Dawn Walker

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And Lily, who had been brave in too many rooms and steady through too many impossible conversations, let herself be quiet inside his arms.

The feeling of her there altered something in him.

Not dramatically. But deeply.

He lowered his face into her hair for one brief breath and closed his eyes.

Mine, some dark and dangerous part of him thought.

His wife.

The words were far too satisfying.

Lily tilted her head slightly against his chest. "You are squeezing me like you are afraid I will disappear."

"I am checking whether it’s real or not."

That earned a very soft laugh from her, the sound half muffled in him.

"And?"

"Still undecided."

She leaned back just enough to look up at him, and because they were already too close and because the room was too quiet and because he had spent all evening behaving correctly in front of other people, the sight of her face there beneath his was enough to strip the last of his patience with distance.

He touched her jaw with his thumb.

Lily’s eyes widened just slightly.

"You are staring again," she whispered.

"You keep giving me reasons."

"That sounds suspiciously like blame."

"It is admiration."

The answer left her visibly flustered.

He liked her like this too. Warm. A little breathless. Still trying to hold onto wit while her heart gave itself away more quickly than her mouth.

She said, "You are very bold tonight."

Sekhmet’s gaze darkened faintly. "You noticed."

"I am difficult to fool."

He leaned down a little, slowly enough that she knew what was coming before it happened.

"I am not trying to fool you."

Then he kissed her. Not tentative. Not the uncertain brush of two people still asking permission from the air around them.

A real kiss.

His hand remained at her jaw, his thumb just beneath her ear, while the other kept her close at the waist. Lily made the smallest sound against him, more surprise than protest, and then the surprise vanished because she kissed him back immediately and with far less hesitation than her earlier blushes would have suggested.

It was good. Very good.

He deepened the kiss once, carefully, and felt the exact moment her fingers tightened in the fabric at his side. That nearly broke his self-control all by itself.

When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, it was only far enough for breath.

Lily looked dazed.

He found that deeply satisfying.

Her voice came out soft and uneven. "That was..."

He waited.

She blinked once, then gave up on language entirely and leaned into him again instead.

That answer pleased him even more.

He kissed her a second time.

This one was slower. It was longer.

No less possessive, only less urgent at the edges, as though he had already proven what he meant to prove and now wanted to feel her rather than startle her.

Lily answered him with growing boldness, hands moving from his chest to his shoulders, then higher, as if some part of her had finally stopped asking whether this was really allowed and begun simply taking joy in the answer.

When they broke apart again, her forehead rested briefly against his.

Neither of them spoke.

The silence now was warmer than the silence before. Less full of tension. More full of choice.

Sekhmet’s hand slid gently down her back and settled there, grounding both of them.

Lily laughed under her breath, still trying to recover enough dignity to speak. "You really are bold today."

He almost smiled. "You keep repeating that as if it will make me apologize."

"It will not."

"No."

She lifted her face again. "Good."

He looked at her for one dangerous second. "Careful."

"Warning again?"

"Yes."

"I still like them."

"I noticed."

Lily’s cheeks warmed even more. "You notice too much."

"That is your fault."

"How."

"You keep being in front of me."

That made her laugh again, it was softer this time.

He liked that sound too much.

Another kiss nearly followed right then.

It probably would have, if both of them had not also felt the heaviness of the day pressing under everything else. Not enough to kill the moment. Enough to slow it into something deeper.

Sekhmet drew her back into his arms again, this time without hunger at the front of it. Just closeness.

Lily rested there willingly, one hand flat over his heart.

The quiet did not break for a long time. But it deepened.

Lily stayed in his arms with one hand over his heart, feeling the hard, steady beat beneath her palm. For all the chaos of the day, for all the names and threats and vows and hidden plans, that heartbeat felt real in the simplest possible way.

It felt alive and close.

Hers to hear because he was allowing her this nearness and because, impossible as it still felt, she now belonged in his arms without needing an excuse.

Sekhmet’s hand rested at the middle of her back, broad and warm and certain. The other remained near her shoulder, fingers lightly curved as if he had no intention of letting her drift farther than this tonight. His breathing had slowed again, but not fully. Not enough to fool her. She could feel too much now. The strength in him. The restraint. The hunger that was not only blood.

Lily tilted her head slightly against his chest and listened to that heartbeat for another few breaths.

"You are thinking too much," she murmured.

Sekhmet’s voice came low above her. "That is a cruel thing to say to a man in a moment like this."

She smiled at him. "Then I was right."

He made a quiet sound that might have been a laugh if he had allowed it to become one. "I just married you in secret. An heir from the main house has arrived in the city. A letter from Stephen is on Elena’s table. We are planning to hide a transformation from your family. And you think I should not think."

Lily leaned back enough to look up at him.

"Yes."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," she repeated. "At least not for one moment."