Page 86 of Knowing Trust

You know, all the important stuff to be a ruler and always ignoring that the guy had broken a bunch of our laws and was a criminal. They didn’t care about any of it, and we couldn’t tell them how bad the crimes were because they didn’t know about demons.

Though I thought trying to assassinate me a few times was more than enough reason.

Fairies were pissed at the reaction. They were beyond pissed.

And I thought hobgoblins were going to declare war on every other species of supes because it was some idiot from each species that had immediately opened their mouth and demanded this stranger no one had verified take over. It was honestly pathetic. They saw their one last chance to get back their corrupted ways and no one holding them accountable.

Or so they assumed since the guy was a criminal. So that part they cared about? It was all insane and just made me want to quit. Seriously just quit.

Again.

The only thing that kept me together was the support from the people of Faerie. I didn’t see one person say anything about giving this guy a chance or hearing him out. They were all very much of the opinion of “off with his head.”

It probably had more to do with him trying to let demons into Faerie than caring for or worrying over me, but I wasn’t going to push it and upset myself more. Neldor didn’t think that was the case and I let him lie to me if he was.

Fuck it.

The problem became that those who stood with me were back to banning people from their businesses… And people weren’t okay with it this time. I saw one clip that said a good point pretty well.

“Look, these jerks trying to overthrow someone else’s leader are jerks,” a woman said on an interview. “But I’m tired of these businesses I just want to shop at throwing fits and getting involved. Target doesn’t ban people who have felonies or talk out their crazy asses.

“I fully understood it when it was the hobgoblins and people were talking about them like slaves and keeping them in cages. Full stop. That was—they should have done more than ban them from businesses, and I think those people should have been punished more. But anytime someone doesn’t like their leader or talks about replacing her, they can’t just ban people.

“And I don’t like feeling in the middle because I’m a fox shifter and people I don’t even know are yelling for it. Their leader is the one who constantly says we are more than our species. So it seems a bit hypocritical that they’re saying they might ban our whole species for how my leaders are acting. I didn’t elect them. I’m tired of supporting a business that treats me like a pawn.”

I actually agreed with her. I really did.

So I said that in a press conference. I even played the clip making it clear who I was specifically agreeing with so there wasn’t any miscommunication.

“The only thing I will add is the immediate and fierce reaction is because—it’s more than tossing me out,” I said to the reporters. “Your elders get tossed out, they retire. A royal gets tossed out and they are retired. So I absolutely agree with this woman, and we all need to find other ways and do better, but the harsh reaction is people are calling for me to be usurped.

“That means me dead. Don’t kid yourselves about that or it’s just I don’t get the queen crown. This is a push for my death. I didn’t push for the death of the councils I cleaned up. Yes, they were punished and their sentences were death, but this is—I’ve committed no crimes. My people want me as their leader. This is pushing for a coup where I’m dead, not something petty.”

People seemed to back off after that and even that woman was reinterviewed saying she didn’t think about that it meant my death. She was more understanding and appreciated my saying I understood their side. Also, that the hobgoblins apologized but were simply scared for me and wanted more people to speak up.

And they had. People were coming out and saying they were too tired of the bullshit. I was the one who got rid of the Underground. I’d done a lot. It wasn’t just fairies or them being back but my being their boss.

So enough already.

To say the assholes were shocked was an understatement.

But it didn’t stop there and fairies were messing with their lives. Some protested at their houses and others were talking about throwing them out of their jobs and more given they thought that was acceptable.

Seriously, at this rate, we were going to go to war with the whole supe world. I made it clear that fairies weren’t going to break the law and do what we were against, but they were allowed to protest all they wanted.

While all of this was going on, I did what I needed to for review week and also used my magic to search more areas for fae dogs, hobgoblins, and unicorns. After the week, I had handled all of Asia and Australia.

And I only found fae dogs and less than we’d worried were left out in the cold which was amazing.

It also helped me to decide how I wanted to handle all of this and I did another press conference Friday night. I asked everyone to take a step back and stop. People shouldn’t have said what they did, but it was the same jerks who were desperate to get rid of me. As a society, we’d all come a long way and we risked ruining all of that.

There were more productive ways. If people were tired of their leaders, they only needed to ask us for help. If people knew of crimes that weren’t being handled or swept under the rug, they could ask us to investigate. There were reasons these people wanted me gone and it wasn’t just they were sexist. There was always more to it than that.

So it was time to be productive and get results or move on. That I would handle this new threat and it would be nothing but a memory. However, how we handled ourselves and each other would leave lasting scars and consequences.

I was fighting for change that helped all supes and would give us a brighter future, one worth being proud of, and I hoped others would stand with us. It was bigger than species, and it was time more stood up to say their piece.

That was the only fighting that should be going on.

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