Chapter 283: The Crimson Womb VI
Sekhmet gave one last look to Lily’s blood womb before turning away. Leaving her there, even knowing now that she was alive, felt wrong in some primitive part of him. But panic would not solve the city lord problem. Elena might. She always had a solution for everything.
He opened the Void Land and stepped out alone.
The room he reentered felt almost offensively normal.
His chamber still held the low lamp. The bed remained where it had been. It was messy because of their honeymoon. The table still bore the marks of earlier planning. A little warmth remained in the room from Lily’s presence, and that somehow made the sight of her absence sharper.
Sekhmet had no time to waste.
He left the chamber immediately and moved through the corridors with measured speed. He was not running. Running might create panic amongst servants. Running created rumors. But anyone who saw his face would know he was not in the mood for interruption.
A maid did see him once and flattened herself respectfully against the wall without being told. It was a good decision for her.
He needed to find Elena. A few moments later, he found her by sound before sight.
Elena and Seraphiel were in one of the side rooms near the inner receiving hall, and whatever had begun as conversation had sharpened into one of those old, private arguments that only people with far too much shared history could sustain.
"Because he was arrogant," Seraphiel was saying as Sekhmet reached the half open doorway.
Elena’s voice came back, dry as polished bone. "No. Because he was stupid."
Seraphiel made an offended sound. "Eyra was many things. Stupid was only occasional."
"That occasional stupidity nearly got him killed on more than one continent."
"Yet he survived till now." Lady Seraphiel said.
"That is not a defense." Elena replied to her.
Sekhmet stopped just outside the room for long enough to realize two things. First, they were arguing about his father again. Second, now was not the time to let them continue about the past mistakes.
He stepped in.
"Elena."
Both women turned.
Seraphiel’s expression changed first. The amusement in it fell away immediately when she read his face. Elena’s did not fall because it had never been there in the first place, but her attention sharpened so completely it might as well have.
"What happened, young master?" Elena asked.
Straight to the center.
Sekhmet did not waste time. "Lily’s transformation is not normal."
That silenced the room at once. They understand Sekhmet was talking about Lily becoming a vampire.
He continued before either could ask badly ordered questions.
"She has angel blood. I did not know and detect it early enough. She is becoming something different. A hybrid true vampire. I read it into an old book from my father ’s study. It is called a Cruoraphim. I think she is becoming one. It is a mixed breed of angels and vampires."
He made up a lie. His father got many old books. So it is possible that Sekhmet might have read it. He can’t say that he got the information from his abyss class artifact.
He drew one measured breath. "She is stable. But the transformation will take twelve to twenty-four hours. I can feel it because we are connected now."
Seraphiel’s brows lifted.
Elena’s expression did not change much, but the stillness in her body did. It became more dangerous. More focused.
"Where is she?"
"In the Void Land. She turned into a blood sphere. Like..." He searched for the closest shape and hated that it was the right one. "Like a child in the womb."
That line landed harder than the rest. Even Seraphiel’s face lost some of its smooth wit.
"And you left her there?"
"Yes," Sekhmet said. "With Auri. Vera and Vela are watching the prisoners. Bat Bat is... occupied."
That was enough about Bat Bat.
Elena’s eyes held his. "You did right by coming to me."
He was too tense to feel relief from that.
"The city lord will notice her absence tonight if he does not already. If morning passes, he will definitely come looking. I cannot tell him what happened."
"No," Elena said. "You cannot. Not until your father returns."
She began pacing once, the movements were small, deliberate, useful. Sekhmet knew that pattern. Elena only paced when she had reached the point where stillness was no longer the fastest form of thought.
"We could say she remained here due to illness," Elena said after a moment.
Seraphiel shook her head immediately. "It will not hold. I met with him a few days ago. He is very protective of his daughter."
Elena looked at her.
Seraphiel went on, "Lily’s father is protective in ways that become irritating when daughters are involved. He will not leave her overnight in another house on the word of servants and a closed door. Not if the report reaches him in the wrong tone."
Elena’s mouth tightened. "Then I will go personally."
"That also won’t hold," Seraphiel said.
"Why?"
"Because then he will ask to see her. Also he doesn’t know you are god. He won’t respect you. He will treat you as Dawn house maid."
Elena did not answer because that was correct. He just suggested the idea as an example.
Sekhmet stood there in the middle of it all, hearing the options die one by one and hating every second. He had survived blood sovereign attention and hidden enemies more calmly than this. But this... —Lily’s father, Lily’s absence, the practical consequences of protecting a woman he had just turned into something not yet finished— this reached somewhere even battle did not reach.
Seraphiel watched him for one moment, then said, "Do not make that face. I know the answer. He knows me and my background. He knows that I am a god. It will be different for me."
Both he and Elena looked at her.
The older woman rested one hand lightly on the back of a chair and smiled with the serenity of someone about to become deeply inconvenient.
"I will take care of it."