Twigs cracked beneath Lily’s boots as he made his way through the forest in a familiar route. One he always took to his meetings with Willis. Some might say it’s impractical not to teleport straight from the castle to the border. But the thought of spending that much magic there and back made him ill.

Besides, his trek through the darkened woods gave him time to think.

I still can’t believe I swore at him, the thought racked his brain once more. It had followed him like the plague since that night. Even if Willis hadn’t seemed to mind. He hadn’t meant it, of course not. That didn’t make it any better.

I need to apologize tonight, he mused. What if he was actually hurt by it? Or he thinks I don’t like him. Although it felt odd to admit, their company had grown on him. Their meetings were one of the few things he looked forward to these days. 

I don’t want to ruin this. He had to do better. Be nicer. They were so nice to him. It couldn’t be that hard. Maybe I could-

Lily paused.

In spite of most of his attention falling deep in thought, he caught a glimmer of something off. He focused on the feeling, closing his eyes. Slowly, it became clear. Magic. Someone was following him. Thankfully, unlike the last time he sensed another’s presence, this one was familiar to him.

Or perhaps unfortunately.

He bit back a groan. “Delphine, I know you’re there.” He turned in their vague direction.

For a moment, there was nothing. Then, Delphine appeared, dropping the invisibility spell she had been using. Not even fully visible before she spoke, “I can’t believe you noticed me.” Their tone was laced with frustration. They removed their hood.

“Lunaris have a heightened magic sense,” Lily pointed out.

“Yeah, I’m remembering,” she muttered. She released the dampening spell as well, allowing full sense of her magic. She crossed her arms tightly. A deep frown on her face. The silence dragged between them.

Seeing her made something click in Lily’s brain. This is the first time we’ve spoken since the garden. He hadn’t been actively avoiding her, per say. However, she only did anything at his request. Is she mad at me? He almost wanted to ask outright, but first, he had a different question.

“Why were you trailing me?”

“The Queen asked me to.”

A stone dropped in his stomach.

“…why?”

“She wanted to know what you were up to, and didn’t trust you to be honest,” Delphine explained. Answering the next question he had as well. She shifted her stance. “I was debating whether or not I wanted to let you in on this, but it seems the choice was made for me.”

His lips pulled in a grimace. Teeth locked together. This isn’t good. His mother was inching far more into his space than he liked. The idea of her finding out about all this made his stomach churn.

Delphine was ever patient, fortunately. Giving him the chance to process the situation.

He forced a deep breath. This is fine. Stay calm. It was, perhaps, not the best time to ask his next question. Yet he did so anyway, “Do you remember that conversation we had in the garden recently?”

He flinched when she straightened up. Her face fell to something he couldn’t read. “I do.”

“This… is a situation where I’m asking you to lie,” he admitted.

At that, her expression shifted rapidly. She pulled an arm around herself ever closer, a hand to her mouth. He swore she looked ready to turn and leave. Or yell at him. Instead, all that left her in the end was a simple, “Okay.”

“Okay…?”

“Okay,” she repeated. She broke her compressed stance, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I- was assigned to serve you. If you want me to lie for you, then I will. Even if it means I might be executed,” she mumbled the last part.

“My mother wouldn’t do that,” he said. His chest tightened. “I wouldn’t let her, anyways.”

Delphine just sighed. “Do I at least get to know what’s going on?”

He wanted to say no. Ideally no one would know. It wouldn’t be fair to her. “Of course.”

She rolled her hand at him. 

Where do I start? His gaze wandered to the grass. She doesn’t need to know all of it. Only the important parts. He licked his lips, sighing. “There was truth in what I told you before. I’ve been sneaking out to meet someone. It’s… who that I don’t want my mother to know,” he explained. His shoulders ached. “I almost mentioned it before in the garden, which is why I got defensive. I’ve been- maybe- possibly- meeting with the Abaddon heir to the throne.”

“What?!” Delphine exclaimed in the loudest tone he had ever heard from her. Jaw dropped. He watched while she tried and failed to keep some level of composure. “Please tell me you’re joking. You must be joking. Even if you’re one of the driest people I know-“

“What’s that supposed to mean-”

“I can’t lie to the Queen about that Lilium, she’d kill me,” she interrupted him. They came closer, disbelief written all over her face. “I was joking before, but she would have my throat over that. I’d never see the light of day. I don’t think I need to tell you how much she hates the Erys family.”

Lily frowned, holding his hands up. I thought I was bad with catastrophizing. “Again, my mother isn’t like that. I’m well aware she would be angry but-”

“The last time she was angry at you she smashed your nose with her staff. When she knows it’s extra sensitive, and you’re her child,” they cut him off again. “If she’s willing to do that to you when she’s upset I don’t want to imagine what would happen to me.”

“Well she didn’t do that because she was mad-”

“I don’t think that matters-”

“Would you stop interrupting me!?” Lily snapped, a deep growl bubbling up his throat. Delphine pulled away from him. Eyes round as the full moon. He balled his hands, claws dug into his palms.

Stay calm.

“I’m sorry. I know I am asking a lot of you, and that this situation is not ideal. But-” his voice caught in his throat. He swallowed roughly. “I need this. I can’t lose it. I can’t go back to spending weeks and weeks stuck at home, in my room, doing nothing.” 

