31. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Mace
T he sound of the door cracking against the wall like an explosion wakes the entire first floor of the home up. When they spot Viola passed out, and in my arms, all three of our friends are on their feet and rushing towards me, talking over one another.
Morrow rips Viola from my arms and stretches her out on the floor, where Plume drops to her knees and begins running her hands over her body. I back up, retreating to the corner of the room, eyes never leaving Viola.
How could she say those awful things to me and then die? How could she spew such hatred and then leave me here alone where we can never talk through it?
" Yeah, well, at least she has a father."
She's told me time and time again that she doesn't blame me, even though it hurts her. How could she just throw that in my face like that? I was there to support her and to look out for her, and she became a different person when faced with conflict.
I suddenly understand what Max was talking about in the aftermath of Amio's death. It is hard to recognize that Viola as the woman I have grown to know .
"Mace!" Tulip yells, shaking me by my shoulders and out of my spiral. "Stay with me, buddy. What happened?"
Plume continues to run her hands over Viola's body, but she repeats, "I can't heal her. Nothing is wrong with her," over and over.
Morrow is suddenly in front of me with Tulip, and he grabs my face and forces my eyes directly on his. "Mace, you have to tell us what happened."
"She crippled him. She crushed his pelvis." My voice is far away, foreign to my ears.
"Who? Who attacked her?" Tulip implores.
I shake my head, trying to clear the racing thoughts that are plaguing me. "He threatened her, but he was just trying to protect the seed, the artifact. The man in the house with the green door and the blind girl."
Tulip drops to the floor, hand on her mouth. "What did she do to Ryler?"
"Forget that. What did he do to her?" Plume interrupts.
I stare at the unmoving form of Viola on the floor, the amulet hanging between her breasts like a curse. "She put the amulet on. It's the artifact. It touched her skin, and we were engulfed with enough light to brighten the entire fucking town. It was as if the sun had risen. And then she fell, and she's been like this since. I… I think she's dead." The last words come out as a croak, and I feel wetness on my cheeks. I didn't even realize I was crying.
I collapse to the floor, fisting my hair, my throat as raw as my nerves. "She hates me. She died hating me. "
Strong hands grasp my shoulders. "Brother, you have to get ahold of yourself right now. She's not dead. But we need to figure out what happened and get her back, okay?" Morrow hooks his hands under my arms, moves me to sit in a chair, and busies himself making me tea. "I doubt she actually hates you. She's just as stubborn and mean as that minotaur." His attempt at levity is lost on me. Multiple heads are peeking down the stairs, but when they make eye contact with me, something in my gaze must scare them because they immediately retreat.
Tulip is frozen, her mind reeling about this man Ryler that Viola fought this evening. And yet she manages to shake herself out of it, get to her feet, and clear her throat to speak. "I'll go get Orda." She's out the door as quickly as the words leave her mouth.
Viola was beside herself when Tulip was hurt, and I find myself feeling resentful that Tulip can just run off when we don't know what is happening with Viola.
I breathe through the anger I have for the young woman as I hold the warm mug Morrow hands me, my eyes locked on Viola. "How could she be alive? Her chest doesn't move." I cannot allow myself a kernel of hope. I try to think about what Viola would do for me if she were in this situation. Would she shut down like she did when Max died? Scream and fight and then disappear within herself like when Tulip was injured?
Or would she silently be happy that I am on my way out of her life?
Plume resumes her vigil beside Viola, specks of pink Healing magic flowing from her hands. "I can't explain it, but she's not dead, Mace. It's like her body is held in stasis." Her gaze lingers on the amulet. "This is the artifact, we're sure?" I nod, the memory of the bright flash of Light magic seared on the back of my eyes. "Curious…" she murmurs.
Morrow kneels beside her, head cocked to the side. His long braids are tied up on his head, still wrapped in a piece of cloth from sleep. "What's curious?"
"You tell me. Do you feel any magic coming from it?" Plume asks, pointing to the golden circle on Viola's chest.
Reaching towards it, Morrow's mouth drops open. "It's devoid of magic." He sits back on his heels. "Take it off of her. Remove her shirt."
"What the fuck?" I'm on my feet, tea spilling down the front of my shirt. "Godsdamnit!" I shout at the heat.
"Settle down there, killer. I'm not trying to be weird - I just need to test something. Give me your blade."
I tentatively hand him the knife strapped to my thigh and stand over him as he cuts down the front of Viola's black blouse and gently removes the amulet from her neck.
At the same time, all three of us gasp.
