Page 155 of Violet

“Where’s Heath? Iris, you and Rue make sure everyone’s on their best behavior.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know…”

“Phone.” Iris holds hers up, nabs Rue as she barges up the stairs. “I’ll text.”

I nod.

When Iris has dragged Rue down the stairs, I put on a dress, then change and change again. Then I stop.

It’s the Monarch, so simple and classy.

So I pull out one of the outfits Iris made and put it on, a simple silk dress in the palest of lavender, and I find a pair of low heels and slide them on. I leave my hair down.

I’ll go down, pretend, say I made a mistake. Beg for my family to be left out of any scandal. As I rise, my phone buzzes.

Iris

No idea where Heath went. Monarch is being waited on. Mom’s about to birth litters of kittens. I think she wants blood.

Then:

Iris

Monarch bloodthirsty, not Mom.

It buzzes once more.

Iris

She hinted that Mom isn’t a good Mom.

I can fix this.

Inside, my anxiety is rising, the panic growing, but I raise my chin, fix a smile, and head down.

Every eye turns to me when I enter the living room.

“There you are at last,” says the Monarch in a chiding tone.

“Oh, Violet,” Mom says, “I knew something happened. Are you okay?”

“Issheokay?” The Monarch shoots up from her seat. “I’m being ridiculed. All because you can’t contain your children.”

Something in me snaps.

“My mother has done a magnificent job,” I say. “With all of us. And I know that because you chose me as your Luxe.”

“Maybe,” she says to me after a long moment, “I was bored.”

“Violet…”

I ignore Mom.

“Maybe. But Stephan did choose me.”

“And yet you can’t seem to make it work. He might have screwed up, but as his Omega, you’re meant to endure. To overcome and forgive. No matter what it is.”

---