Voren was the first to snap out of the stunned silence. He hadn’t been around for the full story, so even though he was missing so of the bigger pieces, the little girl’s words still hit him like a truck.
"Espe, what are you talking about?" he asked, his voice staying as steady and calm as it always did. But the look in his eyes gave him away completely—he was totally thrown.
Esperanza studied him for a long mont with those big innocent blue eyes of hers. "Daddy, will you believe ?" she asked, her gaze locking onto his face, full of hope mixed with that little bit of uncertainty.
The question landed harder on Voren than he would’ve expected.
Just last night she’d shut down when he’d tried asking her stuff, but now here she was, ready to open up if she trusted them enough. How the hell was he supposed to say no to that?
He softened his expression and leaned in a little closer. "Let’s pretend for a second that everything you’re saying isn’t just so crazy dream," he said, his eyes flicking quickly over to Corvine before settling back on her. "Let’s say it’s all real. How do you know him?"
Esperanza imdiately tightened her little arms around Corvine’s neck in this instinctive, protective way.
Her small fingers curled into his shirt as she kept looking back and forth between both of her parents. "He was supposed to kill ," she said simply.
The whole room went dead quiet. Even Seraphine held her breath for a second.
But Esperanza stayed perfectly calm and kept going. "But he gave to that woman instead." Her brows pulled together a little, like she was digging through her mories to get every detail right. "And that woman gave him a goat to slaughter."
The silence that dropped after that felt even heavier than before. Corvine’s chest tightened up, his heart hamring away as the pieces clicked into place. "There’s no way she’s making this up," he muttered before he could stop himself.
Everyone turned to look at him. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to wrap his head around it all. "I rember it," he said, his voice sounding far away. "It was weird seeing a regular farm animal in a place like that back then. I used it to trick Ravyn."
His eyes went back to Esperanza. The little girl looked way too sure of herself, way too familiar with sothing nobody her age should even know about.
"If she knows that..." The words trailed off in his throat because there was really only one explanation, and it seed flat-out impossible. Or at least it should have been.
Across the room, Seraphine took a few deep breaths, her mind racing with about a hundred different questions.
How had Esperanza ended up with Voren? How much did she actually rember from back then? And why did she seem so connected to things that happened long before she should’ve even existed? Then she rembered the girl’s simple request—food first.
Seraphine forced herself to focus on sothing normal and straightforward. "I’ll whip up those pancakes really quick," she said, already moving.
Corvine frowned right away. "We were making breakfast for you," he pointed out, watching her every move. "You really gotta cook right now?"
It was still that ti of the month for her, and the last thing he wanted was her standing in the kitchen working when she should be taking it easy.
Seraphine ignored the worry in his voice and kept gathering ingredients. When she didn’t answer, his frown only got deeper.
Before he could push the issue, a pair of tiny hands suddenly grabbed both sides of his face.
Blinking in surprise, Corvine found himself staring straight into Esperanza’s serious little expression.
Since he was carrying her on his hip, she had full access and wasn’t shy about using it. The whole thing was so unexpected he almost laughed out loud.
"Look at ," she said firmly.
Corvine did exactly that. Her face stayed completely serious. "Esperanza answers questions on a full stomach."
For a second nobody said anything. Then Corvine just stared at her like she’d just crowned herself queen of the whole house. The tiny girl didn’t look embarrassed or hesitant at all, just pure confidence.
His heart lted on the spot. A smile tugged at his lips. How was anyone supposed to resist her? The little cutie in his arms just kept getting more adorable by the second.
Jasmine let out a laugh. "I’m honestly excited she’s actually asking for food," she said, leaning against the counter with a big grin. "Most days I have to practically beg her to eat anything."
Before anyone could reply, the doorbell rang through the house. Voren started heading toward the front door on instinct, but Jasmine stopped him.
"It’s mine," she said, and without waiting she hurried out of the kitchen. The rest of them watched her disappear around the corner.
Voren eventually turned back toward Seraphine, a small smile playing on his face. "Well, after whipping the pancakes, we can all sit down and eat together before we head to the office."
There was a hint of amusent in his tone. "Honestly, this is my first ti really trying to cook anything."
He pointed over at Corvine. "He’s been showing a few things."
At the counter, Seraphine froze mid-whisk. For a few long seconds she just stared at them, hardly believing what she was hearing. This powerful, stubborn, feared man had spent his morning learning how to cook for her.
"Wait," she said, blinking. "You two are actually cooking for ?" The disbelief in her voice made both of them chuckle. "And you didn’t even ask the maids or the chef to handle it?"
Voren and Corvine exchanged a quick glance, then both nodded. The answer was simple: yeah, they did. They wanted to do it themselves.
A warm feeling spread through Seraphine’s chest, so strong it almost brought tears to her eyes.
After everything she’d been through, she still wasn’t used to being taken care of like this. A soft smile crossed her face. "Thank you," she said quietly. Then her smile grew bigger. "And I will definitely eat that food."
The relief that washed over both n’s faces was instant and obvious enough that Seraphine almost laughed. They really had been worried she might turn it down.
Then the sound of movent ca from outside the kitchen, several footsteps, more than one person. It imdiately pulled everyone’s attention.
Voren straightened up while Corvine’s expression sharpened. Still holding Esperanza securely in his arms, he walked right beside Voren toward the noise.
The closer they got, the clearer the voices beca. They rounded the corner, and the mont Voren saw who had arrived, shock spread across his face.
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