Chapter 11: Tough Love
-Violet's POV

Dying isn't what you'd imagine. Violet always assumed that when she died, she'd feel nothing but the cold. It had been the opposite the first time around. After Tamlin's father carved the heart from what was left of her chest, and her soul floated away, Violet felt a warmth settle over her like something was trying to wrap its arms around her and lead her to wherever she was supposed to go next. The princess expected to be greeted by a black abyss, but instead she was surrounded by a bright, glowing space. She couldn't remember how she got there, or how long it had been. Time had no meaning on the other side. Violet tried searching for someone other than herself traveling miles in every direction, but there was nothing but endless places of infinite light.

Violet knew she wasn't dead now. This was different. Darkness was all she saw in front of her. She could also hear muffled voices, so wherever she was she wasn't alone like before. She tried opening one eye, but the blinding beam that pushed its way through forced her to close it again. Violet felt someone grab her hand as she attempted to move her head, but it felt like she had a boulder sitting on top of her. She knew if she was going to make her way back that she had to brave that damn light once more. Violet pushed down every fear she had about being alone again, and used whatever strength remained to peel her eyes open.

The glaring glow of the room filled her vision, but she could see three distinct figures standing around her. She turned her head slightly to see a fourth one sitting by her side. Violet blinked once and her vision started to clear. She then realized that her brother was the one sitting next to her holding her hand.

"Wa-" Her voice came out hoarsely, so she tried again. "Water."

Rhysand quickly grabbed a glass sitting next to him and brought it to her lips. She drank down half the cup before sputtering. Violet looked around the room again. She saw Cassian, Azriel and Tamlin standing near the bed, but she didn't recognize her surroundings. It almost seemed familiar.

"Where am I?"

"We're in Mor's old bedroom in the Hewn City." Rhys took her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of it. "Do you remember anything?"

She shut her eyes tight. "I remember laughing, and I was dancing with Eris. Or maybe it was Lucien? I don't know." Violet started pulling her hair at the scalp. "Everything is fuzzy."

"It's ok Vi." Rhys untangled her hand from her hair. "Slight memory loss is normal considering what you've been through."

"What happened?"

"We think someone must have slipped something into your drink. You were poisoned."

"Is that why my mouth tastes like copper?"

"No." Her brother hesitated. "That would be Thesan's blood. He used it to heal you."

The female made a face. "Gross."

"You're just lucky he was here." Tamlin spoke up. "Or you'd be dead. Again."

Violet turned her head to her former betrothed. "Killing me once wasn't enough? You just figured you'd give it a second go?"

"I didn't have anything to do with this!" Tamlin boomed. "I was the one that carried you up here."

"Why did you carry me?"

"I was with you when you lost consciousness."

"How convenient."

"Screw you Violet!" He walked up to the edge of the bed and placed his hands on the footboard. "I should have let your head bounce off the floor, but instead I saved your ungrateful ass. Again!"

"Get out Tamlin." She sighed. "I don't want you here."

"I never thought in a million years that I would pity someone like Eris." His claws started digging into the wood at her feet. "But here you are making the impossible happen." He sneered. "He'd have to be insane to put up with your psychotic bullshit."

Violet grabbed the jug of water on the end table and flung it at Tamlin's head, but he turned just in time. "Get out!"

He didn't move an inch. "Did you ever think for even one second that if you stopped lying to everyone around you, then you wouldn't keep ending up in situations like this?"

"I hate you." Violet seethed under her breath.

Tamlin leaned in further. "The feeling is mutual Princess." With those words, the High Lord of the Spring Court turned to exit the room and slammed the door behind him.

"You ok Vi?" Cassian asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She leaned further into the bed. "I just feel like my head is filled with sand."

"Thesan assured us you should start feeling better soon."

She nodded her head. "Although, if I'm being honest, I could have gone my whole life without knowing what his blood tasted like." She shivered, and her brother chuckled next to her. Violet looked at Azriel who was standing in the corner. "You're being awfully quiet over there Az. Something you'd like to say?"

"It doesn't matter right now." Rhys started. "All that matters is getting you bet-"

"What the hell is going on with you?" Azriel blurted.

