Chapter 232

Theodore’s POV

I looked around the rich wood paneling of the conference room. This was one of the rooms in the royal palace that I had thought to be superfluous at first. Why have a room specifically for business meetings when there were twenty-some other places to gather in this unnecessarily large palace?

It was growing on me though. It was nice to have a space dedicated to business meetings, a place that helped get me in the business mindset, a place I could leave all thoughts of strategy and diplomacy once I stepped outside.

Dahlia, Kincaid, and Sophia sat across from me for this informal meeting we had scheduled to spitball our preparations for the upcoming attack we were anticipating. Riley sat on my right, the chair to my left empty while we waited for Violet to return from the bathroom. In the meantime, the five of us chitchatted.

“Here’s a picture of us with both Bravern and Fairweather families.” I passed my phone across the table for our Betas and Sophia to see.

Kincaid’s smile grew. “She’s starting to show,” he said of Violet.

My answering grin was even bigger. “I know.”

“How far along is she?” Riley asked as Sophia handed him my phone to look at the picture.

“Almost sixteen weeks now,” I told him, fully aware that I was beaming with pride.

Riley smiled back at me. “She is totally starting to show.”

His smile faded as he looked back to the picture. “The High Queen…” he glanced at Sophia, and I realized he had something to say about the hallucinations, which the Royal Assistant didn’t know about. “She seems… more cheerful… since your visit to Henosis.”

He eyed me knowingly, and I realized that he had also noticed her increasing despair, that he also worried about her. I glanced across the table, thankful for once that Sophia was engrossed in her tablet.

Kincaid and Dahlia though weren’t missing anything. Upon their return several days ago, we had updated them on the last hallucination. Kincaid was clearly upset that he hadn’t been here to help.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Being in a land with magic, with her family, and getting some fresh air away from the responsibilities of the crown, even for a few hours, it was all very revitalizing for her.”

Riley nodded, satisfied with my answer. Sophia also didn’t know her queen and king had magic, but we had already discovered she was a supporter of bringing magic back to our country, so we didn’t have to be too careful talking about it in front of her.

The truth was the darkness still haunted Violet, but she was leaning on me more now. Just yesterday, she had shut her laptop, crawled into my lap where I was researching on my own computer, and whispered in my ear, “Will you make me laugh, my king?”

We had taken just twenty minutes then to step away from it all, to find laughter and love in each other’s arms, and she had returned to her work feeling notably lighter. If nothing else, it felt like a step in the right direction.

“What about you two?” Riley looked at the Betas as he handed me back my phone. “Any pictures from your honeymoon?”

“Just the one we sent the king and queen,” Dahlia replied. Riley and I exchanged a look, and I nodded to confirm it was the one I had already shown him.

Dahlia turned to smile at her husband. “We decided the rest of the trip was just for us, to live forever only in our memories.”

Kincaid smiled at her with such affection, and my heart warmed for them. I was so happy to be reunited with my mate – and glad that these two could now work under the same roof again, too.

Sophia looked up from her tablet during the lull in conversation. “Any news from Marissa Fairweather?”

“Yes!” I glanced at the door that remained closed. “I would wait until Violet came back, but since she’s taking her sweet time,” I smiled playfully, “Aunt Marissa called this morning to let us know she will accept the position as Royal Ambassador to Henosis. She’s not sure when she’ll be ready to move into the palace, but she’s starting to prepare for it.”

“Excellent!” Sophia smiled, as did the others around the table.

“Based on what you two have shared about her,” Kincaid said, “I look forward to her addition to the royal staff. However, I fear that the addition of a magic-bearing resident of Henosis will only further divide those who support Violet as High Queen and those who don’t.”

“We’re worried about that, too,” I nodded. “We’ve already begun setting up meetings with those whose support we expect, those we still need to win over, and those we expect to be part of the inevitable attack on the crown.”

“How do you know who belongs in each category?” Riley asked. “I’m sure her opponents would be careful in declaring themselves as such.”

“To our faces, yes,” I agreed. “But these lists have been growing and changing for months now depending on passing comments, what Alphas say to one another that they think will never get back to us, how people vote – that sort of thing. We’ve also been taking note of correlations we’ve observed; for example, Alphas who supported the Shelter Project are typically supporters of magic.”

Riley raised his eyebrows, seemingly impressed. His gaze became unfocused then, as if he were trying to work through something in his mind. I paused, not saying anything else in anticipation of a question on his part.

Slowly, his brows bunched together, and his muscles tightened. The room grew tense as the Betas and I watched Riley’s glazed eyes fill with dread. Then, all of a sudden, he surged from his chair and peeled out of the room, the door slamming against the wall as he shot through it.

Sophia looked up from her tablet, startled. She eyed the open door, then the rest of us at the table. “What did I miss?”

All three of us had our eyes glued to the door he’d run through as Kincaid murmured, “Is that normal behavior for him?”

“No,” Dahlia answered, deathly calm.

It couldn’t…

He couldn’t possibly…

I reached out to Violet through our magical bond. Alari, are you alright? I need you to answer me right now.

But there was nothing. Utter nothingness as if there were no one there to receive it.

I rose so quickly that my chair tumbled back in my wake. “Stay here!” I pointed to Sophia, then with a jerk of my chin, commanded the Betas to follow me.

I followed Riley’s scent toward the royal bedchambers, the door to it in sight when I heard Violet scream. I bolted through the already open door, willing my feet to move faster toward the sound of my screaming mate.

I didn’t understand what I saw when I crossed the threshold into our bathroom.

Riley sat on our bathroom counter, legs wrapped around Violet’s ribs, trying simultaneously to keep her from moving and also keep her away from him. Based on the bloody scratches dripping down his face and his bloody, torn shirt, he hadn’t been completely successful in that.

In his hand, he held a decorative, marble wolf. I lunged as he lifted his arm, looking like he meant to strike my mate in the head with it. I halted just as he swung his arm back instead, using the marble wolf to crack our mirror.

Violet screamed even louder.