---
Lily looked back at him. "Do you understand how many times I have been near people serving me tea and had no idea they were probably capable of folding me into a chair?"
That nearly got him to laugh. Nearly.
His mouth moved again, and this time it did become a faint smile.
Lily pointed at him at once. "There. That. Keep doing that. You look less like a man currently being chased by ancient family secrets."
The smile faded, but more slowly now.
Sekhmet rubbed a hand over his jaw and looked toward the curtained window.
"For the past two days," he said quietly, "I have been thinking and trying to make sense of everything."
Lily's expression softened.
"I know."
"No," he said, still looking away. "I do not think anyone really does."
That sounded harsher than he meant it to. He glanced back to make sure she understood that. Lily did. She always did.
"I do not mean that badly."
"I know," she said again.
He leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
