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"It’s not a joke" His voice turned hoarse "I made a deal with them to save your life It was the worst and the best decision Worst because I a incredibly unselfish"

"I don’t--"

"You don’t re every damn day of my life"

I stared at hiht "Did you co I’d lie to you now?" He rose then "I’ You want the truth? Here it is I never stopped thinking about you I never forgot I never stopped looking out for you You forgot me, and that’s okay, because you had no choice, but--"

"Stop it!" I shouted "I knoho I am My name is Evie That has always beenmy shoulders "Listen to me You are Evie now, but you’ve only been Evelyn Dasher for about twelve hundred and seventy-eight days and about roughly eight hours, and yeah, I could tell you the seconds if you want to get really detailed"

My lips parted

"But you were Nadia for nearly thirteen years prior to that"

"Stop saying that" I wiggled ht now aren’t fake" I curled my hands into fists "They are real--"

"You prefer Coke over Pepsi How do you think I knew to give you one?"

The ie of Mom--of her reaction when I’d asked for a Coke--forhts, as did what she’d said earlier I always drank Pepsi, becausethat hat had always been in the house

"That’s the funny thing about what they did to you They wiped your memories, but there are still these innate personality traits there There are still parts of you" He crossed the distance between us "I know you like horror rats, did you look at rinned, undaunted "You were always interested in photography, even before You used to whine until Paris would take you to the Potomac River so you could take pictures"

"I don’t even knoho Paris is"

"You did, though He was like a father to you" Luc kept going "You have the sa "I don’t have a nervous twitch"

"Yeah, you do You rub your hands on your hips and knees when you’re anxious" He arched a brow "You’re doing it right now"

I pulled my hands off my hips and then folded ? You constantlyyou do when you’re nervous or don’t knohat to do with your hands" He stepped in, tilting his head to the side "I know you don’t like pizza"

My heart flopped over as I stared at hi so his cheek brushed ht, aren’t I?"

He was, but I couldn’t answer

Luc lingered close, too close, his cheek just touchingyou don’t remember and Sylvia couldn’t have known" A heartbeat passed "You were asped

"Granted, ere kids, so it wasn’tover my cheek "It was my favorite kiss"

I squeezed my eyes shut

Luc’s voice was low "And I stayed away like I promised Sylvia, because I knew if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to walk away I stayed close, but I never went near you I never went looking for you You hy I left those Origins with Daemon and them I couldn’t leave you here by yourself Not for years," he continued "You have always been the only priority tounderinto the house in Columbia, and I remembered my first sleepover and the first crush I had and thoseon the fringes of my consciousness, and as I tried to pull therasp