Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

then gulped down a glass of milk before heading out to do another patrol, just to be sure. I wasn’t about to let anything slip by on my watch.
    While moving through the woods, pushing out my senses to scan the area, I thought more about what Nox and Uri had said. They’d brought Phoenix into this. They did that all the time. And yet I was sure, despite their unhelpful crypticness, that they actually did want Lilith defeated.
    So why are they trying to turn me back in Phoenix’s direction? After all he has done. Knowing he can so easily end me?
    Maybe because he hasn’t.
    When Phoenixhad broken into the Academy and we found him, he’d seemed almost relieved. Like he had been waiting for us. And down in the tunnel – he definitely sensed me and still, he’d fed us the information that helped us save that other child. Not to mention my dreams. Was there another reason, apart from taunting me, that he’d entered my dreamscape?
    Yes, he did take the other child away that night in the tunnel, but did he have a choice? With Olivier watching over him, could he have really done anything else at that time that wouldn’t result in the boy being harmed?
    The thoughts swirled in my mind but I kept coming back to the same thing – the look in his eyes. He’d looked right at me as he let go of a burst of his own emotion. It had felt so real, so haunting.
    He couldn’t have faked that.
    He’d come looking for me tomorrow night. He had my mother. He knew I’d do whatever I was asked. Lilith would know that, too. They must be laughing.
    If you leave as much as a window open I’ll find you before then.
    I stopped dead.
    Even the animals rustling in the nearby bushes stilled, the birds’ chirps faded away. I had thought he was winding me up.
    I’d been keeping my barriers up so high since arriving in New York, both because of my efforts to grow stronger and also to keep my defences at the ready. Plus, I’d been within Academy walls and their shields almost the entire time. Had Phoenix been trying then, but unable to get to me?
    ‘Oh,my God,’ I said to myself, remembering my dreams … We need to talk.
    He had been trying to reach out this whole time and I had only shut him out.
    Stupid!
    Right there and then – refusing to let another moment go by with all those children locked up and at Lilith’s mercy – I decided to do something I was sure I’d live to regret.

    A few hours later, I was running through my workout movements on the patch of grass between the house and the river, when Lincoln emerged and slumped into one of the large rocking chairs, still half-asleep. He was wearing grey cotton sweat pants and a white T-shirt, his hair was all messy and I could tell just by looking he was still bed-warm.
    Breathe.
    I almost fell over when he leaned back to stretch his arms over the back of the chair, exposing more than a touch of bare skin at his waistband. There was no denying all of our recent time together was affecting me.
    Breathe!
    I turned my back on him. ‘There’s coffee on the table inside,’ I said, oh-so-casual.
    I heard the rocking chair creak, the door swing open and then again when he returned. ‘Thanks,’ he said.
    I shrugged, still moving through some strength exercises.
    ‘Want some company?’ he asked, coming down the stairs.
    Well, there’s a loaded question.
    I lookedat him quickly, so as not to stare. He looked gorgeous and mostly because he was relaxed instead of tense with overthinking everything. Just him.
    We ran through a few drills, mostly just for something to do. Neither one of us suggested we spar. We both knew that wasn’t a great idea right now. Playing with fire and all.
    Finally, we settled down on the verandah. As each of us claimed a rocking chair I thought to myself, This will always be my rocking chair and that one will always be his . As if we might spend a version of forever here, together.
    ‘We need to talk about Phoenix,’ I said, killing any kind of peace that had settled. Because despite my earlier thoughts – it didn’t mean we shouldn’t be prepared.
    Lincoln’s expression shut down and he took a sip of his freshly made coffee.
    Okay, I’ll start.
    ‘There are kids involved, Linc, and we can’t keep ignoring that the only reason you haven’t returned him is because of me. I saw you fighting him at the Academy. You were merely fending him off.’
    Lincoln raised an eyebrow at me.
    ‘It’s true,’ I said.
    He stared into his mug.
    ‘Look, we