Chapter 88

Theodore

After lunch, we parted ways, Olivia with a charming, underhanded farewell that Violet didn't address or appear to notice. As Violet and I walked back down the street toward the tailor shop. The city’s streets bustling around us, I finally broke the silence.

“You didn’t mention the university to Olivia,” I said, keeping my tone neutral.

Violet glanced at me, her expression unreadable. “Why would I?”

“She’s on your side, or at least claims to be… Aren't you… friends of some sort?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "You sweet summer child."

My face heated. "What does that mean?"

"It's a saying about children and seasons."

"Is this… from across the border?"

She nodded. "A child born in a season only remembers the season after. Summer children only see the outcomes: the harvest of fall. They don't see the blistering days of tilling the land, the winter, etc. You are a summer child: optimistic, full of hope. It's adorable and attractive on you, and… surprising."

I stopped. "Why?"

"Your brother is a snake who has tried to kill you and actively hates you," she said. "After everything you've seen… one would think that you had a much darker view of the world."

I turned her words over, but I couldn't disagree.

"My mother told me that hope is more important than dignity… and I was always her hope."

Her eyes softened. "Did your mother name you?"

I blinked at her. "Yes… How did you know that?"

"Theodore," she said, her accent felt like velvet on my ears. "Gift of the Goddess… It's also related to the word for hope dorum."

My eyes burned. A wave of grief seemed to crash over me from the past. I could hear my mother calling my name, her tone now seemed so much more complicated than love.

"Theo?"

I looked up at her and cleared my throat. "You never answered. Why keep it from her?”

Violet sighed, looking ahead as we walked. “Never, ever, tell your plans to someone without principles before you can claim them publicly."

"But you two are… friends?"

"Olivia is a strategist. She’ll use whatever information she has to her advantage. She's not a friend to anyone but herself."

I blew out a breath of relief. She chuckled. "What?"

"I just… you were being so nice to her and she was saying all that stuff."

She snorted. "She's had a chip on her shoulder about me since we met, Theo. It would be a waste of time and energy to stoop to her level or change the way I interact with her."

I frowned. "You mean, you two talk to each other like that normally?"

"Of course," she said. "I was only ever the poor, little virgin upper classman born with a silver spoon in my mouth and a pretty face I wasn't using to her."

I grimaced. "That's… harsh and oddly specific."

She gestured vaguely. "I overheard her, and decided it would be best to keep her close enough to kill but no closer. Didn't you notice that her support was all contingent on what she stands to gain from it.”

I frowned, replaying the conversation in my mind. “I didn’t think about it like that,” I admitted, though it wasn’t exactly surprising. “But it makes sense. Olivia’s always been selfish and self-centered.”

“More than you realize,” Violet said, her tone edged with steel. “Olivia plays nice when she has to, but she’ll backstab someone in a heartbeat if it serves her purpose. Her father might not see it, but her brother does.”

I cocked an eyebrow as her expression turned thoughtful.

“What are you thinking?”

Violet stared into the distance, her brow furrowed.

“Their pack is tipping into a civil war, and the alpha doesn’t even realize it. Olivia’s ambitions are pushing against her brother’s and his birthright-- he's the elder of the two-- and the tension is primed to pop…. She might be playing the dutiful daughter now, but it won't last much longer.”

She tilted her head and her lips curved into a sharp and vicious smile that sent a cold shiver down my spine. She was plotting.

"Who… is her father, by the way?"

Violet tilted her head, her smile faint but knowing. “Alpha Callum Bronson of Ardentvalley.”

The name hit like a punch to the ribs. I groaned, rubbing the back of my neck. “Of course, it’s him.”

Callum Bronson. The man was a thorn in my side even before Shelter became a point of contention. Stubborn, unyielding, and entirely too loud about his disdain for me. He never missed an opportunity to paint me as an opportunist, a reckless upstart. He held considerable influence over any national vote or ruling. Ardentvalley was uniquely positioned in the country. If it territory fell into chaos, the ripple effects would be catastrophic.

Or… opportunistic.

"Hey." I looked up, noting the look on her face. Violet must have read the concern on my face because she added, “It’s not our fight—not yet, and it's still a while out. It's just something to keep in mind going forward.”

I nodded. "Right. I just… never imagined I'd be speculating on how long before another alpha ends up offed by his daughter."

Violet smiled. "Welcome to real politics."

I scowled. "It sucks."

"True."

"Bronson easily has a grip on at least ten percent of alphas.”

Violet laughed softly, a low, warm sound that didn’t match the sharp edge of her gaze. “I suppose it’s time for a lesson in subtlety, then.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Subtlety?”

She nodded. "Do you remember the Battle of Rising Pass?"

I frowned. The name was familiar. "Enemy packs, two of them. Forces were outnumbered and they faked the two armies out into fighting each other?"

She nodded. "Someone paid attention in History. Every battle doesn't have to be head on."

"I'm not waging a war."

“Every negotiation of this scale is a way, and if you can’t sway the opponent,” she said smoothly, “then you should eliminate them.”

Her words sent a chill through me—not because I didn’t agree, but because she said it with such calm certainty. It wasn’t a threat or even a suggestion. It was a fact.

“You’re serious,” I said, watching her closely. "How do you expect to turn that particular group against each other."

Violet shrugged. “We should think on it, but Callum’s a problem, and problems need solutions. We’re not going to sway him. It would be pointless to even try, but if his influence is removed that whole subset of assholes will fall apart, and then…” She trailed off, letting the implication hang in the air.

Then there would be a vacuum of power, an opportunity to place someone there.

"But who?" I wrinkled my nose. "Don't tell me you think Olivia would slot in."

She scoffed. "Never. She's too impulsive, and they're all chauvinists who think the exact same way their whole generation thinks about women in power, but her brother would slot in just fine, and he's far more progressive than his father." She smirked. "It helps that he hates Olivia with a passion and would likely support you just to piss her and their father off. All he needs is to take over."

“That’s a tall order,” I said, my tone cautious. “He’s entrenched. His territory, his alliances… they’re not going to crumble overnight. Never mind his connection with Owen.”

“But don't you see, Theo?" She grinned. "We won’t need him to crumble. We just need him to lose his footing. A little instability, a misstep—something to make the rest of the Supreme Court question his judgment enough to get him removed. We need to know who in his camp hates him most.” She turned with a devious little giggle. "And I think I have an idea on who to start with… provided that you haven't slept with all their daughters… or wives."

I grimaced. "You and her spoke, then."

"We did. I'm hoping to earn an ally out of it."

I sputtered. "How?"

"She might be an alpha's wife, but she's a woman first, a woman in a precarious position now that you're actually out and about in the public eye."

It dawned on me that… she had to have planned for some of this to happen. But… was it scheming or something else? I was still certain that Violet had magic, but maybe it was more subtle than mine… or maybe she was just much better at political scheming than I would ever understand.

"They teach a class on it?"

"I was raised by a schemer and her husband."

I chuckled. “Given Olivia's lack of moral compass, what's to stop her from taking out her brother if we eliminate her father?”

“It will be a slow process. Olivia is much easier to manage than Callum. She’s predictable. Self-serving. She’ll take the bait if it’s dangled the right way and then we eliminate her, too.”

My jaw dropped. "Violet…"

She shrugged. "Unless you want her around to keep making passes at you?"

I grimaced. "Just… don't tell me if you're going to kill anyone. I don't want to be implicated."

She laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. If I had plans to kill someone, you'd never know."

I licked my lips. "I'm at least half hard now."

She grinned. "Better get a handle on that. Master Remy will not let you live it down."