Page 74 of Vengeance Becomes Her

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Tristain and Rhiannon warmed up with steaming hot coffee as they watched the rain pour down outside the inn. They were both in good spirits after the night they had. No matter how much they both tried to resist the pull between them, the truth was they were all they had now.

Rhiannon’s eyes widened as Samara unexpectedly walked through the door. She was flushed as if she’d been walking briskly, the cold whipping against her cheeks despite the fact that her hood was pulled up, hiding her face in shadow. Her eyes darted back and forth around the room, looking for them.

Samara spotted them, taking a seat on the open bench next to Rhiannon.

Samara slammed her hands on the table, leaning forward eagerly. “I want to help. I only have a little time and a lot to say, so I need you both to listen.”

Tristain raised a brow.“And this is?”

“Tristain, Samara. Samara, Tristain.” She returned her gaze to the woman, leaning forward to hear whatshe had to say.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions about my dynamic with my father. He is determined to keep me quiet, but I won’t stand for it. I want to see Silas pay and I’ll make sure he does.” Her eyes became glazed, haunted as she got lost in her memories. “He tried using his power on me, well he did use it on me. But it didn’t seem to have the effect he had hoped. A pulsing darkness came out of his palms. I was completely taken off-guard and I had no idea what was happening, even when my chest started to hurt. I don’t know how to describe it exactly, just a throbbing pain. And, while you would think my heartbeat would have sped up, it slowed down. It didn’t stop, but it was much slower than it should have been.But then it sped back up to normal.” She shuddered. “He tried several times, nothing changed. He was so angry. For a moment, he considered strangling me. His hand was there on my throat, but I screamed for my father. He came. But not before I started seeing hallucinations. The horrible things of nightmares.” She shuddered before continuing. “When my father finally opened the door, Silas put distance between us, but there was no denying that something was wrong. I was shaking with fear at that point and my face must have been flushed and wet with tears.” Her eyes welled but no tears fell.

Rhiannon reached out a hand, placing it on top of hers. “What did your father do?”

Samara laughed, there was no humor in it. When she spoke again, there was a slight quiver in her voice. “You would think that he would do something, anything, given how protective he seems over me. But no, he was upset that I had caused Silas to become angry with me. You see, he had presented himself as a nobleman who was going to whisk me away and give my family a generous amount of money as a dowry of sorts. It was my father’s dream. He’d worked hard his whole life and spent every penny on me, my mother, and my sisters. And despite all his hard work, we still didn’t have the freedom he craved. This was his way out of a life of disappointment and thankless labor. And I was the one who had almost ruined it all. Or at least that’s what he told me.” Her hand curled into a fist, but Rhiannondidn’t let go.

There was more steel in her voice now, her anger growing as she recounted her father’s betrayal. “When he found us, he told me to stay in my room. He didn’t even ask if I was okay. They left together and went into his study. When my father came to my room later that night, I asked him what happened. He didn’t say much, just that Silas had left and he wouldn’t be back. Well, that and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone whathad happened.”

The words spilled out before Rhiannon could keep the judgment from her tone. “And you just listened to him?”

Samara turned to her, her brows furrowed and anger in her eyes. “Yes, I listened to him. I had no choice. I had nowhere to go and no money of my own. No one in this town would listen to me anyways. I would bring shame to my family and make us look weak. Not to mention, my father hasn’t let me out of his sight since then. He’ll do whatever he has to in order to keep the money.”

“Money?” Rhiannon gently removed her hand from Samara’s as she crossed her arms over her chest, preparing herself for the awful truth that she expected.

“Yes. Silas paid my father for our silence. My silence. And my father accepted.” She swallowed hard. “Now, here we are. That’s everything youneed to know.”

Silence followed for what felt like minutes as they processed everything Samara had just told them.

Tristain spoke first, his low voice barely audible over the sounds of other diners. “Silas boughtyour silence?”

“Yes. And my father happily sold it.”Her jaw ticked.

“What a piece of shit,” Rhiannon spat. Her anger was boiling rapidly. “I bet that’s what he did with the council. Paid them off to ignore me.”

The waitress chose that point to come back with their food, slamming it abruptly on the table. Rhiannon glared up at her. Her appetite was spoiled at this point, but she didn’t say anything, just let the food sit there untouched.

“So, you’ve told us. Now what? Aren’t you afraid of what might happen?” Tristain asked, genuine curiosity filled his voice, there was no judgment to be found.

“I was never afraid to speak my truth. I just had no one worth telling. No one here would have helped me do anything about it, my father is well-respected and determined to keep me silent.” She said it like it was a simple fact, not an utter betrayal of the people who were supposed to be her caring family and neighbors. “As for my father, I don’t care if he’s angry. What’s done is done, I can handle the fallout.”

Rhiannon nodded but the knot in her stomach told her that the fallout would be worse than Samara was expecting. She still held some trust in her father. Rhiannon did not. She’d seen the controlling grip and intimidation he exuded over his daughter at every possible moment.

Tristain broke the silence that had fallen over the table. “So, what will you do now?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.” She looked meaningfully between the two of them.

Rhiannon studied her. While she’d mistaken her for meek and afraid before, she was now realizing that was a ruse to keep her father from suspecting that she would betray him. That made her smile. She was impressed. This was a woman of her own heart. “Do you want to join us?”

Samara nodded, waiting to hear the plan.

“Our plan is to go after Silas and bring him to justice. But, to do that, we need to be able to hold our own. We assume he’s traveling alone, but we don’t know the extent of his magic, or if he’s working with anyone else. We need to train, keep our skills sharp. We’ll likelyneed to fight.”

“I want to do all of that with you.” Hope and determination flickered to life in Samara’s eyes.

“Can you wield any kind of weapon?” Rhiannon felt instantly guilty about the doubt in her voice.

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