Page 38 of Vengeance Becomes Her

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tristain was distant and quiet when she ran her sprints, and when they sparred, and even when they called it a day. He wasn’t acting like himself. No easy smiles or light teasing. Rhiannon found herself saddened but even more annoyed by his change in behavior. She’d grown used to his friendly demeanor that made up for her own brooding.

She stopped abruptly, reaching out for his arm. He stopped and turned toward her, confusion furrowing his brow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s umm…” he looked around searching for the right words.

Nausea pooled in her stomach as she waited. He would say he couldn’t train her anymore or that she was miserable to be around. Her anxiety ratcheted up as he remained silent. When she took a breath and opened her mouth to speak,he spoke first.

“It’s the anniversary of Leylah’s death.” He closed his eyes, his expression melancholy.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. We didn’t need to do this.” She gestured around them.

“I had forgotten too. Funny how time can do that when you don’t especially want to remember something.” His eyes were glassy when he opened them again.

Unease swept through her. She was never any good at comforting others. She scrambled for sympathetic words, but nothing seemed to be enough, so she offered the one thing she did have. Time.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He considered her offer. “I suppose if anyone would understand, itwould be you.”

She squeezed his arm reassuringly, pulling him toward a stone bench with curled iron arms that sat at the outskirts of the garden.He was sitting nearly on top of her, she could feel the closeness of his knee teasing her nerve endings as he turned to face her.

“I don’t know where to start.” He tugged his unruly hair back, keeping it fisted at the nape of his neck.

“At the beginning.” Rhiannon placed a hand on his thigh, encouraging him to open up.

“That’s a long time ago. We were childhood friends. She would spend nearly all her time at our estate. We would play from noon to dusk, climbing trees, swimming in the ocean, hiding from our parents when it was time to go home. We were inseparable.” His breath caught unevenly. “It was always easy for us. We knew each other so well by the time we were teenagers that it only seemed natural that we would explore our relationship romantically. But the first time she kissed me, I knew. I knew that she was everything I could ever want.” He paused, his eyes unseeing as he revisited his past.

“After that, things naturally evolved and we were together. We still did everything together, but instead of playing, it was having meals together, talking about our hopes for the future until dawn, and sharing a bed through the best and worst nights. There was nothing we didn’t tell each other. Orso I thought.”

His eyes became turbulent as he reopened old woundsin his memory.

“Were her and Silas close before?”

“No. Silas and I never were, so they hadn’t interacted much. Other than when he sought me out to terrorize me. But usually when she was around, he wasn’t. That’s part of the reason we spent so muchtime outside.”

He leaned closer to her. The evening breeze stirred his woodsy scent in the air. It made her want to lean in too.

“I never suspected that they’d be sneaking around behind my back. I can’t imagine what she saw in him, it must have been something. Maybe it was just that he wasn’t me.” His hand curled into a fist at his side. “I didn’t think she was unhappy. Things had felt the same as they always had—for me at least.”

“Silas is manipulative, we both know that. You can’t blame yourself. Who knows what promises he made?”

“She was everything to me. He knew that, though. The worst part is, I know why he went after her but I’ll never know why she let him. I want to resent her for it, I do. But I can’t. When she died, she was still the love of my life. I never got to confront her about it. I never got to know why I wasn’t enough. I never got to say goodbye. I was just left in a world without her.” He took a shaky breath. “If I could have been more for her maybe she wouldn’t have been driven into his arms.

“Tristain,” she pleaded.

He only shook his head.

“Tristain, look at me.”

She gripped his chin gently toward her, forcing him to meet her gaze. His eyes glistened with tears of loss and betrayal.

“You can’t blame yourself. Your brother is a cold, emotionless killer, who is relentless in the pursuit of what he wants. There is nothing you could have done differently. He is the only one to blame for this.”

She didn’t let go until he nodded. She was sure it was to appease her, but it was a start. He bore too much blame on his shoulders for what his brother had done. At one point, she would have thought he deserved the shame and despair he put himself through. But now she knew him, and he was nothing like his brother.

Her eyes flicked down to the silver ring he wore on his pointer finger. It was etched with three lettersL. S. M.and a pattern of leaves that circled the band. She had never thought anything of it, but now she suspected it was an engagement ring and those three letters held a whole new meaning.

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