Page 98 of Adversary to the Villain

It was factual. So he wasn’t certain why her response was gaping at him like he’d just thrown a brick at her head. “You are doing this on purpose. This is revenge for all the times I made you choke on your food, isn’t it?”

“Honesty?” Trystan arched a brow. “It’s what you requested. Would you rather I lie?”

“Yes,” she squeaked. “Lie.”

Trystan shrugged. Very well. “I had a dream about you just before I woke up. It was a very clean dream.Nobodywas naked.” He smirked, ducking when she chucked a seat cushion at him.

“Lie better,” she huffed, rolling her eyes.

“I hate you,” he said softly, looking at every inch of her precious face with a far-too-tender gaze.

“Do you two need a sock for the door?” Helena, Evangelina’s cousin, entered with a tray of food and a large shadow trailing behind her. “I think it would be in poor taste, considering my business quite literally just burned to the ground, but I don’t want to be a subpar host.”

Trystan was surprised. “This is…your house?”

Helena reacted to this question as if Trystan had handed her a dead animal carcass and asked if it was her purse. “Are you mad? Do I look like the sort of woman who sleeps in a gardening shed? I require a feathered pillow and pixie-made central air. Besides, it’s more of a prop closet. Or it was…”

“I’m sorry for the loss of your theater,” Trystan offered, squeezing Sage’s hand when she winced.

Helena waved a hand, though her fingers shook. “I hated the old architecture anyway. That building had far too many ghosts. Besides, what you saved when you used your magic to guard Evie and Fritz…”

Yes. The glow of iridescent light when the beams began to fall, the way the light enveloped him; Fritz rising enough to help both Trystan and Evie away from the building, into the open air.

And in walked the goon in question, looking a little worse for wear with an eyepatch over his missing eye. “Don’t let her fool you. I saw a tear slip free when your magic healed me.” Fritz grinned, elbowing Helena, and Trystan ignored when she shoved at the man with a fond look in her eyes.

Trystan had done that. He’d…he’d saved someone.

An allergic reaction was imminent.

“What happened to Douglas?” Trystan asked, rubbing at his head.

“We’re already searching for the men who did this on Benedict’s orders,” Raphael Fortis said, entering the space fully, oddly holding one of Helena’s shoes in a hand. “Douglas escaped, by means of aid from one of the villagers. A loyalist, clearly. I have the authority to place them in custody on behalf of the Fortis family. We will find where the coward slinked off to.”

“What of the others in the theater?” Marv asked carefully, appearing as lost as Trystan.

“They escaped out the back exit when the flames began,” Helena chimed in with sad eyes over a set mouth, moving aside from the door for Roland and Marv to join.

“Many of the relics were salvaged.” Roland offered this news to Helena, and she responded to it with a sniff.

“I’ve grown tired of show business in any case. We’ll rebuild…for a new venture.” Helena didn’t appear emotional, but her fingers shook just slightly when she adjusted her skirts.

“We have an excellent magical contractor at the Fortis Fortress that could aid you.” Raphael offered this gruffly, not looking at Helena at all.

“Wonderful. Before we venture into carpentry,” Trystan chimed in, growing tired of observing, though he paused for a moment before he spoke again. “What the fuck are the Fortis brothers doing here?”

“I’m doing what’s right for Rennedawn, unlike every other fucking politician in this greed-fueled nightmare,” Raphael growled.

Sage folded her hands, demurely examining them with fluttering lashes. “He came to confess his love for me, actually.”

“Oi!” Raphael barked, and Trystan snapped, “What?”

But Sage’s blue eyes were glittering when they found his black ones. “I was trying to lighten the mood.”

Trystan narrowed his eyes. “By pissing me off?”

She was unapologetic when she replied. “Yep.”

Raphael turned on his heel. “We’ll leave you two be,” he said as he exited the shed, Helena behind him, rolling her eyes. Marv waved when Roland urged him along, too.