Chapter 196: A Conversation Between Rhea and Daphne

Chapter 196: Chapter 196: A Conversation Between Rhea and Daphne

Chapter 196: A Conversation Between Rhea and Daphne

Friday afternoon, a little after four.

Soft jazz drifted through the lounge like smoke, occasionally broken by the clear clink of glass against glass.

Daphne Whitlock sat alone near the back, one hand resting beside a cup of coffee. Her fingertip moved slowly around the rim while her attention remained elsewhere.

The place was brighter than The Full Moon Lounge, and at this hour there were only a handful of customers scattered across the room.

Daphne had chosen it almost at random.

If not for the subject she planned to discuss today, she probably would have preferred The Full Moon Lounge instead.

At least she liked the bartender there.

The bartender here was beginning to irritate her.

It was not a problem with his skill.

Since Daphne entered, the man behind the counter had looked in her direction far more often than necessary. The curiosity in those glances was subtle enough that most people would probably ignore it.

Daphne did not.

For reasons she could not entirely explain, every additional look made her mood slightly worse.

Fortunately, she did not have to endure it for long.

Another striking woman soon entered the lounge.

Rhea Maddox spotted Daphne almost immediately.

Neither woman had the kind of appearance that disappeared easily into a room when she made no effort to hide it.

Rhea stopped at the bar first, ordered a sweet nonalcoholic drink, then carried it toward the corner.

She sat across from Daphne.

A faint smile appeared in her eyes.

"I was beginning to think you had no interest in working with me."

Daphne shook her head.

She did not bother with small talk.

"There’s a possibility Cyrus could recover some of his lost memories."

The amusement disappeared from Rhea’s face almost instantly.

Her posture changed.

"How?"

"Vera Sable."

Rhea recognized the name.

More specifically, she recognized the family behind it.

The Sable family had spent generations building influence throughout medicine. Hospitals, clinics, private specialists, research connections, and more relationships than an outsider could easily count.

If Daphne’s information was accurate, then the possibility could not simply be dismissed.

Still, something about it immediately felt wrong.

Cyrus’s memory loss was not an ordinary illness.

Rhea studied Daphne.

"His memory problem isn’t caused by a disease."

"That’s exactly why I wanted to speak with you."

Daphne met her eyes directly.

"One reason I contacted you was to compare what Cyrus told each of us."

Rhea said nothing.

Daphne continued.

"He told me that moving back and forth between his adult body and his younger form causes him to lose memories."

Rhea’s expression shifted.

"He told me the same thing."

Then she paused.

"Although he only told me that after I forced the transformation myself."

Daphne’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Forced it?"

Rhea did not seem particularly interested in hiding the answer.

After all, she had been the one who originally suggested that they exchange information.

Her irises changed.

The ordinary color gradually deepened into a vivid, unnatural red.

Heat seemed to gather almost imperceptibly around her.

Daphne stared.

Rhea gave a small smile.

"As you can see, my bloodline has a talent for heat."

She let the change remain visible for only a moment.

"The first time it happened, I increased the temperature around Cyrus too much. His body reacted like the heat had melted something out of him. He changed into that younger Frostborn form right in front of me."

Daphne listened carefully.

Rhea’s eyes returned to normal.

"After that, Cyrus told me each transformation damaged his memory."

She lifted her drink.

"So I gave him more space."

The explanation was technically true.

Rhea simply did not mention everything else surrounding that night.

Once Cyrus had told her that repeated transformations could erase his memories, continuing to force them too often would have been careless.

Even if the claim had been suspicious, she could not afford to make him panic and run.

Daphne’s expression remained controlled.

"That explains more than I expected."

Rhea rested her glass on the table.

"Now I want an answer to the important part."

She leaned back slightly.

"Does transforming actually cause the memory loss?"

Daphne answered immediately.

"No."

Rhea’s gaze sharpened.

Daphne continued before she could interrupt.

"His memory is genuinely being affected by something, but the transformation itself is not the cause."

"And his bloodline?"

"I still don’t know."

Rhea studied her face.

There was no visible hesitation.

Daphne had suspected Cyrus’s explanation was false almost from the beginning.

The way he used the younger form and the way his memory gaps appeared never lined up cleanly enough.

