Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(31)

I didn’t smile back. “But you don’t believe in me.”

He shrugged and his grin faded. “Reality is what it is. You can’t change it, and I know that. Eventually you’ll realize it too. I just hope it doesn’t hurt you too bad.”

I pushed to my feet. “Just watch me, then.”

Tad saluted me with a cookie. “Whatever you say, General Lena Bean.”

The sound of footsteps on the basement stairs turned us both around to see a sleepy green-eyed Dahlia step into the hallway.

Her bright-red curls were wild as always, but not like she’d just woken up. More like she’d just come from the salon with an artful coif that was perfectly messy.

She yawned, flashing her fangs, and ran a hand through her hair, but that did nothing but make it even more wild. “Your baking smells amazing, even if I can’t eat it.”

“Did I hear something about baked goods?” Ernie shot in through the open window, his focus zeroing in on the table laden with treats. I shook my head. “Go ahead.” A part of me wondered where he’d been, if he’d been off telling my secrets to Hera or Theseus. I pinched my mouth shut and did my best to push those thoughts away. They wouldn’t help me any at this point.

“You are a glutton.” I forced a laugh and turned my back while Tad and Dahlia greeted one another, busying myself with the dishes at the sink.

I clunked the pots and pans together hard enough I could almost block out the sound of their kisses. Ernie flew to the edge of the sink and dangled his feet in the sudsy water while he chewed on a handful of cookies. “These are really good.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t like hearing them make out?” He grinned, and I grimaced.

“Something like that.”

He looked to the side and curled up his nose. “They don’t seem to care that we’re here.”

I laughed softly. “Yeah, that’s part of the problem.”

Dahlia spoke, and I assumed that meant they were done saying hello. “What’s up, my snake friend? You’re all wound up like you’re about to strike something. I can smell it all over you.” I didn’t like her metaphor; it was too close to the mark.

“Santos attacked me last night.” I turned back to them in time to see Dahlia’s jaw drop and her eyes look like they would fall out of her head.

“How do you even know Santos?” she blurted out. “He’s—”

“Remo’s rival, I know. Santos attacked Remo at the courthouse while Tad and I were there. I helped Remo, so Santos put a target on me and made good on it not long after.”

Dahlia shook her head, her eyes wide as saucers. “That’s crazy. But you’re saying this like Remo wasn’t with you. He was with you, wasn’t he?”

I shook my head. “I upset him and he let me go home on my own.”

“Oh, he is going to be pissed. At least you’re okay. I mean, you obviously survived them. Did you run away?” She smiled and leaned back in her chair. Tad put an arm over her shoulders, nodding.

Did I run away? I blinked several times as I struggled with the reality that Dahlia didn’t think I had it in me to take care of myself either.

Tad nodded. “Well, it’s not like she’s going to fight them on her own. How did you get away?”

I folded my arms over my chest, hugging myself tight as if I could squeeze their disbelief away. “Santos has something that . . . well, I think it could have killed me. He hurt me bad enough with it last night he almost had me.” I refused to admit that I had indeed run away in order to survive.

Their reactions were polar opposites. Tad sat there and stared at me, while Dahlia jumped up and ran to me, grabbing me in a hug. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Damara fixed me up, but she said . . . I almost lost my leg.”

Dahlia hugged me tighter, and I hugged her back. I was lucky to have her as a friend. Tad continued to stare at me until I snapped my fingers at him. “Hello, I almost died. Do you not care?”

He shook himself. “Sorry, I just . . . I have a hard time believing you were hurt that bad, and then you’re here now, all healed up.”

“You don’t believe me?” I spluttered, shock and hurt bundling up in me once more. Yet I had no proof. What was going on here?

Ernie swept in between us. “I was there, Tad. I saw the whole thing. She really was hurt that bad. If it hadn’t been for Damara, she would be missing a limb for sure.”

At least Ernie was standing up for me. But my own brother . . . he didn’t believe me. Didn’t believe in me. Dahlia didn’t either, though, and that hurt only a small amount less.

Dahlia frowned at Tad and then looked back at me. “What do you want to do?” she asked, stepping back so she could look me in the face.

“I have an idea, but I don’t know how good it is.” The thought had been growing in the hours I baked, slowly forming into a perfect recipe, if I could pull it off. “Santos put something on the weapons, like an acid, and that is what hurt me. It burned right through my snakeskin, eating its way to the bone in no time.”

Tad blanched. “I should have been with you.”

I waved him off. “They would have hurt you too, and there was no way you would have known. If anyone should have been with me, it should have been Remo.” I shook my head and bit my bottom lip, but the words were already out.