It took effort to convince Aliyah to leave.
A great deal of effort.
First, she refused to let go of Sarisa's neck. Then, when Elysia gently suggested that Kaelith and Neris were waiting in the playroom, Aliyah declared that they could come here instead.
When Malvoria, with a solemn face and absolutely wicked eyes, mentioned that Kaelith had apparently built a "fortress of pillows with legal authority," Aliyah hesitated.
When Lara added that Neris probably needed someone clever on his side before Kaelith declared herself empress of the carpet, Aliyah hesitated more.
In the end, Sarisa was the one who convinced her.
She cupped Aliyah's face, kissed her forehead, and promised, "I'm not leaving without saying goodbye to you. I swear."
Aliyah studied her for a long moment with the suspicious seriousness of a child who had recently learned adults could vanish.
Then she said, "Promise promise?"
Sarisa's throat moved. "Promise promise."
That seemed sacred enough.
Aliyah climbed down, gave Lara a very stern look that clearly meant do not lose my mother again, and marched out with a servant toward the playroom.
The door closed.
The warmth in the room shifted.
Not gone, exactly. But pulled thinner, as if someone had drawn a blade across silk.
Only adults remained now.
Malvoria sat straighter in her chair. Elysia's expression softened into something careful. Raveth moved away from the table where she had been leaning, no longer amused.
Veylira stood near the window, sunlight silvering the side of her face, her hands folded in front of her with the calm of someone about to place a terrible truth on the floor and ask everyone not to step wrongly around it.
Sarisa felt Lara's hand move at her back.
Protective already.
She looked at her mate. Lara's face had changed too. The teasing from moments ago had vanished, replaced by a watchfulness that made her look older, sharper.
The woman who had laughed about Aliyah and ugly princes was gone. In her place stood the demon who had torn through a wedding behind a mask.
Malvoria noticed too.
"Sit," she said.
Lara's eyes narrowed. "That never means anything good."
"No," Malvoria said. "It doesn't."
Sarisa took the chair beside Lara. Lara sat only because Sarisa did, though every line of her body made it clear she could be on her feet again in less than a breath.
Elysia reached across the table and placed a hand over Sarisa's for one brief second.
That frightened her more than anything else.
"Sarisa," Malvoria began, and for once there was no mockery in her voice. "We have the information and evidence we needed."
Sarisa's fingers tightened around Lara's.
"The queen?" she asked.
Veylira answered. "Yes. Her personal seal, her signature, laboratory documents, financial trails, memory crystals, and two direct witnesses."
Lara went very still. "Witnesses?"
"Caldris and Maelia Sorn," Raveth said. "Royal physician and court mage. Both worked directly under your mother's authority."
Sarisa's stomach dropped.
She knew Caldris. Not closely, but enough. He had been in the palace for years. A quiet man with gentle hands and a soft voice.
He had treated noble children, old ministers, visiting dignitaries. He had once told Aliyah she was brave after a fever.
Sarisa suddenly felt ill.
"What did they do?" she asked.
Malvoria leaned forward slightly. "Before that, I need to say something."
The room seemed to tighten.
Lara's voice lowered. "Say it."
Malvoria looked straight at her. "Sorry, Sarisa. We might have some sensitive information for you."
Sarisa could barely hear her own heartbeat.
Then Malvoria turned her gaze to Lara.
"And Lara, please stay calm when we tell you."
Lara laughed once.
Not with humor.
"That is a terrible opening."
"I know."
"If you have to ask me to stay calm, I am not going to like this."
"No," Raveth said quietly. "You're not."
Sarisa looked between them, pulse rising. "Tell us."
Elysia took a slow breath. "The laboratories were real. Neris was not born in the way you were told."
Lara's hand tightened so sharply Sarisa almost winced.
Veylira's voice was even. "He was created using preserved traces of Lara's demonic essence and compatible Celestian material. The process was artificial. Accelerated. Stabilized with fire-thread magic."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Sarisa heard the words but could not make sense of them.
Created.
Neris.
Lara's essence.
Not Selene.
Not a drunken night. Not betrayal. Not the ugly accusation that had shattered the court and broken something between them before it could fully form.
A child made.
A child used.
Beside her, Lara made a sound so low it barely seemed human.
Sarisa turned to her at once.
Lara's face had gone blank.
That was worse than anger. Much worse.
The air around her warmed. Not enough to burn. Enough that the edge of the table began to creak faintly beneath her hand.
"Lara," Sarisa whispered.
Lara did not look at her. Her eyes were fixed on Veylira.
"Say that again," Lara said.
Veylira did not flinch. "Neris carries enough of your essence to pass a paternity test and use your yellow fire. Selene was paid. She was never his mother."
The silence after that felt violent.
Sarisa pressed one hand to her own mouth.
Neris.
Small, frightened Neris. Neris who thought adults lied. Neris who had asked whether Lara would hit him.
Neris who had been thrown into court like a weapon, forced to stand in front of strangers while a woman pretended to be his mother.
Sarisa's eyes burned.
Lara stood.
The chair scraped backward so hard it nearly toppled.
"Where are they?" Lara asked.
Raveth stepped subtly between Lara and the door. "Alive."
"That is not what I asked."
"I know."
Lara's magic flickered once at her fingers, yellow fire snapping like a furious heartbeat.
Malvoria rose too. "Lara."
"Do not say my name like that."
"Then don't make me."
"She made a child from me." Lara's voice cracked on the words, and the fire rose higher. "She made him. She hurt him. She used him to exile me from Sarisa and Aliyah and then what? What else?"
Sarisa stood and caught Lara's wrist.
The fire did not burn her.
It curled away from her skin as if recognizing her before Lara herself did.
"Look at me," Sarisa said.
Lara's breathing was hard. "Sarisa—"
"Look at me."
Slowly, Lara did.
There was murder in her eyes.
And grief.
Sarisa stepped closer, ignoring the heat, ignoring the others, ignoring everything except the woman before her who looked as if she might shatter the room because the alternative was feeling what had been done.
"We will not let her keep this hidden," Sarisa said. "But you cannot run out of this room and kill everyone before we finish hearing the truth."
Lara's jaw worked.
"Please," Sarisa whispered.
The fire dimmed.
Not gone.
Dimmed.
Lara swallowed hard and nodded once.
Sarisa turned back toward the others, her hand still wrapped around Lara's wrist. "There is more."
It was not a question.
Elysia's face was pale.
"Yes," she said softly. "There is more."
Raveth looked away first, which told Sarisa more than any warning could have.
Malvoria's voice came quieter now. "Your mother had another project planned."
Sarisa felt Lara's body go rigid beside her again.
Veylira placed the black-bound folder on the table and opened it to the marked section.
Vessel S-Alpha.
Sarisa stared at the letters.
Her own breath seemed to leave the room before her body did.
Elysia spoke gently, each word careful but merciless in its clarity.
"She planned to use your blood, Sarisa. Yours and Vaelen's material. To create an artificial heir bound to her through soul-thread conditioning."
For a second, Sarisa did not understand.
Then she did.
The room tilted.
Lara caught her before she could fall.