Whodunnit?

Violet was sitting on the floor of Alex's dorm room, she was leafing through a book Alex had propped for display on her coffee table.

'All the Reasons why Animals are Better than Humans' written by D.O.G.G.O.D.

It was proving to be quite an enlightening novel. In the background the twins were having a no-holds-barred wrestling match while being egged on by the rest. Kieren was throwing hundred dollar bills every time a particularly good punch landed.

They had returned from Kieren's house a couple of hours ago, but somehow Violet had still been dragged along with the rest. She turned her attention back to the book, most of it was comprised of different animals' pictures just looking cute. There were however, strategically placed excerpts of great deeds animals had achieved that humans could never. She dodged slightly as the twins came crashing down, a tangle of fists, limbs, and curses. Zen declared a winner when Ted managed to pin Tom into a over enthusiastic hold that held his twins brothers face in his ball-sack.

The twins sat cooling down still throwing swings at every opening when Alex looking rather uncomfortable started, "Hey Violet.... about yesterday..." Violet looked up, "Oh, no let's just not even..."

"We just all want to say that, we are sorry for pressing...." Ted and Tom interrupted Alex, "We are here for you, we won't let anybody hurt you. You're one of us now." Zen and Kieren were looking a Violet attentively, "It's true, if you want to tell us who was chasing you, we can easily get rid of them." Zen finished.

Kieren opened his mouth and Violet intervened, "Stop this now! You all seem to have this view of me, like a fairy princess who heals people. I'm not a good person, whatever you all think I am, I can guarantee, I'm not!"

"I think we see you rather clearly," Alex said with a shrug, "it's not like we let just anybody in, but we trust..."

"Well that's a really shitty choice! You should not trust me, idiotic and mundane decisions like those..."

"Violet," Kieren said slowly, "They're all letting you in because it's obvious, ... I like you. They trust my judgement." Violet froze, she turned her eyes slowly towards Kieren noting that everyone else had as well. It was clear that they had not expected him to be so ... upfront.

Violet rose slowly from the floor, they noticed she was gripping her right hand tightly in her left. Fingers digging into the scar on her palm. "That's an atrocious decision Kieren, you should take it back, there is no possibly that someone like me will ever end up with someone like you. I'm not noble blood." Violet dug her hand deeper into her palm, drawing blood, attempting to ignore the hurt look in Kieren's eyes. "Don't you get it, you're going to be the head of the Ruenen, and after this academy is over, we won't have any reason to interact. And if you're implying that we could be friends with benefits or something ridiculous like that, you should know, I'm not here for a fuck."

Violet dropped the book and walked away.

They looked around in shock, four pairs of eyes landed on Kieren. He looked frustrated, hurt, lost, nothing they were prepared to see in their leader. "Hey Kil... she's just scared." Alex began slowly moving closer to him.

Kieren got up and left the room.

Zen shook his head slowly, grabbed Alex, and said, "Do not go after him, Violet's always been a wild card, I wish he hadn't admitted that to her."

"He had to," Ted said slowly, "she's guarded, and we've all noticed her refusal to speak, she's aware we can help, but she doesn't want it."

"Maybe so," Tom looked worried, "are we sure we can trust her?" Kieren likes her, but we know nothing about the girl, she could be an a danger to Kieren's well being."

"Stop!" They all turned to Zen, "it's not like we all haven't analyzed this a million times over in our heads. Kieren never gives girls attention, but he likes her, a first genuine attraction and we've all been attempting to accept it. What Violet said was right, there is no future for them, she's not.... she's not his bond... the bond would be his only chance at real love and we are here to make sure it doesn't occur. If she was, by some weird chance his bond, that would have been apparent since day one. And we would have turned her in to the HeadLord and she would have been killed. The only woman Kieren will ever end up with will be someone the Ruenen selects as appropriate for his power and easy enough to control. We've been aware of that for a long time. Kieren's aware too, if she had wanted a fling, it would have made it easier."

Alex looked dejected, "I love Kil, he's always been a brother to me, I cannot stand to think that his future will be so grim, loveless..."

They looked down, Zen sighed looking throughly miserable. His expression mirrored the rest of his friends, uncertainty. "We would all die for him in a heartbeat, we don't have to like it, but we must protect him, a bond with the wrong person will kill him. We will not allow that happen. His temporary feelings for Violet will dissipate, perhaps it's better she rejected him so blatantly."

Alex turned to Zen, "but she's lying to herself, we can all see that."

Well, as flawed as my logic is," Zen continued, "I hope she keeps lying to herself."

Alex looked like she was going to cry, she stared at them in disappointment and pointed to her door. "Please leave."

Violet closed the door to her room and threw herself onto the bed face forward. She longed to scream, cry, run, anything, anything than the emptiness she was left with. A sudden wave of nausea overtook her and she fled into the bathroom to empty her stomach. Even then she was expressionless, this would change nothing. Her brain threatened to take her there, to the screams, to make her feel, another wave of nausea. Hands shaking she washed her face and mouth. It was only then she realized something was amiss in her room, that letter had not been here before. Eyes darted around in panic, the malevolent sword appeared, she approached with caution. She flipped it open and relaxed immediately, 'WHO KILLED JAMES DUROS'

Violet let go of the sword, it disappeared, she sat at the edge of her bed reading the letter. Instructions for the second task, another game, this one akin to something Agatha Christie or Edgar Allen Poe would put on.

This at least, she could tackle right now.