Sophia's POV
The hearing lasted less than an hour.
Elijah placed the second marriage certificate on the screen. The false witness's story fell apart in the time it took the judge to read one sentence. By eleven o'clock it was over. My parents' marriage was confirmed. I was their daughter. Nothing about that had ever needed proving to me, but it was good to watch the world catch up.
Outside the courthouse the sky was clear for the first time in weeks.
Damien stood beside me on the steps. He didn't say anything about the case. He just looked at me the way he did when something in him had finally stopped holding its breath.
"It's over," he said.
"This part," I said.
He looked at me for a long moment.
"Come with me," he said. "Not home. Somewhere else."
I looked at him.
"Where," I sa
