Luke found Lilith in the dining room. The candles had long since burned low, the plates cleared, but the air still carried the artificial warmth of the earlier performance. Lilith sat at the far end of the table, alone now, a single candle lit beside her, wax dripping slowly down the brass holder.
The parchment lay in front of her, sealed with her family’s crest. Neat. Intentional. Dangerous.
Luke stepped into the room without a word, but Lilith didn’t look up.
“You shouldn’t be writing in here,” he said quietly. “It’s too exposed.”
Her quill paused mid-air. “It’s done.”
“Who did you send it to?”
She finally looked at him. “That’s not your concern.”
Luke’s jaw tightened. “If it has anything to do with Celine, it is.”
A flicker passed across Lilith’s face, something caught between irritation and disbelief. “Still?” she said softly. “Even now?”
“If you’ve done something that will put her in danger—if this message leads to harm—I swear to you, Lilith, I will walk away from this bond. From you.”
Her hands curled into fists on the table. “Don’t threaten me.”
“I’m warning you,” he said. “Don’t pretend you don’t know the difference.”
She stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor. “She’s taken everything, Luke. Everything I want, including you!”
“She didn’t take me, Lilith. You lost me.”
Lilith’s face twisted. “No. I chose you. I defended you. I built everything around us and you—you always looked at her like she was a light you couldn’t turn away from. Even when she was nothing. Even when she had nothing.”
“She has everything now,” Luke said, voice firm but calm. “Because she earned it. And because you underestimated her.”
Lilith stepped closer, fury shaking in her limbs. “You still love her. Don’t you?”
He didn’t answer right away. And that silence said more than words.
Lilith laughed—a bitter, broken sound. “Gods, you’re pathetic. She’s your obsession. Your ruin. Your shadowed little hope.”
“She’s your sister,” he said, finally. “And you’ve spent your entire life trying to bury her. But she rose anyway.”
“And now you’d leave me for her?”
“I’d leave you,” Luke said, “because you’re not the person I thought I loved.”
The candle between them flickered as she stared at him, her eyes burning, her chest rising and falling with rage she couldn’t swallow.
And then, without a word, he turned and walked out.
The door closed behind him with a hollow, final sound.
Lilith stood alone in the glow of that single flame, her message already sent.