Lili asks a lot

“Stein!”

The voice seemed to be coming from somewhere over his head, like an angel’s, and there was a golden light in his room. But it seemed unlikely that an angel could pack so much devilment into merely whispering his name.

Stein groaned in protest.

“Stein! Don’t oblige me to come in there with you!”

Stein felt the blankets slipping down his body, seemingly of their own accord.

“Sweet name of – ” He sat up. “Lili! What in thunder?”

“Stein! I need to talk to you.”

“Now?”

“Yes, Stein. It’s important. It’s about Sophie.”

“Is she in danger? Is someone here?” He kicked the blankets down his legs.

“No, not yet. But I need to talk to you. Get up!”

Stein froze. There was no immediate danger; and meanwhile there he was, bare-​​legged, bare-​​chested, alone in a bedroom with Lili in her nightgown.

“I’m a dead man,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Lili! Your husband is going to kill me,” he whined. “What are you doing here?”

“Not that! You wish!” she snickered.

Stein winced, but Lili went on.

“Listen, Stein. I’m serious. I have an idea, and I need you to tell me whether it’s crazy or not.”

Stein decided he had better at least get out of bed. Being discovered standing half-​​naked with Lili in a bedroom was better than being discovered half-​​naked with either one of them in the bed.

“What is it?” he asked wearily.

“Stein, I think you should marry Sophie.”

The idea was so absurd that Stein was neither shocked nor offended to hear her suggest it. She smiled hopefully.

“That’s crazy, all right,” Stein said. “Is that all you wanted?”

“Stein! It is not crazy! Listen!”

Stein threw up his arms. “If it’s not crazy, then why did you want me to tell you whether it is or not?”

“Because you were supposed to think it wasn’t. Now listen: Sophie is in grave trouble, and there’s no one who dares help her. She has nothing – no home, no money, no nothing…”

“I told her I would pay the fine.”

“But that’s only a detail, Stein!” Lili pleaded. “Father Brandt and everyone say the only thing for her is to go into a convent, but she can’t do that! Not Sophie! She’s so… Sophie! And, Stein, she can’t get her sons away from Leof’s mother – not with no one to help her, no one to stand up for her rights, no home, nowhere to take them…”

“Lili!” he whined. “I only came to see if I could help her with money, or a – a – something!”

He had also come to get away from his house, which was haunted from the cellar to the rooftops with memories of Lathir.

Lili’s little hands battered his chest like a pair of deranged butterflies.

“Her sons, Stein! And if she can’t get them, then who will raise them? The same woman who raised Leof! That will be two more Leofs in the world in the place of the one she killed! Ach! Like the Hydra!” she said eagerly.

Stein shook his head. It was just like Lili to get excited about slipping a Classical reference into a crazy idea.

“Those boys need a good father,” Lili said. “And your boy needs a mother.”

“Lil…”

“And you said you never wanted to get married again!”

“Uh… right…”

“This way you won’t have to!” she cried gleefully.

Stein blinked at her. “I… thought… that was what you just proposed?”

“Not truly married! I mean – truly married, but not truly.”

Stein shook his head. “I think you need to go back to bed, Lili. We can talk about this at breakfast if you even remember having this conversation.”

“We can’t talk about it at breakfast! Egelric and Wyn will be there!”

“And…?”

“Simply trust me.”

“Oh, no!”

“Listen, Stein,” she said gravely. “You need a woman to help you raise baby Gamle and your sweet little brother and sister, and Sophie is a woman. And Sophie needs a man with a good name and a good sword to protect her and to help her raise her boys. And you are a man.”

“Yes, yes,” he said, trying to herd her out the door. “I am a man and you are a woman, and that is why you should not be in my room in the middle of the night.”

Lili caught his arm and dragged him out into the corridor with her. “And that is why we should go upstairs so Sophie can act as chaperone!”