Chapter Text
Titan knows how much Lilith Clawthrone hates being outside the city.
But here she is, in front of the house, safely hidden between the trees, to arrest her younger sister.
Of course, Lilith didn't want to bring Eda to the palace. In the end, this is not the first reprimand, and not the first preventive conversation that she holds with Edalyn, so that she finally gives up all this childishness with wild witches and joins the coven. The emperor can help her, he knows how to cope with the curse, and Lilith is ready to lose everything, she is ready to work with her last breath, with a lot of unpleasant injuries and cuts, just to help Eda. Her sister deserved to be happy without a curse. Lilith won't be able to atone to her for this, but Titan knows she's trying. Simply... Just a little more time. A little more, and so that Eda would stop shining on wanted posters.
...Perhaps Lilith hadn't been to her for quite some time.
...It's possible that Lilith last saw Eda a couple of years ago, and then only out of the corner of her eye.
A heavy, hoarse, strangled sound escaped from her lungs.
But it doesn't matter!
She takes a deep breath before knocking on the door.
The scuffling that had been coming from the house before fades away, and Lily hears muffled voices... Only a few of them.
Oh.
The world is getting too big for her again, while shrinking to the size of a tiny box in which she barely fits.
Does someone really live with Eda? But the voices are too quiet and indistinct for Lilith to have time to understand at least which gender of strangers. Was she broken into? Thieves? No, Eda was a thief herself, and the door doesn't look hacked. But then who? Dangerous or not? Could they harm her sister? Her precious little sister? Titan, if it's suddenly Raine Whispers, then she DEFINITELY doesn't want to know what they're doing at her sister's house and-
"HUU-UUT HUU-UUT, HI, ARE YOU A NEW FRIEND?"
Lilith screams.
***
Darkness envelops Lily, and she seems to be swimming in griffin broth. There is something soft under her back, resembling a sofa. She... she doesn't really want to open his eyes yet. Long ago... it's been a long time since it's been this warm. Ever since she joined the Emperor's coven and was promoted. This... it felt like home. Not an abandoned apartment in the city center, with a hard sofa and an eternally empty refrigerator, but like a house. With hot and dense food, a soft bed and a warm smell of wood. Lilith didn't deserve this feeling. Not after everything, not after what she did. But... is it possible for her to enjoy this illusion for a couple of moments longer?
A couple of seconds later, her ear catches a quiet whisper of children's voices.
"Mom said to leave her on the couch..."
One of them is soft and rustling, like the pages of an old book.
"But she's a stranger! She found our house, tried to direct her staff-"
The second voice is much tougher and rougher than the first, but still gentle.
"What if she's good! Hunter, especially since she fainted! Why do you always think only about bad?!"
"She is in the clothes of the imperial coven, they are NOT good!!"
"Death!"
"Yes, King, yes, death, and Luz does not understand that..."
"QUIET, SHE'S MOVING!!!"
Lilith freezes in fright when her little attempts to wake up are noticed, and finally decides to open her eyes. The light is blinding for a couple of seconds, and it takes Lily a while to see anything, and when her vision does focus, then...
...she immediately meets with two blades of knives, practically put to the tip of her nose.
"D-don't move, otherwise you'll lose your eyes!" The knife in the tiny hands of a four- or five-year-old girl is shaking desperately, but she only tightens her lips more, swallowing and not allowing fear to break free. Golden eyes filled with panic, glowing in the light of burning lamps. Lilith almost automatically stretches out her hand to grab the weapon, but immediately pulls herself back. These are children, even with knives, but they definitely won't be able to take her life. They are already scared, and she may well aggravate the situation, so-
Wait.
Titan.
Children?
"You will answer any questions. And you don't have a chance to escape! If you cause any harm to those in this room, you will have to deal with m-me!"
Lilith looks dumbfounded at the slightly older boy, meeting his panicked gaze. He sounds more serious, but the same frightened notes slip into his voice.
It seems that a couple more seconds, and she will finally lose her mind.
A strange pipe bird looms in the background, a joyful hiss comes from a pile of blankets, the children are braving, but trembling, and Lilith simply has no idea what the hell to do!
The world slows down, and for a few moments they just stare at each other, all three of them confused enough that the only thing they can do is stare until a knock suddenly comes from the hallway.
"Hunter, Luz, King!"
"MOM!!!!"
