Chapter 252: Questions and Answers VIII
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He was thinking. He was measuring.
The Veil of Crimson Silence could hide the bloodline change.
The marriage could be kept private for now. Quiet. Something witnessed by as few eyes as necessary. Elena would almost certainly object first and then rearrange the house to protect it because that was who she was.
Lady Seraphiel would laugh once and then become terrifyingly helpful. Ben would somehow know before anyone told him because men like Ben were born under cursed stars of awareness.
It could be done.
Dangerously.
Messily.
But done.
And Lily...
She was still looking at him. Still waiting. Still refusing to be less brave than the future in front of her.
Sekhmet’s thoughts slowed. Then sharpened into a decision.
He lifted her hand slightly and turned it once in his grasp, looking at her fingers, her pulse, the ordinary mortal delicacy of skin that had no idea yet what kind of eternity it had just asked for.
Then he raised his eyes to hers again.
"Fine," he said.
Lily’s breath caught.
Sekhmet’s voice remained low and steady and far too serious for the word to be mistaken as surrender.
"Fine. We do it. Quietly. Carefully. We make the vow first. Then, when you are mine in truth, I will turn you."
The joy that crossed her face then was dangerous. Not because it made her foolish.
Because it made him realize how close he had come to losing this by refusing out of fear.
She stepped into him before either of them could think better of it and wrapped her arms around him. The force of it was enough to make him take a half step back before he caught himself and her both.
His arms came around her automatically.
For one moment neither of them spoke.
Her cheek pressed against his body. Her breath warmed his chest. Her whole body felt alive and immediate and trusting in a way that made his restraint ache.
Then Lily laughed once under her breath. Not mockingly. Not nervously. Purely because she had reached a place she had wanted so badly that even now part of her still could not believe it.
"You agreed," she whispered.
Sekhmet looked down at the top of her head.
"Yes."
"You actually agreed."
"I am already beginning to regret allowing you this much confidence."
She drew back just enough to look up at him and smiled. "Too late."
His hand moved to the side of her face before he could decide whether it was wise. His thumb brushed once along her cheekbone. Lightly. Barely.
"Lily."
She softened instantly at his tone.
"This will not be easy."
"I know."
"You will have to hide things. Learn quickly. Obey me in some matters whether you enjoy it or not."
That made her eyes flicker in a way he noticed and deliberately pretended not to, because this conversation was already close enough to fire.
"I know," she said again, quieter now.
"You will hate parts of it."
"Then I will hate them with you."
His jaw tightened. That answer was too good. Too dangerous. Too exactly her.
He let the silence stretch another breath before speaking again.
"We do not rush the turning itself. We will prepare first."
Sekhmet let the words settle between them before he moved. Then he reached into his storage and pulled out the Veil of Crimson Silence.
The artifact appeared in his hand with a faint shimmer of dark red light that vanished almost as soon as it formed. It did not look grand in the way most people imagined powerful treasures should look.
There were no loud jewels, no arrogant golden frame, no vulgar display of importance. It was subtler than that, which somehow made it feel more dangerous.
The veil had the shape of a folded crimson ribbon at first glance, but the longer Lily looked at it, the less ordinary it seemed. Fine runic threads moved within the fabric like veins under skin. Dim black sigils flashed and disappeared along the edges.
It felt elegant, noble, and deeply unpleasant all at once, like something made by people who valued beauty and secrecy equally.
Lily’s eyes fixed on it immediately. "An item? Are you planning something?"
His gaze sharpened. "You noticed."
Lily folded her arms, though there was still warmth in her face. "You have a face for battle, a face for secrets, and a face for plans. That was your plan face."
That almost made him laugh for real.
Almost.
Instead, he turned the veil once in his fingers and watched the dim red threads inside it stir. "It is an artifact I recovered from Alex, Natasha, and Sofia. Or more accurately, from the things they carried. It is called the Veil of Crimson Silence."
