Chapter 174

Violet’s POV

When I had struggled to stop crying, Helene disappeared from the study, returning with a hairbrush from my bathroom. She had beckoned me over to sit on the floor between her legs while she sat on the couch. Still a crying mess, I did as I was told.

She was maybe five to ten years older than me, but when she started running the brush through my hair, I suddenly felt much younger. Memories of my mother doing the exact same thing flooded my mind. They didn’t sadden me; they soothed me.

By the time Helene put the brush down and started braiding my hair, the tears had finally stopped. My breathing slowed as I focused on the scrape of her nails along my scalp as she parted a new section to add to the braid.

“I know ‘braiding each other’s hair’ is a stereotype for women, but damn does this feel good.”

I could practically hear Helene smiling behind me. “I make Tyron do this for me every now and again.”

“Really?” It was hard to imagine the big, gruff, bearded Alpha of Dark Forest sitting down to braid his wife’s hair.

“It soothed me when I was pregnant with Millie,” she said. I fought hard to keep my muscles from stiffening, to keep my breathing even at the mention of pregnancy. “Then after I gave birth, he offered to keep doing it whenever I wanted because the love of his life deserved comfort even when not pregnant – his words.”

Helene chuckled at her own story, but I couldn’t force a reciprocal laugh. There was no way she could know about my pregnancy. Could she?

Then again, why did it matter? I trusted her at this point, and the whole world would know soon enough. Plus, it would be so, so nice to have someone to talk to about it.

But I had Kincaid and Lily. Involving Helene would be greedy. Besides, the more people who knew, the more likely the wrong people would find out sooner than we wanted them to.

“We’ve managed to do some research about the fake mate bond,” I told her. For the time being, I decided only to tell her enough to address my need for a friend.

“There’s not a lot of information available, so we’ve been trying every possible solution to undo it, even if it’s a half-baked idea from a folktale a million years ago. Nothing has worked yet. And one of our plans has delayed me being able to see Theodore for another two months.”

Helene kept braiding my hair, listening quietly as my shoulders sagged. I had hated finding out that Eva requested to delay their wedding date because of how much longer it meant I’d be without my mate. I was grateful Theo had found a way to dial her back from her original year-long delay, though.

“Being without him physically hurts,” I shared. “I ache for his gaze, for his voice, for his presence. Even with the best friends I could possibly ask for, I feel so lonely without my mate.”

Helene finished braiding down to the ends of my hair. I handed her a hair tie. “That’s not why I’m doing this, Violet.”

I set the hair tie on the table as she undid the braid, brushed through my hair, and started the braid once more. I was glad the braiding wasn’t over.

“My mother had magic,” I confided. Most people knew this, but no one ever brought it up. “Do you ever wonder why magic was outlawed?” I asked hesitantly.

I didn’t necessarily want an answer to my question. I wanted to know if my ally against Owen was also an ally in magic.

Helene took a deep breath. I wondered if I imagined the shift of her muscles behind me to glance at the closed study doors.

“What I wonder,” Helene said, her fingers dancing in my hair, “is why King Owen is afraid of magic. With the way the Unlawful Magic Charter allows for magic in technology among other things, I imagine it can’t be that bad, or it would have been more holistically ousted from our lands. Especially with the turn King Owen has taken recently, I wonder if his father just got rid of the magic that threatened his rule and kept the magic that benefited his line.”

That was a highly encouraging answer.

“You’re not afraid of magic then?” I asked.

She hesitated. “I am… though I’m very aware that I’m afraid of it because I’ve only known it to be illegal and because I’m not educated about it. If I had an opportunity to learn more, I would be open to it.”

Helene paused her braiding to take a sip of her drink. “Tyron’s the same. It’s why he voted for the Shelter Project – well, that and he trusts Theodore.”

We both chuckled at that. Friends meant something – even in politics.

“But both Tyron and I have spent most of our lives afraid of rogues. As soon as we started to learn about them, how many of them were rogues due to circumstances out of their control, how many of them were pregnant women with nowhere to go, we realized our previous perception had been incorrect. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if magic had a similar story.”

This was good to know. I wondered how many other Alphas felt this way, and if there was a correlation between supporters of the Shelter Project and possible supporters of magic.

But I wasn’t quite ready to show Helene my magic.

“I’m sure you’re aware,” Helene said as she undid and restarted my braid again, “but unrest against Owen is increasing across most of the territories. I won’t ask for who your current list of allies is, but please know that Tyron and I will happily work with others, too, if that’s what would be most helpful.”

“Thank you.” I snorted at a thought. “I think my very first ally in all this, other than Theo, was technically Olivia Bronson.”

Helene’s hands stilled in my hair. “Judge Gerome Bronson’s daughter?”

I nodded lightly so as not to pull my hair out of Helene’s hands.

“Violet, that woman is self-serving and not trustworthy.”

I sighed, gently pulling away and turning around to face Helene’s concerned expression. “I know. Unfortunately, she figured out some secrets and vaguely threatened to use them against me.”

Helene’s nose flared.

“I have it under control, I promise. And I also promise she does not know the names of anyone helping us.”

Helene shook her head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Olivia just wanted the crown for herself.”

I rubbed my temples. “Well, despite how amazing of a leader Theo already is and the fact that he is technically next in line for the crown before Owen, he ardently does not want it.”

Helene’s brows furrowed slightly, probably at the reveal that Theo was technically the older brother. “The Uncrowned King,” she mused. “Maybe what makes him a king is not his bloodline but being mated to a queen.”

It was my turn to furrow my brows in confusion.

“Owen has tarnished the kingdom with his greed,” she explained. “Olivia certainly can’t be trusted to rule over us, and Theo doesn’t want to even though he would be amazing at it. So, Violet,” she raised an eyebrow as she smiled, “why not you?”