---
He had already spent too much of his life being managed by people who thought love meant filtering truth. Elena. His father. Ben. Even now, all of them chose their silences with the confidence of people protecting something fragile.
He doesn't want to be like them. He doesn't want Lily to feel the same way when someone closes to hide the truth.
Lily was not asking for protection. She was asking for honesty.
And some part of him knew, if he denied her now, then this would not merely remain a hidden truth. It would become a crack.
He rubbed once at the center of his palm, a tiny nervous motion that belonged to an earlier version of himself. A smaller one.
"You saw too much at the auction," he said.
Lily blinked slowly. "Yes."
"The blood."
"Yes."
"The twins."
"Yes."
"The way Iron House men…" He stopped. The memory came back too clearly. Blood rising. Pressure in the room. His will moving through another person's body and making it answer. "The way they reacted."