“I’ll take the blame for everything if my mother finds out. You said it yourself, you’re assigned to me. You can’t be faulted for following my orders. I won’t let it happen.”

A moment passed. Another. Eventually, Delphine spoke, “What if she does fault me for it?”

“Then I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens,” he promised. He met her eyes. “My mother isn’t the only one who has a say in those decisions, anyways.”

“That’s true. Solas tends to be the voice of reason in situations like these,” she commented. Seemingly more to herself than anything else. She rubbed her temples, taking long, deep breaths. “Okay so… you have been meeting with the Abaddon heir in secret. Do you have a cover up for this?”

“Of course. I came up with something the night I first met them.” It pays to be prepared.

Their shoulders slumped, before they gestured for him to continue.

Lily began to recount part of the lie that had played in his head dozens of times at this point, “All you would say is that you saw me meeting with someone at Tide Point. You could throw in that you vaguely recognize them from my kingdom tour. That you saw us head out to the beach. That would suffice.” 

“Would it?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes. If my mother asked why you didn’t follow us further you could simply mention being worried about getting caught. Maybe you saw me vaguely looking in your direction one too many times,” he offered. “I’ve thought out the whole thing much deeper, but those details aren’t necessary right now. You wouldn’t know them, anyways.”

“I still don’t think this is a good idea, for the record. Not in the slightest,” she huffed, shifting around. “But I can work with it. I’ll do my best.”

He offered her a small smile. Patting her shoulder in a way that was mostly encouraging. “Thank you, Delphine.”

They nodded, bowing slightly, “Of course.” Their expression was strained, looking off into the distance rather than at him. Moving as if they couldn’t sit still. “I should go. I need time to… mentally prepare. A lot of time. Too much time, actually-” Their tone raised in pitch before they cut themself off. Swallowing visibly.

“It will be okay,” Lily assured, partly to herself. It had to be okay. 

Delphine nodded. She met his gaze, “You better come talk to me tomorrow. Don’t leave me in the dark about all this.”

“I won’t.”

“I’m serious.”

“So I am.”

She let out one last heavy sigh, stepping back. “Goodnight, Lilium.”

“Travel safe.” Be careful.

Then she was gone.

Lily slumped, burying his face into his hands.

When Lily trudged up to Willis on the blanket, the first words out of their mouth were, “Are you alright?”

No. Definitely not.

He didn’t voice that, though. “Why do you ask?”

They hummed, playing with a scrap of magic in their hand. “You look upset. Well- more than usual. You always look a bit upset, honestly.”

“It’s my resting face,” he retorted before sitting on the blanket. Carelessly falling back with a thump. A groan bubbled up his throat.

Willis didn’t press. Not immediately, at least. But eventually they spoke up, “...Did something happen?”

“Yes. I was followed.”

“Followed?” they echoed. He caught sight of them perk up. Alert like a wild animal. Their ears shivered.

“I already made them leave. They didn’t follow me all the way here,” he clarified.

“Oh.” They deflated. Though the questions continued. They leaned toward him, “Why were they following you? Who was following you?”

“Do you remember that person I mentioned before? The one that was assigned to me?”

Willis clicked their tongue, “Vaguely?”

“Well, my mother ordered her to follow me. She was tailing me to see what I was up to. I ended up noticing her before things went too far,” he explained. His hands found their way to his hair, picking and pulling at it. “We talked it out. She isn’t going to tell my mother anything I don’t want her to know.”

He heard them sigh, “Well that’s good at least.”

“I guess,” he huffed.

The conversation lulled. Lily’s gaze found its way to the sky. Much of it hid behind clouds tonight. Leaving little to truly look at. It wasn’t exactly an ideal night to sulk on his back. Yet he made no move to sit up. What am I going to do?

He flinched when Willis abruptly moved. They stood up, and for a moment, he thought they might leave on account of his sour mood. I wouldn’t blame them.

Instead, they walked around the blanket, coming up to him. They held out a hand, “Come on.”

“What?”

“We’re going on a walk.”

He scoffed at them, “A walk? Right now?”

“Yes! Right now. We can talk about what happened. Or something else if you’d rather get your mind off things.” They leaned down, still offering their hand. Their face held a gentle smile.

It was hard to refuse. He’s trying to be nice. A deep sigh left his chest. He took their hand, allowing them to help him up. Even if he didn’t need it. Their hands were intertwined longer than necessary. Though they let go to collect their blanket. He felt an odd twinge of disappointment. 

Once they had folded it up, he spoke, “Where are we walking? Along the beach?”

“We could. However, I have a much more exciting destination in mind!” Willis grinned. They nodded their head towards the woods. “I figured we could head down the river. I’ve wanted to for a bit, and now is a perfect time!”

Lily couldn’t stop his frown, “You want to go walking in the woods in the dark?”

They made their own face at him, “You always make my ideas sound so bad.” They bounced back before he could feel too guilty though. “Live a little! Have some fun!- If you want.”

I do want to, unfortunately. What’s that saying? Curiosity killed the cat? Another sigh. “Lead the way.”