He wasn't lying.
Seul kept turning those words over in her head long after Si-on had disappeared through the far doors of the dining hall. She sat at the long table with her hands wrapped around a cup of tea that had gone cold, staring at the kitchen door, and she let them settle all the way down to the bottom of her.
He wasn't lying. He believed every word. His heart never moved.
At first, when Echo had whispered it, she'd felt a strange flicker of relief. Maybe Si-on was just as confused as they were. Maybe this was some kind of mistake. Maybe there was a simple answer she hadn't thought of yet.
But the longer she sat with it, the colder it made her.
Because if Si-on wasn't lying, then he truly didn't remember the short, round woman with the shining eyes. He truly believed the tall, thin woman with the long face was the one who'd cooked for them yesterday. Something had reached into his head and changed what he knew to be true, and he hadn't even noticed it happen.