Lily barely manages to remove her hand, purely on automatic, still arriving in a state of shock, so that the weapon falls next to her palm, and does not stick into the body when the children rush towards the door with bullets. Small... the creature, which seems to be called King, is trying to get out of the blanket in which it was sitting, eating and snapping its teeth. Sounds of scuffling can be heard from the corridor, and Lilith guesses to raise herself on her elbows to better see what is happening (Titan knows how difficult it is. She feels exhausted). She is even more lost when her sister appears in the doorway, holding these little witches in her arms.
"I told you, first of all, ask Hooty who's standing there before....Oh, hi, Lilz."
Titan, Lilith's brain refuses to work, instead giving out completely strange thoughts that she can't put anywhere.
Lilz... She hadn't heard that nickname in a long time.
Lilith was going to get sick.
The world was shrinking around her again, and she felt hysterical.
But before that...
"Eda, what's going on?!"
***
Lilith is still trying to figure out how she is now sitting in the kitchen of her sister's house, opposite... her nephews and niece?
After Eda came, the atmosphere in the house lightened up a little. In fact, she came very timely, because a couple more minutes, and everyone in the room would have been completely confused. Oh, Lilith is sure of it. Lately she has become softer, she gives in to emotions too much. Perhaps because Lily has been working non-stop this month.
She was still floating in space when they took her away and sat her down at a table, handing her a glass of ice water. Now she is slowly drinking her water and trying to put everything that happened in her head.
So, two (three?) witches. Eda's children. Lilith's nephews and niece, who stabbed her with knives.
Titan.
Her sister was a mother, and Lily hadn't know about it!
When and by whom? Why didn't Edalyn tell her anything, and where is the other parent of these children? How long ago? How does Eda cope with motherhood alone at all?!
While Edalyn is fiddling around the teapot, Lily has time to get a better look at the two witchers, who don't seem to be too friendly to her (huh, that's quite fair). The boy (Hunter, right?) looks like six or seven years old. He... very similar to Eda. Pale skin, light unruly hair mixed with red strands. Only the nose with a hump, and the cut of the eyes is different. Luz (right? Or is she a Luzura?) four years, maybe? And now she reminds... one bard.
No, no, no, Lilith doesn't even want to think about it. There are a lot of witches with chocolate skin, right? And the rest of Luz looks like her brother- the same red curls, only, unlike the boy, mixed with brown. And she is very aggressively gnawing her carrots while her brother is immersed in his mug of golden liquid.
And the last one. A small demon that looks like a dog, which is now very diligently trying to sit in Eda's hair. It looks like the youngest, and he doesn't speak too well yet. Demon... (King?) Definitely adopted, but it seems to Lilith that the little demon is surrounded by much fewer mysteries than the two older children.
Great Titan, too much for one day. Too much for a few hours, she just wanted to come and talk to her sister!!
But then Lilith gets it.
Her nephews and niece. Her precious, little nephews and niece, of whose existence she had no idea. They were valuable. They are simply incredible, and looking at their features now, Lilith realizes how charming they are.
And most importantly, her sister, who became a single mother with three children, running a household alone and also, it seems, managing to run her own business with potions, did not look disappointed or tired at all!
"Do you want leaves or coffee?"
The flow of her thoughts is interrupted by Edalyn's interested voice, and Lilith has to tear herself away from looking at the children (although, to be fair, they were just as interested in her as she was in them) and look at her sister.
"Ugh, leaves?.."
"Orange suns brrrewed in boiling water!!" Luz jumps up happily, and her lips stretch into a smile.
Lilith can't help but smile back, a little afraid that her face will scare the children.
"Marigolds," Hunter busily corrects his sister, stealing a glance at Lily.
"In fact, the only drink they tolerate without a ton of sugar," Edalyn casually remarks, putting a mug with the same golden liquid as Hunter's in front of Lilith. "So, since you've all calmed down, then let me just call your names, because it looks like you're already well we met," Eda points to the children. "Lilz, this is Hunter, Luz and King, little troublemakers," At these words the children simultaneously make a theatrical offended sigh. "Children, this is Lily, my sister."
"So you're our aunt??" Lilith shudders from the pressure of Luz's delight. "Can I call you tia Lily?! Oh, or just Aunt Lily! Hunter and I found the word "tia" in the book, and it means aunt, so you're tia, but if you don't like it, then we can come up with something else! For example, a Hootie is a Hoot-Hoot, but sometimes when he becomes the most serious demon in the world, he is a Hucifer!"
Lilith blinks a couple of times, trying to assimilate the entire flow of information that the little girl pours on her, and nods her head.
"W-Well, you can, perhaps?"
Hunter loads the empty mug onto the table with a bang, announcing in a solemn tone:
"Soooo you're Tia Lily now!"
