~Lyra~

“You’re lying,” Tasha said, and her voice didn’t even sound like hers anymore. It cracked halfway through the sentence like it couldn’t hold itself up, and her eyes—fuck, her eyes—were red and glassy and wide and locked onto me like I was the fire that just burned her entire life down. “You’re fucking lying.”

And I just stood there.

Drenched. Flushed. Trembling. Wearing nothing but a ruined expression and Damon’s scent all over me like a fucking second skin.

His hand was still on me, glued to my waist like a brand, like he was holding me together and also warning the world not to touch.

And I couldn’t...