I didn't know all the details but it didn't matter anymore. That path—those plans that had been crafted since my birth—had been destroyed long ago, basically the moment I fell in love with my little circle of royals.
"I'm so happy you're okay," Mattie said huskily. "After you went missing, I couldn't stop crying. Nolan and I flew home so we could use our satellite tech to try and find you. You were so off-grid, though, that I got nothing." She coughed a little to hide a sob. "Thank fuck Rafe finally got in touch so I at least knew you were alive."
Our hug went on for a long time, and I felt a little lighter when we pulled apart. Since seeing Uriel again at the compound, I'd been carrying around this darkness that I couldn't put away. Piece by piece, my friends were helping me step back to the Violet I’d been before the world went to shit.
"You're the best fucking friend a girl could wish for," I told her truthfully. "And I'm lucky to have you."
Mattie shrugged. "I know."
We both cracked up laughing just as a heavy knock sounded on her door. "Come in, Rafe," Mattie said with an eye roll. Boy had a very distinct heavy hand on him, that was for sure.
He marched in, Jordan and Nolan right behind him. "Why isn't your door locked?" he growled.
Mattie just raised her eyebrows at him, unperturbed by his attitude. "Uh, maybe because it's three in the afternoon and the school is bustling with students."
His jaw started doing that twitchy thing that meant he was losing his shit internally and just hadn't figured out what or who to punch yet. "I'm sure by now you've heard about Uriel," Jordan said, our peacemaker. "He's highly-trained, skilled, and very evil. He will stop at nothing to get Violet into his grasp. We can't take any risks with her until he's dead and buried."
I lifted my hand in the air. "Dibs on killing him."
Mattie turned wide eyes on me. "Is he really that dangerous? Like... more than you and Rafe?"
I tried not to laugh at that. "Yes. More than me and Rafe. Combined."
"Well, fuck," she breathed, before launching herself off her bed to lock her door and slide the deadbolt across.
Rafe crossed his arms. "He's sneakier, not better. I just need to lure him out of the shadows first."
"Mine," I repeated.
Nolan chose that moment to laugh, grab some of our leftover junk food, and collapse into the chair, shoveling it into his mouth. "Only my family would fight over who gets to kill a dude," he said, laughing even harder. Bastard was going to choke on his food if he kept that up. "I love my life."
Rafe shook his head, but didn't say anything. Nolan was a pain in the ass, but he was our pain in the ass, and sometimes the relief that came with his lightheartedness was exactly what we all needed to start healing. Feeling more like our old selves.
"Safe and secure," Mattie chirped, and when I looked over to the door, laughter spilled out before I could stop it. She'd dragged her side table in front of it and piled all her shoes on top.
She shrugged. "If anyone shakes my door, all the shoes will fall off, and we'll have a warning."
Jordan wrapped his arm around her when she walked by. "How are we going to get out though?"
Mattie wrinkled her nose. "Hmmm. No idea. Guess you'll all just have to live here. We can make it work."
That had all of Nolan's attention. "I suggest a rotation of who sleeps with whom, minus Mattie and me because we're not into twincest."
Rafe looked like he was refraining from speaking his mind, and I had to admire his restraint.
The rest of the afternoon was the most normal I'd had in a very long time. To think that only a few days before this I was being brainwashed in a compound filled with extremists and murderers… It was difficult to comprehend the entire thing.
As night fell, I grew more tired, and when I'd yawned for the tenth time, Rafe reached down and scooped me off the bed and into his arms. "Violet needs to sleep," he said. "Someone is going to have to de-shoe the front door for us."
Mattie snorted. "No one murdered us, did they? I'd say a hundred percent success rate."
"Put me down," I said to Rafe when he started to walk. "I'm not that tired."
He muttered something about being a pain in the ass, but he did set me on my feet. When the door was clear, I hugged Mattie and Nolan before strolling off toward my room. Rafe and Jordan both caught me, each of them taking a hand and dragging me to a halt.
"Rafe's room is the safest," Jordan said. "We will be sticking together." There was a bite in his tone, like some of his demons were creeping back in.
"Okay."
