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"He’s old," I co her to feel like this was an interrogation, but at the same time, I couldn’t dismiss the River Witch’s involvement in her life and his connection to Athena

She nodded "And he loves shiny things too His treasure rooown over "Sometimes the zippers are stuck in the back or ripped Then I have to fix theh"

The River Witch didn’t strike reedy son of a bitch? Sure In that way, he reatest treasure hoarders alive Who knew? "Where does he come from?"

"From the earth Far away I don’t know Where did you coht about that and nodded

"Violet?"

"Yes, Ari?"

"Do you knohat you are?"

Her hands stilled and fell into the folds of the gown Her throat worked as she sed My breath held Her eyes seerow rounder as she stared at"I don’t know"

I reached over the gown and took her tiny hand At ing ainst my neck The fear in her voice caused tears to prick htened her

She pulled h it would protect her "I’m a treasure," she assured herself, her voice the barest whisper "The crowning jewel A great, shining star A diaods Like you, Ari Just like you"

"You are a star," I said, rocking her "No matter what, you are the best of all the treasures in all the world"

Sorow Soht between the eyes The connection I felt with Violet was like that She was right, too In a lot of ways, ere the sae, I hadn’t knohat I was either I only knew that I was different, that a darkness lurked inside me

"I love you, Violet"

Her voice was ht, Violet had said I’d often felt that way, but noasn’t a negative thing any, a powerful force that could kick ass and stand up to bullies like Athena

As I held her, I stared up at the ceiling Today had been one emotional ride after another When it rains, it pours First my father and now Violet And I still had a whole lot of unanswered questions

I held Violet as long as she wanted, but it wasn’t too long before she pulled away and crawled back under her pile of gowns "See you in thePascal crawled fro a wet path behind hiowns

"See you in the s were stiff as I rose and shuffled out, closing Violet’s door behind me Once in the hall, I didn’t know if I had the emotional fortitude left to confront Sebastian

But I didn’t have to decide, because his door opened

He stilled when he sawthere, my hand on Violet’s doorknob His hair et froht The hallway seerew shallow as all sorts of chaotic signals fired through rittedthat popped intoNeverunsuccessfully to keep Gabriel’s words froht?"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>