[center][img] https://i.imgur.com/rAa2bpv.png[/img] [/center]
[color=firebrick]Time:[/color] Morning Ignis 2nd
[color=firebrick]Location:[/color] Charity event
[color=firebrick] Interaction: [/color] [@oso] Cassius
[color=firebrick] Mentions:[/color] [@potter] Kira, [@helo] Callum, [@FunnyGuy] Alexander [@princess] Charlotte
[color=gray]


Violet felt the tremor before she saw it. His hand in hers, squeezing tight enough to grind bone against bone, betrayed him in a way his smile never would. Cassius Vael, the unshakable, the untouchable, reduced to the trembling weight of a brother barely holding himself together. To anyone else, he looked the part. His lazy grin, posture dripping with confidence, voice smooth as silk. But Violet knew. 


Callum’s drunken shouts, Kira’s taunting mirth, the delighted gasps as Cassius threw down his bid like a blade across the table, all of it swirled together in a haze of smoke and sweat and coin. The world seemed to lean closer, hungry for the spectacle, waiting for the fracture. Waiting to see if the bastard would finally splinter.


Her eyes moved across them all as if her mind began to piece things together. The scratch, the women…the stabbing. Her eyes moved over them like waves before settling back to Alexander, catching his own look at her. 



His gaze held her, deliberate and sharp, amusement threading through it like a knife. But she knew better than to mistake it. That careful delight he reserved for her, the tilt of his head, the flicker of his lips, was real. Everything else was his performance. A master of his own craft. Her eyes held their own admiration, yet her expression remained neutral. 



Her stomach tightened, a mix of anticipation and calculated restraint. She knew what she felt. Loyalty, devotion, and then there was something else. She acknowledged it, even if she would not name it aloud. She had to keep her wits about her. Cassius was at the center of this madness, vulnerable, reckless, and more than willing to risk himself. Alexander would not protect him; he would watch, assess, and smile as though it were entertainment. Because to him it was.



Violet knew she needed to play her role. The protective sister, the one who saved his life, the one who cared. A smile curved on her lips as she looked at Alexander. So faint that had he been looking only, he would have caught it before it simply faded back. 



When his eyes finally broke away, Violet exhaled in silence, a breath hungry in anticipation. She was fully awake to both the dangers of her feelings and the reality of what she was getting herself into. 


Her fingers tightened, steadying his grip with her own, anchoring him as though her hand alone could hold back the storm brewing inside him. Her voice came low, too soft for the mob to hear, sharp enough that he would not mistake it.


[color=firebrick]“Breathe, Cass.”[/color]


She shifted closer, shoulder brushing his. To the crowd, it was nothing, just a sister at her brother’s side, lending him the air of solidarity. But in truth, it was her own chess piece she needed to play. Placing her other free hand on top of his as he continued to bid Violet eyes couldn’t help but look to Charlotte and the thoughts that must be racing behind that beautiful face of hers. [/color]