"We're not doing this now." Rhysand stood up. "She needs to rest."

Azriel and Violet ignored him and stared each other down. Cassian's eyes where volleying between the pair. "That's not the question you really want to ask me, is it?" She questioned.

"No."

"Well then what are you waiting for?"

"Fine." His shadows were whipping wildly behind him. "Are you fucking Eris?"

"Yes." Violet didn't miss a beat.

"Oh gods." Cassian brought a hand to his stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Get in line." Azriel shot back.

Rhys sat back down in the chair next to the bed. "Violet, we can talk about this later. You need sleep."

"No, I don't want to sleep. I want to do this now." She pulled herself into a sitting position. "I'm sure you all have a million questions, so let's get this over with. Who wants to start?"

No one said anything, so Cassian decided to speak. "How long have you and Eris been… together?"

"We've been together for a long time, but we've been friends even longer than that."

"Was this before or after you broke his nose?"

"After." Violet smiled. "We actually started to talk more after our mother made me apologize for punching him in the face."

"I'm confused. You hated each other as children. How do you go from fighting all the time to being friends?"

"I'll tell you."

*Flashback*

The young fae girl couldn't believe her ears. Why the hell was she in trouble? Stupid Eris was the one that started the whole thing. She may have broken his nose, but she was only defending herself. Violet stomped up the steps of the Winter Court staircase until she found Eris sitting by a window.

"I can't believe you!" She screeched. "This whole mess is your fault."

"How is this my fault?" Eris asked her in a bored tone.

"You burned my hair!"

"You were in my way and wouldn't move." He explained to justify himself. "What was I supposed to do?"

"I was talking to Lucien. I didn't even see you!"

"You're saying it's my fault that you were so wrapped up in my brother that you couldn't bother to be courteous to those around you?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Violet's face turned multiple shades of red. "How was I even supposed to know you were there? You didn't say two words to me. You could have at least asked me to move."

"Where would be the fun in that? You make the best expressions when your hairs on fire."

Violet's hand flew up to slap the young boy across the face, but he grabbed her wrist before it made contact. Eris pulled her to him and got ahold of her other wrist just in case she attempted it a second time. Vi tried backing away, but it was clear he was a lot stronger than she was. "Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Why did you come up here?"

"My mother wanted me to apologize you stupid idiot."

"Clearly you're off to a great start Princess." He smirked down at her.

"Don't. Call. Me. That. " She tried pulling away again, but he wasn't letting go. "Besides, I shouldn't have to say sorry. You hurt me first."

Eris's eyebrows pulled together. "I hurt you?"

"Yes." She mumbled. "You burned my neck."

Eris released of one her wrists and pulled her dark hair to the side. Violet didn't think she had ever seen him look at her that way before. He was always angry, but now he almost looked sad. He slowly brought his hand up to run a finger over the heated skin, and a gasp flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. The fireling's eyes shot to hers in surprise. Violet used the temporary distraction to push him away and run for the stairs.

"Wait!" Eris shouted after her. She didn't know what made her turn back, but she did. "Take this."

Violet watched as he pulled a small jar from his coat. "What is that?"

"It's a healing salve." He held it out for her to take. "It should dull the pain a little."

She took the container from him and viewed it in suspicion. "You just walk around with this in your pocket?"

"Yeah, I get a lot of burns."

"The jars almost empty. Are you really that careless with your powers?"

"Of course not." He scoffed.

Violet looked him down from head to toe and found herself wondering how many scars he had hidden under his clothes. "Do your brothers burn you?"

"Sometimes." The boy glanced down at his feet. "It's mostly my father."

"Why?"

"He punishes us when we don't obey." He spoke so quietly she barely heard him.

"I've gone swimming with Lucien a dozen times, and I've never seen any burns on him."

"That's because I usually take the blame when he gets in trouble. He hides the few scars he has pretty well. He probably never told you because he doesn't like talking about it."

"That's really messed up Eris."

"It is what it is." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Why are you friends with Lucien anyway?"

Violet noticed he was trying to change the subject, but decided it was best not to call him out on it. "I don't know. He's nice to me. We have a lot of fun together."

