The Wicked Within

Quarter. It’s time we started caring about more than just the rich Novem families and take care of everyone in New 2.”

Michel lifted a brow, pride shining in his gray eyes. “It’ll take some work, son, but we can make it happen.”

“The Novem, as it was, is too fractured to repair,” Bran added. “We’ll have to start over, a new council, a new approach. . . . ”

Bran, Rowen, and Michel exchanged looks, then fixed their attention on Sebastian. “You in?” Bran asked him.

Sebastian blinked in surprise. He’d fought against his birthright, against being an heir, against being a part of the Novem organization. But now . . . now things were different, and would be different. And I could see he knew it too. Everything he had been through . . . it all had given him a unique viewpoint. He wasn’t stuck in his entitlement, his wealth, his family connections, and his power as some of the Novem heirs had been. Being a part of a new council with a new way to run the city in which everyone was taken care of . . . I thought he’d be perfect for the task.

I gave him an encouraging grin. He answered them while keeping his gaze on me, his smile going lopsided. “Yeah. I’m in.”

TWENTY-FIVE

FOUR DAYS LATER WE MOVED into the massive Victorian mansion on Coliseum Street, with its tall peaks and lacy iron-and-wood scrollwork. There was a ballroom. A ballroom. Violet was already talking about planning the biggest masquerade party New 2 had ever seen.

Granted, the place needed a lot of TLC. The house hadn’t been occupied in fifteen years, but I loved the grand foyer, the marble mantels and ornate plaster. Violet had good taste in homes, I’d give her that. There was even a lagoon-style pool in the back that was filled with green algae and years of brackish water and leaves. Pascal was in heaven.

Henri, true to his word, had come home that night with a chest of jewels and presented them to a delighted Violet. When I gave him a look asking where the hell he got them, he shrugged and we left it at that. Every day since the guys came home with masks, gowns, and things they’d found to replace the items Violet had lost in the fire.

I’d lost my mother’s letter and the small things she left for me, but in my father, I had more of her than I ever thought possible. Along with Sebastian, my father was becoming very involved in the rebuilding of New 2 and the forming of a new council. He had a new purpose, and a say that others respected, and I was thrilled for him.

Violet and I were busy fixing Crank’s room for her arrival. She was itching to get home, so sick of being cooped up in the hospital. After we finished putting clean sheets on the new bed and adding covers and pillows, our job was done. Then it was off to help Violet hang more masks on her wall.

“Do I have a mother and father?” she asked me as I hammered a small nail into the wall. I stopped to face her. She stared at me with those big, dark eyes, a red mask pushed on top of her head. I went to the bed and sat on the edge. “Real ones?” she amended.

Dora had said she grew Violet in the womb of the Aegis and the bayou. “I think you must have. Dora needed something to work with, right? An egg, she said, remember? That egg was you. You had a mother and father. I don’t think she created you out of thin air, you know?”

“You really think so?”

I nodded.

She thought about it for a moment. “Then I’m going to find them. Will you help me?”

“Of course I will.”

“Maybe there is something at Dora’s house, a clue. . . . ”

“We’ll learn everything we can. Go through it top to bottom. Michel, Rowen, and my father are fixing the Keeper. As soon as the library is back and Presby restored, we’ll find out everything we can on the Titans, too. Things the rest of the world doesn’t know. I’ll read whatever you want me to. And soon you’ll learn to read, once school is back in session.”

Violet picked up a mask from the pile on the bed and fiddled with the feathers attached to one side. “I thought she was my mother. She never said, but that’s what I thought.”

It must have been so hard for Violet to hear everything Dora had said. The witch had grown and used Violet for her own protection. But I sensed that Violet loved Dora anyway. It was why she had shielded her and protected her even as we begged her not to.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “About what happened.”

She tilted her head. “You think I’m still a treasure, a great, shining star?”

I caught her hand and pulled her to the bed so that she was standing in front of me. “More than ever.”

A smile finally came. “I will always protect you, Ari. I will look after you.”

Tears pricked my eyes. Dora might have created Violet for a terrible purpose, but Violet had a beautiful soul. She was an honest one-of-a-kind. A Titan—though it was still hard to wrap my head around that one. A shield maiden. I hugged her tightly. “Thank you. Same goes.”

“Oh jeez, if y’all start breaking into song, I might have to burn something.”

Dub lurked in the doorway with Crank, who was on crutches. Henri and Sebastian loomed in the background.

“Crank!”

Violet and I hurried over the gowns and masks to welcome her home.

TWENTY-SIX

HE WAITED UNTIL THE HOUSE was quiet, until the kids were in bed and there’d be no interruptions. He had to talk to her now, to try and resolve things before he went to Olympus tomorrow to see Archer. He knocked, and her muted voice answered from the other side of the bedroom door. Slowly he pushed it open. She turned away from the dresser. The strain and worry that had lurked in her eyes since the day they met was gone. In their place shone a clear turquoise blue.

But as he entered the room, some of the strain came back into her eyes. Because of him, the lies he’d told, the way he’d pushed her away.

Her fingers fiddled with a new top hat in her hand. She placed it on the charred skull of Eugene Hood, one of Dub’s decorating contributions from St. Louis Cemetery, and then rearranged the bed of Mardi Gras beads around the skull’s base.

“He’s grown on you, huh?” he said.

“Yeah. Guess I got used to the creep factor at the other house. My room wouldn’t be the same without him staring at me from the dresser.” She leaned back, curious and hesitant.

He swallowed. “How do you feel?” She’d gotten what she’d been after. Her curse was gone, and she was free. It still amazed him every time he thought about it.

Her brow furrowed as she thought about her answer. “Normal, I guess. I feel mostly the same, physically. The big change is in here.” She tapped her temple. “Still getting used to the idea that it’s over. I have a future, you know?” She looked away, then back at him. “Thank you. For helping me. For everything. How do you feel?”

What would she say when he told her? He shoved his hands in his pockets and drew in a deep breath, his nerves having a field day. “The same. I’m still the same, Ari.”

It took a moment for the information to sink in. Her face changed, going a tiny bit paler. A frown wrinkled her forehead. “But—” She shook her head.