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One eyebrow arched up "I think you’d be surprised"

"Really? Why don’t you share"

Tayla hopped up on the table and folded her hands in her lap as though settling in for a nice, long lecture Great "Okay, here’s the deal My mom was a junkie I was born on the floor of an abandoned warehouse, addicted to hein I grew up in foster hos I stole I was always in a lot of trouble When I was a teenager, I watched my mom be torn apart by a derier I joined The Aegis and killed every deet my hands on Eventually, I met Eidolon, discovered I had a twin sister, and learned the demon who tortured my mom was also my father How’s that for a start?"

Christ No wonder Tayla’s eht not be as old as Sin, but she’d fought just as hard to survive Grudging respect for her sister-in-law softened Sin’s demeanor "You have my attention"

"Good Because I was royally pissed off for a long time At the world, at hu"

"Yeah, well, that’s the difference between you andher arms over her chest "I don’t hate the world"

"No, you just hate yourself" Before Sin could even attempt to deny that, Tay asked, "What do you think of Lore?" Sin blinked at the rapid change of subject "What?"

"Lore Do you respect his feelings? Do you think he’s a bad judge of character?" "I’ve always trusted his judge of character…"

Sin rolled her eyes "Please Spareto off ood"

"Is Con part of it? Your good life?"

Butterflies flitted in Sin’s sto, but at the saely… pleasant

"I don’t knohat you’re talking about"

Tayla leveled a flat stare at Sin "I’m neither blind nor stupid I saw the way you freaked when he offered to do so nice for you"

"Doesn’t matter He doesn’t want s do I have to thron? You didn’t see hiot to our apart to explode out of his skin while the boys orking on you And just a ht not want to ad there Let hiI’ve ever done But I haven’t regretted it Not once Con’s a good guy, and you can also trust your brothers"

God, this was getting so old "I don’t need--"

"I know You don’t need them" Sarcasm laced Tayla’s words "You don’t need anyone But you knohat? They need you"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Sin sla liquid everywhere "They’ve done fine withoutsilence, and then Tayla smiled, but it was a sad upturn of her lips "No, they haven’t Their sick, twisted brother, your brother, Roag, nearly destroyed their lives And he tortured and killed Shade’s sister But in a way, he brought Lore and you to the positive… Let’s just say they need that" She closed her eyes and took a ragged breath "My father was a ue because it was so thick in the air But because of hiood came out of the horrors he inflicted onmy life on bitterness"

Sin turned away, unable to think too hard about what Tayla had said Because for as much as Tayla and Sin had in common, they couldn’t be more opposite Sin had wasted her life on bitterness Maybe Tayla was right Maybe it was tis that had co thes had been rough for a while, the way they’d ultimately accepted Lore into the fold was absolute, like he’d never been e frisson of longing shot through her She hadn’t had a faain, the very idea made her break out into a cold sweat And then there was Con She’d told his with him she’d never done, and her body heated at the memories He’d protected her when he could have killed her He forced her to confront things she didn’t want to… and even though it totally wasn’t cool, no one else had ever bothered to go that far with her Not even Lore, anted to be close but was too afraid of pushing her away

Con pushed, and instead of running, she’d pushed right back

"Sin?" Tayla’s hand came down on Sin’s shoulder "Are you okay?"

Instead of replying, Sin asked a question of her own "How did you let Eidolon in?" A blast of affection flowed over Sin like a blanket, and that weird, war came back "I real