Chapter 254: The Taste Before the Vow II
---
Lily looked up at him. "Can it become other things?"
Sekhmet considered. "Probably. If it follows intent and wears logic, then maybe a ring. A necklace. Hair ornament. Anklet. Something subtle enough to remain on you without drawing attention."
Lily’s eyes flicked downward toward the bracelet again, already imagining it. "A bracelet is good. My mother would not question a bracelet if the style was right."
Sekhmet watched her. "That was your instinct."
She looked up. "What?"
"When you touched the rune. You probably wanted something wearable."
Lily thought about it, then slowly nodded. "I did. I think. I just had the thought that a veil would be hard to explain if someone found it among my things."
"Then the artifact listened."
"That is disturbingly intelligent."
"It is a noble vampire item. Of course it is disturbingly intelligent."
Lily smiled.
Then she sent a tiny thread of chaos energy into the bracelet again while concentrating. The band quivered once, softened, and became a narrow crimson ring set with a smooth dark stone that held no reflection.
"Oh."
Sekhmet leaned in slightly.
Lily stared at the ring now in her palm. "It really changes."
He took it from her and studied it. The enchantment remained intact. The masking field was still there, though compressed differently.
"It does."
Lily looked delighted now. "Try another."
So they did.
A few moments later the ring became a slim hairpin.
Then a small pendant.
Then back into a bracelet again after Lily declared that the bracelet was the prettiest and also the least suspicious for daily wear. The two of them talked through the practical side of each form, leaning over the table together as though they were discussing jewelry for a formal dinner rather than a high grade concealment artifact meant to hide vampiric transformation from the world.
"This one is too noticeable," Lily said, holding up the pendant form. "My mother would ask where I got it."
"She asks where you get jewelry?"
"She asks where I get air if I look too thoughtful while breathing."
Sekhmet almost laughed. "That sounds exhausting."
"It is called being well raised."
"That is not the phrase I would use."
Lily ignored that. "The ring is dangerous too. If I stop wearing it for even a day, someone might notice."
"The bracelet is the easiest."
"Yes."
He took the bracelet form again and ran his thumb across the inside edge. The runic field answered his blood and chaos both, which meant attunement would probably be smoother than expected. Good.
Lily watched him. "Can anyone detect it now?"
Sekhmet shook his head. "Not anyone. Someone at god level, maybe. Someone properly looking. But ordinary people, nobles, guards, even most higher rank awakeners should not notice anything if the artifact is active."
Lily exhaled slowly. "Then once I turn..."
Sekhmet’s gaze lifted to her.
The sentence did not finish.
It did not need to.
The weight of it passed quietly between them anyway.
He closed his fingers around the bracelet. "Once you turn, this stays on you."
Lily nodded immediately.
"Don’t take it off because you are irritated, curious, rebellious, sentimental, dramatic, or trying to make a point."
She looked offended. "I am not dramatic."
Sekhmet stared at her until she failed to keep a straight face.
"Fine," she said. "A little dramatic."
"A dangerous amount of drama."
"That is rich coming from you."
He set the bracelet down on the table again. "Good. Then we understand each other."
Lily’s expression shifted, softening once more. "We do."
A few moments later, the testing was done.
Sekhmet had fed the artifact enough energy to understand its response. Lily had confirmed that it shifted form smoothly under intent. He had observed the masking field with Blood Eye and found it impressively dense and clean. There were still uncertainties, but not enough to stop him.
The veil would work. Or at least it would work well enough to move forward.
A little later, after the artifact was returned to storage in bracelet form and the first phase of planning had settled into something more solid, the story shifted.
Sekhmet and Lily stood together in one of the quieter sitting rooms near the inner garden corridor. Elena was there. Lady Seraphiel too.
Elena had been told this was important.
That alone had changed the air around the room before a single word was spoken.
Lady Seraphiel lounged with far too much elegance in a chair by the window, one arm resting along the carved side as if secret family catastrophes were best received with proper posture. Elena stood near the center of the room, calm as ever, but Sekhmet knew her well enough to see the alertness beneath it.
Lily stayed beside him. She was not clinging. Not timid. Beside him. That mattered.
Sekhmet looked at Elena first, then at Seraphiel, and said, "We need two witnesses."
That earned silence.
Then Elena’s eyes narrowed by a fraction.
Lady Seraphiel, however, smiled immediately.
"Oh," she said. "This sounds promising. You need a witness for what?"
Sekhmet did not flinch. "Lily and I are getting married."
Elena froze. Actually froze...
It only lasted a heartbeat, but for Elena, one heartbeat of visible shock was almost the equivalent of another woman dropping a vase and screaming.
Lady Seraphiel turned her head slowly toward Lily, then Sekhmet, then back again.
Then she laughed. Not cruelly. Not mockingly.
She laughed softly and brightly. Like someone watching an old family habit of disaster flower in a fresh generation.
"You are only twenty years old," Seraphiel said.
The line was aimed at no one and everyone.
Sekhmet met her eyes. "I made up my mind."
Seraphiel studied his face for a moment longer.
The humor did not leave hers, but it changed shape. Deepened. Became less amused and more aware.
Elena said nothing at first. She just looked at Sekhmet.
Long enough that Lily, standing beside him, straightened slightly.
Long enough that even Seraphiel quieted.
Then Elena exhaled slowly. She knew that face. It was the stubborn one.