His lips twitched. "Haven't heard it referred to as the 'good' resistance before, but in essence, I am one of the twelve that make up our top council. We're scattered around the world with many recruits beneath us."
By this time, Felipe had gotten to his feet as well to move around the large table toward me. He looked great, and I stepped away from Mr. Wainwright so I could accept the hug he was offering. "I'm so glad you're alive," I choked out. "I spent weeks not knowing, and in my worst moments, I feared I’d never see you again."
Why Jacinta and Felipe felt like the parents I'd never had, I couldn't say, but there was something special about both of them.
Felipe squeezed me even tighter, and when he pulled back, his face grave, it reminded me so much of Rafe that my chest got tight and those tears that had been threatening to fall emerged again. "When I woke up to learn that you three had been taken," Felipe started, his face drawn, "it was my worst nightmare. Thankfully, Rafe had gotten in touch with George, and I knew that you were alive and we had a plan."
George?
Mr. Wainwright winked at me, and I remembered that was his first name. Well, he'd always be a Mr. to me.
"Rafe never told me anything," I admitted.
There was a scuffing sound at the door, and in walked the asshole himself. "You didn't need to know," he said shortly. "I kept you alive, and that was as much as needed to happen."
It was only Felipe's hand on my shoulder that stopped me from kicking Rafe's ass because I legitimately was at the end of my ability to handle his moods. I'd been through a fucking lot as well, we all had, so why was he punishing me for that?
What had I actually done?
"Let's sit," Mr. Wainwright suggested, leading the way back to the chairs. "We have a lot to discuss."
Last time I'd visited Felipe’s office, I’d been on the couch with Rafe and Jordan; this time I was on my own as Rafe took the other single chair across from his father.
When Felipe sat, it was maybe a little more gingerly then he had last time; otherwise, there were no visible signs of the injuries he’d sustained. "We've heard some of Rafe's account, but it would be nice to hear from you, Violet," he said, "along with any thoughts you've had on fixing this mess."
I paused. "You want my thoughts? I'm not sure what relevant experience or knowledge I could give to assist. I'm nothing.”
Three sets of eyes latched onto me, varying emotions deep in all of them, but I didn't flinch. I was made of tougher shit than that, and if they really wanted my thoughts, I would give them uncensored.
"The Society believes that you are very important," Mr. Wainwright said. "Uriel taking you like that proves that there's more to you than we originally thought. I'm guessing that there is probably a lot we can learn from you, Violet."
"Yes," Felipe said confidently. "You are one of the most mature, self-assured, and capable young women I've had the pleasure of knowing in my many years. You remind me of my wife, and that woman could run circles around some of the current monarchs, if she set her mind to it."
In some ways she already did do that, and being compared to Jacinta was the highest compliment I could think of receiving.
Rafe remained silent like the piece of fuck he was. Well, his mouth did at least... His eyes, on the other hand, were practically glittering with some unsaid emotion.
"I was groomed to take over the bad-resistance," I started. "Pretty much from conception. My mother was a higher-up in their organization..."
I went on to tell them everything I'd learned from Uriel. Everything I'd lived through in my training, my life, my existence. All the ways the circumstances of my birth had screwed me before I’d even known that there was a war going on.
"He won't give up," I told them, wanting them to stop underestimating him. "I’m aware that you blew a large hole into his plans yesterday, but I know that man, and this is only going to make him worse."
He'd go underground and try and take them all apart.
"You think he'll come for you?"
Rafe spoke for the first time, and while I felt an urge to pretend I couldn't hear him, I didn't want Felipe to take back his "mature" comment from before.
"Yes. He's not one to allow his possessions to go free. He claimed me long ago, and in his head I belong to him."
Rafe's jaw clenched, and if he kept that up, his teeth would break. Still, he didn't say anything, and I tried to push through the heaviness in my chest.
"What Uriel and his people did," Mr. Wainwright said, cutting through the tension, "is not what the Society stands for. We were formed originally to try and break through the classism that monarchies created, to equalize the world a little so that it wouldn’t always be the haves and have-nots."
"With all thehavesbeing the royals," Felipe added. Ironically, as he was a royal.
Mr. Wainwright nodded. "Yes. And now Uriel has undermined what we were working toward with his attacks. Our aim was building toward an accords, one that has been in discussions for many years."
