But you'd better be sure if you're making God a liar

Mary was feeling really tired. Dakota had only been up in the Master’s Suite for a few minutes, but those had been some of the most stressful few minutes of her life since…

…Well, since the last time she was alone with Dakota, in the chapel.

Every time she felt Dakota’s eyes on her, it was like an unbearable pressure bearing down on her soul. As if Dakota was accusing her of something, and she was unable to defend herself.

It was ridiculous, of course. Mary had been trying to help Dakota. Why was she now being intimidated like this, when all she’d done was try to help!? Dakota wasn’t being fair, and she wasn’t being reasonable, either.

But that was unfortunately Dakota’s way.

I guess it makes sense that she would be upset with me. She ended up telling me such a massive secret about her feelings for Sylvia… and she probably doesn’t believe for a second that I wouldn’t tell anybody else about it, Mary thought, biting the inside of her cheek. But I wouldn’t do that! I couldn’t! I promised Dakota that everything she told me was in confidence, and I would never betray her confidence, I’m not the sort of person!

Even if Mary knew that Dakota was a bad person and probably didn’t deserve the loyalty Mary was giving her, that didn’t change who Mary was. If she made a vow to keep someone’s confession secret, then she would do it, even if they were one of the worst people she personally knew.

The problem was that Mary was very bad at keeping secrets. She didn’t like doing it. She could manage, if it was a secret for a friend, or even just an acquaintance, but when it was a secret like THIS one, it was a lot harder.

Last night in particular… being around Sylvia, knowing how much pain Dakota had put her through, and knowing the reason why but not being able to say it… it was incredibly difficult for Mary to handle that much stress.

But she pushed through anyway and did her best. Because that was the kind of woman she was.

Even if that meant she’d have to deal with this incredible pressure from Dakota every time she saw the other woman.

But what are the chances that I’d see her twice in one day? Next to zero! Mary told herself, trying to calm down.

“Hello, Mary.”

“Yeeeeee!” Mary jumped into the air and screamed in surprise. She windmilled her arms and nearly fell over the couch, bumping into it instead and staggering forward. The flustered redhead jerked her head up, and there she was.

Dakota.

Back again.

“Da-Dakota!” She exclaimed, the color draining from her face. “What are you doing in the Master’s Suite again already!? You- you were just here!”

“Excuse me?” Dakota raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, a cold look on her face. “This is my hotel,” she reminded Mary coldly. “I can go wherever I like within its boundaries. This whole island is my domain, little girl.”

Mary’s eye twitched. She was only a couple years younger than Dakota (or not… it depended on how her control over time worked) and she didn’t appreciate being called a “little girl”. But it was kind of hard for her to just argue back right now.

Because Dakota was giving her that look again. That smoldering glare that reminded her so much of the way Dakota had looked at her back in the chapel in the middle of her breakdown.

It was obvious that the breakdown had never actually ended. Dakota had dragged herself back into rationality through sheer **** of will, and was going through the required motions of a host like someone struggling to do their day job while mentally grappling with a family tragedy.

Only for Dakota, her day job was part of the tragedy, and it only seemed to be making her angrier. That was the feeling Mary got from those eyes of hers that seemed to be piercing right through her chest and into her heart.

“Why are you here, though?” Holly asked, frowning. “What happened with Emmy and the others? Did you find a room for them to stay at?”

“A room that isn’t a cage?” Dakota smirked. “Yes, that’s all been taken care of, don’t worry about that. No, I’ve just found myself with some free time now that I no longer need to concern myself with such trivialities… and I thought I’d stop by.”

Her eyes flickered back to Mary again, and Mary felt a chill roll down her spine. The way Dakota was looking at her…

“D-Dakota…” She refused to back down just because she was intimidated. Sure, Dakota was tough as nails, even without her supernatural abilities. The host was one of the most stubborn people Mary knew, and Mary was pretty darn stubborn herself!

But she wasn’t going to back down. She knew that she had Nick’s support, and that even if he wasn’t aware of what was going on between the two of them, if he knew that she was trying to help save Dakota’s soul, he would support her with everything he had.

Because he loved Dakota that much.

“Are you here to talk to me?” Mary asked, forcing some strength into her voice as she stood her ground in the face of Dakota’s intimidating gaze.

Dakota blinked, surprised. “…Very good, Mary,” she said with a smirk. “It seems that you’re quite the perceptive one. Is this what all your years of reading mystery novels has come to, then?”

“Maybe,” Mary said awkwardly, giving her a slow nod. “But, uh… don’t you think that if you want to talk… we should do it in private?”

In her heart, the last thing Mary wanted to do was be alone with Dakota. The last time that happened, it had been a nightmare. Literally- Mary had been plagued with nightmares after that incident.

But she and Dakota could hardly have a conversation in front of Holly and Nola. Not a meaningful one. Dakota obviously wanted to keep what had happened between the two of them a secret, and Mary wanted to oblige her.

So as much as she would have loved having Holly as moral support (and Nola, whatever, maybe) she needed to do this alone.

“…You’re not wrong,” Dakota agreed, much to Mary’s chagrin. The fact that Dakota wanted to speak in private as well meant her assumption was right on the money.

