Page 11 of Knowing Trust

I told Izzy what happened and she fell off her chair she laughed so hard. Then she gave me a serious look and pulled out her phone.

“What? What are you doing?” I asked.

“Katrina deserves some romance and good after all she’s been through,” she muttered. “So I’m getting the right person to give a push. Just like you gave Claudia one.”

Damn. Like… Dayumn. She clearly wasn’t upset, so I wasn’t going to try and weasel out of this one.

I was shocked when Neldor joined us and then I knew exactly what was going on, nodding he could join us under the barrier I had up over the table. I told him what happened, and I thought he’d be shocked, but he sighed in relief.

“Finally, he made a move. Fuck, took him long enough,” Neldor muttered, reaching for the food and making himself a plate. “He was so worried it would start serious shit with Iolas and the commanders, but even Shael told him that Iolas missed his chance and too bad. I agree. Katrina deserves better.”

She did. She was awesome. Even if she’d made mistakes—which we all did—she owned them and worked to fix them.

“Okay, the only problem I see is that Taeral wasn’t big into this planet even before the war,” Neldor muttered as he focused on his food. “He was always at the castle and—he was never in charge of handling Mother’s trips here, and she never was just out with humans. It was always to a supe event only. And I doubt—she doesn’t strike me as the outdoors type.”

“No, I can’t think that,” I agreed, the picture of Katrina in like hiking gear making me snicker. “But I would think an outdoor night picnic in Faerie with expensive wine her deal. That’s not first date anything though.”

“No, that’s him having a chance to get laid. Finally. Gods knows he needs it,” he mumbled, bobbing his head. Then it snapped up. “What about that dinner cruise you went on with Hudson? You said it was great, right?”

“Yeah, I’m dying to do it again.” I nodded when Izzy looked surprised too. “It was really nice. The entertainment was fun. The food was amazing. They have different ones and—you should go with Claudia too.”

“I was nervous I’d get seasick,” she admitted. “She brought it up, but I did once as a kid and embarrassed my parents.”

“Like a speedboat?” I checked, shrugging when she nodded. “Totally different than a huge cruise ship, but there’s gotta be a way we can check it.”

“Yes, definitely,” Neldor agreed. “Can you spare some time with me after classes? I can check into it, and they’ve been asking about having fairies work there too. They have been since Tamsin went with Hudson. There was a problem with the manager and something, something, something.”

I nodded, knowing the tired look he had well and filled him in. I told him who had been on my detail that night and who else to talk to. It probably wasn’t the perfect first date Katrina would always want, but it was definitely a really good first date.

And good for Taeral to get his feet wet on dating and doing more in the human world solo.

“Check into show tickets,” I suggested. “Broadway since those book out fast and in advance, but also movie theaters that play older movies. I bet she would love to do something cute and a bit cliché like go snuggle with him and a bowl of popcorn and watch a black and white movie or something.”

“Yeah, that would totally be her vibe,” Izzy agreed. “Sneak in candy she wouldn’t admit to and watch Casablanca.”

I tapped my nose. That absolutely sounded like Katrina.

My last class of the day was basically a blow-off since I knew all of the material. History of Councils had been a ploy that I would “listen” when people raised “concerns.”

Meaning I played their asses when they bitched about bullshit they didn’t believe at all. They thought they got the win of having influence over the future Queen of Faerie and took the win but were really too stupid to understand I was five steps ahead of them.

Because now there was a class at Artemis that was the History of Councils. And the full curriculum had been set up with the help of Sontar, Edelman, Julian, and a few others. Plus, it was what would be taught in Faerie now, and everyone always wanted to know our secrets and education.

So while those assholes took the win of beating me into submission… I was laughing my ass off that they gave me what I wanted and didn’t even realize it. I’d said that I wanted this class at Artemis and knew I’d get huge pushback over it.

Now I wouldn’t.

Sorry not sorry.

But now that it was all handled and ready to go for next semester to be opened to all the other students at Artemis, I basically did paperwork during the allotted time. It was the worst-kept secret among fairies and even some of the faculty of Artemis because Dean Pillay came to see me then as well.

And everything had already been turned over to all of the other supe colleges so it could be added to their curriculums for next semester.

There was more paperwork and things to handle after, so I was more than ready for the break for dinner with Katrina. She studied me as I arrived and snickered. “So did you have fun planning my date with whomever?”

I wasn’t even going to deny it. “Izzy called Neldor and we gave him ideas to smack Taeral with. He doesn’t have much experience on Earth even before the war. And while he has tons of experience being regal given who his friends are, I’ve heard he’s a big fan of camping and fishing when he had the rare free time. Not what we saw you doing.”

“You are wise,” she purred. “I’m not even a fan of glamping with all the damn bugs. Though a nice midnight picnic by the water with some wine and fabulous lovemaking sounds amazing.”

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