Chapter 8

Violet’s POV

The last thing I wanted to do today was public speaking in front of my territory and enough press to transmit my speech throughout the country. Brief as it was, the hallucination in court yesterday had worn me out, and I felt like hell.

It had taken all three of the people I was closest to: my best friend in one ear, my Beta in the other, and my mate in my mind. All three of them gently telling me it would be okay, to look away, as I stared at my father sitting next to the judge. As my father yelled at me to “Get out” like a petulant, disobedient child.

I was terrified of that happening in public again.

“We need a plan,” I said from where I was laying on the couch in my study with a warm compress over my eyes. I had asked Kincaid and Lily to sit down in the armchairs across from me so I wouldn’t have to strain my neck looking up at them.

“I think we managed the situation fine yesterday,” Lily argued.

“Only because we happened to be in a situation where Alpha Donovan would reasonably be upset,” Kincaid countered. “If that happens today, mid-speech, it will cause confusion and speculation – and likely nothing in her favor.”

Lily didn’t have an argument against that.

“Could we blame the double mate rejection in a year?” I brainstormed. “Everyone keeps bringing it up, and it’s honestly pretty unheard of. If I actually did have a second rejection I was recovering from, I’d probably be in worse shape than I am now.”

I pulled my hot compress up high enough to peek over at my Beta and Gamma, who were nodding. I closed my eyes, melting under the compress again.

“Now that you say that, it might actually be more realistic to show or share somehow that you’re struggling with the physical impact. Maybe you could add that into your speech today? Then if you have another hallucination in public, people will automatically assume that’s what’s going on.”

“Yeah,” Kincaid answered, “but we’ll have to be careful about toeing the line between realistically playing a twice-rejected mate and making her look incapable to lead.”

“I can make that happen,” I said, a few thoughts piecing together in my mind.

I sighed heavily. “I don’t want to do anything today.”

“Well, you do need to do your daily magic exercises to continue your restabilization,” Lily reminded me. “But otherwise, couldn’t we move the press conference to Monday?”

I knew the answer even before Kincaid said, “No. We have to capitalize on her momentum from spending time with her people earlier in the week, and we need to get ahead of any public perception that she’s weak after her meltdown in court yesterday.”

I bristled at the idea that I wasn’t allowed to express human emotions without my ability to lead being questioned. But it was the truth for those of us in the public eye. Especially us women.

“Well, then,” I sighed, “I suppose we better wrap up this meeting so I can get to the rest of my day then. Anything else from you two?”

“Update on the pregnancy symptoms?” Lily asked.

“None since Henosis, thankfully. I think that’s mostly done other than the fact that I’m going to start showing in a couple weeks. Anything else?”

I removed the hot compress that I was done with to both Lily and Kincaid shaking their heads. “You said you had news for us?” Kincaid prompted.

I sat up on the couch to face them. “Theo has now tried two of the possible ways to undo the mate bond. Neither has worked.”

They both knew what two methods were getting attempted this week, so I didn’t need to explain either the onion diet or kissing Eva. What they didn’t know was that we had spent hours last night and this morning testing our actual mate bond, pushing against it to see if it felt any different. It remained in tatters, and I was surprised by how dismayed I’d been.

If only it had been that easy.

So our bond was still in ruins, and the threat to my unstable magic remained.

Lily and Kincaid only nodded at the disappointing news. They didn’t ask what we would try next because they already knew.

“And,” I added, “apparently, Eva and Nora are sisters.” That revelation spurred more of a reaction out of both of them. “Meaning once Nora and Lucas are married, if Eva and Theo ever actually got married…”

“Lucas would be related to the crown by marriage,” Kincaid finished. “Why would Owen want that, though? Does Lucas have something on Owen?”

“Or,” Lily chimed in, “maybe Lucas was tasked with finding someone willing to participate in the ruse, and the payment for his task was that it could be someone who benefited him.”

I rubbed at my temples. “Lily, could you research what double mate rejections have previously looked like for Alphas to make sure we’re playing that right? And could you both keep your eyes and ears open for anything to further explain this connection between Lucas and Owen?”

“Yes, Alpha,” they replied in unison.

I turned to Lily. “Update on the University Project?”

“They are working around the clock to have the buildings constructed in the next three months.”

I had moved up the timeline on that to an impossible ask to fit our accelerated timeline to dethrone Owen. But with the ways our plan had shifted, I had a little more flexibility with this now.

“Give them a new timeline: they have six months to get the buildings complete. Assuming extensions will be needed, the hard deadline is nine months. I want the first class to start next year.”

Lily grinned. “They will be extremely relieved to hear that, Alpha.”

So was I. Those workers deserved better hours.

“And give them a three percent raise, if that’s within our budget,” I added. “Let’s remind them how it feels when I’m running things instead of Lucas.”

Lily’s grin widened. “That should be within our budget, but I’ll double check.”

I sighed, glad to have that figured out, but also knowing that I had been delaying an awkward topic.

“One final thing,” I stared at my hands. “Eva has been practically throwing herself at Theo since she moved into our house.” I glanced at Kincaid, who nodded in agreement based on what Dahlia had shared with him.

“Then, out of nowhere yesterday, she made it clear she didn’t want to share a bed with him until their wedding night – which she also negotiated pushing out. Apparently, even her entourage was shocked by her request.”

Both Kincaid and Lily furrowed their brows.

“Best case scenario, she got shy as soon as the possibility of bedding Theo became real. Worst case scenario, she found out that bedding him would undo the fake mate bond, and she’s hoping that the legal marriage will keep her tied to him after it’s undone.”

“We’ll look into it,” Kincaid said, and Lily nodded in agreement.

“Thank you.”

I was still exhausted and drained. Still had a pounding headache and fear for when my next hallucination would strike. But I pulled myself off the couch to go practice my magic.

My child, my life, my mate bond, and my people were on the line. The Goddess only knew how far I would go to protect us all.