Chapter 168

Theodore’s POV

After two and a half days off from trying to save my wife, child, self, and kingdom at large, I was ready to get back into the archives. I was less excited for Violet to join me, but she insisted that if she could train with Bennett through her morning sickness, then she could read through it, too. To her credit, the symptoms did seem to be impacting her the least today of all the days I’d seen them.

I sighed heavily as I checked my phone. Violet looked up from across the archives table where we sat. “What is it?”

I turned my phone so the screen was facing down. “I regret giving your cousin my number.”

Violet smiled. “Another picture of baby Dahlia from Bennett?”

“No. He wants a guy’s night.”

Violet smiled as if this was the cutest thing she’d ever heard. “Just the two of you?”

I rolled my eyes at how much she was loving this. “No. With all the male cousins.”

Violet nodded, returning to her book. “When is it?”

“Um, never.”

Her head snapped back to me, immediately defensive. “Um, why?” she mocked.

I rolled my eyes again. “It’s not because I don’t want to. But I have limited time with you as it is, and we just took off way more time than we meant to from researching.”

My mate cocked her head to the side, and I knew I was in for it.

She made a show of looking at her wedding band, of rubbing her forehead along the vaguely glowing shattered band, of rubbing my mother’s token that was hanging around her neck between her fingers. “Unless you have a big change you want to make, I’m pretty sure you have a lifetime with me, Luna Consort of Darkmoon.”

I opened my mouth to argue that we would still have to spend the next few weeks apart, but she shot me a glare that told me she hadn’t finished speaking.

“And I believe there’s a chunk of time between researching in the archives and going to bed at night that you have free, unless you don’t plan on eating dinner tonight.”

I hung my head, smiling, because she was right. “Fine. I’ll let him know I’m free.”

At that, Violet dropped her glare, smiling smugly.

“And what will you do while I’m galivanting around, alari?”

Violet looked back down at her book innocently. “I will go play with baby Dahlia.”

I scoffed as she looked up at me mischievously. “Why, you conniving sphinx!”

I anticipated her loud laugh in response, ruthless and unfettered as she reveled in her own roguery. Instead, her eyes focused on something behind me, and the blood drained from her face.

I stood up, spinning into a fighting stance to face whatever was at my back – but I found nothing.

“Theodore.”

My full first name felt wrong coming out of Violet’s mouth. I turned to face her, the desperation in her voice matching the look in her eyes.

“Get me out.”

Her breathing grew choppy as I rushed around the table.

“Talk to me, alari. Get you out of where? The archives?”

But her eyes, filling with tears, were glued to a patch of nothingness across the room. “Dad,” she choked out, and I understood.

Without another thought, I plucked her out of her chair, surprised when she fought to stay in it. “You asked me to get you out, so I am!”

Never taking her eyes off the darkness ahead, my wife elbowed me in the nose, sending blood spraying. It took only a moment for the shock to wear off before I clamped a hand on her shoulder and splintered us out.

We landed in Marcy’s backyard in the waning light of dusk. I waited just a moment to see if Violet would attack me again. She just sat in the grass though, her eyes flitting back and forth in confusion.

Fighting the urge to hold her, I called Bennett first. By the time the call was over and I was crouching in front of Violet, I could tell that she was coming back to me. She watched as I slowly approached her, reaching her shaking hands out to cup my face.

I hated how hesitant I was to let her touch me. But then she registered my bleeding nose and started crying.

The back door to the house flew open as I caught my breath, finally processing what had just happened. Marcy raced over the cobblestone steps to reach us.

“What have I done?” Violet sobbed. “What have I done?”

Marcy reared back at Violet’s words, putting together her meaning with my bloody nose. A brief look from me told her not to say a word against my wife.

“Come, dear,” Marcy reached for her little cousin. “Let’s get you inside.”

Violet let us lead her into the kitchen.

“He’s looking for her,” Marcy told me. “They’ll be here as soon as possible.”

Once the back door closed behind us, I wrapped my wife in my arms. “I’m sorry,” she cried, but I couldn’t find the words she needed to hear.

Bennett appeared then next to the kitchen sink, arm linked with the High Priestess. At the sight of her aunt, Violet’s crying grew.

“I hurt him,” she sobbed as Marcy handed me a towel to staunch the bleeding. “I hurt Theo.” Then she said it again like she couldn’t quite believe it.

“I hurt Theo.”

I was surprised when the High Priestess stepped up to me first, but based on how my wife responded, I realized it was exactly what Violet wanted. The High Priestess removed the towel I was holding against my nose, then raised a glowing hand to my face. The throbbing eased and when she lowered her hand, the bleeding had stopped.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, and as always, I was grateful for her calm demeanor. “Now tell me exactly what happened.”

I waited for a moment for Violet to speak up, but the High Priestess was looking at me. So I told her. When I was finished, she turned to Violet.

“It was like I was being sucked into the hallucination,” she added. “Stronger than it’s ever been before, almost like I was leaving the archives room altogether. I only had enough time to ask Theo to get me out, then I was gone.”

The High Priestess turned to gaze out the back door and stayed silent.

“You said,” I faced the High Priestess, “the hallucinations should slow down and get less intense with every day that she gets stronger after Lucas’ rejection, especially if she keeps practicing her magic to get all her repressed magic and the baby’s magic out of her system.”

The High Priestess didn’t look at me, didn’t say anything.

I was incredulous. “This isn’t getting better.”

“Speaking of the baby,” the High Priestess turned toward Violet, “how are the pregnancy symptoms today?”

Violet’s breathing began to slow back to a normal rate. “I’ve been nauseous all day, but I never threw up.”

“There you go,” her aunt responded.

I blinked. “There you go?”

The High Priestess turned toward me, her serenity suddenly grating on me. “The symptoms suggest an influx of hormones, which likely also caused the hallucination.”

I raised my eyebrows, getting kind of pissed off. “She said she wasn’t even in the room. She tried to fight me off her!”

The High Priestess said nothing.

I threw my hands in the air. “Any suggestions?” I asked derisively.

“Yes,” she replied. “Since the hallucinations are clearly tied to the pregnancy hormones that will only continue to fluctuate for the next seven months, either find out how to undo the fake mate bond as quickly as possible or pray that Violet’s unstable magic doesn’t kill her before the baby comes.”