A connection? How did they know? I tried my best to keep it a secret. I’d never brought it up on camera. I never acted like I knew him. This whole time, I’d been scared that if they knew, they’d ban me from participating, as if I had some kind of competitive edge...
“Are you going to disqualify me?” I asked, terrified.
There was a pause before Jade chuckled. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”
I sighed, both relieved and a little embarrassed. I didn’t know why I thought a lot of things. My mind often jumped to the worst possible conclusion just to scare me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I’m a bit nervous.”
“It’s all right. You can relax.” Jade’s calm voice resonated over the line, lifting a layer off my dread. “To tell you the truth, we want you here to help Viol.”
My stomach lurched again, this time in the opposite direction. I felt so dizzy, I had to sit on the floor. The cold kitchen tile felt jarring against my suddenly flushed body.
“Help?” I asked weakly. I didn’t understand what he meant.
“Yes. He’s been surly lately, more than usual. He exploded on us when we suggested he take up the mantle of bachelor for the next season of the Games.”
I imagined the scene in my mind and stifled a tiny smile. Surely it wasn’t pretty.
But Jade’s comment rerouted my anxiety back to its starting point.
“He doesn’t want to do it?” I asked.
“He declared as much in no uncertain terms.”
I wasn’t that surprised. Viol disliked being in front of a crowd. He liked to watch from the shadows, not be in the spotlight.
But if Viol refused to be the bachelor, that eliminated my chance of being on the Dragonfate Games. That meant no returning to the island... and suddenly, I’d lost my chance to be close to him.
I forced myself to speak past the painful lump in my throat. “So, what does this have to do with me?”
The chair creaked again, as if Jade had sat fully upright. “We don’t care about the Games. That’s not important. We only want our brother to be happy.”
Jade was cool as always, but I heard the disguised emotion in his voice. He really did care. That made the swirling pain in my chest hurt more. Sometimes it felt like my feelings were too strong for such a weak body.
I wanted to say, “I want him to be happy, too,” but I couldn’t get the words out past the thickness in my throat.
“If anyone can bring Viol out of his spiked shell, we think it’s you, Poppy,” Jade continued.
The floor swayed. I pressed my back into the cupboard behind me, desperate to stay grounded. This was a lot to take in.
“Why me?” I asked.
“Oh, just a hunch.”
I frowned. Had I made it obvious that I knew Viol? I’d tried my best not to show it. Rorik didn’t know the full story, so he couldn’t have told Jade and the others about it.
Unless... Viol was the one who let it slip?
I almost laughed. That was ridiculous. He’d ignored my existence whenever I was on the island. He couldn’t have been the one to imply anything.
Jade asked, “So, will you come to Chromatimaeus Island?”
“You said Viol wouldn’t do the Games,” I said, confused.
“If that’s the only condition, then there doesn’t need to be a Games.”
I blinked, even more confused. “Huh?”
