Chapter 102 Victory

Chapter 102 Victory
Violet's Pov

Eric got back up.

I had expected that. Some people stay down when they hit the floor. Others get up because getting up is the only thing they know how to do. Eric was the second kind. He had been the second kind the entire time I had known him.

He pushed off the wall and straightened.

His right arm was hanging at the wrong angle from what I had done to his shoulder. His face was tight. His eyes were still completely clear.

"That shoulder," he said. "You've been watching that for months."

"Eight weeks," I said. "Since you sparred with Thorne. You favored your left the rest of that session and every session after."

He looked at me with something I could not name. Not anger. Not calculation. Something quieter than either of those things.

"You were always watching everything," he said.

"Yes," I said. "You knew that. You said it yourself."

He took a step toward me.

Jacob moved off the wall.

"Jacob." I put one hand out toward him without looking away from Eric. "Stay there."

"Violet……"

"I mean it. Stay there."

A pause. Then: "All right."

I looked at Eric. "What is it you're trying to do right now?"

"Finish what I started," he said.

"Why?"

"Because four years of planning doesn't stop because one night went differently than expected."

"It wasn't one night," I said. "It was six months of you choosing this every day. Every morning you brought tea and sat in that chair and chose to keep going with a plan that ended with me disappearing. Six months of daily choices."

He said nothing.

"Somewhere in those six months," I said, "you also chose to mean the things you said. The vows. The honey from the southern orchards. Sitting on the ground at the ritual. Saying sorry without qualifying it. You chose all of that too."

"Both things were true," he said.

"I know," I said. "But they're not equal. They can't be."

He took another step.

I pressed my hands against Eli and let the vision come.

Eric's left hand. He was going to use his left because his right was compromised. High and fast. He was going to commit to it because he had run out of patience for measured approaches.

I saw the angle.

I saw exactly where to be when it came.

I waited.

His left hand came up fast.

I dropped low and to the right. The strike went over me. His momentum pulled him forward.

I drove my elbow up into his left side as he passed.

He made a sound and went down on one knee.

Jacob moved from the wall.

"Jacob, your arm……"

"One arm is enough." He reached Eric before Eric could push back upright. He put his knee into Eric's back and his right forearm across Eric's shoulders and drove him flat to the floor.

Eric went down. He was done.

Jacob stayed on top of him. Left arm pressed to his ribs. Right arm across Eric's upper back.

"Stay down," Jacob said quietly. "I'm asking you once."

Eric was breathing hard against the floor.

"Stay down," Jacob said again.

Eric stopped moving.

Across the room, Stephanie was still sitting on the floor. She was watching all of it. Her expression had moved past calculation. She looked like someone who had played a long and complicated game, arrived at the last move, and found it simply unavailable.

"Stephanie." I looked at her directly. "The eastern gate. Anyone posted there in the last hour?"

She looked at me for a moment.

"Two fighters," she said. "Fen's replacement rotation."

"Thank you," I said.

She raised her eyebrows slightly. "You're thanking me?"

"You answered honestly," I said. "I notice that."

She was quiet for a moment. "The buyers," she said. "The handover contact. They won't wait past six hours."

"I know," I said. "Caius will handle the contact. He's been outside that fence for six weeks. He knows what they look like and where they're positioned."

"Caius." She said the name carefully. "He's really been out there the whole time."

"Yes."

"Watching."

"Yes."

She exhaled slowly. "I underestimated him."

"Most people do," I said. "It's the patience. People don't account for patience when they're building plans. They assume everyone operates on the same timeline they do."

Stephanie looked at me. "You sound like you've thought about that."

"I've had six months of watching Eric operate," I said. "You learn things."

Jacob's voice came from the floor. "Violet."

I turned.

He was still holding Eric down with his right arm. His left side was pressed against his ribs.

"Two fighters at the eastern gate," he said. "Darius is still in the outer building."

"I know." I looked at Stephanie. "The outer building. How many fighters watching Darius?"

"Two," she said. "Junior rotation. They won't engage without orders from Eric."

"Eric is on the floor," I said.

"Yes."

I crossed to the door and opened it. The corridor was empty.

"Helen," I called out.

A pause. Then Helen's voice came from further down the corridor. "Here."

"I need you up here," I said. "Send whoever is with you to the outer building for Darius."

She appeared at the corridor end. She looked at me. She looked at the room behind me. She looked at Jacob on the floor with Eric beneath him.

"All right," she said. She turned to the person behind her and gave low instructions. Footsteps moved away down the corridor.

Helen came into the room.

She looked at Jacob. "How bad is the left arm?"

"Manageable," he said.

"That's not what I asked."

"Bad enough that I'd like someone to look at it when we have a moment." He didn't move from his position over Eric. "We don't have a moment yet."

"No," Helen said. She turned to me. "How far apart?"

"Two minutes. Possibly less."

She looked at the floor. She looked at Eric. She looked at Stephanie sitting against the wall.

"This is not the delivery environment I would have chosen," she said.

"Me neither," I said.

"Can you move?"

"Tell me where."

"Ideally a bed," she said. "The one upstairs if it's available."

I looked at Jacob. "Can you hold him five more minutes?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll go upstairs with Helen." I turned to Stephanie. "Don't move."

She looked at me from the floor. "Where would I go?"

Jacob spoke without turning his head. "Eric. I'm going to let you up. Sit against the wall. If you try anything, I'll put you back down with one arm. We'll both know how that reflects on the situation."

Eric was quiet for a moment. Then: "Let me up," he said. His voice was flat.

Jacob moved off him and stepped back. Eric pushed himself to a sitting. He looked at his right arm. He looked at his left side. He looked at the room.

He sat against the wall.

Jacob looked at me.

"Go," he said. "I'm fine here."

"You're not fine," I said.

"Fine enough," he said. He met my eyes. "Go with Helen. Eli needs you focused."

I looked at him. At his left side. The way he was holding it.

"Jacob," I said.

"Yes."

"When this is over," I said, "we're having a very long conversation."

The corner of his mouth moved. Not quite a smile. Close enough.

"I know," he said.

I turned and followed Helen to the door.

The contraction hit in the corridor. Strong and immediate and completely real. I put my hand on the wall and breathed through it.

Helen waited without speaking.

When it passed she put one hand briefly on my arm.

"You did very well," she said.

"Not finished yet," I said.

"No." She started moving toward the stairs. "But the hard part is almost over."

"Which hard part?" I said.

She looked at me over her shoulder. "Both of them."

I followed her up the stairs.

Behind me in the room, I could hear Jacob's voice. Low and steady. Keeping the situation exactly where it needed to be.

We reached the bedroom. Helen turned back the covers and I sat on the edge of the bed.

Through the window the lamp was dark.

I reached over and turned it on.

Helen looked at it. She looked at me.

"He'll see it," I said.

"Yes," she said. "He will.”