Page 149 of Lovely Venom

It’s liberating once again to walk into Rhys’s building on my own. His doorman remembers me and lets me inside. I reach the fifteenth floor, and a whiff of something nutty hits me, calming me.

Then I stop short.

There she is. Fallon is kneeling in front of Rhys’s apartment, peering through the scope she’s stuck under the door again.

My shoes make a light slapping noise, and she whips around my way. Her eyes light up when she sees me, but then they turn sad.

“They’re dying!” she cries out.

“What? Who’s dying?” I’m ready to shove her out of the way and kick down the door.

“He’s not watering his plants! He doesn’t deserve the gift of life.”

Heisan assassin, but I’m not sure if she knows that.

“It’s okay.” I calm her down. “I’ll water them when I get inside.”

Before I can knock, the door swings open. Fallon jerks upright so fast she nearly crashes into me.

Rhys stands there shirtless in gym shorts, glistening with sweat, and long hair dangling in his eyes like he’s just returned from a war fought on a treadmill.

Damn.

Rhys bends down and takes the scope from Fallon’s hands.

“Bad girl,” he murmurs with the kind of silky amusement that makes me shudder at the thought of her breaking down his walls.

Rhys tugs me inside without a word and shuts the door behind us.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, toweling off.

“I need to talk.” I slip into his kitchen and grab the watering can. “But first, I’m saving your plants.”

“The plants are fine.” He watches me and murmurs so low I’m not sure if I’m supposed to hear him. “Besides, how else will I keep her bothering me?”

I finish the plant’s triage, tempted to call him out for his obvious returned sentiment and possible obsession with his stalker neighbor.

Setting the watering can down, I face Rhys and say, “I need to talk about the plan to kill Noel.”

Rhys raises an eyebrow. “You’ve got my attention.”

“I need your perspective. As an assassin, but also objectively.”

He nods, leaning on the wall across from the kitchen. Alert. Concerned.

“The knights are being picked up tomorrow morning, pre-dawn. All at the same time. That gives us a very narrow window.”

“There’s nous.” Rhys grins at me. “Connor and I will take Tahiri out.”

I ground my molars. They’ve already talked about this. Already hatched a plan.

“Noel is arrogant, but slippery. If we mess this up, he’ll vanish.”

“There’s nowe.” Rhys swipes his phone from the counter and starts typing.

I grab it from him and shove it down my shirt. “Thewehere, Rhys, is you and me. Consider yourself honored that of your entire empire, I am askingyoufor help. I know I can’t do this alone. But I have to be the one who ends him.”

“Why is the hair on the back of my neck standing up?”