Rhett's Time Out

Havermouth, Three Weeks Before

Rhett floated on his back in the river water, his eyes closed to the glare of the sun, feeling the water tug at his hair, spreading it out around him. He needed the break, he thought, to get some perspective on things.

It didn’t feel right. None of it felt right, and he’d been lying to himself from the start, trying to convince himself that he believed in the plan, because he was desperate. He didn’t want to lose Aislen again, and he feared what losing her would do to the Triquetra.

In a way, it would have been better if she had never come back, he admitted to himself. They hadn’t been truly happy without her, but they also had been surviving, even rebuilding, after her loss. He wasn’t sure if they had it in them to do that again.

He was glad to have her back, though. He could tell himself that, logically, they were doing okay before her return, but there was a difference between surviving and living, and he didn’t want to compromise for the rest of his