The Lilim tilted her head. “Because the old god here was a lie. Not malicious—just incomplete. He taught that to be holy was to be cold. I’m here to remind them: holiness can be warm.” She paused. “Also, the baker’s daughter makes excellent honey cakes. But that’s secondary.”
“You’re waiting for me to demand something,” she said quietly. “A kiss. A contract. A fall.” mge redux
She hadn’t seduced anyone. She’d simply listened for three days. Then she’d walked into the crypt, spoken the spirit’s true name (a forgotten priest who’d starved himself out of shame), and held his incorporeal hand until he wept himself into nothing. The Lilim tilted her head