14. Baron
BARON
Ifucking hate these four walls.
I hate how white they are.
I hate how clinical it feels.
I hate how I have no control over anything that happens in this small space.
I both love and hate that my fated mate is a phoenix.
I should have known we'd be here again. I just didn't anticipate it being so soon.
The moment I sensed panic in Archer's tone in the meeting room, I knew nothing good would come of it, but Ivy's death didn't even register on the scale. Yet here we are again, squeezed in tight around her sleeping form as we wait for her to rise from the ashes once again.
My hands clench on the arms of my chair, my knuckles whitening so brightly that they match the walls of the room. Every muscle in my body aches with tension.
Four days ago, somebody killed my fated mate again.
Four fucking days.
If we thought it was bad last time, the extra twenty-four hours so far have made it feel a million times worse.
My brother remains at my side in a similar seat to the one he took last time. Teddy is on the other side of him, while Archer stalks back and forth at the foot of Ivy's bed. Hugo fills the seat closest to her, elbows resting on the bed with his head in his hands.
Despair bleeds into the room, coming from each of us, amplified by one another, worsened for ourselves whether we like it or not.
A new addition joins us this time, an insistence we couldn't deny after her reaction to her last visit here.
Meadow sits on the opposite side of the bed, legs tucked underneath her as she rests her elbow on the arm of her chair, cheek against her palm, while her eyelids rest at half-mast.
It's been like this for four days. We might have moved on occasion, but no one's eating enough, and no one's sleeping at all. Really, no one's doing anything but worrying for the girl before us.
As the mid-afternoon sun threatens to pierce through the dark clouds in the sky, which I'm sure Hugo has something to do with, it doesn't feel like we're any closer to relief.
“She should be awake by now,” Archer grunts, stating the obvious, like we haven’t already discussed this.
We're all clock-watching, time-conscious, and worried.
She'll come around, we know that for sure, but not knowing when feels like a curse, more painstaking than the fact that she died again to begin with.
Maybe this is the side of the pain I feel, since I didn't experience a physical wound like she did.
“All we can do is wait,” Hugo breathes, his voice tight and strained, making it clear Archer isn't the only one concerned, but someone has to keep a level head.
It seems we all have our roles here.
Hugo is rational, Archer is dripping with distress, and Meadow is a calm and quiet presence. Teddy is tugging at his hair so much, I'm certain he's gonna lose half of it, while Sax hums, the sound almost calming, but it does nothing to impact my state.
Mute.
That’s my place in the madness.
My mind is alive, my world swirling around and around, but it's taking so much of me to navigate my endless thoughts and worries that being present and anything more than a spectator is impossible.
I haven’t breathed a word since the meeting, a fact that’s driving my brother insane, but I can’t find the strength to use my tongue.
“We know who did this. Maybe someone should go and serve up some consequences,” Archer sneers, and Teddy sighs.
“We’ve been over this; we can’t go after Francesca without proof. We’ll have it when Ivy is awake and her memories come back to her. Until then, we sit and wait.”
It’s the truth, but it does nothing to appease Archer.
I can’t say I blame him. If Ivy was dead—like, dead dead—I don’t imagine we would be sitting around waiting for proof.
But my sources say Francesca hasn’t been seen on campus.
Otherwise, I would be putting my money where my mouth is and raining Hell down on that bitch.
“What is being done about it, Hugo? What does Viola have to say for herself this time?
This clearly wasn't the doing of your father; he'd have taken her with him, Leonardo too.
This is the work of someone on campus. She can't say this isn't her jurisdiction anymore. Something has to be done. If not Francesca, what about Odesa? It wouldn’t be the first time, would it?” Archer snarls, desperation getting the better of him as he rakes his hands through his hair.
I’d rather be out hunting for the bitch, but I'm too scared to leave Ivy's side.
For the first time in my life, I don't want to wade in with force and ruin.
I want to ensure that she is safe first. But when the time comes, I will be the reaper, and I will cause ruin to everyone who stands in my way for the harm that has been caused here.
“I just don't understand why anybody would do this,” Meadow breathes, voicing her concerns for the first time, and Sax scoffs.
“Unfortunately, Meadow, power is a fickle thing. Regardless of how strong or aware of her abilities Ivy may or may not be; others will see her as a threat.”
