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VIOLET

F or a while, I kept falling.

Wind whistled in my ears; that horrible, empty feeling churned in my stomach; my arms stretched out uselessly toward the rough edge of the cliff, growing more distant and plummeting into nothingness.

It didn’t matter that it wasn’t real. It didn’t matter that a part of me was well aware that those events belonged to the past, that I was safe, warm, away from everything that had happened back at the party: I was still falling, the frightening images clinging to me with claws that dug deep into my heart.

Now and then, voices broke through the howling wind—voices I knew, speaking words of comfort, soothing the fear and dread blossoming inside me if only a little. I felt the soft touch of familiar hands and caught glimpses of faces that made my heart sing. It eased the falling sensation just for a moment, and then I was plunging back to my death again.

It went on for what felt like an eternity, the drop repeating in an endless loop where I neither lived nor died: I kept falling and falling and falling to an uncertain, obscure fate.

It took a while before the feeling faded, replaced by a stillness that felt foreign, almost unnatural.

“You’re okay” a soft voice repeated right behind my ear. “You’re okay, love.”

I was lying on something soft—a bed, I figured—and warmth engulfed me from all sides: someone was lying behind me with their arms tightly wrapped around my waist; strong fingers held my right ankle like a handcuff; a hand was buried into my hair, short fingernails gently scratching my scalp.

My boys. I recognized them with my eyes still shut, their touch distinctive and unmistakable—just like their magic. It pulsed and stirred, calling to mine, intertwining until it felt like a singular, intoxicating cloud of power.

“She’s awake” Quinn murmured, his warm breath tickling a spot behind my ear. His hands slowly moved across my belly, the thin layer of the corset doing nothing to conceal his fingers’ heat.

“She isn’t” I muttered, rolling onto my stomach and pressing my face against the mattress. Too bad it wasn’t a mattress: I was now sprawled on Nicholas’s broad, sharp-edged chest, which, for some reason, was also very naked. “She is” I corrected myself immediately, struggling to push myself up. “She’s awake. Most definitely awake. Why are you…?” I turned around just to see Kenji lying sideways at the foot of my bed, hand still wrapped around my ankle. He lazily turned his head toward me, eyes sharp like daggers. He wasn’t happy. None of them were. Sitting on my knees right in the middle of the bed, where the sheets were all crumpled and sweaty, I swallowed. “What time is it? What happened? Where’s Griffin?”

The sudden thought of my brother had me sit up and try to roll off the bed, determined to go check on him, but Kenji's hand didn't let go; if anything, it squeezed my ankle even tighter.

“Sleeping” he said, his voice dry and apparently emotionless. “It’s almost three. Stay, Violet.”

I swallowed again. A part of me wanted to answer that I wasn’t a dog and that he didn’t get to talk to me like that, but I didn’t utter a word. I liked how assertive he was, and besides, I didn’t have the energy to put up a fight. He was free to boss me around however he wanted.

I inhaled deeply and gathered the courage to ask the next questions. “Where’s Zane? What happened after… after I…”

“After you almost fell to your death?” Nicholas snapped, sitting up so fast my own head started spinning. “Is that what you were trying to say, Princess?”

My mouth went dry, and I was almost forced to look away, his stare too intense to hold.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” he went on, crawling to me, invading my personal space. He grabbed my chin with surprising gentleness, fingers trembling with barely contained rage, and made me tilt my head back. His eyes were nothing short of pools of rough, icy water. “You went with him, with Zane, for fuck’s sake! It wouldn’t have been safe even if he wasn’t after your fucking magic.”

He was right. I'd been an idiot, my usual naive, stupid self, so eager to help two half-brothers reunite that I'd blatantly ignored every red flag waving before my eyes. I'd almost died because I'd decided to be blind for the umpteenth time.

I let my eyelids close, and two fat teardrops rolled down my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

"One rule" he said, pulling me so close that I felt his breath caressing my wet lips. "You had one rule only, Violet: staying with us the entire night."

My eyes snapped open. I hadn't heard him use my real name ever since we'd met—I was always Princess to him. He must be mad out of his mind.

“What possessed you to follow that jerk to the edge of a cliff?” he insisted, fingers digging slightly into my chin. “What did you think was going to happen?”

“I’m sorry” I repeated, nearly choking on my words. “I—I didn’t think. I don’t know why I went.”

I left out the part where I thought Zane would give me a letter for him: knowing Nicholas, he’d get even more pissed.

He let out a throaty noise that didn’t sound entirely human. I had to be broken because it went right to my lower belly, releasing a wave of pleasure that forced me to press my legs together. God. I was definitely out of my mind.

"Of course you don't know" he groaned, inching so close our lips kept almost touching. "Do you ever use your fucking brain? Do—"

"I believe it's enough" Quinn said, reaching forward to tap on Nicholas's wrist with a fingertip. "Drop it, Nicki boy. She isn't the culprit here, am I wrong?" His eyes darted toward me. "Am I wrong, love?"

Nicholas turned toward him, hand still firmly holding my chin. “She almost died, fucker. She almost died because she didn’t listen, and you’re telling me I should drop it?”

"I didn't, though" I said, my voice so quiet that it almost got lost in the room's silence. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, blinking away the tears. "I didn't die."

