[ 6 ]
Violet knew what was coming, his words had been a clear indication of it as he stopped in the darkened hallway and pushed her onto her knees. But she had her pride and she did not want to easily submit to them just because they felt superior to her. She fought back as best she could, earning herself a stinging slap across the face. Her lavender eyes stung with tears of anger that wanted to spill, but she willed them away. From the table, Violet could hear the scraping of a metal chair on the floor and she begged that whoever it was, that they wouldn't try to save her. She didn't want her family or Dieter punished as well for her defiance. There were silent sobs heard, and she knew they belonged to her mother, who silently begged that she would just do as she was told. Maybe she wouldn't be suffering that fate if she had just kept her mouth shut. Her parents hated them too, hated everything their country stood for, but they were smart enough to keep quiet right now that their movement was lacking strength. They knew it was best to attack from the shadows.
It was Dieter who was about to jump to her defense, ready to fight the brunette lieutenant, a hand balled up into a fist, but Cade stopped him with a hand on his shoulder firmly. He pushed him back down to sitting on the chair, and shot him a warning with one look. I will be the one to help her. The general then marched into the hallway to meet up with his lieutenant who now had a hand tangled in Violet's strands of purple hair. Violet looked from one boy to the other, her eyes full of hate, even for Cade because she knew they could do whatever they wanted with her and get away with it. No one would care if two brunette military men disgraced a violet girl. She was even certain it happened all the time. The bad genes were usually the stronger ones after all and violet girls could hide their misfortunes by saying the baby's father had been killed in the military.
Right then, as her eyes met Cade's brown ones, he reminded her so much of the normal boy she met in the forest. There was a burning desire to help her, which she couldn't understand. Her mind also struggled with itself because she felt like she knew him. It was a strange and somewhat painful feeling that filled her with frustration as a subconscious part of her mind screamed at her that she knew him from somewhere. While the logical part of her mind told her that there were no memories of this boy previously stored in the cabinets of her mind. Still, there was an uneasiness because she felt like she had known him once before, and he certainly seemed to know her too. But he wouldn't say from where or give her anymore information about it.
As Paisely moved his free hand to undo his belt with some level of difficulty, Cade stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. Remembering their conversation from earlier on the jet, he mentioned to him, knowing that now it was something that could work to his own benefit. "You said you would leave this one to me." He looked down at Violet. His words were cold and without emotion, but his eyes were nervous that his colleague wouldn't take the bait and actually hurt Violet.
The lieutenant rolled his eyes in annoyance, recalling the conversation well. "I know what I said. But this girl needs to be taught a lesson. She's a dumb violet who actually thinks she can talk back to me as though we were equals."
We are equals, Violet almost wanted to shout, but she was already in a lot of trouble as it was.
This time, Cade spoke more firmly, using his position in the military to gain some authority over Paisely. His fingers dug into the lieutenant's shoulder as he tried to keep his emotions in check--trying his very hardest not to snap. He just wanted to rip him away from her and protect her at all costs. But he had to be more subtle if he didn't want the king finding out about his interest in Violet Raine. "Stand down, Paisely. I don't say this as your friend, but as your general. I will personally deal with this defiant little violet girl. I assure you she will be put in her place."