“But she doesn't want to harm anybody,” she insists, and my brother shrugs as my stomach clenches.
“To some, it doesn't matter. To some, the mere knowledge that someone might outweigh you, overpower you, and beat you at your greatest is enough for them to take action.
Some people here won't want to see Ivy grow into who she is meant to be, but it is our job to ensure that she does,” Sax reiterates, and my chest clenches at his words.
I have never agreed with him more.
“What do you say, Baron?” Sax asks, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.
I meet his stare without twisting my head, and don't move a muscle as he rubs the back of his neck.
“You're going to have to speak eventually, brother.
Keeping it all bottled up isn't going to help,” he insists with his voice low, but everyone can hear him.
When still nothing passes my lips, he sighs.
“Don't blame me when it happens. Remember that you're the one who made me do this.”
Curiosity curls through my veins as I try to figure out what he means by that, but it would require speaking, and I'm quite happy being on complete lockdown until I see her eyes open. That is, until a knock comes from the door.
It swings open without a second’s hesitation, making me think it’s the nurse, but to my surprise, my eyes almost bug out of my head when they land on familiar green pools staring back at me.
“Ma?”
“I warned you,” Sax mutters as my eyebrows furrow, and I blink at my mother.
She barrels into the room, wrapping me in her embrace a moment later, and for the first time in ninety-six hours, I heave a sigh of relief.
I feel my mother's body tense, as if she takes the weight from me, and exhaustion clings to me for the first time. Happy to drown in her embrace, my moment of peace doesn't last long when whispers reach my ears, and I realize she's not alone.
Aster and Cami follow behind, quickly flanked by my dad and pops.
It looks like it's a whole family gathering.
Hugo stands, shaking hands with my fathers while I try to process what the hell is going on.
“What are you all doing here?” I blurt, and Sax clears his throat.
“I just called for a little bit of reinforcement,” he mumbles, and my mother releases me to sweep him up in one of her special hugs, just like she did me.
Leaning back in my chair, I don't get the reprieve I hope for as Aster falls into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck as she holds me tight.
“Not right now,” I grumble, but she only squeezes tighter.
“You're welcome, Baron,” she muses, and I narrow my eyes at her when she finally slackens her hold.
“Why are you here?” I mutter, and her smile grows soft as her gaze travels across the room to the sleeping form that fills the bed.
“She's family,” she states, as if it's that simple.
As I part my lips, ready to correct her, no words come out.
“Thank you for being here,” Hugo mumbles, brushing his hair back off his face as he stares down at his sister in continued despair.
“When will it stop?” Cami asks, folding her arms over her chest as she blinks at Ivy with growing concern.
I follow her line of sight. She looks peaceful, but it's been a really long time.
My stomach churns, but before I can let the sensation completely consume me, a hand pats down on my shoulder. Tilting my head, I find Garside silently present beside me. He offers me a nod that I don't respond to as my gaze lifts to my father across the room.
His jaw is set tight and firm, a likely mirror replica of mine, one that I can't stand to look at, so I return my attention to Ivy, only to find my mother hovering beside Meadow with her hand pressed against my fated mate’s.
Seeing Ivy and my family in the same room is a blessing and a curse.
Everything feels real, and too much, yet not enough, all at the same time.
My sisters talk quietly among themselves as I fixate on the way my mother strokes her thumb across the back of Ivy's hand.
“It's okay, sweet girl, we're here when you're ready, but if you could do me a favor and stop my son from fretting, I would be eternally grateful,” my mother whispers, and Hugo snickers, the sound light despite the oppressive sense of dread that continues to fill the room.
Aster approaches the other side of the bed, but she doesn't reach for Ivy's hand as she speaks to her. “Although, if you do want to keep my brother waiting a little longer, it's nothing more than he deserves. I can't wait for you to wake up so we can discuss how much of an asshole he actually is.”
She takes too much pleasure in saying that.
“Which one?” Teddy grumbles from his seat, and Cami grins at him widely.
“Both,” she declares, and the air continues to lighten just a touch.
It steals my breath away to realize how much of an impact my family can have. Regardless of how much I struggle with it.
“Thankfully for us, she's not going to remember who she hates the most when she first wakes up,” Archer says, twisting the knot in my gut that continues to grow with every passing minute.