Nicholas turned slowly to face me, and the look in his eyes almost made me regret the choice to speak up. “You didn’t die because we fucking saved you” he hissed, pulling me closer. “We got—”

“I know” I interrupted him as I snaked my arms around his waist to hug him tight. He was all sharp angles. If not for the scorching heat rolling off his body, I could have sworn I was hugging a marble statue. “I know” I said again in a whisper, hiding my face where his neck and right shoulder met. He smelled like alcohol, sweat, and aftershave—he smelled like the safest place in the world. “Thank you.”

For a moment, he didn't react. His body went even more rigid; his chest swelled with a breath I felt vibrating against me. Just when I thought he would push me away, Nicholas finally relaxed into the hug, huffing sharply. "You're part of the Team" he grumbled, hands hesitantly moving up my back. His fingers caught the hem of my corset and tugged lightly. "No need to thank us. We couldn't let you die."

"What he means," Quinn said, "is that we didn't want you to die, and you being part of this Team isn't the only reason why."

“Thank you” I whispered again, before placing a small kiss on his cheek and pulling away. I glanced at him one last time and then crawled to Quinn, who didn’t hesitate to welcome me into his arms. “Thank you, Quinn” I murmured, taking in the vague scent of his perfume and how soft and warm his embrace was. Again, a safe place. Nothing bad could happen while I was in their arms.

“Oh, love.” He sighed and caressed my head, brushing strands of tangled hair with his fingers. “All is good now. You’re safe and sound. Nothing else matters, does it?”

I didn’t try to hold back my tears, so when I let go of Quinn and turned toward my last boy, I was full-on bawling. It didn’t stop me from seeing the look on Kenji’s face, though: beneath the usual calmness, something moved and stirred and grew. Something dark that made my skin crawl.

"Can I… Is it okay if I hug you?" I asked, my voice nothing more than a sobbing mess.

His expression didn’t change apart from the slightest raise of an eyebrow. “You need to ask?”

I swallowed thickly. "You don't… You seem mad. Fuming, actually. I don't want to—don't want to make you even angrier, but I really… really…" As a new wave of tears and sobs took over me, I let instinct guide me and simply threw myself at him, crying against his broad chest. "Thank you" I sobbed. "And I'm sorry. I'm—I'm so sorry. I thought I was going to die. I'm sorry."

Kenji didn’t hug me back, but he didn’t push me away, either. He let me hug him without a word or a reaction. Not even his heartbeat faltered. I felt safe, though—at peace.

"We don't set rules for the fun of it," he suddenly said, the words resonating through my chest, "and we don't think you're incapable of fending for yourself. If we ask you to stay where we can see you, it's for a valid reason."

I whispered that I was sorry, over and over again, until Kenji did the unthinkable: he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me so close that I could feel every hard ridge and hollow of his torso pressed against my trembling chest.

"I thought we'd lost you" he muttered, and the sorrow in his voice was evident despite the hushed tone. It squeezed my heart painfully. "Never do that again. Never, Violet."

I didn't know how to respond. I'd never heard such raw emotions coming from him; it left me entirely speechless for a minute. "I won't" I was finally able to utter, voice breaking pathetically. "I won't. I promise."

With what felt a lot like reluctance, Kenji let me go and gave me a look that made my stomach twist into a tight knot. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to kill me or fuck me until I begged for mercy.

Swallowing with difficulty, I lowered my head and scooted back a little. "What happened back there? Where's Z…" His name got stuck in my throat. "Where's Zane?"

“In a secluded area of the Coven” Kenji replied. His tone was once again dry, cold, emotionless: the hint of vulnerability he’d shown me mere moments earlier was long gone. “Awaiting trial.”

My throat threatened to close up. “Trial?”

“We had witnesses.” Quinn curled his lips into a sharp smile. “Meaning we couldn’t take the fast route like we did last time. Sadly so, I may add.”

“The illegal route, you mean?”

“Illegal…” He clicked his tongue, a playful glint dancing in his gaze. “Either way, love, they would’ve ended up where we put them. We just sped things up.”

I didn’t know how to answer that. Truthfully, I was glad my mother and Reggie had been sent away and that I’d never have to deal with them again, so I wasn’t going to complain about the means used.

I licked my lower lip, sending a shy glance toward my boys. "When…? The trial." I cleared my throat. "When is it going to be?"

Silence settled over the room, heavy, thick, invasive. Nobody moved or uttered a word, but their magic shifted subtly. They didn’t want to tell me.

“I have the right to know.”

“You do, love” Quinn replied, inching closer to caress my chin. “Of course you do. We simply believe it would be wiser for you to avoid any interaction with that …” He clicked his tongue, frowning. “Individual.”

I shook my head firmly. “I want to—No, I need to be there. Let me remind you all that I am the one he almost killed.”

Quinn let out a deep breath. Nicholas clenched his jaw so hard I feared he’d lose a few teeth. Kenji didn’t react, but the gloomy light in his gaze didn’t lie: he didn’t approve.

I cleared my throat. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll find someone else who will.”

“Tomorrow at noon” Kenji said, as soon as I was done talking. “In the meeting room. Speaking or moving during the trial is forbidden.” He raised an eyebrow. “So don’t.”

Nicholas cursed him out using rather colorful words, but I zoned out.

Tomorrow at noon. I had to drive Griffin to Harvard, but I trusted I could make it back in time. I sighed deeply. A million questions zoomed through my mind, begging to be answered, but I didn’t have time to voice any of them. I just wanted to close my eyes and pretend everything was normal, at least for a while.

As I let myself fall back onto the bed, I stared at Nicholas, Quinn, and Kenji, gathering the courage to ask the only question that mattered.

“Can you stay until I fall asleep? Please?”