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Chapter Twenty-Three
Violet needed to find Finn. She needed to explain to him what exactly was going on. She didn't like seeing the pain on his face, or hearing the hurt in his voice. She knew that he would try and push her away by being an ass, but she would have none of it. He would listen to her; to everything she had to say, then he could judge her. She only hoped that he would understand.
When she ended up back where she had started she cursed the largeness of the house. Why did they need such a big place anyways? Violet started out again, trying to remember which way she went before so that she could avoid it.
"Violet?" she heard a husky voice call out from behind her. She tensed and turned around slowly, coming face to face with Sage. He smiled warmly at her, but she noticed the sorrow in his eyes. "Can we talk?"
Violet nodded and crossed her arms defensively. She wasn't so sure she wanted to hear what he had to say, but in respect she would stay and listen. "What's up, Sage?"
He took another step closer to her and wrung his hands nervously. She found herself noticing the way his hair changed shades of blue in the light and how his eyes seemed to draw her in. Goosebumps lined her arms as memories from the past assaulted her senses. She found herself wondering if his hair was as soft as she remembered or if his arms still felt the same when wrapped around her.
Violet was brought back to the present when Sage started talking. She scolded herself for getting distracted and listening with an aching heart to what he was saying. "I know you aren't ready to marry me, Vi, but I want you to know that I will wait for you, as long as you need. We can make this work, I know we can."
"Oh Sage," she murmured, "I'm so sorry."
"I am too," he said painfully, "I saw the way you looked at Finn, but you and I both know there's no way out of this. Vi, I love you as a friend and I know I can love you as a wife, but I need your love too. Can we please work on this together?" Sage waited tensely for her answer, knowing it was taking a lot out of her just to consider it. At one point in time they had been friends, comfortable with each other. He was willing to do just about anything to get to that point again.
"I promise to try to make this work out the best we can," she whispered after a moment.
Sage walked towards her and pulled her into his embrace, offering comfort and friendship, "That's all I'm asking. Thank you, Vi. We'll get through this." He kissed her lightly on the head before walking away, leaving Violet to her own thoughts.
She didn't want to go through with this, but for her sake and Sage's she would make the best of the situation. In her own selfishness she hadn't stopped to think that maybe this was hurting Sage more than she thought. What if he had someone back at home that he was interested in? Someone he thought he had a chance with because Violet had been outcast. Now he had no choice in the matter again. She cocked her head, deep in thought. What if Sage had feelings for her? It was a far-fetched idea, but by clinging onto her rebellion and onto Finn, she was hurting him.
Shaking her head in anger, Violet walked robotically down the hallway, knowing it was going to be even harder to explain things to Finn. He would be jealous and spiteful and probably unwilling to listen to any reason. But she had to do it. He deserved to know everything. Everything.
She found Finn in the gym, taking out his anger on a punching bag. He stiffened when she entered the room, but he made no effort to acknowledge her. "Finn, can we talk?" she asked.
"Sure," he grunted, continuing to punch, "I'm listening."
"Will you please stop and just listen to me?" She waited patiently for him to finish by crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot. Finn sighed and stepped away from the punching bag. He grabbed a towel and dried himself off, raising an arrogant eyebrow at Violet.
"What can I help you with, love?" he sneered.
Violet pushed down the anger and sorrow and glared at him. "You don't need to be such an asshole. I had every intention of telling you about Sage, but I didn't have the opportunity."
"Conveniently enough," he muttered.
"Stop it!" She cried, "Just hear me out. Then you can treat me however you want."
He scrutinized her carefully, as if looking for something that would help him come to a conclusion. "Fine," he muttered, "have at it."
She gave him a derisive look before starting her explanation. "When I turned thirteen, my father announced an arranged marriage between Sage and I. Sage's father is the general of our army and a very prominent man, so the marriage would be a huge affair. It is normal for royalty to have arranged marriages, so I thought nothing of it. Clover had one set up already, so I didn't protest. I know it seems silly, but the more time I spent with Sage, the more I realized that I had gotten lucky. I had a schoolgirl crush on him and worshiped the ground he walked on."
