Dominique had, as expected, been cold to her the first few weeks, even a bit suspicious, as she often could be with most people – But even then she’d never gotten angry with her, never even reproached her, and as time went on, she came to rely on her, trust her, all the more, to where now… now it was almost like they were… nearly friends. It was definitely unexpected, and more, it was making her question where her loyalties lay. Question how justified her family’s vendetta really was – not that she’d told her brothers that of course. There hadn’t been a need, not yet. She still had time, thankfully.

She hung her jacket up and went to her kitchen to get a drink of water.

To tell the truth, she’d mostly been trying not to think about it. Today hadn’t made that easy though. Today seemed to encapsulate her conflicted loyalties to a tee. Today she’d seen Dominique’s temper directed at her for the first time, and it… had scared her; gotten to her, honestly it had. That look in her eyes, it just… hadn’t been human. She couldn’t say exactly how that was true, but, instinctually, she just knew it was. A human just didn’t get that look in their eyes, no matter how angry or even furious they got, she was somehow very sure of it. On the other hand, as soon as Dominique had seen the effect she was having on her, the look had disappeared, and she’d tried to comfort her… a little clumsily, perhaps, but she felt it was either genuine, or Dominique was… a very good actress when she wanted to be. And what was more, what had really struck her to the core, was the way Dominique was with Elisa Maza. That was love – romance novel, Valentine’s Day, Romeo and Juliet kind of love – or the start of it, at least. It was there on Dominique’s face as plainly as though it were writ large in neon lights over her head. There was just no way she couldn’t have noticed.

And Elisa Maza was as human as she was, the preliminary report from their investigators that she’d received just before she’d left work confirmed that well enough… Unless it was all some elaborate ruse on Dominique’s part, but that seemed reasonably unlikely at this point. What could it possibly gain her after all?