Before Mary could say anything, Dakota waved her cane, and Holly suddenly popped out of existence.

“What!?” Mary exclaimed, her mouth flopping open in horror. “Holly! …Dakota, where did she go!? What did you do with her!?”

“Relax,” Dakota scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Your little friend is perfectly fine. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. I just sent her off somewhere so we could have a little girl talk.” She slinked towards Mary, moving with a strange fluidity as if her body was made of smoke beneath her red and black dress. “As for Nola…”

The little gremlin had disappeared before Dakota had even touched her cane. She’d known what was coming and made the executive decision to not be there when it happened.

So now Mary and Dakota were alone together. Just like Mary wanted, right? Well, no, not at all, but it was the only way they could have a real conversation.

Mary wasn’t going to give in that easily, though.

“I’m not discussing anything with you until I know Holly is safe,” she insisted petulantly. Mary knew she was pushing the envelope here, but she didn’t care.

Dakota rolled her eyes. “What, do you think I would actually do something to Holly? Come on, stop being ridiculous. You’re just posturing at this point, Mary. I really expected better from you.”

Mary’s eye twitched in irritation and she scowled. Dakota was raising a valid point, which irritated her. Yes, obviously the host wouldn’t do anything to Holly. Not only was it against the rules, but she knew perfectly well that Nick would not be happy if she did.

“…Fine,” she muttered, shaking her head and just hoping Holly was okay.

“…Seriously?” Holly looked around, confused. She was standing in the middle of a wide field of flowers. The hotel was barely a speck in the distance. “What the heck, Dakota?!” She grumbled, and began the long and frustrating march back home.

“I’m really glad to see you and Nick are doing so well together,” Dakota said with a cheery smile. Mary could smell the lies oozing out of her voice.

“Really?” She asked evenly. “Thank you for your kind words.”

The two shared a tense look. Well, tense on Mary’s part, anyway. Dakota’s smile was inscrutable, on the other hand.

“I’m being sincere!” Dakota placed her hand over her breast. “I was expecting after our little ‘talk’ the other day that you would have quite a lot of trouble being around your husband. After all- you’re keeping quite a big secret from him.”

“And what secret would that be?” Mary asked, batting her eyelashes. “The secret that you actually really do love your creation, Sylvia, but have been trying to convince yourself otherwise because of some bizarre promise you made to him that you wouldn’t love anyone more than him? Is that the secret I’m keeping?”

The Mary of five minutes ago would have screamed at her present self for being an idiot. She was already nervous and wary around Dakota due to the barely-restrained anger emanating off the other woman every time they were in the same room together, and now here she was making things even worse by taunting her?!

But as painful as it was to do, Mary knew it needed to be done. The look of agitation on Dakota’s face was confirmation enough of that.

A shadow covered the host’s eyes and the smile left her pale lips. She stepped forward, her fingers clutching her cane tightly.

“You know damn well,” Dakota said politely, “that every single thing we discussed together in the chapel is the ‘secret’.”

So that was a way of confirming what Mary was saying without actually admitting it. Mary was almost impressed by the doubletalk. Almost. But she wasn’t going to give in and let Dakota scurry away from the truth that easily.

“I know,” Mary continued with a nod. “I just don’t understand. And if I don’t understand, then how can I help you, Dakota?”

Dakota flinched. “What?” Her voice took on a gravely tone out of anger and she narrowed her eyes into a glare. “You think you can help me?” She demanded. “As if I would need the help of someone like you? Are you crazy?”

“Well, you’re the one who sought me out in the first place,” Mary reminded her. “Remember? I was just praying in the chapel and YOU were the one who came to me. Looking for absolution. For forgiveness. For… redemption.”

Dakota sneered at her. “Redemption. What a pretty little word. You can do all sorts of horrible things, and it’s all brushed aside with a flowery word like ‘redemption’. Talk about ridiculous.”

“I disagree,” Mary said, shaking her head. “We already talked about that, remember? Nothing is brushed aside or ignored. You have to live with what you’ve done forever, Dakota. There’s no avoiding it.”

Mary saw the light in the other woman’s eyes dim momentarily and she knew that she’d landed a hit. Not that this was some brawl or something, just, she knew that her words were having an impact on the other woman.

For better or worse.

“…Maybe there’s no avoiding it, no,” Dakota conceded. “And you’re right. I was the one who sought you out… but that ended up being a mistake.” She shook her head. “I’ve realized that nothing you can do will help me, Mary.”

“Of course not,” Mary replied.

Dakota looked at her in shock. “…Sorry, what?” Her mouth fell open.

“Of course I can’t do anything to help you, Dakota,” Mary repeated herself with more clarity. “That isn’t the way it works. The only one who can help yourself is you, I already told you that much.”

Dakota’s face took on some color, and not in a good way. Her cheeks burned with fury as she clenched her teeth, and for a second Mary was afraid that the other woman was going to attack her. But Dakota held herself back.

“…Then what’s even the point of you?” Dakota muttered, shaking her head.