Lily repeated the name under her breath. "That sounds dramatic."
"It is dramatic," Sekhmet said. "And useful."
He stepped closer and lifted the veil slightly so she could see the inner runes more clearly. The symbols flickered in response to his touch, then quieted again.
"It is meant to hide bloodline changes. Chaos energy shifts. Hunger signatures. Transitional instability after transformation."
His eyes moved from the artifact back to her face.
"If it works the way the system says it should, then once you become a vampire, this can help hide it from ordinary detection."
Lily’s expression changed. The earlier joy in her face did not vanish, but it gained something steadier beneath it.
It was practicality and realization.
She was seeing the problem in fuller shape now, and the fact that there was a possible answer made the madness between them feel less like a reckless leap and more like a path, narrow and dangerous, but still a path.
"So this," she said softly, looking at the veil again, "can hide what I become."
"For a while. From most people."
Sekhmet’s voice remained calm, but serious. "Do not romanticize it. This is a perfect protection. It can suppress the signs. Mask your bloodline disturbance. Smooth out the obvious changes. But if someone powerful enough looks directly, deeply, and with reason to suspect, they may still notice."
Lily nodded slowly. "My mother might."
He paused, then shook his head slightly. "I do not know his full limits. But people at a high level, or close to it, are a different matter."
Lily looked back up at him. "Still, it means there is a way."
Sekhmet closed his fingers around the veil. "We have a chance," he corrected. "Those are not the same thing."
She held his gaze for a second, then nodded. "Fine. A chance."
Her mouth curved a little. "But it is a very beautiful chance."
Sekhmet exhaled softly through his nose. There she was again. The same girl who could stand at the edge of permanent transformation and still say something like that with a straight face.
He placed the veil carefully on the table between them. The crimson folds rested there like sleeping blood.
"Before anything else," he said, "we will have to test it. Not on you. On something smaller. We see how well it masks it. How it responds to my energy. How stable it remains over time. If I am going to use this to hide you, then I want to know exactly what it can and cannot do."
Lily’s eyes softened. "You are already thinking like a husband."
He looked at her flatly. "I am thinking like a man trying not to accidentally destroy our life."
That should have sounded cold. Instead it made something warm pass through her expression so quickly he almost missed it.
Then, because she was still Lily and no amount of gravity could fully erase that, she tilted her head and asked.
"So... when is the wedding?"
Sekhmet stared at her.
She actually smiled.
His expression did not change for one whole second. Then, very slowly, one corner of his mouth moved.
"You cannot wait to get married."
Lily lifted her chin. "You are the one who asked for it first."
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed faintly. "I did not ask for it first. I said if I changed you, I would make you my wife first. There is a difference."
"That sounds very much like asking in an arrogant, dramatic, blood-soaked sort of way."
He almost laughed again. He made a joke. "That may prove to be my greatest mistake."
Lily’s eyes widened. Then narrowed. Then she shoved him in the chest.
Not hard enough to matter to his body, but hard enough to satisfy her pride.
"You..."
Sekhmet looked down at where her hands had landed against him, then back up at her face. She looked offended, flushed, and dangerously beautiful all at once.
"My greatest mistake?" she repeated.
His mouth shifted again. "You did push very aggressively toward marriage."
Lily shoved him once more, this time more out of outrage than force. "Take that back."
"No."
"Sekhmet."
"It is too late. I have already spoken."
Lily glared at him. "You are impossible."
"And yet," he said quietly, "you insisted on becoming my wife."
That stole the next line from her.
For one brief second, all the annoyance in her face faltered under the weight of what he had just said. Not because the words were cruel. Because they were too intimate. Too direct. Too exactly what sat between them now.
He saw her heartbeat jump in her chest.
Then her hands, still against his chest, curled slightly in the fabric of his clothes.
And just like that, the teasing thinned, leaving only the dangerous tenderness beneath it.
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