While Violet was being taken care of inside, Alaric and Asher had no choice but to wait for her outside.

"What were you up to last night? Did you finish building the device?" Asher asked, and Alaric tensed at once.

He slowly turned to face Asher, his brows narrowing with sudden suspicion.

"Why are you so interested in that?"

Asher’s eyes narrowed at once, his lips pressing into a grim line. "Because you were occupied with Zuru and they wouldn’t let me in yesterday when I came to check up on you." His gaze sharpened. "Or is it the fact that you’re suddenly staring at me as if I’m the one who stole the device?"

There was solid tension between the boys now as Alaric slowly, cautiously straightened, a darkness suddenly entering his eyes.

He lifted a brow. "Did you?"

Alaric didn’t want to believe it, but after the Queen’s words yesterday, his mind had been anything but quiet. And now that he thought about it, the device had gone missing right after Asher and Violet’s visit to him.

Asher flinched as if the accusation had physically struck him across the face. Then he straightened too, the seriousness of the situation dawning on him.

He asked in a gravelly tone, "Why would I do that?"

Alaric, who had been carefully listening for any change in his heartbeat, frowned.

That was not the answer he had expected.

But it was the question that had plagued him all night. Why would Asher do that?

It didn’t make sense.

Out of all of them, if there had been anyone obsessed with Violet’s happiness, it was him. Hurting the Queen was equal to hurting Violet, and Asher, in his right mind, would not...

Alaric trailed off. That was it. Asher in his right mind.

What if Asher wasn’t in his right mind?

Alaric began to replay every interaction they’d had over the past few days, searching for something—anything—that might hint that something had been off about Asher.

But no matter how hard he thought, nothing clicked except that day at breakfast.

His face changed.

Alaric recalled the casual comment Roman had once made about Asher contracting some kind of parasite that seemed to devour everything in his stomach.

The shock of stumbling onto that memory unfortunately showed on Alaric’s face, and Asher noticed.

He asked carefully, "Are you alright?"

"Of course," Alaric answered a little too quickly.

He cleared his throat, then coughed before saying, "I’m just stressed out with the whole thing, and now I’m even suspecting those around me for the missing device. It’s driving me crazy." He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Two things became painfully clear to Alaric in that moment.

One, he was not a good actor and it was taking everything in him not to get caught.

Secondly, Asher was too smart and observant. All it would take was one wrong move. One slip in body language. One show of fear and his cardinal brother would know exactly what was going through his mind.

At the same time, Alaric subtly tightened the mental walls around his thoughts as he recalled Asher’s unique power of manipulation.

It had been easy to forget around Violet, especially since using their powers on one another had long been forbidden.

"I understand," Asher said. "In times like this, suspicion is natural. I did warn Queen Seraphira, though, that her plan was weak. It isn’t my fault she underestimated just how far Baron’s influence reaches."

He clicked his tongue almost pitifully, yet there was something so strangely lackadaisical about him, as if he couldn’t quite bring himself to care.

And just like that, things became even clearer to Alaric. He remembered Annequin warning them about how openly they moved through the Fae Realm with their minds unguarded.

As strong as Asher was mentally, what if he had encountered someone stronger?

Someone like Baron, who could dreamwalk.

Oh fuck.

Alaric cursed internally, swallowing hard.

They were royally fucked.

"Are you sure you’re alright?" Asher asked again, pulling Alaric from his spiraling thoughts.

"W-what?" Alaric tried to steady his racing heart. "I already told you. I’m nervous about the whole thing, that’s all."

Asher nodded as if he believed him. Instead he pointed downward.

"Then you should get those sparks under control. We wouldn’t want to get kicked out of the palace at a critical time as this."

Alaric looked down and saw tendrils of electricity crackling between his fingertips.

That only happened when his emotions became unstable. He quickly closed his fist, forcing the sparks to die.

When he looked back up, Asher was already moving toward him. Alaric jerked away before he could stop himself.

Asher lifted a brow.

