Free The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3) by Alicia Kat Vancil

the coffee, and then looked at me. “What were you looking at?”
    I froze. I needed to tell him, but there just never seemed to be a good time to say, I slept with your wife .
    “Nothing really,” I lied as I avoided his eyes and took a swig of my own coffee.

    “You know you don’t have to wait here with me, you can go grab a spot outside,” I offered as I leaned against the wall in one of the hallways that lead out to the courtyard, and slipped my hands into the pockets of my haori . I had insisted that Patrick stand with me as I waited for the ceremony procession because some part of me had secretly hoped that Nualla would show up, and they’d make up, and everything would be fine again. But as the minutes slipped by, that hope seemed more and more delusional. And now I felt guilty, because he looked unbelievably miserable.
    “It’s okay, I really don’t want to be alone out—” he stopped abruptly, his breath catching.
    I jerked my head quickly to where he was looking, and froze. Nualla was standing about fifteen feet in front of him, looking equally caught off guard. And they just stood there frozen, staring at each other for what seemed like a lifetime, and no one else seemed to notice. No one but me. And I was holding my breath. One, because I knew it was the first time they had seen each other since the day of the funeral. And two, because of what Nualla was wearing.
    She was dressed in her normal style of formal kimono, and silver arius crown with its four bars curving outward like a silvery stag’s horns. But unlike every other time I had seen her in formal dress over the years, this time she was also wearing a deep, midnight-blue ceremonial uchikake kimono covered in embroidered silver eight-pointed stars. That, and the obi sash that hung from her waist, decorated with the symbol of our region—the silver lotus in blue water—were usually only worn by a female chancellarius . That, coupled with the fact that Alex was nowhere to be seen, just made me wonder just what the hell was going on.
    I’m not sure how long the three of us just stood there not moving—not even breathing—but it was Nualla that broke away first, turning to answer something Loraly had just asked her. The blue and silver beads hanging from her crown, swaying and clattering against each other from the movement.
    “That was harder than I thought it would be,” Patrick said in a whisper of breath.
    I looked at him in confusion, and then I noticed the tension in his shoulders. I followed it down his arms to his hands that were clenched into fists at his side. A second later, a single drop of blood rolled across the edge of one of his hands, and dropped to the floor.
    “I think I’m going to head outside,” he stated in a low voice so only I would hear.
    I opened my mouth to say something when Brienne, Alex’s new secondary aide, stepped up next to us.
    “Director Centrina, you’re going to follow after your brother in the procession line,” she said to me before turning to Patrick. “And Mr. Galathea, you are going to follow after Cellarius Loraly and Kyria Skye.”
    “ Excuse me ?” Patrick said in a choked voice.
    Brienne furrowed her brow in confusion. “I’m not sure which part of that was confusing, but—”
    “It’s okay, Brienne. Don’t worry about it, I’ll explain it to him,” I said, jumping in quickly.
    Brienne gave me a slightly apprehensive look, but with one short nod, she moved off to talk to the rest of the department directors.
    I waited until she was out of earshot, and then I leaned in toward Patrick. “Okay, I’m an idiot and—”
    “If you’re the one who’s getting a medal why am I ahead of you? Or hell, why am I even in the procession in the fucking first place?” Patrick said with clenched teeth, cutting me off.
    I just looked at him for a moment. Sometimes it was really startling just how much he didn’t know about our world.
    “When Draya…. When Nualla became the future