Last Shadow || Deception Book III

Some people keep secrets to protect others. Some people lie to do the same. The victims always say they would rather hear the truth, the buried secrets, than be lied to. Because that's betrayal, isn't it?

But what if the reasons for lies and secrets are necessary to protect those from themselves? What if, by telling a truth, one creates room FOR betrayal?

What if the truth hurts more than the lie?

***
It had never crossed Clarianna Sinclair's mind that her entire life might have been a lie. Sure, the gods didn't have a squeaky clean reputation, but she didn't think whatever they were hiding from her would be THAT bad.

It was that bad. Worse, actually. And the thing was, the truth did hurt more than the lie.

Because the prophecy revealed to her on the darkest day of the year was dark as hell and just as confusing. Half a year later, she still hadn't unravelled it. All she knew was that it was about her, the war, and the ominous promise of a last shadow.

***
Luke knew that the truth hurt. It always did. But he also knew head one was the only way to face it. He also knew that betrayal was just part of the human character, and everyone betrayed and was betrayed eventually. Promises were made to be broken, after all. But he still wasn't prepared for it. He didn't expect it to come from the one person he thought he could trust.

She had left him. Without a word, even after everything they'd gone through together. Without her, he was adrift in the vast sea with no tether to shore. No one other than the titan down in the pit, who, he was beginning to think, had been a mistake. A terrible mistake. But there was nothing he could do about it now, not when he was this deep, and certainly not when she wasn't here. Little did he know that, even when she came back, she wouldn't be the same girl who had left him.