"What makes you think I want to hear this?" Finn growled. Good Lord he was already ready to rip the man apart just for existing, he didn't need any more reasons to add to his list.
"Shut up," she said shortly, "It'll all make sense in the end." Violet cleared her throat, "As I was saying, I looked up to Sage. I never had any reason to doubt my father before, so I trusted his decisions as well as Sage's. Shortly after that, when I was fifteen and Clover was seventeen, Clover's fiancé was killed in an accident. Because she is the oldest, she is expected to marry a prominent man of a different race. She had been set up with the younger prince of the Fae, but their contract was broken when he died.
"My father was disappointed, but kept an eye out for someone else to marry his daughter. He finally decided that she would marry Sage, instead of me, and I would marry a man of a different race. Both Sage and I protested, because we had finally gotten used to the idea of marrying each other. It was the first time I ever doubted my father's choices. Luckily he agreed to leave our marriage contract alone."
Violet clenched her teeth as the tears threatened to fall. It was hard talking about past wounds and old memories, but she had to do it for Finn's sake.
"Around this time I started growing into my pixie abilities. I was sixteen when I was able to use my wings for the first time. My father and the whole kingdom were horrified when my wings came out black as the night. No pixie has ever had black wings. Our wings are always colored according to our hair color. Since my hair is a dark purple, my wings were supposed to be too. But they weren't. They were colorless and therefore an abomination. My father, mother and my two sisters who followed along in their footsteps, shunned me. Even Sage was wary around me, unwilling to deal with my father's wrath.
"One night I got so angry with my father that he banished me. Heartbroken, but relieved, I ran away and eventually found Noelle and her friends. I figured that since I had been banished my marriage contract with Sage was broken. I never expected it to come about again. Sure, there was the chance that I might run across my family again, but I never expected my father to want me back. That's why I never told you. I didn't think it was important or something that would affect my life."
Violet clenched her fists and let out a frustrated growl, "But then, Clover and Basil showed up and from there it went downhill. I had no chance to warn you about Sage because Basil told my father where he was the next day."
She looked desperately at Finn, willing him to understand her situation, but he refused to look at her. "I'm so sorry, Finn."
"Is there no way to get out of the contract?" he asked hoarsely. He was horrified with the way her life had turned out, and angry that her father could be so callous. There had to be some way for her to get her independence back.
"No," she whispered, "Neither Sage nor I can break it. The only way to break it is if my father calls it off, or if one of us dies."
Finn looked pissed at that information but he didn't say anything. Instead, he started pacing thoughtfully. Violet watched him, amused, as he mumbled nonsense under his breath. Suddenly he froze in place, and, in a motion so fast, she barely had time to take in a breath, he was in front of her, gripping her arms painfully. He looked crazed and frankly, was scaring Violet.
"Finn," she said cautiously, "you're hurting me. What's going on?"
"I just had a sudden idea," he breathed excitedly. "Is there some way for me to break the contract without your knowledge?"
"What?" she asked, confused, "I don't know."
He rolled his eyes and sighed, "What I mean, is that if I know how to make it impossible for you to marry Sage without your knowledge, would that work, or would you still be punished?"
"Well if either one of us is ineligible to marry then the contract is broken," she said slowly. Violet gasped as it hit her, "Oh my god, you can't kill him! Please Finn, don't be stupid."
"I'm not going to kill him," he said exasperated, "I'm not stupid. But I do have a plan, I just can't tell you. Just trust me, alright?" He smiled tightly at her, begging her to trust him with his eyes.
She took a deep breath, and tore her eyes away from his bright gaze, "Alright, I'll trust you." Violet had little hope that anything would get her out of marrying Sage, but she would give Finn her trust. If it didn't work out in the end, at least he tried.
"Good," he grinned, "I need to talk to Raine, but I promise that everything will be okay." Finn leaned down and kissed her swiftly on the mouth. He pulled back and looked at her in wonder, before kissing her again, softly this time. "Trust me," he whispered one last time before leaving the room.
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