She laughed a low, self-amused sound. "I told you, call me Jax. I get the feeling we're going to be family for a good long time yet." She shot me a wink when I finally peeled my hands off my bruised face. I couldn't help it; her words made me all squishy inside. I'd never experienced anything even close to the emotions she was stirring up in me.
"Now," she continued. "How are my boys handling the sharing aspect of your ménage relationship? Are they playing nice, or are they like dogs fighting over a bone?"
I reached for my coffee and took a huge sip. I loved Jacinta, I really did. But I also wanted to throw my drink at her.
"They're..." I started to say, then broke off with a heavy sigh. "Yeah, option B. I know they're both just waiting for me to choose between them, but..." I shrugged, and Jacinta gave me a knowing smile.
"But you can't because you've fallen just as hard for both of them."
"Yeah."
"I figured." She gave me a gentle smile and patted my leg. "It'll be okay, Violet. Those boys love each other more than if they were blood. They'll never put their egos above their friendship, andneitherof them would ever want to see you hurting. No matter what my pigheaded son might make you think."
I groaned. "So what do I do?"
Mattie would know. She’d have it all sorted like it was as easy as… I don’t even know what. Washing my underwear or something.Thateasy.
Jax gave me a shrug, reaching out to top up her owncoffee. "You have fun, Violet. You're eighteen and in a uniquely special position where youcanjust have fun. The fate of the world, the war between Monarchs and the Society? It's not your job to fix. Just take things one day at a time, and I think everything will work out in the end."
"And if it doesn't? If the press finds out the heirs of both New America and the Switzerlands are involved with the same dirt poor orphan? What happens then? There surely can't be a happily ever after when you take all those future responsibilities into account." Doom and gloom were creeping up on me once more, and I was losing sight of all that warm, fuzzy hope Jacinta—Jax—had just filled me with.
She shook her head. "Stop it. Stop what-if-ing. If we all lived in what-ifs, then nothing would ever get done around here. Live your life; enjoy your youth, your beauty, your privileged circumstances; andignorethe noise. All that other crap to do with lines of succession and political marriages? It's future-Violet's problem. A million things could change before you and the boys ever need to go public with your relationship, so why stress over it?"
I blinked at her several times, letting that sink in.
Fucking hell, she really was smart.
"Now, I'm going to go and check on Felipe and let him know you're all here safe. He'll want to see everyone as soon as possible." She pushed back her chair and patted me on the shoulder. "If we weren't talking about my own son, I'd say that I envy you, Violet. You're a lucky girl." The teasing wink she shot me as she left the room left me speechless, and I did the only thing I could think of to help gather my thoughts.
I drank more “coffee.”
Chapter 13
By the time I was done with breakfast, some of the tension had filtered away. I wasn't drunk or anything, but I had a good understanding of why Jacinta didn't stress a little booze to start her day.
This world was too fucked up to face it completely sober, at least not every day.
No one had come to find me, so again I set out to figure out what the hell was happening now. Frustrating as it was, just because Rafe and Jordan were giving me the cold shoulder didn't mean I'd accept being pushed into the background. I was an integral part of this, and even if I wanted to hand it back to the responsible adults, I needed to make sure Felipe and Jax knew everything first.
I needed to find Felipe.
Thankfully, I remembered where his study was, and despite a few curious looks at the blond chick wandering around in Rafe's clothing, no one stopped me or questioned what I was doing free-ranging around the castle.
In fact, I was almost certain that a few of them bowed to me as I passed, but I must have been mistaken. I sure as shit was no royal, but possibly they assumed I was. Or maybe I'd imagined the entire thing.
When I reached the closed door, I hesitated, second guessing myself, before I quickly pushed that aside and lifted my hand to knock. Just as I rapped my knuckles against it, I heard voices inside. They were too muffled through the heavy wood to make out the conversation, but it sounded like more than one man was talking.
"Come in, Violet!"
That shout was definitely from King Felipe, and I blinked at the door, wondering how the hell he knew it was me. It only took a quick glance up to see a small camera-like device, and I had my answer.
Nervously, I entered, then closed the door firmly behind me. Light filled the room from floor to ceiling windows, and a roaring fireplace sent warmth through the whole space. A familiar face came into view in one of the high backed, hand-carved chairs right near the king.
"Mr. Wainwright?"
He got to his feet, hurrying over toward me. "I'm so happy to see you alive and well," he said in a rush, his eyes taking in the purple bruising on my cheek with a critical eye. "When we received word from Rafe that you'd been taken, we immediately started planning our course of action. I was not letting one of my team go down by those extremists."
Maybe I was slow today after my shitty night’s sleep, but it took me a few moments to piece together the meaning of what he’d said. "You lead the good resistance?"