It seems that the children remain satisfied with this arrangement of events, smiling contentedly until Eda picks them up in her arms.
"Little birds of prey, it's time for you to go to bed!"
"Well, maaaaaaaaaam!!" The children squirm and laugh in Edalyn's arms as she tickles their ribs. Lilith watches longingly as Hunter and Luz hug their mother by the neck, wincing from kisses on the forehead and nose. King is dozing in Eda's hair, clutching her hair tightly with his claws.
"No "maaaam!", I know these tricks, tiny scoundrels, you are going to retire, otherwise tomorrow all three of you will wash the Hootie!"
Lily can't help but grin, looking at the sour faces of the witches. The children calm down, but do not stop clinging to their mother.
"Alright, Lily, I'll put these freeloaders to bed, but that doesn't mean I won't kick your ass after," Lilith swallows, nodding.
"Bye tia Lily!!"
"Bye, Tia!"
Lilith awkwardly waves back to the children.
***
"If you came to arrest me, then, as you can see, I'm not in a condition to leave the house for a long time," Edalin enters the kitchen, brushing her palms on her red dress. "Fuck, you look disgusting, Lily."
Lilith opens her mouth to respond with another taunt, but slams it shut, looking down at the mug of long-cooled tea. They don't have time for family squabbles right now, because there are more important things right now.
"Eda, in the name of Titan, when did all this happen?!"
Her sister just raises an unimpressed eyebrow, plopping down on a stool opposite.
"You mean the kids?"
"Well, about who else! Edalyn, you do understand that it was very rash, immature to deprive them of a second parent, and in general-"
"They're not mine."
Lilith shuts her mouth so fast that her teeth click against each other, but she doesn't pay attention to it.
"What do you mean, not yours?"
"No, they are mine, but not in the sense that they are mine, it's too difficult there..."
"Edalyn Clawthrone," Lily hisses threateningly, narrowing her eyes. "Just don't tell me that you stole the children -"
"No, Lily!!" Eda throws up her hands, hitting her knee on the table. "Will you listen to me at all?! I found them, I found them, you know? All three of them! Hunter was left in the woods, Luz's parents died, King was in a cave on..."
"Soooo you're saying they're not yours?"
"Exactly," Eda sighs with satisfaction. "They are not mine, but they are like mine."
"Edalyn," Lilith slowly stretches out the first letter. "It doesn't smell true at all."
"WHY?!"
"They are damn similar to you!!"
"Because they wanted to be like me!"
"Edalyn, it's called genes!!"
Her sister folds her arms over her chest and plops down on a chair, snorting. Lilith is inwardly triumphant. Of course, her sister was too proud to admit that these children were her handiwork, but after all, all the facts are on the face!
"So that's where their other parent is?"
"You're not going to listen to me at all, are you?" Eda sighs wearily, catching Lilith's active nod. "Let's do this. I do not know the parents of any of them, so officially at the moment they do not have one. Titan, I don't even have a clue what kind of family they might come from!"
"Then we need to find them!"
"Lilith," Eda hisses venomously, and the growing claws dig into the edge of the wooden tabletop, and the feathers are knocked out of your hands. "If you touch these children with even one finger, then I will bury you where no emperor can find you..."
Lily purses her lips, pulling away. Her heart was painfully pricked by the realization that Edalyn not only did not trust her, but also believed that she was capable of hurting children. To hurt her nephews and niece.
Well, Lilith deserved it.
She's a monster who doesn't deserve forgiveness, who ruined her sister's life and maybe... Possibly ruining the lives of her nephews. She will hurt them, hurt them, so she needs to be careful. They are so fragile, so precious...
"...But I think you'll want to get to know them better. So I suggest, mmmmmm... You can visit us? You come in here, we talk, you get to know the kids and I feed you," Eda smirks. "Otherwise you look like a corpse, Lilz. The Emperor's coven doesn't give lunch breaks?"
Oh.
Ohhh.
"So you're suggesting that I visit you?" Lilith asks, unsure of what she has heard.
"Lilz, I'm already starting to seriously worry that you are being brainwashed in the coven," Edalyn frowns, flicking her sister on the forehead. "And... yes? Why not? We haven't seen each other for a long time, and now you don't have a single chance to arrest me, three little freeloaders won't let me go anywhere."
Well... It looks like a chance. A chance that Lilith still doesn't deserve, but which she can't miss.
And, of course, she agrees.
***
In the end, when she returns from Eda to an empty apartment, she takes out a paper for notes.
"I ask you to give me a week's vacation, due to the free days that have accumulated over seven years...
...
Sincerely, Lilith Clawthorne"