Saffron cocked his head. “Hm… Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“And what are the Games except an intricate advertisement for thenextseason?” Alaric continued.
Jade nodded slowly. “I see what you’re getting at, kitten. You’re implying there’s no next season of the Games.”
“What?” Saffron cried. “Why?”
Jade and Alaric arched matching eyebrows at him.
“Oh,” Saffron said, sitting back in his seat. “Because of Viol.”
“Because of Viol,” Alaric agreed. He tossed the rest of the cookie in his mouth, then dusted off his hands. “You’d have more luck herding cats than getting Viol to agree to be bachelor.”
“Indeed,” Jade agreed with a wry smile. “Especially since he’s so busy babysitting these days. I assume that’s where our son is, kitten?”
“Him and about sixty other children,” Alaric agreed. “I’ve lost track at this point. Oh, don’t get me wrong—I’m ecstatic to see what kind of adorable polar bear-dragon baby you two have,” he added with a warm glint in his odd eyes.
Jade sighed. “What to do about Viol…”
As the conversation whirled around him, I couldn’t stop thinking about my encounter with Viol after that dinner. He’d seemed so nervous. What was he afraid of?
“I think my presence upset him,” I murmured.
Saffron glared at this perceived slight. He gripped my knee possessively. “Don’t talk like that. You have every right to be here.”
“I know,” I said gently. “But we have a complicated history. He can’t ignore that. I imagine he feels guilty.”
Alaric raised a brow at Jade, who I suspected knew everything—or at least as much as I did.
“About?” the cat shifter asked.
Jade’s gaze was serious. “I’ll tell you later.”
“There was one other thing,” I mused. “Viol acted strange when I mentioned Poppy.”
The room fell silent.
Alaric pursed his lips, then sat up straighter. “Hang on. Jade, do you remember that day I talked to Viol privately? Near the end of our conversation, he leaned in and sniffed me.”
Even Jade looked baffled. “Why?”
“He wasn’t smellingme,” Alaric continued, his pale brows knitting together. “Right before that, I was with Poppy. We hugged and said goodbye.” Alaric paused as the implication unfolded for everybody. “Viol was smelling Poppy’s scent on my clothes.”
Saffron’s hands flew to his mouth. “Oh, fuck. Wait, you guys are serious. This ishuge. Viol likes Poppy?”
Even Jade looked shocked. He shook his head slowly in disbelief. “It can’t be. There must be a simpler explanation.”
“What’s simpler than love?” Saffron argued.
Suddenly, my heart hammered. Viol admitted he’d razed my village to the ground to help somebody.
What if that somebody was Poppy?
“I need time to think,” Jade said, rubbing his temple. For once, he sounded out of his depth. “If the Games are to continue for a seventh season—for Viol—then we must figure this out.”
Saffron sighed. “Yeah, and it’s not exactly like we can ask him. He’d flip.”
“I’m sorry. This is my fault,” I murmured.