There, in the middle of Viola's chest, is a raised patch of skin, slightly darker than her tawny tone, that matches the sun from the front of Linna's journal.
"This didn't happen with the Witch's Ladder," I whisper, kneeling to get a closer look.
"She wasn't fae then," Plume responds.
I'm not sure who looks at Plume faster because Morrow and I both say, "She's not fae now," at the same time.
Plume runs her hands across her face. "I wasn't sure how to tell anyone. She doesn't even know. I barely believe it myself, but trying to heal her tonight solidifies it." She wrings her hands together with nerves. "When I healed her after the ritual, it was the same healing as I've always done. I didn't think anything much of it until I started to heal Tulip. Similar cuts to what Viola had took so much more of my magic. Something in her changed when she absorbed that magic, and I think that now she is one of us."
Morrow lets out a loud, long whistle. "She's going to be fucking pissed," he says with a chuckle.
That feels like the understatement of the century. "But what does that have to do with her being marked with that sun?" I ask.
Morrow grabs his pack and rifles through it, pulling out Linna's journal. "I think this." He points at a passage, and Plume and I lean over it to read with him.
The Radiant Sunfire is a sight to behold. I am blessed that my draw led me to him. His power is unmatched, his beauty that which songs could be written about.
Today we were on the shoreline discussing the upcoming solstice festival. The sun was shining brightly and the warmth cooked my skin. Of course, it is frowned upon for Gods to have relationships with their priests. It's considered to be taking advantage of the draw. Many high priests have thought they have fallen in love with their Gods, only to realize when their draw is accepted that it was never love, but twisted devotion.
But my feelings towards him are real, I just know they are, and when I saw him there without his shirt, golden hair brushing the tops of his umber shoulders, I could not help but lean in and kiss him.
He returned it greedily and it was as if my dreams had come true. It was as if every part of my body sang for his, and I could not get close enough to him, pressing myself tightly against his figure.
After we lay together, I rested my head upon him and traced the raised, ornamental sun that fills the center of his chest. It looks wholly different than the scarification of powers he shares with his siblings. It is almost as if it is a part of him, so I had to ask him where it came from.
He watched me trace his flesh, and I thought for sure he would not answer me. Eventually, his hand stilled mine, and he pressed his lips to my temple. He told me that he had it from the moment he existed, and it was why he was called the sunfire.
Whatever it is, I adore it so much that I burnt it into the front of my journal. I never want to forget that day.
I look up at Morrow, mouth hanging open. "She fucked her God?"
His chest vibrates with quiet laughter. "That wasn't what I wanted you to take from that, but yeah, it seems like Linna took rules as mere suggestions."
"This mark is as she described," Plume whispers, running her fingers over it. She holds the journal beside Viola's chest, and it is undeniable .
"Which could only mean one thing," I whisper, staring down at this woman who has made my life infinitely more difficult but so much more exciting.
Morrow grins widely. "She's now carrying the magic of two Gods."
Orda came and went, agreeing with our assessment that Viola must now possess the magic of the Radiant Sunfire as well. As she left, she patted me on the shoulder and quietly said, "I imagine it was only this bad because Summer and Winter are opposites. Hold it together, she will return to you."
And so I have tried to hold it together for all of us. But as night gave way to morning and morning to afternoon, and nothing has changed, I am starting to lose my grip on myself.
"Tell me again what happened," Tulip says quietly from her position next to Viola.
We've gone over it dozens of times, but still, I repeat myself. "Ryler surprised Viola with a crossbow pointed at her heart. They fought, and she realized he had killed Rew. From there, she showed no mercy. I kept her from killing him, but she crushed his pelvis with her shadows."
Tulip stifles a sob. The third time I told the story, I learned that Tulip used to live on the floor above Ryler and his family. It's the only reason I can think of Viola not sharing with her what we were going to do .
Why is she so more focused on the injury of someone she once knew than on whatever is happening to Viola?
"I just don't understand it," she says softly. "I have known she was brutal and dangerous. I knew that when I first met her. You never saw her in the Race, but her eyes were hollower then, completely cold. But something in my gut told me I had to stay with her, so I did. I have always understood that part of her and even tried my hardest to embrace it, but it is so different being so intimately close to it. I knew him, Mace. He took care of me."
Morrow, from his place against the wall where he continues to flip through Linna's journal, looks up at us. "I know you had a relationship with this man, Tulip, but you have to see it from Viola's point of view. She chose the many over the one. When you're a God, you have to make difficult decisions. It was brutal, but we got what we needed. Try not to hold it against her."
