It did not take a genius to finish Zelda's sentence, but somehow it felt as if she'd be less an awful person if this entire situation was about a man. Ari had offered to let her do whatever was necessary to make herself happy, whether that meant a divorce or bring another man to bed. This wasn't about a man, though; this was a matter of parenthood and who had the right to access her son, and in Dionisia's eyes, both men had that right.

"Ari does not love me, Zelda," she explained, hoping it would not be questioned further, "but he does love Elliott, and I never want to damage their relationship." There were far more upsetting things than a damaged relationship, but they were fears she could not bring herself to vocalize. "I do not want my son to suffer because of my sins. If it was only so easy to explain."

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Zelda frowned; this all made sense to her, but perhaps not in the way that Dio intended it. "Sure," she said, "But if you want to avoid wronging him, or anyone, then you should talk to Ari before he finds out some other way." She didn't think this was a situation that could be resolved by more secrets - certainly if Ari found out later he would feel worse about it.

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AMAZING set by MJ

Ari was not an intimidating man by nature. He was good and kind and (mostly) honest. He had never been severe with her, never yelled at her—nothing. She was not sure why she was so afraid that he would be anything like that upon her confessing, but it was a fear that persisted. (Did she even have a memory of Ari being explosively angry to picture in her head? She didn't think so.)

"I must tell him, then, I suppose." Tell him something. She was not sure, even before the eyes of God himself, that she could tell him the whole truth, but she would not leave him totally blind.

She had an idea.

"I hope I can trust that you will say nothing to him while I try to find the right time and place?" she asked, knowing the answer would be yes. Despite their arguments and the past two years of silence, Zelda was loyal.

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"Of course," Zelda said, with a nod. It wasn't like she would ever have the opportunity to tell Ari, as long as Dio did things on a quick timeframe - and besides that, she couldn't mess Dio's life up like that. They had been friends for so long that even if things were still weird between them, Zelda was going to stick by her.

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AMAZING set by MJ