Mary frowned. “What kind of stupid question is that?” She demanded, a lot meaner than she usually was. Even Dakota seemed surprised. “YOU’RE the one who came here to talk in private to begin with, Dakota,” she reminded the other woman. “So don’t go and send my best friend off to the far reaches of wherever and then act like you didn’t want anything to do with me in the first place! That’s just being childish!”

Yeah, that got exactly the reaction Mary was counting on. Dakota’s whole face twisted into a look of disdain, as though Mary was committing some grievous sin by daring to point out that she was behaving childishly.

For Dakota, it was obvious that such an accusation was one of the worst things a person could do.

“You think that I’m here to have a fun little chat with you, Mary?” Dakota demanded. “I already told you why I was here. To make sure that you keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut.”

She lunged forward and grabbed Mary by the chin, squeezing her face tightly and digging her cold fingers into Mary’s cheeks.

To her surprise, Mary didn’t respond with fear the way Dakota had anticipated. No, she actually held her ground, and didn’t back down.

An action that Dakota almost respected, even.

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” Mary said, finding it hard to get the words out with Dakota’s fingers digging in. Eventually, Dakota let her go so she could keep talking. “If that’s the only reason you’re here, then you can leave.”

“This is my hotel,” Dakota reminded her again with a snappish tone to her voice. “You don’t get to tell me to leave.”

So Dakota wanted to stay here, even though Mary was supposedly not of any help?

Yeah, Mary definitely could see that the other woman was lying to herself, maybe even more than she was lying to Mary.

“Then is there anything else I can do for you?” Mary asked with a sweet smile. She was honestly sincere with it, too, which she knew would only anger Dakota more. “Perhaps a cooking lesson?”

Dakota’s eye twitched.

“…Or maybe you’d like to continue our talk?” Mary knew it was that one, obviously. Which made things so much harder for her. She held her ground and looked Dakota in the eyes, and waited for Dakota to admit to what they both knew was the case.

“…What is there even left to talk about?” Dakota muttered, looking away from her.

Just as Mary expected.

“How about… Sylvia?” Mary asked, stepping forward cautiously. She could see the pain playing out across Dakota’s face, even as the host tried to pretend like she wasn’t bothered by anything.

“Sylvia?” Dakota snorted. “Why would I-”

“I’m not blind, Dakota, I can see what you’re doing,” Mary interrupted her. “The way you’re treating Emmy and Carly, it’s not like you. You’re being sweet. Generous. You’ve never treated anyone else that way, except Nick. Going to the trouble of finding Emmy a new room? Even if it was all just a game to you, that’s still nice of you.”

Dakota didn’t respond. She just kept glaring.

That was how Mary knew she was on the right track!

“Are you looking at their relationship as a substitute for your own relationship with Sylvia?” Mary asked, knowing that she had to be very careful here. “Or is it-”

“Shut up!” Dakota exclaimed, slamming her cane against the floor. “Why do you always have to keep bringing HER up!?”

“Because she’s at the heart of this!” Mary said, having anticipated Dakota’s showy outburst. That was exactly the sort of thing she always did, using shouts and intimidation when she knew she couldn’t win an argument the normal way. “I know how you feel about her, Dakota! You told me yourself! You hate her because if you didn’t hate her, then you’d love her! But what I don’t understand is why that’s such a bad thing!”

She shook her head.

“Nick loves you, and he cares about Sylvia! He wouldn’t want you to mistreat Sylvia out of some misplaced devotion to him! If he knew about that, it would tear him up inside!”

“It would,” Dakota snapped, stepping closer to Mary again, “which is why you’re not going to tell him.”

“…You’re right, I’m not,” Mary admitted, nodding. “But that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. You can love Nick AND Sylvia, Dakota. No one says you can’t.”

“I say,” Dakota replied, narrowing her eyes into flashing golden slits. “I promised Nick. That I would always love him the most. More than anyone. And I won’t break that promise to him.”

“Even if he wouldn’t want you to make that promise?!” Mary couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How does that make sense!?”

“Even then,” Dakota replied calmly. As though she were completely aware of how irrational she was being, but she couldn’t stop herself.

Her feelings towards Nick were like a curse. That’s what Mary could see now.

“…So does that mean… you love Sylvia that much?” Mary asked quietly.

“What!?” Dakota couldn’t believe what Mary was driving at. “No, don’t be ridiculous! How could you even think-?!”

“Because your promise to Nick was that you wouldn’t love anyone more than him,” Mary said. “And everyone knows just how far your feelings for Nick go.”

Mary was almost impressed by them, if she was being honest. The love and devotion Dakota had towards Nick rivaled her own- or, frankly, even eclipsed it.

That was just how obsessed with him Dakota was.

“So isn’t that the real reason why you rejected Sylvia so strenuously?” Mary asked. “Because you knew that if you allowed those feelings the space to exist… then you could end up breaking your promise to him? And loving Sylvia even more than you loved Nick?”

It seemed impossible that Dakota could love anyone more than she loved Nick (if one accepted her twisted, toxic feelings as “love”) but it was the only conclusion Mary could arrive at.

And the silence from the woman in front of her wasn’t a denial.