[ 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."
Paisely heaved a sigh, and he let go of Violet's hair with some reluctance. She fell back against the wall of the hallway with a thud. The nineteen lieutenant stomped back towards the dining room where everyone was dead silent. Violet could only look up at the young general with resentment brimming her eyes. She hated that she was starting to rely on him so much. He had saved her twice already, and they had only just met the previous night. Violet always hated owing people things, and her debt to him just kept piling up.
"What are you going to do to me?" She spat, words full of venom. A part of her almost wanted him to hurt her. A part of her wanted to have a reason to hate him because in that moment, she had none. She didn't hate him and he seemed like a good person even.
"Nothing." He said to her with a slow shake of his head, surprising her so much that her face contorted into a look of confusion. Now he could breathe easy and his whole body seemed to relax without the presence of Paisely lingering in the hallway. He soon continued to explain to her. "But remember what I told you last night in the forest--just because I'm not here to hurt you doesn't mean I'm no monster."
This time, she believed him.
He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a chain with a purple pearl hanging off of it. Violet eyed it for an instant before she saw it slip out of his hands. Her own hands came together to catch the object out of instinct. He said to her, "Put this necklace on and maybe everything will come to you." His words had done nothing but fill her with even more confusion.
-
Cade instructed her to go hide out in her room if she didn't want another head to head clash with Paisely, and she begrudgingly agreed. The general returned to the dining room area of that run down home moments later, with Paisely grinning victoriously as he thought Violet Raine had been thoroughly abused and taught a lesson.
After their silent dinner, the two military men conducted a search of the house which lasted hours. It was late into the night when they left, with no proof that Indigo Raine had even been there, let alone that his family was hiding him from the army. Dieter remained until the very end and as soon as they were out the door, he went to check on Violet. He had been surprised that his brother hadn't come to look for him yet. But after the scare in the woods the previous night, Finn swore that Dieter was on his own while coming back from the slums.
The red haired boy knocked on the door and said slowly, "Can I come in?"
He was ready to comfort Violet and offer her all of his support. He had even resolved with himself that he would still offer to marry her, even if the two military men had taken her honor with them.
"Yeah." Violet said with a sigh.
Dieter pushed the door open and found her sitting on her bed, already changed into her sleeping clothes. But he found no sadness or even shame in her eyes, that had to count for something. It had to mean that they didn't do anything too horrible to her. Or else she would have been an uncontrollable crying mess in that moment. He exhaled a breath of relief that he didn't even realize he had been holding in.
"Are you okay?" He asked slowly and hesitantly. "I thought--I thought those two brunettes," the word dripped off his tongue with disgust. Just like some violets felt about the reds in Porpra because the reds felt superior, the reds felt the same about the blondes and brunettes. Though they didn't see them often, when they did, they had to bow. They had to submit for a change, and they didn't like that. It was natural for them to hate them, just as many violets hated and resented the reds. "...did something to you. I wanted to help, but that other guy stopped me. I would have never forgiven myself if something really happened to you."
"I'm glad you didn't come to my rescue." Violet heaved a sigh. She knew it wouldn't have been worth it for him. "Cade was enough to save me from that lieutenant pervert."
Dieter's eyebrows furrowed together in displeasure. Such familiarity already.
"Do you and him know each other?" The seventeen year old wondered, genuinely curious.
He had only known Violet for about four years, but in all that time, he had never seen General Hood around her. If they really did know each other from before, it had to have been from before the two of them even met. But it was almost impossible for that to happen. No brunettes lived in Porpra. All of them lived in Crown City and would never dare to make friends with the violets.
She gave a shake of her head. "No, but he saved me and I'm grateful."
-
On the way back to Crown City, Paisely appeared to be clearly in a sour mood.
His arms were crossed over his chest in annoyance, and eyebrows furrowed. He looked out the window, avoiding having to talk to his general about the situation. How he had hoped to find Indigo Raine in that house. How he wanted to be the one to teach that violet girl a lesson for speaking up against him. But twice his hopes had been crushed and now he was left with a discomfort that wouldn't let him rest all night.
Perhaps upon returning to the country's capitol, he would take a car to the nearest province where any woman would jump at the chance of sharing a bed with him, if only to say that she had slept with a brunette. The greens and oranges from Province of Harvest would do, he told himself, already planning the night in his mind. After the blondes and brunettes from the capitol, the people of the Province of Harvest were the next highest on the social ladder. First the greens and then the oranges. The oranges were worse, since they were the lower of the two, and were far more desperate to hook a brunette.
"Cheer up, Paisely." Cade said, dropping a hand on his shoulder. "That girl wasn't worth getting all worked up over."
He couldn't believe that he was saying those things about her. But he had to if he wanted to keep her safe. It was what he owed her, even if she didn't remember him. He owed it to her because she had been a good person. Even as a violet, considered the worst rank in their country, she had been nice to a little brunette boy who had nothing. She had treated him as an equal.
Paisely said bitterly, "Well now I have a problem I have to go fix in Province of Harvest."
Cade nodded in agreement. At least he would be as far away from Violet as possible--on the other side of the country, even. That was good enough for the young general. "I think that's a better idea than what you had planned in Porpra. Orange girls practically throw themselves at brown boys like us." In Vesperia, people were classified many times by the color of their hair. The reds and violets of Province of Badlands, the greens and oranges of Province of Harvest. Color didn't describe the color of their skin, but the color of their hair.
"I think I'll be stopping in Taronja." Paisely made up his mind with a nod. "Wanna come along?"
Cade gave a shake of his head. "No thanks. Go on without me."
"Your loss." Paisely shrugged.
And the two were back to being on good terms with each other. They spent the rest of the jet ride making conversation with Paisely mostly talking about what he wanted to do in Taronja, or what he wanted to do to the girls in Taronja.
-
this chapter is shorter, and this author's note will be super short because i have to go do some stuff.
i will see you all later.
thank you for reading!
-clary