Brynleigh nodded, but her gaze was guarded. She wrapped her arms around herself and worried her bottom lip.
His gut pinched. Something was wrong.
“I’m fine,” she answered. “But… I have to tell you something.”
Ryker’s chest tightened, and an alarm blared in his head. Immediately, his mind went to worst-case scenarios and ran through them one by one. Usually, doing this helped settle his mind and gave him strategies for moving forward. It was one of the reasons he was so good at chess and his job. Predictions and calculations were an integral part of strategy.
He’d never predicted that his wife would try to kill him, though, so maybe he was off his game.
Ryker was so tense that he might snap in half if she didn’t put his mind at ease soon. Somehow, he kept his voice calm and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Promise not to yell?” she asked.
Nothing good ever started like that. He drew in a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
For her, he’d do anything.
“Okay. I… I wasn’t at a job tonight,” Brynleigh admitted.
His eyes widened, and anger surged, burning a path through his veins.
She’d lied to him again? He thought they were past that and trying to fix things. This felt awfully like the opposite of that.
It took every ounce of control he had, but he kept his promise not to yell. Somehow.
“What do you mean?”
She stepped towards him, moving slowly as if to give him time to back away. When he didn’t, she put her hand on his. Her touch, always colder than his own, grounded him. She was here, and she was safe.
How bad could it be?
“I sort of… went to a rebel meeting.”
Bad.
This was so gods-damned bad that he couldn’t even wrap his mind around it.
Forgetting his promise, he snarled loudly, “Why the fuck would you do that?”
What in the name of all the gods had she been thinking? This was so far outside the realm of intelligent choices; he hadn’t even considered that she might do something like this. Did she agree with the rebels? Did she want to work with them?
A growl rumbled through Ryker’s chest, and Brynleigh’s eyes widened.
“I… I thought it was a good idea. I mean, I still do.” She swallowed and spoke quickly as if she was afraid he might cut her off if she didn’t get it all out. “When Jelisette tried to kill me the night you went to Sandhaven, I told her I wasn’t done. That’s why she let me live. I convinced her I still wanted to take down the Representatives.”
A rushing filled Ryker’s ears, and his heart pounded so loudly, he could barely hear his own thoughts. He’d known Brynleigh had made some questionable choices in the past, but this…
He frowned. “So, she handed you an invitation to a rebel meeting? Just like that?”
People had been trying to infiltrate the Black Night for decades. It couldn’t be that easy.
Brynleigh blanched, breathing in deeply through her nose. “Ah… no.”
Unease churned Ryker’s stomach, and he crossed his arms. “Explain.”
To his wife’s credit, she did exactly that. Pacing a path across the living room floor, she told him everything. Visiting a warehouse, drinking some blood wine, overhearing conversations, and fighting a Death Elf called the Crimson Shade.
By the time Brynleigh wrapped up her story, Ryker was half-inclined to throttle her.