"And if it doesn't? If the press finds out the heirs of both New America and the Switzerlands are involved with the same dirt poor orphan? What happens then? There surely can't be a happily ever after when you take all those future responsibilities into account." Doom and gloom were creeping up on me once more, and I was losing sight of all that warm, fuzzy hope Jacinta—Jax—had just filled me with.
She shook her head. "Stop it. Stop what-if-ing. If we all lived in what-ifs, then nothing would ever get done around here. Live your life; enjoy your youth, your beauty, your privileged circumstances; and ignore the noise. All that other crap to do with lines of succession and political marriages? It's future-Violet's problem. A million things could change before you and the boys ever need to go public with your relationship, so why stress over it?"
I blinked at her several times, letting that sink in.
Fucking hell, she really was smart.
"Now, I'm going to go and check on Felipe and let him know you're all here safe. He'll want to see everyone as soon as possible." She pushed back her chair and patted me on the shoulder. "If we weren't talking about my own son, I'd say that I envy you, Violet. You're a lucky girl." The teasing wink she shot me as she left the room left me speechless, and I did the only thing I could think of to help gather my thoughts.
I drank more “coffee.”
Chapter 13
By the time I was done with breakfast, some of the tension had filtered away. I wasn't drunk or anything, but I had a good understanding of why Jacinta didn't stress a little booze to start her day.
This world was too fucked up to face it completely sober, at least not every day.
No one had come to find me, so again I set out to figure out what the hell was happening now. Frustrating as it was, just because Rafe and Jordan were giving me the cold shoulder didn't mean I'd accept being pushed into the background. I was an integral part of this, and even if I wanted to hand it back to the responsible adults, I needed to make sure Felipe and Jax knew everything first.
I needed to find Felipe.
Thankfully, I remembered where his study was, and despite a few curious looks at the blond chick wandering around in Rafe's clothing, no one stopped me or questioned what I was doing free-ranging around the castle.
In fact, I was almost certain that a few of them bowed to me as I passed, but I must have been mistaken. I sure as shit was no royal, but possibly they assumed I was. Or maybe I'd imagined the entire thing.
When I reached the closed door, I hesitated, second guessing myself, before I quickly pushed that aside and lifted my hand to knock. Just as I rapped my knuckles against it, I heard voices inside. They were too muffled through the heavy wood to make out the conversation, but it sounded like more than one man was talking.
"Come in, Violet!"
That shout was definitely from King Felipe, and I blinked at the door, wondering how the hell he knew it was me. It only took a quick glance up to see a small camera-like device, and I had my answer.
Nervously, I entered, then closed the door firmly behind me. Light filled the room from floor to ceiling windows, and a roaring fireplace sent warmth through the whole space. A familiar face came into view in one of the high backed, hand-carved chairs right near the king.
"Mr. Wainwright?"
He got to his feet, hurrying over toward me. "I'm so happy to see you alive and well," he said in a rush, his eyes taking in the purple bruising on my cheek with a critical eye. "When we received word from Rafe that you'd been taken, we immediately started planning our course of action. I was not letting one of my team go down by those extremists."
Maybe I was slow today after my shitty night’s sleep, but it took me a few moments to piece together the meaning of what he’d said. "You lead the good resistance?"
His lips twitched. "Haven't heard it referred to as the 'good' resistance before, but in essence, I am one of the twelve that make up our top council. We're scattered around the world with many recruits beneath us."
By this time, Felipe had gotten to his feet as well to move around the large table toward me. He looked great, and I stepped away from Mr. Wainwright so I could accept the hug he was offering. "I'm so glad you're alive," I choked out. "I spent weeks not knowing, and in my worst moments, I feared I’d never see you again."
Why Jacinta and Felipe felt like the parents I'd never had, I couldn't say, but there was something special about both of them.
Felipe squeezed me even tighter, and when he pulled back, his face grave, it reminded me so much of Rafe that my chest got tight and those tears that had been threatening to fall emerged again. "When I woke up to learn that you three had been taken," Felipe started, his face drawn, "it was my worst nightmare. Thankfully, Rafe had gotten in touch with George, and I knew that you were alive and we had a plan."
