Sera blinked. “You’ll what?”
“I’ll lie,” Lily said, calm as a blade. “To him. To his brothers. To anyone who tries to force this out of the wrong mouth at the wrong time.”
Sera’s skin went cold. “That’s insane.”
“That’s necessary,” Lily replied.
Sera stared at her, suddenly seeing the full picture.Lily wasn’t just withholding proof.She was creating a protected space where Alaric’s decision would have to be made blind.It was ruthless.It was costly.It might also be the only way to ensure Sera didn’t spend the rest of her life wondering whether she hadbeen chosen or merely cleared. Her throat tightened. “I hate this.”
Lily softened by a fraction. “So do I. But,I’m doing it for you. Because if he doesn’t choose you without proof, he’ll never choose you at all. Not the way you need.”
Sera closed her eyes for a moment, fighting to keep herself steady.When she opened them, she faced Lily. “If he chooses me without proof, you’ll tell him.”
Lily was unyielding. “When it’s done When the choice is made. When nothing can be walked back.”
“I still think this is wrong.”
Lily nodded once. “Good. Don’t stop thinking it’s wrong. That’s how you’ll know this matters.”
THEY ARRIVED HOMEwith the strength of the day clinging tothem.
The house was too quiet. Not empty, exactly, but held in a kind of expectant stillness, as if it had been waitingfor them and didn’t quite know what to do now that they were here. The lights were low, evening settling in around the edges, and the hush closed over Sera’s shoulders the moment the door shut behindthem.
Alaric moved like a man who’d left part of himself behind at the cemetery gates.
Not in any obvious way. He didn’t stumble. He didn’t sag. He didn’t let grief crack his posture or loosen his control. He just… shifted through the entryway and toward the kitchen with the same measured precision he’d worn all day, as if he were still holding the family’s spine upright by force ofwill.
He loosened his tie, set it aside with careful exactness, and shrugged out of his jacket. He draped it neatly over the back of a chair. He rolled his shoulders once, like he was easing a burden that had nowhere else togo.
“I’m not hungry,” he said, already moving past the kitchen as if the statement settled the matter.
Sera watched him for abeat.
Her body felt too tight for the skin she was in. The day had pressed on her until even her bones seemed bruised. The church, the burial, the murmured condolences, the way eyes had tracked them and then slipped away when she looked back. Vidar’s presencelike a blade drawn slow and clean. The family’s grief rearranging itself around that claim, that threat.
And Lily. The proof. Her refusal to tell Alaric the truth.
Don’t stop thinking it’s wrong. That’s how you’ll know this matters.Sera swallowed and forced her breath steady.Tonight wasn’t about Lily’s proof. Tonight wasn’t about tests or leverage or what would be said tomorrow. Tonight was about the one thing Sera could choose without asking permission.
She could choose what to do with her own love.She could choose what to do with her ownbody.
She could choose one night.
“I’ll make something light anyway,” she said to Alaric.
He didn’t argue. He never did when she used that tone. Not quite gentle, not quite firm, but resolved. He just nodded once and sat at the table, elbows braced, fingers laced loosely together, staring at nothing in particular.
Sera turned on the under-cabinet lights. The soft glow warmed the counters and made the kitchen seem smaller. More human. She moved through it on quiet feet, letting routine guide her hands.Soup. Simple. Nourishing.Bread warmed in theoven until it was fragrant.A little butter. Apinch of salt. Asqueeze of lemon into the broth because she remembered he liked it that way even if he never saidso.
It wasn’t elaborate. It didn’t need to be. The care was the point.
She kept her movements slow, not because she was trying to stretch time, but because she couldn’t afford to move fast. If she moved too fast, her thoughts would catch up. If her thoughts caught up, she might break.And she couldn’t break tonight.
She set the bowl in front of him and placed the bread besideit.
Alaric looked up at her then. Really looked. Something soft flickered through the fatigue in his eyes, as if her presence had pulled him back from wherever his mind had gone.”Thank you,” he said.The words were quiet, but they landed in her chest like ahand.
She nodded and leaned against the counter while heate.
