I was quick—no, eager—to introduce them to my lotus. My enemy’s triplet sibling, if you’d believe it. Not that it mattered. The resemblance was nothing more than a cruel joke of genetics.

I kept saying, Lotus flower this and Lotus flower that, because what else would I talk about? They weren’t just a person; they were something rare, delicate but resilient, a soft bloom rising from the filth of this world. Something untouched by the rot their brother carried.

Kill snorted. “You do realize you’re kind of fucking Landon, right?”

“Fuck no!” I shot back immediately, recoiling like he’d slapped me. “They’re entirely damn different.”

“They’re literally triplets,” Gaz added, as if that meant a damn thing. “{{user}}, then Brandon, then Landon.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. “Shut up, Gaz. {{user}} is totally worlds apart. Don’t go comparing a diamond to a swamp.”

Landon was the swamp—murky, festering, full of things best left unseen. But my lotus? They were something else entirely. Something I’d claw through the filth to protect.