George?
Mr. Wainwright winked at me, and I remembered that was his first name. Well, he'd always be a Mr. to me.
"Rafe never told me anything," I admitted.
There was a scuffing sound at the door, and in walked the asshole himself. "You didn't need to know," he said shortly. "I kept you alive, and that was as much as needed to happen."
It was only Felipe's hand on my shoulder that stopped me from kicking Rafe's ass because I legitimately was at the end of my ability to handle his moods. I'd been through a fucking lot as well, we all had, so why was he punishing me for that?
What had I actually done?
"Let's sit," Mr. Wainwright suggested, leading the way back to the chairs. "We have a lot to discuss."
Last time I'd visited Felipe’s office, I’d been on the couch with Rafe and Jordan; this time I was on my own as Rafe took the other single chair across from his father.
When Felipe sat, it was maybe a little more gingerly then he had last time; otherwise, there were no visible signs of the injuries he’d sustained. "We've heard some of Rafe's account, but it would be nice to hear from you, Violet," he said, "along with any thoughts you've had on fixing this mess."
I paused. "You want my thoughts? I'm not sure what relevant experience or knowledge I could give to assist. I'm nothing.”
Three sets of eyes latched onto me, varying emotions deep in all of them, but I didn't flinch. I was made of tougher shit than that, and if they really wanted my thoughts, I would give them uncensored.
"The Society believes that you are very important," Mr. Wainwright said. "Uriel taking you like that proves that there's more to you than we originally thought. I'm guessing that there is probably a lot we can learn from you, Violet."
"Yes," Felipe said confidently. "You are one of the most mature, self-assured, and capable young women I've had the pleasure of knowing in my many years. You remind me of my wife, and that woman could run circles around some of the current monarchs, if she set her mind to it."
In some ways she already did do that, and being compared to Jacinta was the highest compliment I could think of receiving.
Rafe remained silent like the piece of fuck he was. Well, his mouth did at least... His eyes, on the other hand, were practically glittering with some unsaid emotion.
"I was groomed to take over the bad-resistance," I started. "Pretty much from conception. My mother was a higher-up in their organization..."
I went on to tell them everything I'd learned from Uriel. Everything I'd lived through in my training, my life, my existence. All the ways the circumstances of my birth had screwed me before I’d even known that there was a war going on.
"He won't give up," I told them, wanting them to stop underestimating him. "I’m aware that you blew a large hole into his plans yesterday, but I know that man, and this is only going to make him worse."
He'd go underground and try and take them all apart.
"You think he'll come for you?"
Rafe spoke for the first time, and while I felt an urge to pretend I couldn't hear him, I didn't want Felipe to take back his "mature" comment from before.
"Yes. He's not one to allow his possessions to go free. He claimed me long ago, and in his head I belong to him."
Rafe's jaw clenched, and if he kept that up, his teeth would break. Still, he didn't say anything, and I tried to push through the heaviness in my chest.
"What Uriel and his people did," Mr. Wainwright said, cutting through the tension, "is not what the Society stands for. We were formed originally to try and break through the classism that monarchies created, to equalize the world a little so that it wouldn’t always be the haves and have-nots."
"With all the haves being the royals," Felipe added. Ironically, as he was a royal.
Mr. Wainwright nodded. "Yes. And now Uriel has undermined what we were working toward with his attacks. Our aim was building toward an accords, one that has been in discussions for many years."
"Theoretically," Rafe added.
Nods all around. "Yes," Wainwright admitted. "Many of the royals have been opposed to the release of any power or control..."
He trailed off, and I found that interesting, like maybe something else had changed. "Is there any chance for these accords to go ahead?" I pushed.
The king and the leader of the resistance exchanged a look, and at Felipe's nod, Mr. Wainwright leaned forward toward me. "Actually, there is a chance. As I said, Uriel damaged the relationships we were building by attacking under our name, but there has been a silver lining emerging from that rubble."