A Practiced Grin

Bianca shook her head at her husband’s childish act, then turned back to Lyra. “Don’t mind him, sweetheart. Elise left about an hour ago, same with Bastian.”

Lyra felt a pang of guilt. “Oh… I’m sorry. We weren’t there to—”

Bianca quickly placed a hand on the side of Lyra’s arm, gentle and grounding. “Don’t worry about it. Nothing to apologize for. Everything’s sorted. We’ll go over some final de