It's easier said than done, though. I can see on Tulip's face that she will struggle to ever understand Viola doing this.
"Do you think he would have given up the amulet to you?" I ask Tulip quietly. I have to know if this was all for naught. If we had brought her in, could the outcome have been different?
She buries her face in her hands. "I want to say he would have, but I cannot possibly know. Even if it was an accident, Ryler killed Rew to keep from giving it up, and he would've killed Viola too."
Her words do make me feel a little better about the situation. But we still should have let Tulip try.
I doubt Viola would have ever let that happen, though. She's as stubborn as anyone I've ever met. She has consistently shut down talking through the darkness that arcs between us, and yet I disagree with her show of malice once, and she throws it all in my face.
"Why did Rew's death upset her so much? It's not like she even knew him!" Tulip exclaims with exasperation.
"He saved me," comes a soft, weak voice from the supine Viola in the middle of the floor. I'm on my feet so quickly that I knock my chair over. I wrap my arm with hers in an instant and pull her upright.
Morrow scrambles to his feet, "I'll go get Plume!" and then he's out the door, going to locate Plume from where she's been helping the growth of the town's crops.
"Water?" she croaks, and Tulip grabs it wordlessly from the pitcher on the counter.
"What do you mean he saved you?" I ask once she has a few sips down.
She looks between me and Tulip, no doubt noticing the sadness that lines Tulip's face and the anger in my own. "Can this stay between us three?" We both nod, and she readjusts her position, seeking something to lean against. I gently lift her under the arms and guide her to the table, where I lower her into a chair and then sit next to her. Tulip takes up a position across from her, and we both wait expectantly.
"Mace, I'm sure you kind of figured it out the first time I came to your house, but," she takes a deep breath and casts her eyes downward. "I was assaulted. In my Ascension year."
"You've been attacked plenty," Tulip says, brows lowered.
"Not that kind of assault, Tulip," I whisper, noticing Viola's fingers rapidly tapping on the table in front of her.
Viola looks at me with sad eyes and then casts them back down to the tabletop swiftly. "He's right. I fell asleep on my way back down to the Lowlands. I was on my own. My parents left me, and it's not like we had a lot of friends, so I did the best I could to get back down. I had to stop to rest, though. It was reckless, but I was just so tired."
"Do you need calm?" I whisper lowly, hoping Tulip won't hear. She nods, and I push my Influence into her to bury the anxious part of her mind.
Her shoulders visibly relax, and the tapping slows. "I woke up tied to a tree. There was a man there in front of me. I had never seen him before. He was pure predator, circling me like he was going to devour me. I thought he'd kill me. I wasn't sure why he would, all we had to do was finish so we wouldn't be expendable and yet here he was, stalking around his prey." She shakes her head and it looks like she's attempting to remove the memories. "That wasn't his plan, of course."
My throat feels tight. My whole body is rigid, and I have to forcibly breathe because otherwise, I fear I may stop. It is one thing to have suspicions about a trauma but to hear it laid bare is entirely different.
"Anyways, after the assault, I must have passed out." She glosses over the actual incident, sparing Tulip and me the details. Her face is pained enough that I don't push for more information. "I woke up untied and alone, and I finished the Race. It never occurred to me to think about how I ended up that way. Until Rew. While we were dancing, he told me that he didn't want to upset me, but he needed me to know that he knew me. He found me tied to that tree, half-conscious, my clothing ripped." Viola inhales sharply, her hands wrapping around her hips. "He cut me down and left so I wouldn't wake up with a strange man with me, but I have memories of a face floating in front of me. I must've been in and out of consciousness for some time." Her voice drops so low that I almost can't hear her. "The man wasn't exactly gentle."
With a shake of her head, Viola continues. "Rew hid in the trees until I woke to make sure I was okay." Her voice is cracking with the effort to hold back tears despite the magical calm coursing through her. Her fingers have moved from tapping the table to her thighs and this time I don't dare still them.
The breaths she takes are more ragged now. "He hunted the man down and killed him. He didn't know me. Never spoke to me, never sought any sort of repayment. He just saw me hurt and broken and went in search of justice for me. And then I saw him, crumbled, his neck broken from an accidentally too-hard push from someone he considered a friend?" She sniffles and looks up at Tulip, whose face is shockingly blank through this all.
"I should've killed him for what he did to Rew."
Tulip stands and walks out the door, leaving us only with the sound of it smashing behind her.