A Quandary

"Yes, tomorrow, you can pick us up from the tarmac. We are going to have to rethink our strategies, all of the recent murders have complicated… Jace? Jace are you even listening."

Jace refocused his gaze with a sigh, "Yes, I'll pick you up. Complicated in what manner? Has it not been completely complex since the first murder?"

Kieren frowned into the screen, "are you certain you're feeling well? Has something occurred that I should know about Jace? You have been acting strange for the majority of this call… wait is Violet-"

"Violet is fine," Jace interrupted quickly, "I'm simply consternated, the murders are truly become quizzical and you tell me the high court has decided to catch the murderer by any and all means. Kieren, it's going to be an arduous challenge to catch the culprit and question their motives with the Ruenen this involved, without the Ruenen finding out. How are we going to use the testimonial of this 'vigilante' to our advantage? There is no way anyone will give them the time of day to even open their mouth, even if they're exposing the Ruenen's corrupt foundations, perhaps we should just let-"

"No!" Kieren frowned and his displeasure was obvious in his icy tone, "I need to know, if no other soul cares what led this person to go to such lengths for the truth, I do. I will do this my way Jace, I have gone behind the Ruenen's gaze on many occasions, a few more are of no consequence. I will say no more if this topic, the goal is to capture them alive, and before the high court, and I will."

Jace frowned into the screen, he knew better than to argue with Kieren, not to mention, it appeared Kieren was in a lousy mood, "alright, care to explain your appearance? You seem highly irritated."

Kieren positively glowered in response, "unfortunately, there are many topics managing to infuriate me beyond reason. One in particular…" Kieren's voice faltered, he rubbed his hands over tired eyes, "they sprung up 'That discussion' today. Even brought her here, I am reaching my limit and I may have to wait some time before I can definitively say no."

Jace's eyes widened, "Shit Kieren, if Violet catches wind of this without a proper explanation-"

"I am very fucking well aware Jace!" He growled out through gritted teeth. Suddenly as though he had been holding in his thoughts, which, Jace reminded himself, he probably had been, Kieren burst into a furious tirade, every day, every irritatation, every moment that had led him to want to kill someone came spewing out.

Jace found himself filtering out some of the information, Kieren looked… depleted. His hands and legs were moving in agitation and the nervous tick of pushing his hair back from his face was back. He had rarely seen him this wound up, "I won't do it, and perhaps I should just come clean, it's not as though they can do anything about it now. Do you think Violet would hate it?"

Jace blinked back into alacrity, "perhaps… you would have given her no time to process. Kieren? Are you having withdrawals from being away from her? You look as though you haven't slept in days."

He blinked a few times, his brilliant eyes dilating anxiously, "I'm at the end of my rope." He lowered his voice considerably, "I can't sleep, I'm highly irritable, everyone's noticed that there has been a change, well they think it's the murders. Me being away from her for this long, it's almost meant to be impossible, I just… I don't want them to suspect it before she's ready. Although… I may have to speak to her soon anyway. How is she?"

Jace fought the urge to let out a sigh, "she's doing perfectly fine, I've been keeping an eye on her, as you… commanded. You know Violet, she adapts like an apex predator, nothing slows her down. She has temporarily been placed with Shou's group, they're actually out on a mission at the moment. Tasked with the retrieval of one stolen runestone weapon, the jade rings, it appears they were 'taken' off their user and the Cihade Family put enough pressure on the Ruenen that it was passed down and given to the second best group at the school. I'm certain they'll return tonight, Shou and his squad will only perform better with such a capable… menace by their side."

Jace studied Kierens gaze carefully and fought back a laugh, "are you seriously pouting because she's hanging out with Shou? You can be such a child, I doubt she's interested in him."

Kieren scoffed, "it's his interest in her I despise, I despise everyone who looks at her with such longing."

"Well, you and the world are going to have a quite rough battle, she's beautiful Kill, they're never going to stop looking."

Kieren opened his mouth to retort, no doubt some snarky comment, when a knock sounded in his background, "Lord Zordyk, they are prepared to commence negotiations, please consider joining us."

Kieren bit back a long list of expletives, "I will be there momentarily." The voice retreated and Kieren turned back to Jace. "I'll see you tomorrow, if anything changes contact me immediately."

"Of course." Jace hung up the video call and leaned back in his bed. "Fuck me, this is going to end miserably."

