Xaden looked at Violet as she slept, mind a constant force on her. His only thought that had been running through his mind that entire night was: not her. He had been sick to his stomach when he heard from Liam that Varrish and Aetos had gotten to her again, and then further sick when he saw the after effects of the torture they had put her through. When she threw up blood next to him, his heart had stopped. Was she dying?

It didn't even cross his mind that he could very well die too. The only thought that had been on a constant loop in his mind as he and the others had run was: not her. Anyone but her. And little good that thought did him to have. He had managed – only just – to let Brennan have access to her so he could heal her, but Xaden hadn't left the room. Not in the way Brennan had asked him to.

Now, he was watching the steady rise and fall of Violet's chest as she slept, healing from being mended. He knew she'd have a lot of questions when she woke up. Questions that he couldn't blame her for having in the first place. Before she had passed out in his arms once more, she had made eye contact with her brother she hadn't seen in years.

Xaden thought about that. About the fact that Violet hadn't heard from either one of her siblings since they left the Kingdom. He wondered how that had sat with her but was too scared to ask. He didn't want to offend her. And that was the thing Xaden didn't know the most. What would offend her.

How he wanted to be the best possible version of himself for her. He sighed softly through parted lips, pushing her hair away from her face. He had taken the time to take out her braid, not wanting her to be uncomfortable by sleeping with it in. His fingertips had played with her silver-tipped hair, running them through it as he took out the braid. He was mesmerized with her hair, amazed at the color of it. It was different, like her, and that wasn't a bad thing. Not necessarily.

Just then, Violet's eyes started to crinkle open slowly, and he watched her, waiting to see if she would look at him. She took her time to blink away the last vestiges of sleep, and then she made eye contact with him. She blinked slowly. Then she spoke in a low voice that was coated with exhaustion but didn't shake with pain. "Thank you."

"I'm so sorry I didn't get to you sooner," he whispered, ashamed of the fact that he had let Varrish get his disgusting hands on her. Again. "I'm so sorry we had to get you out of there in the first place." His eyes closed of their own volition, pain permeating his body like ice-cold water. He knew that Violet had been close to being attacked in a way that would have caused him to commit murder. Rhiannon had told him about the fact that Varrish had squeezed her breast. It made him want to cut his fingers off and force-feed them to their disgusting owner.

"It's not your fault," she murmured lowly, staring at him through hooded eyelids. "You got us out of there. That's all that matters."

He wondered how much she remembered. Ridoc had seen Brennan. So had Rhiannon and Swayer. They had promised not to talk to her about him until she brought it up, but Xaden knew that Rhiannon and Ridoc were protective as fuck of the princess. He didn't blame them. "What else do you remember?" He had to know.

She furrowed her brow, swallowing thickly as she thought. He watched her patiently. "I-I remember…but that's not possible." She whispered, cutting herself off with a frown.

"Of course it is," he said quietly. "What do you remember?"

"Brennan is alive?" Violet asked, brow still furrowed as her words had the smallest twinge of hurt to them.

Just then, there was a soft knock on her bedroom door, and Xaden squeezed her hand gently, letting it fall out of his grasp as he went to go answer it. Brennan nodded at him once before stepping into the room and looking at his baby sister sadly. "They really did a fucking number on you, didn't they?"

Violet blinked at her older brother once, twice, taking him in almost as if she did not believe what she was seeing. Then she cleared her throat. "I thought you were dead."

Brennan sighed, sitting down in the chair that Xaden had just vacated. Xaden went to go stand next to Violet's bed, placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. In case she needed his strength. "I know I didn't stay in touch after Mira and I left the castle."

"What the fuck am I supposed to say to that, Brennan?" Violet hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. "My older siblings – my best friends – left me. You guys left me."

"Vi," Brennan whispered, tone dejected.

"That's not good enough," she snapped.

"Violence," Xaden murmured. "Hear him out."

"And I don't think I'm happy with you," she muttered lowly. "You knew he was alive. You had to."

"I did," he admitted, conceding to her accusations. "But not for the reasons that you think."

She blinked, glaring at Brennan coolly. "So, what? You mended my body? What the hell am I supposed to say to that?"

"A thank you, for starters," Brennan replied. She just stared at him lividly. "I can see I won't get that from you. That's fine. But baby sister, you've got to hear me out."

"You've got exactly ninety seconds to explain to me what the hell is a good enough reason to make you turn your back on me without a proper goodbye." Violet's tone was livid, and Xaden smiled slightly to himself. There was his warrior.

"Navarre isn't the kingdom that mom led us to believe," Brennan said quietly. "There's secrets even I don't understand the full extent of."

"What do you mean?" Violet snapped.

"Think about the storybooks dad read to you on the days you were in bed, sick," Brennan replied.

Violet's brow furrowed. "The ones about venin? What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with things, Violence," Xaden said quietly, tone soothing.

She turned to look at him briefly before leveling her eyes back on Brennan. "It's just folklore. Stories told to children when they're younger."

"It is not folklore," Brennan whispered. "Not folklore in the slightest."

Violet's eyes widened at him for a moment. "You're telling me venin is real?"

"I'm telling you," Brennan said slowly, "that venin is indeed real and we're at war with Navarre over it."