"And that's what you want?"

"Huh?" Her face scrunched up.

"You want a friend who's nice to you?"

"Yeah, I guess." She began bouncing on the balls of her feet nervously. "Why do you want to know?"

"It's just something I was wondering." He waved his hand towards the stairs. "You don't have to stay up here with me anymore. I'll tell your mother you apologized if she asks."

"But I didn't apologize."

"And I didn't mean to hurt you. Let's just call it even."

Violet heard her name being called out, and she looked over the railing to see Rhys standing there looking for her.

Eris looked miserable again. "You'd better go."

She hadn't wanted to come up here in the first place, yet for some reason she suddenly didn't feel like leaving. "My brothers and I are going to the Spring Court tomorrow. There's this big tree next to Tamlin's house that we're going to try to climb. Do you want to come?"

"My father would never allow it."

"I guess that's true. I don't think Beron likes me very much. He says I'm a beast."

"You're not."

A smile so large appeared on Violet's face that he almost smiled back. Much to his surprise, she walked up and hugged him tight. "I'll see you at the Dawn Court next month then?"

"Yeah, I'll be there."

Violet kissed him quickly on the cheek and pulled away. "Goodbye Fireling."

"Goodbye Princess."

The girl turned and smiled at him once more before running down the stairs to her brother. Eris could feel his cheek burn with every step she took.

*Flashback to Present*

Cassian was looking at Violet in disbelief while her brother had his head in his hands. Azriel however seemed more pissed off than before.

"You expect us to belief that?" The shadowsinger questioned.

"I don't really care if you believe it or not."

Azriel crossed his arms over his chest. "This is bullshit."

"I'm just telling you what happened, so either listen or get out." Violet shot him a dirty look. "Quit acting like a child."

"I'm being a child?! I'm not the one who's been running around behind our backs and fuc-"

Cassian grabbed him before he could dig himself a deeper hole. "Okay Az, you're not helping bud. Let's just take a step back." He carefully placed himself between his brother and Violet. "Tell me if I have this right. Eris burned you, so you broke his face, you talked for a while, and magically became friends.

"That about sums it up."

"Alright, so when did you two start rattling the headboard?"

Rhysand groaned next to her, so she smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand. "You don't have to listen to this you know? You can leave if you're that uncomfortable."

The high lord straightened in his chair. "It's fine. I just don't want to hear the details of what you two were up to. We simply need to know when it started."

Violet sighed, but continued nonetheless. "Ok, so do you remember the high lord ball we had at the Autumn Court? It was about a year before my coronation."

Rhys thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so."

"Wasn't that the night where Beron flipped out, because he caught you and Lucien dancing on the balcony?" Cassian asked.

"Yes." The princess rolled her eyes. "He accused me of using my powers to seduce Lucien. I tried explaining that we weren't doing anything wrong, but he called me an animal and said no one could ever love something like me."

"I remember." Rhysand's face hardened. "I had to listen to you cry yourself to sleep that night."

"I'll never forget the hatred in his eyes." Violet shook the image from her head. "Anyways, when I woke up the next morning, I had received a letter with the Autumn Court seal on it. It was a note from Eris asking me to meet him at some abandoned house on the northeast corner where the Summer and Autumn boarders meet."

"I remember that. You were gone that whole day. Mor said you with her the entire time." Cass mentioned.

"Yeah, I had her cover for me. I didn't want anyone to know where I was going after everything that happened the night before." Violet began picking at the cuticles on her nails. "It took me half the day to fly there, and when I arrived, I found Eris sitting at a table. He looked like someone had beat his face in. I saw more bruises and welts covering him than I did skin." Her eyes welled with unshed tears. "Apparently, he had confronted his father after the ball for hurting me, and Beron beat the living hell out of him."

"Why would Eris do that?" Her brother wondered.