Jace's room was an absolute disaster, after Violet had come clean the evening prior he had, in fit of rage, demolished everything in his sight. He had spent the remainder of the night and day laying in bed, unable to sleep, unable to move, wishing he could have done something, anything, anything at all to spare her the experience.

He was well aware that violet had omitted parts of her story. The gruesome details… she had skimmed so skillfully over the dastardly things they must have done to her over the five years she was held captive.

He thought back to the hundreds of internal scars on her body, the way she never flinched when hurt, the way she plowed forward despite the damage inflicted like she had no other option. They had tortured her beyond sanity, and there she stood, unyielding and demanding their lives in return.

He saw red for the hundredth time that day, angry tears stung his eyes, it was partially his fault, he should have looked harder, made sure she was really gone. The muse was selfless royalty, meant to be loved, cherished, respected. He had let her down and as payment Violet had watched one-hundred and sixty-two people die gruesome deaths, all for the selfish wish of the Ruenen. Violet had endured it all, he thought back to the chemical burns on her skin, and anger pooled in the pit of his stomach.

The situation was shit, but unsurprisingly, he had no doubt as to his next steps, he would protect her with his life this time, fight is she even hinted at it, and hide her from them all, even from Kieren himself.

— — —

Violet sat outside a quaint pastry shop, sipping on her iced coffee slowly, savoring it, this place deserves the reputation, it was delicious. She looked around her slowly ignoring the many curious gazes cast in her direction.

A slight buzz from her jeans caught her attention, a message from Kieren, she smiled subconsciously, he had been texting her non stop. It seemed they would be returning tomorrow, that was acceptable. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it was nice sleeping with him. She chided herself mentally and put the phone away after a quick reply.

This task was proving to be an almost idyllic. They had been dispatched to the very center of the state, tasked with retrieving the jade rings and disposing of the thief for good measure.

Shou ran a tight ship, but it seemed almost unrestricted compared to the binding oath upon which Kieren lay his orders on. Shou was also, the only person on his team, who understood that Violet was deadly, the rest of them all treated her with indifference and she was enjoying it.

The thief was scheduled to sell the rings at an underground auction of sorts, Shou had prepared an almost foolproof plan for intercepting the rings and catching the burglar. They would situate themselves all around and as long as they acted together they would find their second mission to be competed without a problem.

She had been pushed to the edge of the mission, "you watch here and if the thief comes running call us for back up."

Violet chuckled into her iced coffee, she would easily take the vacation. She had been working hard lately and she was taking advantage of tonight, as the last day without Kieren and his team, to kill the group of scientists who had developed the injections they had pushed into her system.

A sudden shout from afar caught her attention, it would appear one of them had slipped up. A frail looking man with watery eyes, in a full on tuxedo, was sprinting in her direction. He was sweaty and clearly running for his life, Violet took the last sip of her coffee before standing to stretch. She yawned and pulled her hair out of its tight bun, letting it cascade downwards.

Far behind she could see the silhouette of Shou running through the crowd. She smiled to herself and positioned herself as he neared her table, he faltered for only a second, to look at his pursuer and that was enough.

She stepped out in front and let him crash into her, they tumbled onto the ground and she let out an indignant scream. "Ouch, hey get off- OH MY FUCKING GOD! HELP, HE'S BLEEDING!"

The crowd rushed forward, chants of "help her up," and "quick! Call an ambulance" echoed all around. As soon as Violet was helped to her feet she clutched the bag to her chest and widened her eyes as though terrified, "is he dying?" She filled her eyes with tears and was immediately steered clear of the scene by several bystanders, "you stay over here darling, let us take care of this."

Violet sniffed all while shaking as she stumbled back being supported still.

The screams of people realizing the man was dead only added to the chaos, and as soon as her protecters were distracted Violet turned on her heels and walked purposefully away.

She bumped into a large man and casually wiped her bloody hairpin knife on his sleeve while apologizing profusely. The man smiled kindly, told her to have a wonderful day, and kept walking. Violet met up with Shou at the edge of the crowd, she put the bag in his hands and patted his shoulder. "You killed him so easily! Great job catching up to him."

Shou shook his head incredulously, "you sure you don't want credit for this?" Violet smirked, "positive. Let's get back, I'm hungry."

Violet's wonderful mood lasted exactly fourteen minutes, once situated in the vehicle two things occurred which made freeze in disdain. One, they (the four best teams) would be traveling to the Serpent Kings headquarters to meet the entire congregation. And two, the words Mika shouted out while staring open mouthed at her phone. "Holy Shit! Kieren's going to marry Julie!"