Page 91 of The Temptation of Truth

I hate him more than I’ve ever hated anyone, and it takes everything in me not to let that hatred show in my face and voice. The last thing Aurora needs right now is to worry about my feelings, too.

“Doyouwant any of this?”

Her eyes fill with tears once more, and she shakes her head again. Her confession comes out whispered and quaking, like speaking it aloud is dangerous, and maybe it is. Truths, once revealed, can’t be taken back.

“I don’t. Not now. Maybe not ever. But definitely not now, and not with him.”

“Leave him.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You can. You have to.”

“I have no job. No money. No family or friends.”

“You have a job. Brynn needs a tutor, so there’s your job. Your money. And you have Ham. You have me. You have support. You can’t stay with him, Aurora. He’s not good for you.”

“It’s been my entire life for four years, Mabel. It’s all I know.”

“So? Maybe it’s time to try on a new one.”

She clamps her eyes shut again and pinches the bridge of her nose. The creases in her forehead deepen. Her frown becomes more pronounced. I can feel the despair rolling from her in waves.

“I’ve let everything get so messed up. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know where to start. What if I screw it up? What if I just make everything worse? I don’t even know what I would do. I feel like I’m trapped under the rubble of my mistakes, and I have no idea how to get free.”

“Be light.”

Her eyebrows scrunch. “What?”

“If you feel like you’re trapped under rubble, then be light and push through the cracks. A little bit at a time. You don’t have to know everything right now. You’ve got time to figure shit out. Travel. Write poetry. Work at a greenhouse. Go see The Northern Lights.”

I grab her necklace and rub my thumb over the worn pendant, then press my palm to her chest, right above her heart. I feel it racing under my touch. Thethump, thump, thump,pounding into my skin so familiar, it could be my own.

“Followthis. Don’t be afraid. Don’t settle. There are no wrong answers, Roar. Mistakes are inevitable, but sometimes, to find yourself, you have to let yourself get a little lost.”

She looks at me with those hazel eyes in a way that makes my chest tight and my throat burn. No one has ever looked at me the way she does. Like I’m brilliant and valuable. Like my words hold weight and meaning. Like I’m the only thing in the room. It makes me want to keep her, and then my heart aches because I know I can’t. She doesn’t need another keeper. She deserves to be free.

“How did you get so wise, Susan Ainsley Mabel Rossi?”

I smirk. “I’ve tried on a lot of lives, Aurora Jade Hammond.”

Her eyes drop to my lips, then drag back up, and I feel it on every inch of my skin.

“Did you ever get lost?”

“More times than I can count.” I lean closer and lower my voice to a whisper. “But you know what?”

“What?”

“I always found myself again. You will too.”

“Promise?”

I smile, and because I need to touch her, I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, allowing my hand to linger there, so I can feel the heat from her skin. So I can soak up some of the light I see inside her. I know it’s there. I need her to know it, too.

“I promise. Only honesty here.”

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