Page 8 of Vengeance Becomes Her

“You truly don’t know what happened?” Jade asked quietly.

Rhiannon shook her head. “I don’t remember much of anything. One minute Silas and I were talking, the next I woke up on the floor with you.”

She ran a hand through her hair. She’d forgotten that it was now bleached of color. The white strands were foreign and brittle, just like the rest of her body.

She sighed. “I wish I could remember, but it’s almost like the harder I try to bring the memories forward, the harder my mind fights against me. It’s as if it’s shielding me against whatever pain I will surely find there.” She could feel the tears welling against her will.

Rhiannon was tired of crying. Her head ached, her throat ached, her eyes ached. Every inch of her was in pain, both inside and out. She took a deep breath, fighting them back. Her stomach growling disrupted the awkward moment of silence that hung between them.

“Oh, right,” Jade laughed nervously, “that’s why I’m here. I brought you dinner. And I wanted to check on you, of course.” She walked over to the red oak dresser and picked up a plate of food and a glass of water. “Here you go.”

Rhiannon looked down at her food. “Vegetable soup,” she huffed. “Mother knows I hate this. Hot vegetables should be outlawed.” She stared in disgust.

“It’s good for you. You need all the nutrients you can get.” Jade squeezed her shoulder before returning to the dresser. When she turned around again, she held a plate with a lemon bar on it. “But after all you’ve been through, I think you deserve dessert too.” She winked.

Rhiannon felt a small smile rise at the thoughtful gesture. Satisfied with the compromise, she dutifully ate every last drop of her soup.

Jade sat in the oversized chair by her bed. She picked up the book she’d been reading but hesitated opening it. Rhiannon could tell her sister wanted to talk.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine, it’s you I’m worried about.” Jade sighed.

“I don’t want to talk about me. Distract me. Have you had any more interest in your art?”

“Nima Manero requested a piece, but I suspect she’s interested in more than a landscape.” Jade’s lips turned up slightly.

That caught Rhiannon’s attention. “Oh? Are you interested in more than the art as well?”

“Yes, but not right now. After Damon and Si—” she cleared her throat, “and everything that’s happened to you, I find that I’m not in the mental space for romantic pursuits right now.”

Rhiannon nodded. Her thoughts turned back to her own turmoil, ending their brief conversation. There truly was noescape for her.

When Rhiannon was done, Jade cleaned up and blew out her candles, effectively deciding she was goingback to sleep.

Once a night owl, Rhiannon couldn’t even argue. All she wanted to do was sleep. Every small action she took left her shaky and lethargic. Even raising the spoon to her mouth repeatedly was a chore.

She stared out at the large moon beaming between the opening in her curtains. Eventually, her mind wandered off and she fell back intoa fitful sleep.

Rhiannon roused in the early hours of the morning. She was still unable to get up and move around on her own, so she was forced to lay there with her thoughts. She concentrated on recalling the disturbing images that had plagued her while she slept. She played them over and over in her mind, trying to make sense of what they meant. Red eyes. Dense shadows. Large snakes. Her nightmares seemed to be trying to tell her something but it was just out of reach.

By the time Jade peeked through the front door, she had nearly driven herself mad trying to remember anything from her lastday with Silas.

“Still nothing?” Jade’s brow furrowed with worry.

Rhiannonshook her head.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like death.”

And she meant it. It wasn’t just the physical pain and heavy exhaustion that made her feel like she’d aged decades, it was the heartbreak she felt. She couldn’t understand why Silas would just leave her when something terrible had clearly happened to her. She couldn’t yet face the possibility that he had something to do with it. She had been trying to convince herself that some harm must have befallen him, too. He couldn’t have left her for dead.

Jade shook her head. “You shouldn’t say things like that. When I found you on the floor in the dark I...” her voice broke. “I really thought you were dead. I have never been so afraid in my life. You were so frail and motionless. When I finally got the courage to reach out to you, you barely had a pulse.” She shuddered as she recalled the events. “At first, I wasn’t even sure if it was you. But then I recognized your dress.”

A few tears ran down her cheeks as she searched Rhiannon’s gaze as if she were looking for answers. But Rhiannon didn’t have any. Not for Jade and not for herself.

Rhiannon steeled her voice as much as she could in an effort to offer some comfort to her sister. “Well, I’m not dead. I’m here. I’m alive. I’m going to be okay, I promise. My body just needs to heal from…” She left it at that, because she still genuinely didn’t know what had led to her current state or what was wrong with her. She hadn’t even seen herself yet. Her mother had hung sheets over the mirrors and begged her to wait until she was a little stronger to look. Rhiannon agreed, mostly out of fear.

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