweneeded it.
She didn’t just give us her body tonight. She gave us her soul — and we marked it ours.
But she tookourstoo.
And she could keep them.
Forever.
Chapter Forty-Seven
EMILIA
I woke up stiff.
Sore.
The kind of sore I didn’t know my body was capable of—like it lived in my bones now. A dull, deep ache that throbbed behind every movement, every breath.
And the boys were…
Being weird.
That was the best way I could put it.
Every time I so much as shifted,theymoved.
I reached for my water—Luca was already handing it to me.
Tried to sit up—Bastion was adjusting the pillows behind my back.
God forbid I tried to doanythingwithout one of them stepping in like I was a hundred-year-old porcelain doll about to crack.
At one point, I mumbled that the electrolyte drink might help with my headache.
Naturally, they heard it.
Naturally, they didn’t let it go.
I laughed when Luca started talking about getting an IV hydration drip sent up.
The laughdiedwhen I realized… he was serious.
Then Bastion ordered food—six different things, apparently.
None of which were acceptable.
