Page 39 of Delphine's Dilemma

The broken glass in the couch was my own fault, and I hated it.

“How did that get there?” Arven asked.

I didn’t have the patience to explain. “It’s a long story.”

“I take it you were involved?” He tilted his head.

Sucking my teeth, I didn’t have to give him an answer. He already knew. A smile reached his lips. He took the glass and disposed of it in the bin before coming back to shake out the rest of the couch cushions. Nothing else fell out, like that one shard had been waiting to remind me of what I’d done and how Cerri had survived, thankfully.

Was this the end of my work as a bounty hunter? Or was it the beginning of a new era where I didn’t have to come home to an empty domain?

I watched Arven meticulously sweep the couch for glass like he was a dedicated male-wife and not a battle-hardened warrior king. I guess the two could go hand in hand, but I doubted this man knew how to cook. We were going to be ordering a lot of take out.

If we kept this up.

My indecision got the best of me. The only thing I knew how to do was hunt, kill, and survive. This new path with hope and happiness on the line made no sense to me. I had no idea what to do next. A part of me wanted to fling myself back into what I knew…a life by myself.

Instead of thinking about what could be next, I asked Arven what he knew about Locke. That man needed to be dealt with, and it was something I could focus on. I could apply everything I knew for certain to this mission…then I could deal with what came next.

Or, I could take another mission and never think about what was next.

Arven fitted the couch back together and dropped onto it, his long arms taking up the span of the couch back. He looked so at ease, it was hard to believe that he was the Golden Beast.

“Locke won’t stay in the mortal realm if he knows someone is hunting him.” Arven ran a hand along the stubble growing on his jaw as he thought. “He’s likely retreated to a domain. They’re harder to pin down and enter. He’ll lie low there until he thinks its safe to exit again.”

I wrinkled my nose. “How long could that take?”

He gave a half-shrug. “Fifty years? A hundred? Locke is notoriously skittish. He knows everyone would kill him if they had the chance.”

I didn’t want to wait that long for my revenge. I’d be looking over my shoulder, waiting for him to hunt me down first, for the rest of my life. Life like that had been cruel and exhausting. I wasn’t looking to go back any time soon.

The little wolpertinger sat on Arven’s shoulder and rubbed its cheek against Arven’s jaw. So long as Locke was free to continue his illegal trades, more creatures like that would be in danger, too. It was a fitting reason aside from personal revenge to hunt Locke down.

“You’re really determined to see this contract through. Aren’t you?” Arven absentmindedly pet the wolpertinger’s tiny head.

“It’s a job,” I lied. “I have a contract that needs to be fulfilled. I’m not going to let this one get away.”

I bit my lip and watched Arven for his reaction. He might have been a king, but he spent all of his time on the battlefield. He didn’t have to learn to hide his thoughts from nobles who’d use his own expressions against him. Even from here, I could tell he was weighing the consequences of his involvement.

Though I wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to get involved, his unique talents would be invaluable right now. He could track magical trails.

“How long do you have before a magical trail dries up? If Locke is in his domain already, would it hinder us if we waited another night?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “You want me to sniff him out for you? If the other courts find out that I’m helping you commit crimes against the Balefire court, there will be hell to pay for us all.”

He had a point, but I was beyond caring about the elven bastards. They could fight their petty squabbles on their own time. No matter what happened, they would find an excuse to attack one way or another. If they didn’t blame me, then they would find someone else to blame just so they could gain a little more ground in the fight.

I wanted Locke dead and gone.

And no one was going to stop me.

Arven saw the determination on my face. He watched me for several heartbeats. If he expected me to back down, then he’d learned nothing about me in the time that we’d been around one another.

“You cannot stop me.”

He reached a hand out to me, palm open and beckoning. “I don’t want to stop you.”

My breath rushed out of me. I should have known that Arven wouldn’t dream of standing in my way, but my desire to be independent had clouded reality for a short while. Taking his hand, I climbed into his lap and let him hold me as the day slipped away.

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