Page 68 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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It took Meredith until after dinner to get Serenity alone. The woman was so prickly right now that even asking to talk to her within hearing range of everyone else seemed like a guaranteed way to put her back up. Her pride was hurt and she was waiting to lash out at the slightest provocation.

Meredith knew the feeling. She’d felt that way when Jace had finally come back to Seclusion. He’d been the person she’d held on to when things with her mother were at their worst. She’d spent her teenage years thinking she would marry him, because that was what her mother wanted. Then Elijah Winters had disowned Jace, stripping him of the family name her mother wanted Meredith to marry him for.

Jace had asked her to run away with him. He hadn’t known her mother was abusive, but he’d known she wasn’t happy. It had been terribly romantic, and Meredith had wanted to say yes. But she’d also known she was one of her mother’s most valuable assets, and Savannah Townsend wouldn’t just let her go. If she’d married Jace, she would have ruined his life.

Not that she’d told him any of that at the time. He would have gone all white knight on her, because that was Jace to a T. Instead, she’d told him he was worthless to her without his name, and dumped him.

So when he’d come home last year she’d thought it was her chance to rectify that past hurt. She’d been adrift and he’d seemed like the perfect life vest to cling to. But when she’d finally gone to see him, he’d had Siren wrapped around him. Literally. That was what she got for sneaking into the private quarters of a home at a ball.

She’d been truly awful to Siren for no other reason than Siren had what Meredith thought she wanted. And instead of being a bitch right back, Siren had reached out to her. Meredith hadn’t appreciated it at the time, but it had quite literally changed the course of her life, for the better.

The least she could do was pay that forward where Serenity was concerned. So when the woman slipped out onto the back porch after dinner, Meredith followed. Serenity muttered something about the night air losing its freshness and turned back for the door.

“I wanted to talk to you.” Meredith pitched the words low and soft. She’d asked Jensen for some pointers on Shifter hearing range, and she thought the words shouldn’t carry to anyone else.

“Fine,” Serenity said in a harsh whisper. “Let’s get this over with.” She walked off into the gardens. Meredith followed her into the moonlit labyrinth of mostly-dead winter foliage, reflecting on how nice it was that Aspect shields did work against Shifters, since they were designed to be a physical barrier impervious to anything’s attempt to get past them.

If Serenity got cranky and decided to murder her, Meredith could hide behind her comfy shield and phone for help. It would be mortally embarrassing, but she could do it.

Serenity finally stopped beneath a barren arbor that would be overgrown with trumpet honeysuckle come spring. She faced Meredith, her arms crossed. “If you brought me out here to tell me to stay away from Jensen—”

“I didn’t. I wanted to clear the air.”

“So, what? You think because you’re besties with your ex’s wife that you and I are going to be friends?”

Well, that answered the question of whether Shifters on the second floor could hear conversations on the first if one forgot to put up a silencing spell. “No. If I’m being honest, I don’t think you and I will ever be friends. I don’t need you to like me. I do need you to be able to work with me. And if you can’t do that, then I need you to go home.”

“I can’t go home. Rebekah ordered us all to stay here.” She flashed Meredith a dark grin full of teeth. “I hear she’s all excited about her new daughter-in-law. She never liked me much.”

“I’m sorry.”

Serenity snorted. “That she never liked me?”

“That he married me.”

“You make it sound like a one-way decision.”

“That’s because it was. I’m not supposed to tell you this, since Jensen’s worried his magical marriage tattoo won’t have all its violence-repelling properties if I do, so keep this to yourself. We’re not married in the way you think.”

“Oh, please, do tell me how I think.”

Challenge accepted. “You gave Jensen a marriage ultimatum. When he left, you told yourself it was because he wasn’t the marrying type. Then suddenly he’s married, and not just to anyone, but to an Aspecter. Now you feel hurt and betrayed. You think he must be so head-over-heels in love with me that he went to an extreme to protect me.

“But it wasn’t like that. He’s not in love with me. This wasn’t some grand romantic gesture he made because if anything happens to me he’ll never forgive himself. It was practical. He needs me to find Natalie. If I die, he might not get her back. Hence the marriage.

“Which he tricked me into, by the way. We’re getting divorced as soon as this is over.”

Serenity stared at her for a long moment. In retrospect, Meredith considered that maybe she should have left out the divorce bit, as it could come across as Meredith throwing away the very thing Serenity had desperately wanted.

Serenity let out a brittle laugh. “You actually believe all that don’t you?” She took a step forward. “You think you know me so well? Well I know him. Let me tell you what you may not have learned about him in your five weeks of association.

“He’s a good man. He is affectionate and attentive and it was easy to mistake that for love because he did more for me without trying than most men ever do. But Jensen King doesn’t yield. He has too much of Rebekah in him for that. So if you think he married you because his back was up against the wall and he didn’t see any other way out, you’re an idiot.” She laughed again. “You know, come to think of it, from what I’ve seen you’re just as stubborn as he is. Put that way, you two are a match made in heaven.

“Congratulations.” Serenity gave her a mocking bow and continued in a voice layered in sarcasm. “Your little heart-to-heart has warmed mine. Consider my interference in your marriage over. If you don’t go through with the divorce, do send me an invitation to the belated bridal shower. I’m sure we’ll be BFFs by that time, so I can give you all the pointers about what he likes in bed.”

Deep breath in, don’t respond to that, deep breath out.