Quietly, Violet, begins moving towards his door.
"No, Violet you need to hide!" He whispers but Violet felt invigorated in her true form; unstoppable. Rage of having to hide her true form because of this wretched place her mother decided to start their lives at, rage towards Rodrick, the Wolf King, all of it began to bubble up and Violet saw red as she lunges against Ryder's door, the wood screaming beneath her claws. the fae standing by Ryder's window jumps in surprise as Violet slams her paws against the fae, her claws pressing into her skin, pricking blood.
"Violet!" Ryder yells, trying to yank her off, but she ignored him, her eyes locked onto the frighten fae beneath her. Wide, blue eyes stared into Violet's, and she could smell the fear radiating off her body, empowering Violet to press her claws in further. The girl grunts, wrapping her hands over Violet's and attempting foolishly to pry them off.
Someone yanks on her ear with sharp teeth.
Violet twists around, a growl escaping her as she blinks at Ryder, his glowing golden eyes, short snow-colored ears, and the grin that emptied out every thought in her head. His Fielien form bulkier than hers, the panther coat white with onyx spots, a stark contrast to her obsidian coat.
"Violet, that's Spencer." He laughs softly, his head lolling down to stare at his paws, silver lining his eyes as emotion began to take hold. Violet moves off the girl, nudging her brother afectionately, forgetting why she had been so angry a moment ago, forgetting everything but how happy her brother looked in his true nature.
Someone cleared their throat behind them. Violet turns around, her eyes narrowing as she remembered. Shit.
And though it hurt her, though she wanted to stay in this form with her brother and spend days seeing how fast their limbs could run, she forced the painful shift back.
Spencer's eyes were large, her breath coming in quick gasps. It took Ryder four attempts to shift back, and sweat dripped down his skin, his expression tired and pained.
"Did you know she was in your room?" Violet eyes Ryder, worried he was going to pass out.
"No." He answers breathlessly. Violet studies the girl. She was shorter than Ryder, coming up to below his chin but stood in a manner that indicated she held herself in high regards. Her tightly interlaced braids fell like a curtain around her leathers, twin daggers accompanying her hips.
"So, you're Spencer?" Violet asks, cautiously. The girl, having calmed down and reassess the situation, eyes her with the same amount of apprehension, her hands loosely touching the hilts of her daggers. Blood drips from her neck.
"And you're not Fae." She replies, her eyes never straying from Violet's, as if she deemed her the bigger threat.
"Why are you here?" Ryder snaps as Violet takes a step forward and Spencer unsheathed her daggers. The girls pause, Spencer moving her eyes off Violet's to look at him.
"To see you, idiot." Spencer looks back to Violet and to her surprise, sheaths her daggers. "If I apologize for entering, will you put your claws away?" She gives Violet a pointed look.
"You didn't enter, you crawled through a window." Violet narrows her eyes.
"The window was unlocked, and I hopped into it." She retorts, smirking. Violet clenches her fists but nods at the assassin, warily looking to Ryder.
"Your eyes are still glowing, Vi." Her brother whispers. Violet gives Spencer a pointed look.
"Turn around."
Spencer rolls her eyes and turns to face the window.
"Never known an assassin to turn her back on a threat." Violet baited, unable to help herself. "I see no threat." Spencer retorts, still facing away. "The daggers you drew say otherwise." "What's the saying? Don't bring your fists into a claw fight?" Violet bit back a laugh, giving her brother a slight nod. Violet took a slow breath, forcing herself to re-shift into her Fielien form and back into her fae form. Again. And again.
After the seventh shift, she drops to her knees, her brother grasping her arms. Surprisingly, the assassin drops down beside her, her blue eyes flecked with concern.
"Shit." Violet whispers, sweat dotting her temple. She hadn't shifted that much that quickly since she was a child, and her hands shook from the effort. "Maybe mother can help." Ryder suggests, though wariness coated his voice. Violet didn't respond, instead glancing at Spencer.
"I won't breathe a word." Spencer lifts her hands up, noticing the look in her eyes. "Not good enough." Violet mutters, though the threat falls flat in her exhaustion. "She won't tell." He insisted. "Then she won't mind making a soul bargain?" Violet challenges, her words still breathy. Surprisingly, Ryder didn't try to dissuade this and as if his silence was the key, Spencer reaches for Violet's hand, but Violet snatches hers first.