"I asked the same thing. I couldn't fathom why he would do something so monumentally stupid, but he said he did it for me. I didn't understand it at the time. I was nothing. Beron made me feel like nothing. I told Eris he shouldn't have bothered. That I wasn't worth it." Violet's voice cracked. "He told me that I would always be worth it. That I was worth every hit he took, and he'd do it a million times over to prove his father wrong. Then Eris held my face in his hands and told me he loved me. He didn't care that Beron thought I was worthless, because I was the only good thing to ever come into his life. I was everything to him. And in that moment, I realized I loved him too." Azriel were staring at her in doubt, but there was slight recognition hiding under the hostility. "Eris and I talked for hours until the sun went down, then one thing led to another." Vi trailed off. "That was when our relationship started."

Rhys reached across and wiped the tears from her face. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because I was terrified. I was worried of what Beron would to do if he ever found out." Violet took a deep breath. "Eris and I met in secret after that, and we avoided each other completely in public. When our father started trying to find me a suitor a year later, Eris had begged Beron to betroth me to him, but he refused. It devastated me because I knew that would be our only chance to be together. We wouldn't have to hide anymore." Her hands balled into fists. "After I got engaged to Tamlin, I panicked. I didn't know what else to do, so I confided in Mor. She said I needed to tell my mother what was going on, but that was when the war started. I waited until after it had ended, and the weddings started getting planned again. Mor came with me for support, and I told our mother everything. She said it would be alright and she would take care of it. Two weeks later I was dead."

Understanding colored Cassian's features. "That's why you're mad at her. You think Mor was the one that ratted you out, don't you?"

"I know she did." Violet hissed. "I only told two people about Eris, and that was my mother and Mor."

"Mor would never do that." Azriel spoke up.

"It had to be her. Tamlin's father tortured my mother to death, because she wouldn't give them any information, so that only leaves one other person."

"That doesn't make any sense. You said yourself that Tamlin's family had no idea that Eris was the one you were sleeping with, so it couldn't have been her."

"Well obviously somebody told, and I'm not going to stop until I find out who."

"That's why you had this ball isn't it?" Rhysand asked. "You wanted to see if anybody stood out."

"Yes, and seeing as I was poisoned before the night was over, I'm going to assume I was getting close."

"That sounds like a definite possibly." He nodded in agreement. "We need to talk about Eris."

"I thought we just did."

"No, Violet." Cass replied. "We talked about your history with him, but you haven't heard ours."

"Why does that matter?"

"Look I know you two had history hundreds of years ago, but do you have any idea about the ruthless shit he's done since then?"

"Helion told me most of it when I was staying with him in the Day Court."

"You know what he did to Mor?"

"I know everything that happened between Eris and Mor." Vi snapped. "Do you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that there are two sides to every story, and you only heard one. There is a whole lot about that situation that you don't know."

"Whatever. You're missing the point" Cassian waved a hand. "What I'm trying to say is Eris is not the same person you knew from when you were kids. He is not a good person Violet. He is cruel and manipulative and will not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his way. We've seen it. The Eris we know is the exact type of person that would tell Tamlin's father about you just to save his own ass. For all we know, he could very well be the one that poisoned you tonight."

"No, that's not what happened."

"Why the hell not? You were glued to him all night, and the second he disappeared is when you mysteriously got hurt. That can't be a coincidence."

"He wouldn't do that."

"How can you be sure?" Rhys asked hesitantly.

Violet turned to look at her sibling. "For one very simple reason." The high lord stared back. "Think about it. There is one reason he would never hurt me. You know what it is even if you don't want to."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You're not stupid brother. Think. About. It. Why wouldn't he want to hurt me?"

Realization hit Rhysand like a lightning bolt and his eyes widened. "No." He shot out of his chair knocking it to the floor in the process. "No! Absolutely not!"

"That's not possible." Azriel whispered from the other side of the room. "We would have known."

Cassian was in a state of utter confusion. "What the hell is going on? Did I miss something?"

"She- She's h-" Rhys tried to force the words out, but they wouldn't come.

"She's his mate." A female voice sounded from the now open door. Everyone turned to see Mor standing at the entryway with tears streaming down her face.

Author's Note: Is there anyone that might be interested in the unwritten scene with Violet where Eris professes his love? I didn't include it here, but I was thinking of adding a separate chapter. It would most definitely contain lemons/NSFW. ;) What do guys think?