Chapter 158

Theodore’s POV

“Alari, please wake up!”

I held Violet’s head in my lap, her jaw terrifyingly slack. I dared a glance at the High Priestess who had collapsed in a heap at the same time that Violet’s body had gone completely limp. “High Priestess?!”

This wasn’t happening.

I reached for my phone, thanking the Goddess that I had taken Lillith’s number. I opened up her contact, my thumb hovering over the call button.

“Don’t bother that poor woman.”

My head snapped toward the High Priestess who had spoken. She slowly pulled herself up, quickly surveying the situation before us. She leaned forward on her knees, raising her hand over Violet’s body.

Her hand glowed softly before the High Priestess dropped it calmly to her side. “She’s alright. She just needs a few minutes to come to.”

I wanted to ask if she was sure, but I bit my tongue. If I had trusted her this far, there was no use questioning her now. Instead, I tucked away my phone and dried my eyes so that Violet wouldn’t wake up to my tears.

“Are you okay?” I barely thought to ask the High Priestess.

“As I mentioned, altrosis is taxing,” was all she said as she casually brushed herself off.

“No shit.”

I held back a sob of relief at Violet’s words. I helped her sit up, supporting her as she held her head. “Are you alright?”

Violet looked at me, and her eyes widened, immediately tearing up. Her head swung to the High Priestess, who smiled knowingly.

“What?” I asked nervously. “What is it?”

Violet set her gaze back to me, cupping my face in her hands. “You’re so beautiful.” Then she kissed me like she had been missing me for years.

I couldn’t help but laugh into the kiss. “What?”

“Her magic was repressed by her mother who cast a spell on her when she was a child to protect her from the wrong people finding out about her illegal magic,” the High Priestess explained. “Through the altrosis, I was able to fully undo the spell, allowing the full strength of Violet’s magic to flow through her. In the same way that those in Henosis can sense more than those outside the magical border, such as being able to smell when someone is pregnant, a person’s senses are intensified with full access to their own magic.”

“I knew you were handsome before,” Violet added, “but now it’s like I can see every beautiful cell of your skin, each eyelash, every fleck of green in your eyes. You’re a work of art.”

I kept laughing. “Careful, Alpha Donovan. My ego’s already sufficiently enlarged.”

She merely wrapped her arms around me, and I hugged her right back.

When she pulled away, she focused on the High Priestess. “You saw everything I saw?”

Her aunt nodded. “And now we have answers to four of your questions.”

I looked between the two of them expectantly. “Your mother suppressing your magic explains why you didn’t know about the magic previously, but why did it manifest in the last few weeks?”

“The pregnancy,” Violet answered, subconsciously splaying her fingers over her stomach. “The hormones and the baby’s magic broke through the spell, just as my mother intended.”

The most adoring smile spread across Violet’s cheeks as she gazed at me. “What is it?” I asked as I held her face, caressing her cheek with my thumb.

“Knowing that the pregnancy would trigger my magic, my mother cast another spell to keep me from getting pregnant – except with my true mate. That way, when my magic manifested, I would be with someone who would still love me.”

There was no other response other than to kiss her.

If what we felt for each other wasn’t enough, if the bands across our foreheads bestowed by the Goddess herself were not enough, we had yet another piece of evidence to prove that we were fated to be together.

We pulled out of our kiss, my head dizzy with love and hope. We would find the answers we needed. We would find a future together.

“You said there were answers to four questions.” I looked between the two of them, tallying the three they’d already shared. “What’s the fourth?”

Violet thought for a moment, then furrowed her brows like she wasn’t sure and turned to her aunt for answers.

The High Priestess said, “The fourth answer is what’s causing Violet’s magic to be unstable.”

I furrowed my own brows, not sure what she was talking about. But when I glanced at my wife, her face was full of understanding, her eyes wide in concern. She swung her head to stare me down with a thousand apologies.

“What is she talking about, Violet?” Her face fell into guilt and regret. “Or maybe I should ask why the High Priestess seems to have assumed I already knew that answer, and you clearly know I don’t.”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” she began, but I was already enraged.

“Didn’t want to worry me with what, Violet?” I clipped, letting go of her and scooting back a few inches.

I could see her heart breaking at my reaction, but I was too mad to comfort her. I thought we were past secrets between us.

“My magic is unstable,” she explained. “It’s been causing hallucinations.”

My stomach dropped. How many more struggles was my mate going to insist on facing alone?

“What else?” I pushed, and she seemed confused by the question. “What else aren’t you telling me? Might as well get it all out now.”

I didn’t even care that we were having this very loud disagreement in front of the High Priestess.

Violet stiffened, and I knew I had hit home. There was something else.

“If…” she started, then inhaled like it was physically hard to speak the words. “If we can’t stabilize my magic, it will kill me.”

The world dropped out from under me. It was the worst possible scenario, especially if her death meant the baby’s, too.

But anger was so much easier than fear.

“Damn it, Violet, I thought we were past this!” I jumped to my feet to pace the clearing.

“I know you’re independent!” I shouted, unable to face her. “Hell, you’re stronger than I am. Smarter, quicker.”

My breaths quickened with the force of my emotions. “I know we signed a year-long contract at the beginning, but I thought we were more than a marriage of convenience by now.”

“We are!” she exclaimed, rising to her feet as well.

“Are we?” I questioned. “Because real partners worry each other instead of hiding the truth because they know that life is messy and hard and a thousand times better when you face it together.”

I knew without a doubt that I was fighting with her to avoid facing my fear that her life was in danger. Even still, there was truth to my words, and I meant every one of them.

“You have to tell me this shit!” I stepped toward her, grasping her by the shoulders. “The Goddess chose us, your mother chose us. I choose you, Violet.”

Somewhere along the way, my yelling turned to pleading. “Please, Violet. I want you to choose me, too.”

She broke in my arms, wrapping around me and sobbing. “I’m sorry, Theo, I’m so sorry. You’re right, you’re right, you’re right.”

I held her tightly to me, not relishing one single moment of being right. If it would keep my mate and our child safe, I would willingly be wrong for the rest of my life.