"On your soul, you will not speak, breathe, write, or indicate to any being what we truly are." Violet replayed the wording in her head, ensuring she didn't miss any loophole. "On my soul, I agree to these terms." "On your soul, if you break these terms, may everyone you ever love die a horrible death in front of you." Violet adds, a cruel tilt in her voice she hadn't heard before. Spencer's eyes shift to Ryder and before Violet could register what that may have meant Spencer repeats, "On my soul," and releases their hands, a clasp of magic buzzing between them as the oath forms.
A lick of pain races up her bicep and Violet flinches, yanking up her tunic sleeve, a tattoo of a two-trayed scale inked onto her skin. She didn't have to look to know Spencer had a matching one. Soul bargains were marked on the flesh but if they were broken, your soul would be ripped to shreds after the consequences of the oath occurred, never finding peace amongst the stars. Fae marked their bargains in ink, but the Fielien marked them in ink and soul.
"I thought your kind was extinct." Spencer finally whispers. "That's what the Wolf King wanted." Violet all but growls. "Instead, we're forced into hiding." Violet wonders how many of her kind were out there. How many resided in a kingdom that didn't accept their true nature.
"Why has your family stayed in this kingdom when Rivverte accepts every creature, even half humans?" Ryder looks at Spencer confused, and Violet mirrors his look. "Mother told us Rivverte is crueler than the Wolf King." Spencer looks between the siblings. She blinks. "That's a lie." "Our mother isn't a liar." Violet snaps and yet her words feel heavy as she speaks them. Her mother was a liar. They all were. They lied every day about who they were. Violet may work in a bookstore, but she would admit she didn't grab historical books first. All of her knowledge of the world came from her mother.
"I chose my words poorly. That is mistaken information." Spencer amends, "I have seen it with my own eyes." Violet's interest piqued and she absentmindedly leans forward.
"When did you go there?" Her brother asked and Spencer answered with a deadly smile.
"I had business there."
"Well, go on!" Ryder pushes. "What is it like?" Violet looks softly at her brother. The moment they realized they had to live their lives hiding their nature he had wanted to leave. He never wanted to spend his life in Wolfthorne. Maybe he wouldn't have to now. Though, the thought of her brother moving to a different kingdom sent a pang of anxiety down her spine.
Could they leave? Would Mother come with them?
"Rivverte is beautiful." Spencer lets out a soft whistle as she tilts her head up, picturing the kingdom in the ceiling of Ryder's bedroom. "It's forever summer. The sea is crystal blue—you can see the Sea Kingdom below."
"There is a sea kingdom?" Ryder asks and Violet gasps in shock.
"You said you were educated?" Spencer raises her eyebrows and Violet fels her cheeks redden at the implication.
"Sorry we didn't grow up with a knife to our throat if we answered our schoolwork wrong, assassin." Violet spit her title as if it were her mother's roast.
Spencer gives her a smile that was all teeth. She would make a fine Fielien, Violet thought.
"Maybe if you did you would have known about the Sea Kingdom." Ryder huffs at them, and they simultaneously gave him an apologetic look, though Violet resumed staring daggers at Spencer as she continues speaking.
"Information on the Sea Kingdom is hard to come by." Spencer admits. "The citizens of Rivverte are stingy with speaking about it to outsiders but I managed to learn some things." She levels a look at Violet that said she would only be telling them the bare minimum of information. "They have a treaty with Rivverte. The Sea Kingdom houses sirens, merfolk—yes, they are different—" The assassin directed at Violet who glowers— "and other seas creatures you wouldn't want to encounter, fall under the Siren Queen's rule."
Violet's mind turned over on itself, thinking of a kingdom with so many types of species, unlike Wolfthorne where it was either fae, pure werewolf, or a combination of the two—typically making the creature born weaker than if they were full-fledged. What it would be like to wander under the sun in her own skin and not feel afraid.
"Rivverte and Wolfthorne are expected to be at war soon." Spencer's face darkened, her brilliant blue eyes growing serious. "Rivverte is a kingdom of peace. They have a military force, but it is no where near as elite as Wolfthornes."
"How do you know this?" Violet presses. "Why would we go to war?"
"It's my job to know a lot of things." Spencer curly replies. "And why does any ruler go to war? They want something. Greed, power, revenge. Pick your poison."
"What does Rivverte have that he wants?" Ryder echoes the question in Violet's mind.
Spencer shrugs. "Well, whatever it is, it's worth killing for." She meets Violet's eyes, seeming to try and choose her next words carefully when the squeak of the front door echoes through the home.