After dinner, the castle softened into night.
The day had been too heavy, too full of truth, plans, evidence, and the kind of anger that did not fade just because the table had been cleared. By the time Sarisa and Lara finally reached their room, both of them were quiet.
Not distant.
Just tired in the bones.
They had changed into nightclothes, though Lara had muttered something about how impossible it was to sleep properly in borrowed royal guest rooms because "the pillows have opinions."
Sarisa had laughed softly, which had been worth the complaint. Now they were under the blankets together, the lamps dimmed low, Lara on her back and Sarisa curled against her side with one hand resting over Lara's stomach.
For a while, they said nothing.
Tomorrow waited outside the door.
Sarisa could feel it. The border hall. Her mother. The documents. The truth. Neris. Vaelen. The court. Everything sharpened and waiting.
Lara's hand slid gently through Sarisa's hair.
"Stop thinking so loudly," Lara murmured.
Sarisa's mouth curved against her shoulder. "I can't."
"I know." Lara kissed her forehead. "But I can complain."
"That is one of your greatest talents."
"I have many."
"Name three."
"Fighting, cooking, making you blush."
Sarisa lifted her head and gave her a look. "You are unbearable."
"And yet mated."
"Unfortunately."
Lara smiled, but before she could answer, there was a small knock on the door.
Both women went still.
Then a voice, very soft and very awake, said, "Mama?"
Sarisa sat up at once. "Aliyah?"
The door opened just enough for Aliyah's face to appear in the gap.
Her hair was loose around her cheeks, her nightgown slightly twisted, and she had one arm around a stuffed dragon that Sarisa did not remember seeing before.
Behind her stood Neris, half-hidden in the corridor, wearing borrowed pajamas that were a little too big and an expression that looked like he regretted existing in a doorway.
Aliyah looked at Sarisa, then at Lara, then pushed the door wider with the confidence of a child who had already decided the answer should be yes.
"Can we sleep here?"
Lara blinked. "We?"
Neris stared at the floor. "I can go back."
"No," Aliyah said immediately, grabbing his sleeve. "You're with me."
Lara looked at Sarisa.
Sarisa looked at Lara.
The answer was already yes. It had been yes from the moment Aliyah said mama in that small voice.
Lara sighed with theatrical suffering. "Fine. But if anyone kicks me in the ribs, I'm filing a complaint."
Aliyah entered at once, dragging Neris with her. "What's a complaint?"
"It's when adults whine formally," Sarisa said.
Lara turned her head. "Betrayal."
Sarisa smiled. "Accuracy."
Aliyah climbed onto the bed without waiting for an invitation, moving over Lara's legs like they were inconvenient furniture. Lara made a pained sound.
"Careful. I am a respected warrior."
"You're in the way," Aliyah said.
Neris stayed near the edge of the bed, fingers curled into his sleeves. "Are you sure?"
Lara softened immediately, though she hid it behind a grumble. "Yes. Get in before Aliyah annexes the whole mattress."
Aliyah gasped. "I don't annex."
Sarisa helped Neris onto the bed. "You absolutely do."
"What does annex mean?"
"Taking territory," Lara said.
Aliyah looked thoughtful. "Then I do."
Neris gave the smallest laugh.
It was quiet, almost swallowed, but Lara heard it. So did Sarisa. Something passed between them, warm and aching.
The arrangement took several minutes and involved far more negotiation than any military campaign Lara had ever survived.
Aliyah wanted to sleep between Sarisa and Lara. Neris wanted the edge because it was "less trouble." Sarisa refused the edge for him because he might fall.
Lara suggested Neris take the inside, Aliyah take the middle, and everyone stop treating the bed like a disputed kingdom.
Aliyah considered this and said, "I want Mama Sarisa on one side and Mama Lara on the other."
Neris hesitated. "I can sleep near the bottom."
"No," Lara said, too quickly.
He looked at her.
Lara cleared her throat and tried again, gentler. "No one sleeps near the bottom like a forgotten sock. Come here."
