“Coming,” she called out as she got to her feet.
It wasn’t going to be L.W., either. He’d rather have an arm sawed off than come home, and God knew his new roommate, Shuli, could afford anything either of them required. She’d never been to that male’s house, but she’d heard about the exploits. The fighter had inherited all his parents’ money, and even though he was highly effective in the field, he loved the good life.
Not that luxury was something L.W. had ever cared about.
No, he just wanted to be anywhere but here, and his side hustle was killing things.
Great combination for a mother’s worry bone.
Opening things up, she— “Oh.”
The female on her proverbial doorstep had long, silver hair and perfect, Victorian-doll-like features. Dressed in blue jeans and an Irish knit sweater the color of a latte, you might be fooled into thinking Rahvyn was just a regular ol’ vampire. But all you had to do was look in her strangely colored eyes and you immediately had the sense something was different.
And if you were in her presence for longer than two heartbeats, youknewshe was not like everybody else.
Lassiter’s mate lifted a hand in an awkward wave. “Um, hi…?”
There was an even longer pause. Then Beth shook herself back to reality.
“Sorry, God, I’m sorry—” She stumbled over her own feet as she stepped back. “Hi. Yes, hi.”
As the other female entered, she braced herself to perform a social dance of how-are-you, I’m-perfectly-fine, isn’t-the-weather-good/awful/cold dialogue. Except nothing came out of her mouth and Rahvyn didn’t say anything, either.
Which gave her too much time to think. She felt like she hadn’t seen Rahvyn in forever, even though they’d worked together every night up until so very recently. Then again, she’d been sitting next to the image of Wrath the whole time, as opposed to the female standing in front of her now. So many years. Side by side. Each acting their role in that collective illusion, as the seasons came and went, and she silently screamed on the inside.
“Sorry, what?” she heard herself ask.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I guess I need to stop being an idiot, huh.” Beth backed up a little more, and still couldn’t think of what to say to be polite. “Do you want to come in?”
“You’re not an idiot.”
“That is debatable.”
Rahvyn smiled in a way that almost hid how shrewd her eyes were. “I’ve seen you in action, remember. You’re very smart, you think on your feet, and you have a politic way of breaking bad news.”
“I…” Rubbing her eyes, she tried to stay away from the past. “Thank you, I guess.”
“It’s true.” The other female entered. “I keep expecting to see you around the campus, so to speak.”
“Well, I’m sticking close to home these days. And there’s nothing wrong with a little agoraphobia.”
Annnnnd who was she trying to convince of that, she wondered.
“Well.” Rahvyn pushed up the loose sleeves of her sweater. “To that end, I wanted to know if you had any interest in coming to Luchas House with me tonight? We could use some help sorting out the attic. And honestly, I’ve missed you.”
Well, shit. She really didn’t want to go anywhere. And if she did, she didn’t want to be around the female for so many reasons.
“I’m just cleaning up breakfast.” She pointed to the sink. “First Meal. You know what I mean.”
Yeah, ’cuz that one pan in the sink was brain surgery that took hours.
“You should really come with me.”
Beth locked stares with the female, and in the back of her mind, she tried to define what color those irises were. It was impossible. They were…all colors, all at once, and none that she had ever seen before.
“I know that we aren’t friends.” Rahvyn’s voice was soft and low, hypnotic in the way the flame atop a candle was. “We’re more like two fighters who’ve been through a war together and are suffering from the same kind of battle fatigue. Even though your burden was far greater, I have some idea of what you’ve gone through. I was there.”
