"Honestly?" A ghost of that earlier smile, the genuine one. "Yes."
"Then you'll keep being surprised," Elara said, and walked toward her bedroom door.
She stopped at the threshold. Didn't turn around.
"The name you gave me," she said. "I already suspected it. I just needed confirmation."
A pause behind her.
"Then why did you let me go through all of that," Caius said, "before asking?"
"Because I needed to know if you'd actually say it," she said. "Information I already have isn't interesting. What you were willing to do with it — that is."
She went inside and closed the door.
The room was quiet. Her lamp was where she'd left it, her desk exactly as she'd arranged it, the warded cloth still unfolded on the surface. Everything in its right place.
She sat on the edge of the bed, looked at the wall, and thought about the name for sixty more seconds.
Then she lay down, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.
