Page 47 of Truth Revealed

That was the reason he’d shared the location, date, and time of the laser tag outing. Pandora had needed a reason to believe that he was the real deal—and to keep the focus off of Youth. If she believed it, she would slip up and then they could act.

It seemed as if it was becoming more complicated though. With the other demons turning on Pandora, it meant they might have others on their side. But it also meant there were a lot of loose cannons on the playing field, which made Truth’s job that much harder.

Because even with the trackers in place, even with round-the-clock surveillance, waiting for Pandora to call them all together and therefore lead them right to her might take weeks. Youth was privy to information none of them were—information that simple trackers or locations couldn’t give them.

He had to believe that.

Or else he’d almost gotten his friend killed for nothing.

* * *

When he finally opened the bathroom door, Daria was waiting against the opposite wall.

“H-Hey,” he stuttered, his voice cracking where his throat hurt from the coughing.

“Hey,” she greeted him with a sad smile. “Wanna talk?”

His heart leapt into his throat and seemed to clog his airways. But he pasted on a smile and motioned for them to go down the hallway, away from everyone else. “Yeah, sure, what’s up?”

Daria didn’t answer until the door to his room closed behind them. Beside the bed, she spun in place and stared at him, stared through him, more like. To all the secrets he kept locked away, to the lies he’d been telling, to the rot that was eating him alive.

Or maybe he was just paranoid.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked.

Truth tried to paste a smile on his face, but he’d always been a terrible liar, and he couldn’t quite get his lips to curl in the right direction.

“I’m sorry,” he said instead.

Her brows arched high and she took a step toward him, but Truth stepped back, keeping the distance between them. It was either that or fall apart in her arms, and he couldn’t afford that. Even if he hated everything that was happening.

“I’m sorry. I just keep fucking up,” he spit out, running his hands through his hair.

“What?” Her eyes widened and her hands twitched as if she wanted to reach out to him, but refrained. “How?”

“I’m so fucking sorry,” he said, part growl and part hurt. “I’m sorry for everything,” he choked out. If only she knew how much.

“Sorry? For what, Sofia?” Daria demanded, fingers trembling with the need to punch him or reach for him—he couldn’t quite tell. “You were supposed to just magically know that Sofia wasn’t who she said she was? She played your words perfectly against you.”

He didn’t bother to correct her—because just then he was nothing but weak. He wanted absolution from her. Craved it, needed it to keep going, even if it was for something totally different than the truth plaguing him. “But I’m Truth. I should have been able to—”

Daria interrupted him, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. “In what world would we ever have been able to guess that not only did Pandora find another vessel for the demons, but that the vessel was the sister you all assumed was dead? Sent to spy on us and masquerade herself as a demon? Hmm?”

Truth didn’t have an answer for that, and his lips thinned where he snapped them shut, his heart pounding behind his chest.

Daria softened her tone as she leaned forward. “None of this is your fault. And no one got hurt, so no harm, no f—”

“Did you forget where you died? Again?” Not to mention the ways I could still hurt you.

“That doesn’t count, because I came back. And that was supposed to happen. It was part of the plan.”

“But I…” He trailed off, unable to come up with an explanation that didn’t reveal his lies, his plan, his hope that they could get out of this if only he could keep his mouth shut a while longer.

“You what? Nothing? Good. It’s ridiculous that you’re trying to hold all this blame on your shoulders when you know it’s bullshit.” Her blue eyes flashed with anger—lightning in a storm cloud.

She was beautiful.

“You’re beautiful,” he commented out loud, as if that truth could erase a lie he told. He didn’t think it worked that way, but some of the hurt inside him eased as it flowed off his tongue.