Page 56 of Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore
“Then do it,” she said simply.
“I tried. I failed.”
“So try again.”
Nathaniel scoffed. “Yes, because it’s that simple.”
“Isn’t it?”
She made it sound so easy.
“You studied in the Crucible, didn’t you?” she cajoled.
“And what a waste that was.”
“I see it very differently.” She stared at him evenly. “You have an education and experience to help you toward your goal. That puts you leagues ahead of me—I had exactlyzerobusiness knowledge before opening my shop, but it was my dream. And if I hadn’t done it, I would have always wondered if I could. Am I still figuring it out? Yes. But is it worth it? Absolutely. You can long for something all you want, but you’ll never unlock the door if you’re too afraid to turn the key.”
“I can’t afford the risk,” Nathaniel said immediately. It was the excuse he’d used with Pru again and again, and by now she’d stopped arguing with him.
But Violet wasn’t Pru, and she didn’t allow him to keep those tidy boundaries. She only looked at him with those shining eyes and said with more patience than he deserved, “What do youthink you’re risking? Your reputation? Everyone in this town respects you, admires your intellect and your resolve. That won’t change.” She cracked a smile. “Your friends and family already know you’re a bit gruff and particular, and they love you not in spite of butbecauseof it. Because it’s part of the rest of you—the determined, loyal man who adopts stray puppies and helps a neighbor with her nightmares and enjoys wordplay more than he’ll openly admit. You won’t lose the people who care for you if you fail. You’ll only have to accept their hands to help you back up again.”
Nathaniel wondered if she was telling him she was one of those people.
He wanted to believe she was, or could become so.
“Without risk, there can be no hope of change,” Violet continued. “And believe me, I’ve made alotof changes recently. You tell me you want to create new innovations in alchemy, make a difference to the world. The elixir you gave mehasmade a difference to my life.”
Her words struck him at first with embarrassment that he should forget something so simple, and then with a burgeoning sense of light he soon recognized as hope. She was right about all of it. He did have the experience and the schooling, and that wasn’t worth nothing. He had made mistakes—big, terrible ones—but he’d made a difference too.
He wondered when he’d forgotten that in order to truly consider himself an inventor, he had to be unafraid to try something new.
“You’re right,” he said finally, and the words struck such a chord that he repeated them. “You’re right.”
“I’m often right, these days,” she replied with a wink. “Now what are you going todoabout it?”
His mind raced. “There’s not much I can do about the blightat the moment, but the apothecary…” A laugh escaped his throat when he discovered the answer had been there all along. He met her eyes. “I have some ideas.”
“Good.” She extricated her hands from his and took a sip of her tea. How could he have thought this woman a distraction? If anything, she was a driving force, a guiding star. She had come here, fresh from a past that clearly troubled her, and started anew. She took risks. She made changes. He could do that too, couldn’t he?
When they finished their tea and collected Daisy from where she’d passed out curled up with Peri at the foot of Violet’s bed, she led him back to the hallway door.
“Thank you for tonight.” He used the hand that wasn’t full of sleeping puppy to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I needed someone to be honest with me.”
“I’m always glad to be the boot in someone’s arse,” she quipped, scrunching her nose as she smirked at him.
“It’s been a while since I had someone to talk to like this.”
“Me too.” She tilted her head to catch his eye. “You’re going to figure it out. The apothecary, the blight…”
A lingering wave of doubt crashed over him, the tide rising once more. “And if I can’t?” he whispered. “If I lose the building? If Dragon’s Rest suffers because I can’t fix the blight?”
She surprised him by pressing up onto her toes and looping her arms around his neck, pulling him close enough that he could smell the bright scent of her magic that clung to her like perfume. In his ear, she told him, “Then we band together like the community we are and figure it out.”
Her words had the intended effect; he felt calm once more, confident under the beam of her belief. And then—the softest pressure of her lips against his cheek. Nathaniel didn’t dare move or breathe. He knew she was afraid, but perhaps this was Violettaking a risk. Perhaps they could take a chance together. She lingered before pulling back, tugging her lower lip between her teeth as she fought a smile, and scratched Daisy between the ears one more time. “Good night, Nathaniel.”
He couldn’t remember the last time the roiling sea that churned constantly in him had calmed its waters like this, clouds parting and leaving nothing but clear skies full of endless stars above him.
“Good night, Violet.”
