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“Just let me kill her!” the assassin howled. “Everything would be so much easier if you would just let me get this over with!”
Maddox was taken aback. He gaped at the assassin’s bold words. That wasn’t something people said in front of a detective all that often. He was probably surprised by the forwardness.
He gestured to her as if to askwant me to take care of this?I shook my head. There was no way that he was going to keep her in a human prison. Addie assured me that was a lesson that Maddox had finally learned, yet it seemed like the instinct was still there.
“Delphine and I need to have a conversation,” Rhoan interjected.
My attention snapped to him. “Delphine? You’re on a first name basis with this woman?”
He never took his glare off the white-haired elven woman. She stared back at him with the foulest twist to her lips. I would have bet good money that her fists were quaking at her sides inside my little prison.
She was trapped, but now I had a confused homicide detective and a massive hole in my living room floor. I stepped up to the edge while still keeping one hand fisted in Rhoan’s shirt and looked down into the apartment below. Like I’d thought, it was empty. I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled back.
Could I fix the floor? Did I have the patience to even try right now?
Nope.
I rocked back on my heels and let Rhoan catch me. He kept me upright while Maddox picked his way around the hole in the floor.
Maddox put his hands on his hips and leaned in. “What is going on here? Do I need to put a detail around your place at all times?”
“I have one,” I said, tugging at Rhoan’s shirt. Twisting, I glared up at him. “He wasn’t here when he was supposed to be. It was fine. I handled this all on my own.”
Rhoan gestured to the hole in the floor. “Youhandledthis?”
I pulled away. “Yeah, and now your girlfriend is restrained for the time being. I didn’t need your help at all!”
Maddox took a cautious step back and raised his hands. He didn’t leave like I expected, though. Instead, he carefully watched us like we were a couple that had the cops called on them for a domestic disturbance.
I groaned and ran my hands down my face.
“I went to go barter with this wench,” Rhoan said. “I thought if I could offer her something of value, then she would leave us alone, and we would be able to focus on what’s actually important.”
My head snapped up. If he said that overthrowing Beryl was more important, I was going to—
“Like unlocking your memories. I know your past is still a blur to you. There were people in the Seelie Court who loved you, and I think remembering them could help you.” Rhoan’s expression softened.
Damn man had to go and make me feel things for him again. I couldn’t bear it.
Then he leaned around me and pointed a finger in Delphine’s direction. “You. You baited me and left me in a damned field all by myself!”
She laughed. “That’s what you deserve for being a gullible and naïve fool. Did you really think you could offer me more than Beryl? She’s a queen!”
I turned. The woman’s hardened expression almost hid the sparkling tears in her eyes. I was shocked by the slightest show of emotion on her face, if I was being honest. It made my heart twist for her. I found a kindred soul in her—metaphorically, since neither of us had mortal souls.
This was a woman who’d experienced hardship and wanted nothing more than independence now. While I wanted to run away to safety and solitude, she’d chosen to fight back to assert her indepencence.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, embarrassed. Turning back to Delphine, I asked, “What is Beryl offering you? At this point, I doubt it’s money. It’s something far more important. Isn’t it?”
Delphine glared in response. So, I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. However, I didn’t know how to get anymore information out of her. I could have brewed a truth potion, but there was something—or someone—far better here.
I cast a glance in Maddox’s direction. His shoulders slumped but he quickly lifted his head and rolled his shoulders back before approaching Delphine.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t bring myself to look at Rhoan. It wasn’t because I was mad at him. If anything, he’d been trying to help. It’d just backfired. I understood, but I couldn’t tell him that just yet. Every time I looked at him, my heart clenched with need.
So, while Maddox interrogated Delphine, I knelt on the floor and placed both palms flat to the wood panels. Sunshine warmth spread across my shoulders and down my arms. The wood beneath me spread with new growth, especially when I transferred life from the foliage that’d spawned earlier. I was able to fix both the floor and the structural damage underneath.
Still, the apartment didn’t look the same. The finish on the floor was completely gone. It smelled of fresh cut wood in here, like I’d had it all replaced. I didn’tneedmy security deposit back, but it would have been nice.
