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The crowd was slow to comply.
“It’s okay,” Violet promised her sister, hoping she could read her lips though she probably couldn’t hear her. “It’s okay.”
Struggling was forgotten. Panic bloomed on Lila’s face. She was pale and wide eyed, looking between Violet and the trees outside the square.
“No,” Violet warned her, “no, don’t. It’s okay, just—”
Lila bolted. Fear curled in Violet’s gut. The archer raised his bow again.
Tim stepped out of the crowd and into her sister’s path in one inhumanly quick move, bodily blocking her and snatching her against his chest. His eyes stayed on the bow until it was lowered.
Violet’s heart pounded while Tim held Lila against him, one hand up like it was enough to stay the arrow. When the bowman faltered and lowered the weapon, Tim said something quiet and close to her sister’s ear that they were too far away to hear. Lila considered, nodded, and let him lead her back to the middle of the square. He stayed with a hand around her arm, keeping himself between her and the man with the arrows.
“It’s okay,” Violet told her again, when their eyes met, and held up her hands. “Wait, just wait.”
“Enough!” Kane roared. Silence finally settled over the square. “Due to this new development, action will be delayed until the council can meet, and the circumstances surrounding this girl can be investigated. Until such a time, she will be isolated at the Town Hall to await a verdict.”
“Let it go for now,” Dani said beside them.
Her voice seemed to come from a long way off. Whether she was talking to her or Mikel, Violet had no idea. Her eyes were riveted to Lila’s, desperate longing clawing her insides as she watched Tim hand her back to the bowman with a long, dark look. He said one last thing to Lila and disappeared into the crowd. More men stepped forward, and Violet recognized Jared among them.
“Violet!” Lila screamed for her as they surrounded her, blocking her from view as a car pushed through the crowd on the opposite side of the square.
“Let her go,” Dani insisted again, like she had any fucking choice. Violet seethed.
A car door slammed, audible over the sound of voices, then she watched the black roof as it disappeared back onto Main Street. When it was out of view, she whirled back around. Kane was already gone.
“YOUR MOM DIEDin the explosion?” Mikel asked an hour later while she was pacing the length of their living room.
Daniella had demanded they wait while she went to talk to her dad. Not knowing what else to do, they’d dropped her and Red off and come back to the house, much to Violet’s dismay. With the adrenaline just starting to leave her, she felt unreal, totally disconnected. She was stuck on a loop and replaying images of Lila from the square, over and over.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were guilty enough,” she explained, only half focused on the conversation. Part of her brain was still split off, still working over the issue of Lila and Kane, searching for a resolution to any of it. Urgency pounded in her veins, yet everyone around her seemed content to wait. She thought about her sister’s scared eyes, ringed in gold.
“You should have hated me,” Mikel muttered darkly, wringing his hands where he perched on the sofa.
“No, I hated Magnus and later Kane. Even if your dadhadbeen to blame, it still wasn’t you.” It was half the explanation she’d wanted to give him when this finally came up, and it lacked any depth, but it was all she was capable of with worry for her sister heavy on her mind.
“Lila’s eyes.” She switched tracks. “How was that possible?” An idea occurred to her that left her sick. “Could someone have bitten her?”
Mikel shook his head. “They’d be golden all the time this early in a change. We know your mother was a descendant.” He paused for a second, and anxiety settled around her as she watched him choose his words. “Both Lila’s mother and her father must have been descendants also.”
Violet couldn’t imagine that to be true.
“If Magnus were a descendant, he’d be in here, trying to run this place, not just the city council in Frankston.”
Mikel shook his head, and that carefulness was there again.
“You were half descendant; she has to be full. There’s no way you have the same father.”
“What?” It wasn’t possible. Lila was her sister. Sure, she had the green and brown eyes of Magnus and her mother, and Lila had hazel, which she’d always assumed was just a mixture of the two. Lila was taller than her, leaner. Violet’s world view trembled on its axis, then she promptly decided it didn’t matter.
“So, she’s a full descendant, then they can’t kill her?” She ignored the shaking of her voice. Mikel did too.
“It’s unlikely,” he confirmed before rubbing a hand across his eyes. “None of this is going to end well. She links directly to you. The fact that she came here will lead back to us sooner or later. Kane’s already tried to kill you.” The words were tight, cold. “If he can convince the council you leaked information about the Bluff, he’ll have their blessing and the rest of the town’s to do it.”
He was right.
