The room was quiet.
Eva and Éve had drifted off some time ago, tangled together at the foot of the bed the way they always ended up, breathing slow and even. Liliana was still awake, just barely, her head on his chest, one hand idly tracing patterns against his skin with the loose, unhurried movements of someone who had nowhere else she wanted to be.
Valerian pressed a kiss to her hair.
"Goodnight," he murmured.
"Mm." Liliana tilted her face up, and he kissed her properly this time, slow, unhurried, the kind of kiss that didn't need to go anywhere because everything that needed to happen already had. When he pulled back she was smiling, eyes half-lidded, pink still lingering faintly at the edges of purple.
"Goodnight," she said back. Quiet. Content.
She settled against him again, and within a minute her breathing had evened out too, slow and steady, her hand going still against his chest.
Valerian lay there in the dark.
