Viol angled his head away from me, but I still caught his grimace. “No, I should’ve known better,” he spat. “I babysit all the time. I don’t make mistakes like this.”
I blinked, not understanding what he was getting at.
He blew out a frustrated breath. “I just... got distracted.”
My heart sank. WasIthe distraction? If Viol babysat constantly, and this was the first time he’d ever made a mistake, that was the only conclusion I could think of.
“Um... I can go inside, if that would help,” I suggested quietly.
He whirled around, shaking his head. “No. You’re great with the kids. I should be the one who goes inside.”
My brow furrowed. “Viol, wait. You don’t need to leave. We can watch them together.”
But my disappointment only grew when Viol walked past me, skulking back towards the castle.
“Viol!” I called.
“The kids need you,” he called back.
My shoulders slumped in disbelief as Viol left. I understood that he felt guilty, but why did he beat himself up so badly?
But he was right; the kids needed me. I quickly moved to the finish line, where they’d all gathered.
“Where’s Uncle Viol?” Ruby asked.
I smiled despite knowing I couldn’t tell him the truth. “He needed a break, so he went inside for a snack.”
I practically saw light bulbs flashing over the kids’ heads. That got their attention.
“Can we have snacks, too?” Heather demanded.
I chuckled at their enthusiasm. “You all just ate breakfast,” I pointed out. “But if you’re really hungry after your big race, then sure.”
“Yay!”
“In that case, let’s go have some snacks,” I announced.
The two kids closest to me, Mint and Lazuli, both shifted to human form to hold my hands. My heart squeezed with affection. I felt grateful and honored that they already trusted me as their uncle.
But as I herded the kids back to the kitchen, my heart ached in a different way. Why did Viol get so upset? And would he have gotten upset in the first place if I wasn’t here?
I didn’t know what to do. If my presence bothered Viol, I was more than willing to leave, so why wouldn’t he just communicate that? Was he afraid of hurting my feelings? If only he knew that keeping me in the dark hurt more...
7
Viol
I was such a fucking idiot.
Ruby got hurt because of me. How did I make such an obvious error? Was my judgmentthatscrewed up because Poppy was around? Or was I just so focused on him that the kids’ safety slipped my mind?
I shuddered, not knowing which option was worse.
Stewing in shame and disappointment, I trudged away from the trimmed garden path and into the wilderness surrounding the castle. There was a small forest separating our home from the strip of beach behind it. The cool air and scent of dirt were calming, but not calming enough. My nerves were too frayed to relax so easily.
I kicked a stone out of my way, then felt bad about that, too. Why did I always have to lash out? Even Ruby, who’d been hurt because of my mistake, bounced back from his fit faster than I did. I could learn a thing or two from that kid.
My thoughts kept drifting back to Poppy. His interactions with the kids were so sweet and gentle. He was the perfect caretaker. In hindsight, it felt crazy to me that my brothersalways trusted me with their babysitting duties. They knew I was a reactive nutcase. Compared to Poppy, I was a joke.
