The library emptied of Court enforcers at the Seer's word, leaving only Silas, pale and coiled with centuries of hunger, standing between Lira and the door.
"You didn't have to do this," Arian said, voice low.
"I did," Silas replied. "Because if I don't take her tonight, the Council will send someone far less patient than me. At least I remember what it means to love her, however badly. They won't. To them
she is only ever going to be a resource, a bloodline to be harvested. I offered her something crueler, maybe, but at least it was honest."
"That's not love," Lira said. "That's ownership dressed up as mercy."
Silas's smile was tired now, stripped of its old cruelty. "Maybe. Or maybe it's the only kind I ever learned how to give."
He struck first — faster than thought, a blur of sha
