Bad bitches were afraid of nothing, or, they took power for themselves and control. At that moment, all Violet felt was loss and emptiness and fear. She couldn’t control her powers, she was in a place with a valid fear of fire, she couldn’t touch her soulmate, and everything was so different, it felt like her world was upside down.
“Violet? Violet Anwir? Are you—“
Violet turned around slowly, shocked to hear that voice. She knew he was alive, of course, but after hearing about what had happened, the fire, the parties... He shouldn’t be alive, but he was. And now, to have him call out his voice, to have him be the only one left standing...
She was dreading this moment, dreading this confrontation. Not because she didn’t want to hug him again and apologize for his loss, but because he should blame her. He could blame her.
If she hadn’t been weak, hiding in her own bed and missing Henrik, she would have been there, and a witch with an affinity for fire... a witch there at all...
She could have saved lives. She could have saved them.
“How...”
Silvestre started walking her way immediately, and she braced herself. He could blame her. He should blame her.
Because it was his house she would have been at that night. His house, in his older sister’s room. She would have been sitting on Della’s bed when it started. Clover would have been in her lap. She would have been there. She could have helped.
He would blame her, and she would take it. She deserved it. She had been weak, and when it mattered most, she had run.
“Thought I smelled you yesterday,” Silver said as he approached, his hands shoved into jacket pockets. He looked tired, and old...
Well of course he did. It had been fifteen years. Last time she saw him, he was a foot shorter and not even shifting yet.
“We arrived yesterday,” Violet answered, and crossed her arms under her breasts. She told herself it was for warmth, and not as the hug she somewhat longed for. “Henrik and I.”
“So it’s Violet Ellis now?”
“Not mated, not yet,” Violet answered, and glanced down at the ground. There was no hiding it, not if she was going to be around wolves for more than a few minutes. They would be able to tell, soon enough, that the connection wasn’t fully there.
“After all these years? What’re you two waitin’ on?”
Ahh. Of course Silvestre wouldn’t know. He was a little bit younger, and hadn’t understood why, if she and Henrik knew they were mates, they couldn’t be together.
“Let’s just say, a spell gone wrong...”
“Huh. And Henrik is still just followin’ you around?”
Violet shook her head as she chuckled, amused that that would be what Silvestre remembered about her wolf. “Not exactly.”
Silvestre’s stare was far too grown up for her taste, the little boy she remembered now standing here a man. The little boy who had grown up without his mom... his sisters... his dad already gone...
“So, where have you been?” The judgment in his eyes... he was wary. “No one knew what happened to you. That night... I mean, I knew you weren’t here, and the way Henrik took off, they figured out your Ma took you, but there ain’t been a word of you since. Henrik came back for a minute, said he was on your trail, but... really thought you would come back.”
Violet stared up at him, which was weird, because she had always been taller, and nodded slightly. “To be honest, I didn’t think I would be welcomed back.”
Silvestre stared at her, quiet, and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he thinking about why she wouldn’t be welcome back? Was he thinking about all of the damage she had done over the years, and the damage her mother had done?
“Screw this,” Silvestre muttered, and moved closer to her before wrapping his arms around her in a hug. Violet immediately melted into it, her bare hands pressing hard against the middle of his jacket covered back, just in case. She didn’t want to accidentally burn him.
“What are you doing?” Violet asked, her voice muffled in the front of his jacket.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” Silvestre answered, but there was something else. She could hear the tears in his voice, and knew he was crying. His body shook slightly, and she held him tighter, knowing, wondering, realizing...
“I should have been here,” she began, tears joining her own eyes. “I should have been in the house with them. I would have been upstairs. I would have gotten us out. All of them. I can’t believe it. I didn’t know how bad it was, Silver. I didn’t know how bad the fire was. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Silvestre.”
She was sobbing as she hugged him tight, the boy who had once been a little brother to her. Mardoc was the older brother, Silvestre and Colburn her little brothers, and Rodolphe her annoying cousin, Della her best friend, Clover her little sister, and Lily and Parker tagging along, and— And now the girls were all gone. Particularly once Henrik had shifted and grown older, it was Della’s house she snuck out to, when she knew Henrik wouldn’t be at home and she wanted away from her mother.
How could they all be dead? How could they all be gone?