That decided it.
In the end, Sarisa lay on one side, Lara on the other, with Aliyah tucked against Sarisa and Neris between Aliyah and Lara. The bed was large, but somehow still not large enough for the emotions inside it.
Aliyah settled first, pressing her cold feet against Sarisa's legs.
Sarisa yelped softly. "Aliyah."
"My feet are sad."
"Your feet are freezing."
"They need love."
Lara muttered, "Your feet need exile."
Aliyah lifted her head. "No exile."
The room went still for half a heartbeat.
Then Lara's expression changed, pain flashing before she smoothed it away. "No," she said softly. "No exile."
Sarisa reached over Aliyah and touched Lara's hand. Lara caught her fingers.
Neris stared at the ceiling.
After a while, he whispered, "Is tomorrow scary?"
No one answered too fast.
Sarisa turned slightly so she could see him. "A little."
Aliyah frowned. "Why?"
"Because adults made a mess," Lara said.
Sarisa gave her a look. "That is true, but not very helpful."
"It is very accurate."
Neris was still looking at the ceiling. "Do I have to go?"
"No," Lara said at once.
He blinked and turned toward her.
Lara's voice softened. "You don't have to stand in front of anyone. You don't have to prove anything. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. Adults are going to handle the ugly part."
Aliyah tucked herself closer to Sarisa. "Can I punch the old queen?"
"No," Sarisa and Lara said together.
Aliyah sighed. "Everyone says no to good ideas."
Neris, very quietly, said, "Maybe not punch."
Lara looked at him. "See? Sensible child."
Neris glanced at her, then away. "Maybe throw something soft."
Sarisa laughed into the pillow.
Lara stared at him for one beat, then grinned. "I take it back. You're learning from Aliyah."
Aliyah looked deeply proud.
A calmer silence settled after that. The kind children understood as safety, even when they did not understand the shape of the danger outside it.
Then Neris asked, so softly Lara almost missed it, "Am I really… yours?"
Lara stopped breathing.
Sarisa's hand tightened around hers.
Neris did not look at her. His small face was turned toward the ceiling, but his fingers clutched the blanket hard.
Lara shifted onto her side. "Look at me."
He did, reluctantly.
Lara's eyes were bright in the dim room.
"If you want to be," she said. "Not because someone made you from my magic. Not because some test says something. Not because people used you. But because I choose you. And if you choose me too, then yes. You're mine."
Neris stared at her.
Then he whispered, "Even if I'm weird?"
Lara swallowed hard. "Especially then. This family is full of weird."
Aliyah nodded solemnly. "Kaelith tried to make a throne out of pillows."
Sarisa added, "Malvoria argues with furniture."
"Raveth scares spoons," Lara said.
Neris blinked. "Spoons?"
"She says they're too shiny."
Sarisa turned her face into the pillow to hide her laugh. "That is not true."
"It could be."
Neris smiled.
Small.
Real.
Then he rolled slightly closer to Lara, not touching much, just enough that his shoulder brushed her arm.
Lara did not move. She looked at the ceiling now, eyes suspiciously wet.
Sarisa saw.
She loved her even more for it.
Aliyah yawned hugely. "Tomorrow, Mama Sarisa wins."
Sarisa kissed her hair. "I'll try."
"No," Aliyah mumbled. "You win."
A few minutes later, Aliyah fell asleep first, one hand fisted in Sarisa's sleeve. Neris lasted longer, blinking stubbornly until exhaustion finally pulled him under. His breathing evened out slowly, cautious even in sleep, but calm.
Sarisa and Lara remained awake.
They looked at each other over the children between them.
Lara mouthed, "Crowded."
Sarisa smiled and mouthed back, "Perfect."
Lara's face softened.
Tomorrow would come. The queen would come. The truth would come with teeth.
But tonight, the children were warm between them, the room was quiet, and for once the world did not get to take anything.
Sarisa closed her eyes first.
Lara watched until she saw her breathing deepen.
Only then did Lara let herself sleep.