Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(94)

She seemed to be on a more even keel with Jaxon. That was good. And what had happened with Ferrin tonight? He’d actually acted respectful toward Rhianna and the dead guy who wasn’t really Zane but had still been Rhianna’s knight. She had never imagined Ferrin capable of such kindness. Maybe the expectation of a new baby had softened him up, after all.

The last sound she heard before falling asleep was Valmont talking in his sleep, something about pizza and lasagna. Maybe he was dreaming about working as a waiter. Would he be happy to return to his real job? Seeing Rhianna crying over a knight had taken Bryn’s breath away. If she ever had to stand over Valmont’s body like that… She shuddered… It was too horrifying to imagine. She’d do whatever it took to keep him safe. Even if it meant letting him go.

Wait. Where had that thought come from?

This whole night was messing with her head. She wondered how Rhianna was coping. Of course Rhianna was traumatized, but at least she’d released Zane before he’d died. Not that she would’ve gotten sick and turned to stone over a knight she’d known less than an hour. Right?

…

Jaxon showed up at Bryn’s door way too early the next morning. She opened the door, bedhead and all, because she worried something might have happened with Rhianna. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk.” He studied her attire of yoga pants and Munch’s “The Scream” shirt and shook his head, but he held a carryout box and a tray with three cups of coffee.

“Come in.”

Valmont sat up on the couch, bleary-eyed and confused. He pointed at Jaxon. “Why?”

Bryn shrugged and snagged two cups of coffee, downing half of one and passing the other to Valmont. “He had food, so I let him in.”

Jaxon sat at the library table. “I’m here because I don’t know what to do about Rhianna. My father told me about the real Zane being murdered. How do I tell Rhianna she’s grieving an impostor?”

Bryn opened the carryout box and chose a cranberry orange muffin. “Give me a minute.” She ate half the muffin and finished off her coffee. “Okay, my brain is now engaged, but I don’t have an answer for you.”

“Do you remember what impostor-Zane said to Rhianna last night?” Valmont said.

“He apologized for what happened to her,” Jaxon said. “Knowing what we know now, it makes more sense, but why did he try to kill the traitor he was working with?”

“The driver that attacked me earlier this year was actually my grandmother’s driver. He’d worked for her for more than a dozen years. If someone had something powerful enough to blackmail him or threaten him with, I could see the same thing happening with not-Zane.”

“For simplicity sake, let’s call him Zane,” Valmont said. “And say Zane was drafted into this situation against his will and he didn’t want the traitors to get away with it. He could have attacked that guy because he didn’t want him to succeed with whatever he was doing and he believed strongly enough that he gave his life to stop him.”

“That paints him in a better light,” Bryn said.

“Maybe he wasn’t as evil as his counterparts, but he also wasn’t the brave hero that Rhianna is mourning.” Jaxon shoved his hand back through his hair. “How do I fix this?”

“You can’t,” Bryn said. “Even though Rhianna released him and he wasn’t her knight any more, he did save her life, and he died right in front her.”

“That is not the answer I came here for.” Jaxon sipped his coffee.

“Maybe,” Valmont said, “you should tell her the truth. It might help her recover a little bit faster.”

“Maybe.” Jaxon sighed. “Any other knightly logic you’d like to share?”

“Not really,” Valmont said. “Bryn and I have been making it up as we go along.”

“Again,” Jaxon said, “not helping.”

Valmont shrugged and sipped his coffee.

Jaxon frowned like he was considering the situation. “There’s something else. The fact that those hybrids were Black and Blue made me wonder about something. Remember Analise, who supposedly died in a car accident?”

“What’s he talking about?” Valmont asked.

“Alec, the Black Radical Revisionist dragon who died at my grandparents’ estate, had petitioned to marry his girlfriend Analise, but the marriage petition was denied so she took the only other option, which was a Directorate-sanctioned benefactor.”

“How does that work?” Valmont asked.

Anger flared in Bryn’s gut. “If a female is declared unfit to marry, for whatever reason, which the Directorate doesn’t bother to explain, then an older married man will offer to keep her as his mistress after she graduates.”

“And these men’s wives are okay with this?”

“It’s mostly Blues that engage in this behavior, since their marriages are based on money and political alliances.”

“What does this have to do with Alec and Analise?”

“Jaxon and I looked into the whole benefactor situation and discovered all mistresses are required to undergo a procedure which keeps them from having kids.”

“Are you serious?” Valmont stared wide-eyed.

“It gets worse,” Bryn said. “Analise missed her follow-up appointment to make sure the sterilization worked, and not long after, she died in what we assumed was a Directorate-sanctioned car crash.”