[Location: Empire State Building, New York]
"Ah~ feels like it's been forever, even though only 0.00001 seconds has passed."
I walked out of the dungeon with, now awake, Eris in my arms, while Carmilla looped her hand through the crook of my elbow as she had always belonged there.
Now, if anyone looked at us, the picture-perfect family of three would probably register as eccentric but rich, which—considering the Empire State Building was involved—was about as normal as New York got.
The air shifted the moment we crossed the threshold.
Not magically.
Socially.
The kind of invisible pressure that came from stepping back into a world that kept moving even while you were busy nearly rewriting ancient laws of blood, death, and marriage.
Eris blinked sleepily, golden eyes adjusting to the city lights pouring in through the massive windows.
"…Papa?" she mumbled.
"Yes?" I replied immediately, instinct overriding everything else.
