Marlowe
Marla's silence stretched long enough that I began to genuinely worry I'd overstepped, offering something she clearly hadn't been prepared to consider, and I opened my mouth to walk the suggestion back before she finally spoke.
"I don't know if Dorian would actually want that," she said slowly, something careful and pained in her expression. "He still doesn't believe he deserves to celebrate anything about our marriage. Given everything, given how the whole arrangement started, given every year since where his guilt's made genuine joy feel almost impossible for him to accept."
"That's not the same as him not wanting it," Nova offered gently. "Maybe he'd want it desperately, and just doesn't believe he's allowed to."
Marla considered that, something shifting behind her careful c