"Did I do something wrong, Alaric?" he asked in a low tone. "Why do you suddenly seem scared of me?"

"I’m jumpy, not scared," Alaric retorted, hoping the hardness in his voice would be enough to kill whatever suspicion Asher might be forming. "You know how I get when I’m like this. I don’t want to hurt anyone."

"You could never hurt me, brother," Asher said.

And when he reached for him again, it took everything in Alaric not to flinch. But he held his ground. Asher’s hand landed on his shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.

"Everything will work out just fine," Asher said. "What’s the worst that can happen?"

Alaric gave a wry chuckle. "Exactly. What’s the worst that can happen?"

Aside from the possibility that Asher was being controlled and currently working for Baron.

How that had even happened was beyond Alaric.

Asher was the strongest of them. If there had been any Alpha more likely to fall under a charm or manipulation, it should have been Roman, not Asher.

No wonder they had not caught whoever stole the device. Not when Asher was the one helping organize the search.

Alaric knew then that he had to tell someone. They needed to know what was going on. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that while standing under Asher’s scrutiny.

Right at that moment, the door to their quarters opened, and whatever worries had been circling in Alaric’s head vanished instantly.

Goddess below. She really did walk amongst them.

That was the only thought that crossed his mind as he stared at Violet.

She looked like the living, breathing embodiment of a goddess in that outfit.

The suit clung to her perfectly, molding to every curve of her body, accentuating a figure he had explored and worshipped more times than he could count—and still could never get enough of.

Violet Purple was not just dressed, she was

armed for war.

Her golden eyes carried an ethereal glow that demanded attention, made worse—in the best way—by the dark kohl lining them, polishing her gaze into something both mesmerizing and dangerous.

As for her hair, it was braided high and intricate, like the warrior women from ancient tales. It framed her face in a way that made her look untouchable, deadly, beautiful and unforgiving. All at once.

His mate didn’t look like someone who was about to compete, no, she looked like a Victor already. No way in hell could the so-called ancestors resist a look like this.

Yet that dangerous woman smiled at him like he was her world, and Alaric’s heart might as well have exploded from the sheer rush of it.

"You’re here," she said, excitement lighting up her face the moment she saw him.

It wasn’t until Violet ran toward them and threw her arms around both him and Asher that Alaric seemed to remember the situation at hand.

Asher was not on their side.

Alaric couldn’t blame Violet for not seeing it.

Asher had gone through hell for her, and with her, hoping the bond snapped between the both of them, it was quite easy to overlook things.

Violet pulled back, then took both of their hands in hers, gripping them tightly.

"I will win this," she said with firm determination. "Nothing will go wrong. We will get through this."

Things are already wrong. Alaric wanted to say it. But the words refused to leave his throat.

Too many thoughts were crashing through his head at once. What if he electrocuted Asher right now and exposed him?

He would be restrained. Possibly locked up while they figured out what went wrong.

But then, Violet would be worried. She might try to fix it and might go as far as to abandon the competition.

No. That couldn’t happen. They had come too far for her to fall apart now.

He had to handle this somehow.

"Alaric? Are you okay?" Violet’s voice snapped him out of it.

He had zoned out again.

"What?" he asked.

"Yes, Alaric," Asher added smoothly, "tell us, are you alright? Or is there something you’re not telling us?"

Alaric’s gaze snapped up to meet Asher’s.

And in that faintly amused look, he saw it —

Asher knew.

Fuck.

Alaric’s heart slammed violently against his ribs. How had he figured it out?

Fear gripped him tight, quick and suffocating, and for a split second, he almost unleashed his power right then and there, consequences be damned.

But Asher moved first. He reached out, gently tucking a stray tendril of Violet’s hair behind her ear.

"He’s just worried about you, Violet, love," Asher said softly. "After all, he wouldn’t want anything happening to you, right?"

To anyone else, it sounded like concern,

only Alaric heard the threat beneath it. Just like that, the air left his lungs.

No way. Surely, Asher wouldn’t dare hurt Violet. They were.... not mated yet.

Shit.