I need...help.
She couldn’t...she really couldn’t take this anymore. She was trying so, so hard to protect Lyrius, but she just couldn’t take it anymore—
She got to the landing between forty-six and forty-seven and her legs gave out.
She sat down hard against the cinderblock wall, the metal handrail cold against the back of her arm, and she pressed both hands over her mouth because she’d taught herself a long time ago how to sob without sound but she hadn’t trusted herself to remember how today, and the sob came out half-laugh, half-something-else, because—
The truth shall set you free.
She started to laugh, and then she realized she was also crying.
Of course she had to remember that verse of all things. The one verse she had to insist that she and Shayla have to agree to disagree on because every time she heard this verse, she would remember her mother insisting that what she was doing was okay because she was just being true to her feelings.
It had her thinking her whole life that truth was a selfish luxury, and that was why she would lie and lie and lie—
But no more.
I’m so, so sorry, God.
I’m done lying.
Done trying to solve things on my own.
So please.
Please help me.
Please.
And even before she finished praying, she’d already heard the doors swing open, the footsteps coming closer, and when she opened her eyes—
A choked sob escaped her lips as hands that had only ever touched her once before, but whose touch she would never ever forget—
Lyrius.
She could only stare at him, unable to believe her eyes. After what happened last night, she had thought he would have completely given up on her, but instead—
Was this really happening?
Lyrius was in front of her. Cupping her face with shaking hands while endless tears ran down her cheeks.
Was it really him? Or had she lost her mind? It couldn’t really be him, could it?
Lyrius could read her every thought now. That was just how love and truth worked together, and that was why it killed him...how it fucking killed him to know just how much she was suffering.
“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I’m sorry for not knowing...I’m sorry—”
“W-Why are you apologizing?” she asked shakily. “There’s nothing—”
“I love you, Kyara.”
The words stole her breath, her heart, and her soul.
“I’ve always loved you—”
And she wished, oh she wished she could give him the words, but she just couldn’t speak. Her heart was aching so, so much that all she could do was cry as he pulled her in his arms.Oh, Lyrius. Oh, Lyrius, I love you too. Please, please know I love you, too, but I just...can’t.
Because nothing had changed, and while she knew she had prayed for this, she still didn’t know how to protect him, and so for now...
