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Chapter 205
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Violets and Ash Chapter 206
Violet’s P.O.V. Ten Years Later “I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. You’ve definitely improved.” I teased, slipping my arms around my husband’s waist as he stood over the stove. The brisket he tended to had been a twenty-four-hour project of his that he insisted on getting perfect. In fact, this entire dinner tonight had been cooked by him alone. It was his way of proving all my years of cooking lessons hadn’t gone unnoticed. He spun around with a piece of meat in his hand. I went to pluck it from his fingers only for him to move it just out of reach. He shook his head, his ebony hair falling over his brows. “Open up, princess.” I pulled him close, my stomach fluttering as I did as he asked. A groan slid past my lips at the rich, savory flavor. He really had improved in his cooking skills. Another year or two and he’d probably surpass me. One of his arms slid around my waist and remained there as he reached across the counter to grab one of the cupcakes he’d made. Rich chocolate and
Violets and Ash Chapter 1
They said it was raining when I stumbled into town, past the boarders so poorly protected even a critically wounded ten-year-old could slip through. I had been walking for hours. I was told my feet were blistered and bloody with wounds that reappeared faster than they could heal, but that they paled in comparison to the thick slices covering my body. I couldn’t remember the pain, or the song they had said I’d been singing. I couldn’t remember the feeling of the rain on my face, or the mud in between my toes. The widow who had taken me in while I was sick and healing, who had begged her Luna and Alpha to take me off her hands once the night terrors and outbursts became too much, I couldn’t remember her either. My first memory began with him. The tender eyed doctor with the curly hair and friendly smile. I had giggled when his glasses slid off his nose and fell into my lap. Elijah was the first person who didn’t treat me like a problem in need of solvin
Violets and Ash Chapter 2
I tossed my backpack on the kitchen table, the numerous pins attached rattled as they bumped into one another. There was always a small pang of disappointment when I made it back home from a hectic night at Jeb’s to find Elijah’s car still missing from the driveway. Most of the houses in town were styled after cabins, and all had massive fireplaces built for the harsh winters. The cold and I had a love hate relationship, which is why Elijah made sure we were always stocked up on wood and I made sure we had plenty of hot cocoa. He spent a good portion of his time at the tiny clinic that was always understaffed and overpopulated. I used to tag along when I was a kid, back when he would do house visits. It had taken one particularly nasty family, who refused to have the cursed child step into their home for me to realize how uncomfortable I made people. Elijah stopped taking house calls that day, and I stopped asking to see more of his job. He was the on
Violets and Ash Chapter 3
The moment Sylvia’s driver picked us up from the airport, I was determined to soak everything in. We drove through a bustling city, where the buildings were towers plucked from story books, so high that they kissed the clouds that surrounded them. People walked on pristine sidewalks free of cracks or holes, most with briefcases or cellphones pressed to their ears. Traffic thickened and thinned, becoming smoother when the two lanes we drove down opened up into four. It was at this point the trees began to multiply into densely packed forests, and the magnificent buildings grew scarce. During the drive I snagged Elijah’s phone and looked at the first map I could get my hands on. The Nightfall pack was named for the starry sky that overlooked the bowl-shaped valley it rested in, and was known for its Redwood trees, which stood taller than any other in the world. We drifted into a town where the buildings looked shiny and new. There were plenty of expensi
Violets and Ash Chapter 4
I rounded the corner and appeared in the dining hall just in time to spot Elijah and the woman who I’d only seen in photographs. For half a second, they were wrapped up in their own world. One of his hands came to rest on hers as he said something that made them both laugh. Elijah had been right when he said the camera didn’t do her justice. His phone couldn’t capture the bounciness of her glossy brown hair, or the beauty mark above her perfectly symmetrical lips. If it weren’t for the charcoal pants suit that fit her slender figure as though it had been tailored for it—which it probably had, I would’ve thought she were a model and not the Luna of an entire pack. “Ah, there she is.” Elijah’s eyes lit up as he spotted me at the other end of the table, hovering just a few feet from the doorway. When Sylvia turned to face me, he gave me a look that said he knew exactly where I had been and what I’d been up to. “Sylvia this is Violet.” “I’ve been looking
Violets and Ash Chapter 5
‘We’re actually doing this, Lacey. We’re going to college. Did you see how proud Elijah looked?’ I laughed, spinning in place while some obscure pop song trickled from my phone. ‘This is all he’s ever wanted for us…but you know we can’t back out now, right?’ She replied, and her uncertainty caused the first crack in my giddy exterior. I sucked in a breath, held it for seven seconds and exhaled just like my old therapist taught me. Even now I could see his face, speckled with deep lines and pock marks, that flap of greasy white hair over his head. Those long, drawn-out meetings where I talked about my feelings and lack of memories were my primary motivation to act normal. So long as I took my daily cocktail of medication and went to my bi-weekly appointments there was no need for a grueling three sessions a week. ‘We’re not going to back out.’ I insisted, determined to ride out this euphoric high for as long as possible. My romance novel infect
Violets and Ash Chapter 6
I carried the consequences of my past on my shoulders for years. I’d tiptoe downstairs and to fumble with the lock on the front door for a couple minutes before curling up in bed. That was what I considered a good night, and thankfully they happened rather frequently. Last night, however, wasn’t one of them. My stomach was full but the conversation I had with Norma left me feeling anxious and jittery. I needed to make sure the doors were locked, that the house was secure from the inside out. It was an urge I no longer questioned, and one I’d stopped fighting years ago. The lock on my bedroom door was wrong. It felt too flat between my fingers, nothing like the heavy thud of the deadbolt that was on the front door of our cabin—the same kind downstairs. This one was one of those cheap locks that stuck out from the doorknob like a button. Even the click it made was wrong. I face planted in my bed hours later, swallowed whole by exhaustion
Violets and Ash Chapter 7
Her frame seemed even smaller from a distance and was swimming in the billowing fabric of her muumuu. Even with Lacey shouting ‘abandon ship’ in my head as she urged me to flee like a gazelle, there was nowhere for me to run. Norma’s face was impassive as she asked, “…you do this kind of thing often, child?” “No, of course not.” The lie came out much too fast and yanked my voice up an octave or two. Instead piecing together it’s shattered remains, I went into damage control mode. “I mean—only when I’m stressed…or in a new place.” “Both of which you currently are.” “Right…” I swallowed as embarrassment heated my face. “Look, I—" “This isn’t you freaking out about going to the University is it?” She asked, and just a hint of accent peeked through. “No, not at all.” I stammered. “It’s something I’ve done back at the old house. Look, Elijah knows about it. He and Sylvia have so much going on…I just didn’t want him to worry about me, especi
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