"Isn't that what you were knitting a while ago?" Lith asked with the hoarse voice of a man who had swallowed sandpaper.

"Yes." Kamila nodded.

"I remembered how it was one of your teen dreams having your girlfriend wear one of these things so I had to learn knitting from scratch.

I couldn't risk telling Solus.

You two might have fused again and spoiled my surprise." She had to constantly pull the hem of the skirt down since it rose dangerously high every time she moved.

"Also, making a sweater like this proved to be harder than I thought.

It took me several tries to- What are you doing?" Lith raised his hand to ask for silence while he made a quick call.

"Mom? Is everything alright with Elysia?" "For the gods' sake, yes!" There was audio only and Elina sounded really annoyed.

"Stop calling every other hour and enjoy your date." "Thanks.

Would be a problem if we prolonged our absence until tomorrow late in the morning? Maybe for a couple of days.

A week tops." "A week?" Elina's voice went from angry to utterly confused.

"Of course not, but-" "Thanks, Mom.

Love you." Lith ended the call, giving his full attention to Kamila.

"You heard her.

We have one week.

We must make it count." He was so serious and spoke with such a solemn voice that Kamila half blushed and half giggled.

"I take it as you like the dress and you're happy we didn't have dinner at the restaurant." "I love the dress and the rest of the guests are happy we didn't have dinner at the restaurant because otherwise, I'd have to make a massacre to not leave witnesses." Lith put the dinner in the pocket dimension to keep the food warm and the drinks cold while he took care of much more pressing matters.

Kamila was still giggling like a little girl when he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a deep kiss, fighting the urge to rip the fruits of her labor to shreds.

Even though Lith had known her for almost four years now, Kamila still managed to surprise him.

After three lives spent on two different planets, around people who would say anything to get what they wanted just to disappear the moment things got rough, there was nothing more amazing than honest feelings.

Ever since they had met, Kamila had never professed her love through cheap words or empty promises, always through action.

Every time she had been confronted with one of Lith's disturbing secrets and presented with the chance to walk away, she had chosen to stay.

After discovering Solus' existence and the ambiguous relationship with her that Lith would never sever, Kamila had left out of shock when his career was at its peak.

Yet she had chosen to return to him and propose to him at the lowest point of his life.

Not even learning about his first life on Earth and his past as Derek McCoy had been enough to push her back on her wedding vows.

The things that she had learned during the day he had come clean with her about being an alien, a day that was supposed to be one of the worst of her life, Kamila had treasured them.

The Virgin Killer dress had been but a fleeting thought as he recounted to her the despair of his years on Earth, yet she remembered about it.

Despite her job taking most of her time, despite Solus' magic lessons to be ready to take care of Elysia, despite the things that kept happening in his life, Kamila had managed to learn how to knit just to make one of his old dreams come true.

That was their first true date in months and she was still severely depressed after losing her powers, yet Kamila had brought the dress with her and spent the whole day preparing for that moment.

<nulli>'That's why she wore the one-piece swimsuit.

She wanted to see my reaction.' Lith thought, still incapable of believing how lucky he was.

In a world of shadows and lies, a person like Kamila was the rarest and the most precious treasure that he could ever hope to find.

*** Of course, they didn't extend the date for a whole week.

Lith's homing instinct and Kamila's maternal instinct would have never allowed it.

They just had fun during the night, slept in, had more fun during the day, and then went back home after lunch.

Lith managed to keep his promise, making her happy multiple times to the point that Kamila woke up with her face hurting due to the grinning in her sleep.

Yet it came at a cost.

Lith presented her with a list of revealing and sexy dresses that he still remembered from Earth and asked her to make them.

Kamila wasn't enthusiastic about the idea of spending her free time like that, but he was so happy that she couldn't say no to him.

After their return, Lith fulfilled Jormun's final wish and started to bring both Valeron the Second and Shargein with him to the tower.

Elysia was still very little and could have only limited interaction with the older babies.

Sadly, all the good intentions in Mogar couldn't stop Lith from feeling a knot in his stomach in the presence of Thrud's son.

Shargein's presence helped because the whelp was already bigger than Aran and way smarter than any human his age could be.

He mediated between the two human babies, using a mix of baby noise, Dragontongue, and a few words here and there.

Whenever the trio was asleep after a hearty meal, Lith would work on Void Magic with Solus while Tista would give Kamila magic lessons and follow her physical training.

Everything went fine and their life was peaceful until it wasn't.

The reveal of Elysia's streaks and bloodline had only ended up hastening the plans of the Undead Courts.

If one Tiamat was a threat, two were a cataclysm.

On top of that, the baby couldn't be attacked but there was still a silver lining.

"Cut the head of the Dragon and the body will wither." Rakshu the Ghoul said.

"Verhen spent years discovering his abilities and he only succeeded through effort and luck.

Things like the Black Star and Kolga don't exist anymore.

"If we kill him, not only there will be no more Tiamats for a long while, but also his daughter will be forced to reinvent the wheel on her own from scratch once she grows up.

"Without a mentor, she won't be a threat to us even after the protection of the Guardians has expired and at that point, taking her out will be a simple matter.

Remember, there will be no opportunity like tonight.

"The more time passes, the more Verhen will master his violet core and new bloodline abilities.

He'll never be as weak as he is today and every trick that we have planned for the assault will work only once.

"So remember your role, tread with caution, and don't fuck up!" Rakshu put his communication amulet in the middle of the circle formed by the dozens of elder undead that had volunteered for the mission.