Page 71 of Vengeance Becomes Her

“Let’s just see what happens. I want to get a feel for her before we make any decisions. Having her could be an asset, but it could also be a major vulnerability.”

His clipped tone noted the end of the conversation as he widened his strides, quickly outpacing her.

Rhiannon threw herself onto the bed as soon as they made it through the door. She was surprised at how exhausted she was—they’d only been gone a few hours—but the mental toll the day had taken wore her out. Within minutes of her head hitting the pillow, she was asleep, but it was anything but peaceful.

Delphine was there waiting for her in her sleep-muddled mind. Each time she appeared to her, she became more horrific. The flowers were nowhere to be seen. Now her eyes were empty sockets with that sticky blackened blood pouring out. Delphine seemed unphased but Rhiannon didn’t know whatto make of it.

“Hello, Rhiannon,” she hissed. She seemed more on edge than usual.

“Delphine.”

“Love is it?” The source of her agitation became clear. “I thought I told you to be wary of him. You have a purpose and he’s distracting you from that. Can’t you see that?”

“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do anyways? You show up out of nowhere and disappear for long jaunts of time. You were supposed to be helping me, we had a plan. I feel like I can’t even trust you, I don’teven know you.”

“I’m trying to be a friend to you. But I can’t protect youfrom yourself.”

“I can’t help how I feel but I’m not going to act on it. I know better. Killing Silas is my priority and I know Tristain will never love me back if I do that, so it’s pointless. It’s a non-issue.”

Delphine scoffed. “We’ll see about that.”

“You saved my life but that doesn’t mean I owe you anything, especially not an explanation of my romantic choices.”

“Oh, of that I am aware. Trust me, I don’t even have control over my own life.” Bitterness infused every word.

“What does that mean? You need to give me answers instead of riddles and half-truths if you want me to trust you. I can’t just go about life taking advice from…from what equates to a figment of my imagination. Can you help me with the tincture or not?”

“I’m too weak, Rhiannon. I’m sorry, I can’t. The tincture is useless without my magic, and I don’t have enough to give.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I can’t—” Delphine was cut off as her figure evaporated into a cloud of black smoke.

The disconnection pulled Rhiannon from her sleep. The shock of it had her on edge, sending her into action as she saw a hand wrapped around her ankle at the edge of the bed.

She gave a swift kick, connecting with someone’s chest. She grabbed her dagger off the bedside table and crawled to the edge of the mattress, launching herself on her attacker so she was straddling him with the dagger pressed to his throat and her knees pinning his wrists tothe hard floor.

The move was a little clumsy given that she only had one boot on, but she managed to restrain himquickly enough.

“Rhiannon, what the hell?” Tristain grunted out.

She leaned back, swishing her hair out of her face so she could get a better look at him.

“Oh…I’m sorry. What were you doing grabbing my ankle?” She released his arms, leaning back so her weight rested on his legs.

“I was taking your shoes off so you could sleep more comfortably.” He rolled his eyes like it should have been obvious.

“Oh…thank you?”

He cracked a smile at that. “I mean, my back hurts now, but I’m kind of impressed by how quickly you responded. Those are quite the reflexes you’ve developed.” Pride swam in his eyes.

“I had a good instructor, I suppose.”

She leaned back to stand but he shifted his grip to her hips and sat up swiftly, her butt now rested against his knees. Rhiannon clutched her dagger to her chest as she moved just quickly enough not to cut him. His gaze dipped to the shining metal and he licked his lips.

“When I come back, I want you wearing just the boots and that.”

“I thought we weren’t doing this,” she gestured between them, “anymore.”

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