Dante returned exactly ten minutes later, dressed and his dark hair pulled back, looking like himself again. He sat down, poured something into his own cup, and looked at Lilian steadily.
"Before the archives," he said, "there are things I should tell you first."
Lilian set down her cup. "Okay."
He was quiet for a moment, choosing his words with the care of someone who had made the mistake of speaking before he was ready and learned from it.
"The divine hybrid bloodline is not unique to you," he said. "But it is extraordinarily rare. The last documented case was over four hundred years ago."
The room was very still. Even Lucien had stopped watching the valley.
"What happened to her?" Lilian asked.
