The echo of the shot lingered, ringing in my ears.
Lykos stood there, arm still extended, the gun steady in his hand. Smoke curled lazily from the barrel, a ghost of what had just happened.
His expression was carved with fury as he said, “He doesn’t get to talk about you and our child. Ever.”
I wasn’t scared of him, but my mind whirled with so many thoughts that it was impossible to set them all straight.
That was, until I heard Aria’s voice behind me. “You… Violet, you’re my mother?”
FORTY-FIVE
VIOLET
Iturned, terrified of what I might find. Dimitros must have shielded his sister from seeing their father shoot a man, but now, my daughter’s face was peering over his shoulder and all her attention was on me.
The expression on Aria’s face… her widened eyes… horror…
This wasn’t how she was supposed to find out. Not with this darkness surrounding us. The timing was all wrong. Of all the ways I had imagined it, none of them resembled this scenario.
Her blue eyes met mine, but I couldn’t get a solid read on her.
The irony of it didn’t escape me. I had built my life on understanding people and interpreting their emotions. But now, when it mattered most, I saw nothing but a storm I couldn’t name.
Her hands trembled at her sides.
And in that tiny, fragile movement, terror clawed its way up my throat.Please don’t let me lose her.
I wouldn’t survive it. Not again.
“All this time, I’ve believed a madwoman was my mother. Do you know how scared I was to become her?”
“I… Please, let me explain…” The words came out broken and a sob ripped through me—violent, uncontrollable, like it had been buried inside me for years, waiting to tear free. It hurt. God, it hurt.
My chest locked, my lungs useless as my vision blurred with tears.
“Violet is your mother,” Lykos said, his voice a quiet thread cutting through the chaos. He reached toward our daughter. “She had to protect you from her father, so she?—”
“So she left me?” Her voice cracked.
“I didn’t want to,” I breathed.
“But you did.” Aria’s voice was judge and jury, and I couldn’t blame her. Because I did leave her.
Lykos closed the distance with our daughter while I stood, fighting the urge to do the same. Instead, I wrapped my arms around myself protectively.
He cupped her face gently. “Aria, I know you’re angry. I was angry too, but Violet… your mother… She did it to protect you. She let her father think you were dead so you could live.”
“But you could have kept her and me safe,” she protested, and maybe she wasn’t wrong. Maybe I’d made the worst mistake of my life by leaving her.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “I know I would have given it my all. However, there’s no guarantee. This society that Violet’s father was a member of… we didn’t even know about them. Even now, knowing that they exist, there isn’t much we can find to take them down.” He kissed her forehead. “She did what she thought best. Can you see that?”
Aria swallowed, her face pale. She looked like an innocent angel among the blood and death. The wreckage caused by all the adults.
“I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t find any other words.
A woman who talked and offered advice for a living, and I was at a loss for what else to say.
My knees buckled. The world tilted, darkness creeping at the edges, but strong arms caught me before I hit the ground. Lykos rushed over and caught me, keeping the pieces of me together that were threatening to shatter.