Still, when she confronted him before, there had been something fragile beneath his defenses that made her reluctant to push too hard.

Later, she found his diary.

That confirmed the memory loss was real.

It simply came from something else.

And now Vera Sable had become involved.

That complicated everything.

Daphne did not mention how she found the diary.

Vera had already played a role in that chain of events, and lately Vera had become increasingly close to Cyrus.

If Daphne acted alone, she had no guarantee she could keep pace with everyone else around him.

For now, remaining near Cyrus without alarming him was more important than forcing answers.

Across the table, Rhea suddenly laughed under her breath.

There was no amusement in her eyes.

"So he lied to me."

Daphne’s mouth moved faintly.

"He lied to me too."

For a brief moment, both women reached exactly the same conclusion.

Cyrus was difficult.

Far more difficult than his calm face suggested.

He lied when he needed to.

He redirected questions.

He gave partial truths and let other people fill in the rest.

If cornered, he searched for the nearest exit before anyone else realized there was a problem.

The conversation fell quiet.

Rhea was the first to speak again.

"My goal isn’t complicated."

Daphne waited.

"I want Cyrus to stop slipping away every time I reach for him."

Rhea’s tone remained almost casual.

"I want him cooperative enough that I don’t need to wonder whether he’s already planning three different ways to escape while I’m speaking."

Daphne lowered her eyes briefly.

Her own answer required more care.

"When he’s in the younger Frostborn state, he becomes more vulnerable and dependent."

She paused before continuing.

"He once used that vulnerability to manipulate my sympathy, then immediately returned to treating me like a threat."

Rhea’s expression became slightly strange.

Daphne went on in the same calm tone.

"If that state appears again, I want him to trust me instead of treating me like someone he needs to escape."

Rhea stared at her for a few seconds.

If she ignored everything surrounding the situation, Daphne’s wording sounded dangerously questionable.

Given what Rhea already knew, however, the real issue was control and trust rather than anything she needed to intervene over immediately.

Cyrus’s younger form changed the balance between them.

That alone was enough to make Daphne fixate on it.

Rhea picked up her drink again.

A smile returned to her mouth.

"In that case, we probably have room to cooperate."

Daphne raised her own cup.

"For now."

Their glasses touched with a soft, clear sound.

The small agreement changed something between them.

Not friendship.

Neither woman trusted the other enough for that.

But they now had a shared reason to exchange information.

Toward the end of the conversation, Rhea appeared to remember something else.

"There is one more thing."

Daphne looked at her.

"I may have a lead on Cyrus’s bloodline."

"What kind of lead?"

Rhea lowered her voice.

"I used some police resources to look into rare-blood records, old missing-person material, and isolated communities."

Daphne listened more closely.

"There’s a remote region where the Calder surname appears unusually often."

Rhea tapped one finger lightly against the side of her glass.

"I haven’t confirmed that it means anything yet, but I’m planning to investigate when I get the chance."

Daphne nodded.

"I hope you find something useful."

Rhea accepted the simple wish with a small nod.

Neither of them needed to explain why the information mattered.

At this point, Cyrus’s bloodline had become one of the largest unanswered questions surrounding him.

Maybe Cyrus himself genuinely could not remember what he was.

Maybe he remembered perfectly well and had simply decided that telling anyone would be dangerous.

Both possibilities fit him.

Trying to force the truth out of him would be a mistake.

If they pushed too hard before understanding his abilities, his limits, and the source of his memory loss, they might accomplish nothing except convincing Cyrus to disappear.

Rhea had already learned how seriously he valued escape routes.

Daphne understood the same thing from a different direction.

Caution benefited both of them.

If Rhea eventually identified his bloodline, they could learn what his body was capable of, what conditions affected him, and what precautions mattered.

That information could change everything.

For now, though, neither woman intended to rush him.

Rhea took another drink and let her eyes drift toward the window.

Daphne quietly finished more of her coffee.

Their methods were not identical, but the basic approach had become surprisingly similar.

Stay close.

Avoid frightening Cyrus badly enough that he ran.

Gather information.

Wait until the balance shifted in their favor.

Only then would either of them decide how far she was willing to go.