She was scared.
She was scared of the person who’d done this to her.
It was quite clever, Rohan mused. Dalatteya’s subconscious remembered just enough to do that person’s bidding, their manipulations hidden deep in her psyche without giving her any proof of who was manipulating her and why.
He felt almost sorry for the woman—now her paranoia made a lot more sense—before remembering the crimes she’d committed. Because she had committed them. He couldn’t find any evidence of her mind being manipulated back when she’d tried to kill her own nephews. That was all her, no one else. The third-party manipulation started much later, though Rohan wasn’t sure when.
Dalatteya also wasn’t in any way responsible for Mehmer’s death. She didn’t know anything about it. She didn’t seem to know anything about the rebels, either.
As for Tai’Lehr—
Something sprang out of the corner of her mind and lunged for his telepathic core. Rohan barely managed to bring his shields up in time.
Breathing hard, he pulled out of her mind and opened his eyes, unease making his stomach churn.
A mind trap. It was a mind trap.
He’d been taught about them, but he’d never actually encountered one before. It was a very hard skill to master. Mind traps were extremely dangerous. They could completely destroy the mind of the trespasser who triggered it. They didn’t practice mind traps on Tai’Lehr.
But Rohan knew who did.
* * *
Jamil bowed slightly to Dalatteya and turned to leave, glad the ordeal was over. Playing the role of a paranoid, revenge-thirsty widower had been rather tiring. As expected, Dalatteya hadn’t offered any insight. She was a master of saying a lot without saying anything of substance. But her sharp, watchful gaze on him didn’t match her meaningless chatter. It made him uneasy.
He found Rohan waiting for him outside Dalatteya’s office.
One look at Rohan’s blank face and grim eyes told him everything he needed: Rohan had found what he was looking for in Dalatteya’s mind.
Jamil could barely contain himself. He was dying to ask, but it was neither the time nor the place. He would have to wait until they returned home.
“Well?” he said as soon as they were finally back in Jamil’s rooms.