Chapter 26

Violet

My mouth felt as dry as a desert.

“What?” I asked, frowning through the haze.

The water was so cold and refreshing. I could have drank a whole pitcher on my own. He refilled the glass.

“It’s time to start the lawsuit.”

I frowned. “What’s… made it so urgent for you now?”

He smiled coldly. “It’s easier to push things through after large events… I’d say him shooting you is sensational enough to get the Court’s attention.”

I eyed him. He was probably right, but I didn’t believe that was the only reason. The look in his eyes was too focused, too furious, and full of intent to just think now was the best time to strike.

“You’re going to use my current state to my advantage?”

It was a strategy but not one I was happy with using. The Court would be sympathetic to my plight but also paint me as too weak to lead a pack all in the same breath.

He frowned and looked over at me.

“I can barely—”

“No, Violet,” he shook his head. “By the time you have to appear in court, you’ll be more than capable of standing without issue. I’m not going to paint a picture of you that isn’t true.” He cupped my face. “Besides, knowing you. You’d take a potion and grit your teeth–high heels and all. I'm not worried about you appearing too weak to lead a pack in Court.”

My lips twitched. A bit of my defensiveness eased. He knew me oddly well. It was a bit unnerving for him to know exactly what I was thinking. Lucas had always acted as if I was a complete mystery to him.

“So, what’s your plan?”

“In short? Ruin his life.” He smirked. “Midnight has the best legal team in the country. Victory is guaranteed on that front. The only issue is going to be how badly you’d like him to suffer.”

“For the rest of his life,” I said.

He licked his lips. “Painfully?”

“Excruciatingly,” I said. “If I could…”

I met his gaze and trailed off.

“Yes?” He asked, his voice goading me. The bloodlust and heat in his eyes made my heart flutter. He was enjoying this, enjoying the idea of ruining Lucas’ life… enjoying me enjoying the thought of it too. Delighting in my ruthlessness. I didn’t know what to do with that and the way desire started to build in me. I pulled my gaze away.

“Well, I have a few ideas about what I would like to happen to him, but none of them are probably something that the Court could do for me.”

“Could do or would do?”

I frowned, not sure exactly how to answer that. “... both, I suppose.”

He smirked. “I’ll let you come up with a wish list. We could compare notes over a nice glass of wine.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. I scoffed, hating his unerring confidence in his charm, yet it gave me comfort that he wasn’t treating me any different.

“Great. Now you should leave,” I replied, breaking the moment before it could shift into something heavier.

Theodore didn’t move.

“Not yet," he replied, almost gently, pulling me closer. "We should—”

“No!” The word shot out of my mouth before I could stop it. I twisted away, pulling the sheets tighter around myself, heart hammering.

“Please, just...leave.”

My voice cracked, betraying the emotion that was starting to close up my throat. I didn't want him to see me like this.

For a moment, he hesitated. I could feel his gaze on me, searching for something with those piercing eyes. I held my breath, feeling something raw and unfamiliar ripple between us. But he finally turned, leaving the room without another word. I sank back into the cushions of the bed as the door closed, exhaling slowly, trying to fight back the tangled rush of emotions his presence left behind.

My eyes burned with unshed tears.

The pain had faded away. I could still feel the ache of heartbreak but nothing more than that and I was grateful. I was grateful to not be on the edge of losing my mind to the pain but I was angry, too. I was angry at Lucas for doing this to me. angry at the courts and our stupid society that I had to go through any of this in the first place. Angry at myself. Angry at my father. Angry at Theodore, too.

But the worst part was how much I craved his touch, how his absence left a strange ache. Asking him to leave had been hard enough. My skin was too warm, and the cold air did little to soothe the burn he’d left in me with this bond. I wrapped my arms around myself, curling up in bed.

If I was a less proud woman, I would have told him to stay, to do something about this… feverish desire that was starting to tear me up inside.

But I wasn’t that woman. Maybe too stubborn for my own good or just too grounded in reality.

Even if I asked, Theodore Nightshade didn’t sleep with the same woman twice.

I closed my eyes, trying to sleep off the feeling, but every time I drifted, I’d catch a whiff of his scent still lingering on the sheets or in the air, and I would become restless.

Eventually, exhaustion won out, but I only got, maybe, a restless, three-hour sleep before a strange, prickling sensation ran up my spine and refused to fade. My eyes flicked around the room, and after a minute of trying to ignore it, I gave up and started to dress, moving through the dark, cautious of another wave of pain and of whatever I could run into in the dark. Whatever this feeling was, I wasn’t going to shake it lying here.

I padded down the hall, tightening the belt on my robe as I reached the ground floor. The light coming in through the large panes of glass that lined the hallways told me that it was closer to dawn than midnight. The view was beautiful. The sun was climbing up over the mountain, starting a new day. I was being pulled toward the front door when I heard it: Lucas’s voice. His words, tinged with anger and something like desperation, reached me. I tensed, feeling an instinctive rush of disgust.

Had his presence been the reason why I woke up? The thought chilled me and unnerved me. Something instinctual in me felt hopeful that maybe our bond wasn't broken, and that made me even more angry. Why would I ever want a bond with a traitor, with a man who tried to kill me?

I drew myself to my full height and headed toward the front door.

In the doorway, Theodore was leaning against the frame with an air of command. His warriors were just outside the door, forming a solid wall between Lucas and the steps. There was no way past them. I lingered, hidden just out of sight, watching the scene unfold. Lucas’ car was parked in front of the house, and I wrinkled my nose.

It was just like him to drive in a place where there wasn't proper infrastructure because it was most convenient for him. I remembered how often it had become an argument between us that I insisted on changing to carriages when crossing certain borders. It had been a matter of respect and safety and ended up paving the way to many great business ventures for Darkmoon.

The selfish bastard…

I hoped Theodore put him through the wringer in Court about endangering his citizens.

“Have him taken back to the border,” Theodore said, his voice firm and unyielding.

The real question was why he was here. The only thing I could think was that Lucas had either started to notice that he didn't have access to the kind of money he was used to spending any longer, had started to realize that his little plan was going to fail, or that he sensed Theodore’s mark on me and like the selfish man I knew him to be, he’d rushed here in the middle of the night to confront me, refusing to let go of what little claim he had left.

It irritated me that even now, he thought he had a claim on me that he had the right to think he did.

I stepped forward, my sudden presence catching Lucas’s attention. He looked up at me, his face a mixture of anger and pleading. I felt the usual disgust curl inside me, stronger than before.

Lucas took a step toward me, his eyes dark with desperation. He was pushed back by the Midnight warriors.

“You can’t do this to me,” he said, his voice cracking. Lucas’s eyes widened, his face twisting into a pleading look. “My pack can’t function without you. Neither can your people.”

Something cold and sharp settled inside me.

“What do you mean by that?”