Page 16 of Knowing Trust

I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest.

He bit back a smile but continued, probably realizing how condescending that sounded. “I have experience this time. My mother—most of her day was fighting against bullshit. More than I even ever knew and corruption. Look how far we’ve come without that. Look how much we’ve done with real help—how much fairies have done.”

I sighed. “And how would the day-to-day of Faerie be if we all worked together like that.” I nodded when he did. “I understand what you’re saying, but I just can’t picture it. It’s like what Izzy said about in ten years. I can’t… I’ve spent my entire life just struggling to make it through the day or week. I don’t think I know how to look ahead like that.”

“Something to learn how to do together since it’s not my best ability either.” He dipped his head to me and unfroze everyone before opening a portal and leaving.

I held my hands up in surrender when Sontar frowned. “I didn’t do it. Yell at him.”

It was hard not to laugh when the fairy simply sighed. But then he seemed to notice my mood was better, so clearly Neldor had been the reason for my upset.

Yeah, and no matter what we decided, I saw that being the answer a lot in the future.

5

I was grumpy again after Local Ordinances. There were so many differences between areas and cities. And not with good reason. No, corruption. It was clear how far certain families had their hooks into my mother and… Just bullshit.

The only plus side was I forgave my mother a bit after I left that class some days. She had to have been so beat down from all of the bullshit and having grown up with it.

I’d had a pretty big change of heart after my blowup at Lageos and ripping into him after he graded me harshly and said I needed to live up to my mom. Learning how badly things went down to fucking tax structures and ordinances in place to screw over our family that my mom inherited… I realized I needed to be kinder.

I was forgiving all of the time—understanding for strangers and their issues.

Why was I so harsh on my mom?

Because she left the mess for me to clean up, and she sacrificed my dad, not just herself. Both were valid.

But it was more complicated than that. Katrina had helped me realize that a few months ago and I was glad she had.

I’d been willing to forgive that woman who had been about to sell out the havens because she was scared and beaten down her whole life. I’d been understanding and didn’t judge her—didn’t punish her because she’d had a weak moment and almost caved. I’d helped her and given her the help she’d needed. She had a job and life because I’d put faith in her.

How could I not give at least that much to my mom?

So I was trying. It would take time, and Katrina said I would backslide a bunch of times. She did with her own mother, and they didn’t have anything as traumatic as what we did. Especially after my dad died so to be prepared for that.

Again, all fair.

I asked my security where Julian was and told them what I was going to do, glad when they agreed and would cloak as well. I teleported to him cloaked since he was in a board meeting.

He flinched slightly, clearly sensing something but ignored it with all of the eyes on him. Good, that gave me time to be a voyeur and simply watch him a bit while I got my thoughts in order and calmed down.

Julian Craftsman was a handsome fucking man. No one could deny that.

No one with eyes at least.

His dark blond hair was shoulder length and naturally curly, tucked behind his ears. He’d recently had a trim, so it looked healthier and the curls seemed a bit nicer since he was putting in product and taking care of them now. The slate suit made him look like he was stepping off of a runway show and made several men in the room jealous.

And several of the women lose their focus on the topic of the meeting and stare at my mate.

So they chose violence this morning?

No, that wasn’t fair since they didn’t know about me. Seriously, though, I needed to get a ring on that man’s finger.

At six-two and filled in for his larger frame, he was drool-worthy to anyone attracted to males. And that was before the sexy British accent.

Yeah, actually, I added ring shopping to my list before I forgot. Maybe even today. Fuck, the amount of lust focused on him was annoying me.

Even if one of them was a guy and Julian wasn’t into men.

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