Page 45 of Truth Revealed

“I baked the cookies we made last night,” he announced, and brought the tray over to the table.

Daria grinned, she couldn’t help it. “They’re so pretty!”

Each cookie was made of a perfect swirl of blue and purple.

“They turned out really good too,” Truth told her, grabbing one from the tray and popping it into his mouth. They were just bitesize… sort of. The cookie stretched Truth’s cheeks before he chomped it in half and then grinned.

Daria’s heart flipped over in her chest. She wanted to grab Truth by the cheeks and plant a big kiss on his face.

Why don’t you? Go with the flow.

Ah, fuck.

Her chair squeaked on the floor as she stood, leaned over the table, and Truth gulped as she drew close, his eyes widening. She planted her lips on his and kissed him right there. In front of the entire household.

“Alright, alright, we get it. You’re adorable,” Misery groused.

She pulled away with a soft smile on her lips and glanced in his direction. Despite his tone, his lips were curled into a smirk.

“Don’t be jealous,” she teased. “You’ll get yours later.”

His gaze darkened and she pecked Truth on the lips one more time before retaking her seat. A burst of confidence filled her, and she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.

Maybe going with the flow wasn’t so bad.

* * *

TRUTH

Truth couldn’t get away from the table fast enough. After everyone had demolished the cookies, sharing flirty grins with Daria, he’d sucked down a glass of water. But it didn’t help the ache in his throat.

After excusing himself as calmly as he could, he escaped down the hall and pushed in the door to the nearest bathroom. His fingers brushed against the wall for the light switch, the plastic clicking as he swiped his fingers down clumsily. Light exploded from the bulbs, the whiteness blinding him as he caught himself on the edge of the counter, the ledge cutting into his stomach as he leaned on it for support. Coughs bubbled up his throat and he brought a hand up to muffle them as best as he could.

Fuck, stop!

But no words were going to convince his body to calm down. His throat hurt and his chest ached as he coughed and coughed, finally leaning over to spit into the sink. Bright red splattered into the white marble of the bowl and he cursed.

Panic tightened his chest, but he tried to push it away. They couldn’t know he was hiding something, they would never even suspect it. Not from the demon of truth.

He barely stopped a harsh laugh from scraping past his throat.

A flash of gold and a plume of smoke appeared in the room, obscuring the sight of the clawfoot tub before it cleared and left a familiar god in its place. Truth hid a groan, but tilted his head up to the ceiling as if begging for patience, then wiped his lips on his forearm, and turned on the water to muffle their conversation and wash the blood down the sink.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Chaos demanded as his greeting.

Truth crossed his arms and stared at the god patiently. “I don’t think you want me to answer that,” he replied. There was no way to politely tell him Truth was lying to his daughter.

“You’re right. I don’t, because I don’t want a half-truth or a lie. Wouldn’t want to cause you any more pain.”

Truth flinched at the heat in his tone, his cheeks flushing red. “I’m doing what I have to do.”

“No, you’re lying, Truth,” he gritted out. “And it’ll eat you up from the inside out.”

“Thanks for the warning, but I’ve got it handled.”

“Really?” Chaos asked with a dry tone and a pointed stare to the red now staining his arm.

With a curse, Truth stuck his arm under the hot water and scrubbed it off.