Apprentice to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #2)

by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

She was afraid, but she knew now: fear usually meant you were standing on the edge of something new, something self-altering, something potentially good. Fear was not something she would shy away from ever again.

“I do not smile when I don’t feel like it.” Lyssa blinked, surprised. “Why not?” “Because we are always expected to plaster a grin on our faces even when we don’t wish to. I used to do it so often, I stopped being able to tell when I was smiling for me or for someone else. So now, I don’t smile unless I’m one hundred percent sure it’s something I want to do, not something someone else wants me to do.” She smoothed a lock of hair away from Lyssa Sage’s face. “And you shouldn’t, either.”

“Sometimes family isn’t a thing we are born into but a choice we make. Sometimes”—Evie smiled—“the people who love you most in your life are the ones who choose you.”

They both broke into a grin at the same time—so big it felt like safety, like coming home. It felt in part like she’d just gotten a piece of her lost childhood back. The simple joy of making a friend.