Page 33 of A Blaze of Fire
I flinched. He was right; we were reckless. I shouldn’t have allowed my emotions to get the better of me. Especially since we were surrounded by Unseelies in hostile, unfamiliar territory.
“Enough, Alec,” Ansel sighed, sounding defeated.
“No. It’s enough when I say it’s enough,” he growled. Then he turned to me, glaring down at my feet and traveling up to my face. “Get yourself cleaned up, Vi. You have cum dripping down your leg. We still have gravity in the Fae realm.”
My face heated and I looked down, absolutely mortified. I hurried to the ensuite bathroom and locked the door behind me. I almost wished we’d been caught by anyone else but Alec.
15
ALEC
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I growled between clenched teeth once the door to the bathroom shut and locked. “Having sex without protection? What if that girl gets pregnant? We’re all screwed!”
Ansel sighed and started getting dressed, dutifully ignoring me.
But I refused to let him off the hook. “She’s carrying the orb, Ansel. We don’t know what will happen if she gets pregnant. Think with your head, not your dick!”
“Enough!” my brother shouted as he shoved his legs into his discarded pants and threw the blanket on the bed. “Enough of your nagging.”
I scoffed. “My nagging? I should smack some sense into you right now.” I grabbed his shirt from the floor and flung it at his face. “Come on.” I turned and stormed out of the room, knowing he would follow me out.
Without another word, we left Violet’s room and ignored Rook, who dutifully stood guard outside her door and pretended vainly that he hadn’t heard all the commotion. We headed down the quiet corridors and made our way across the castle grounds to Ansel’s room.
Once we were a safe distance away and no one could overhear us, I whirled on my brother. “If you ever do that again, I’ll have you dismissed from your position as the Seelie representative. Do you understand?”
Ansel rolled his eyes and scoffed. “You can’t do that.”
I laughed. “I can and I will. Try me.”
He narrowed his gaze, his jaw ticking with each second. “If you take her away from me, I’ll kill you, Alec. Brother or not.”
I chuckled and turned my attention to the ocean, drawing the salty air deeply into my lungs. “This obsession you have with Violet is extremely unhealthy. Borderline toxic.”
“I’m not obsessed … I just …”
“You just love her,” I whispered. Ansel didn’t answer, but I knew what his response would be. He couldn’t lie, after all. Once a fae found their other half, that was it, there was no turning back. And if Ansel really believed Violet was his other half, there was no separating them.
I frowned as I considered Ansel and Violet being each other’s soulmates. I didn’t know why it upset me. It shouldn’t. They were practically made for each other. It was annoying. Still, something in my gut twisted and churned and I felt sick.
I cleared my throat and looked back at Ansel, standing there looking like a scolded puppy. “Look, Ansel, just … stay away from her. If you really love her, protect her.”
* * *
The followingmorning we were up before sunrise, though I had to drag Violet out of her room as she begged for five more minutes of sleep. Rook escorted us out to where the horses and wagons were waiting just outside the castle gates. Kazimir and his team of bandits were already there, impatiently awaiting our arrival.
“Of course you’re the last to arrive,” Cael snorted as he watched me stroll toward them with a half-asleep Violet in tow. He pointed toward her. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’ll sleep in the wagon.” I started to direct her inside when Kazimir stopped me.
“She rides like the rest of us,” he instructed. “Isn’t that what she wanted?”
I clenched my jaw and peered down at Violet, who shook her head and tried to wake up.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “I’ll uh … ride a horse.”
“Do you even know how to ride?” I asked.
She shrugged. “How hard can it be?”
