Page 6 of Knowing Trust

Luckily, my security detail was waiting with food. Julian talked me into taking a break and doing some cleansing with him and Neldor. That actually sounded fantastic. I felt too run down handling all of this, and I should have gotten rest over fall break.

Or as much as the next queen and current ruler ever really could.

Neldor talked me into having a press conference in Faerie the next day to give updates, and the parts we could show to other supe media, we would… And we would leave the rest to bed. The focus was that the Underground was no more, and as long as I addressed the situation with Luke more than an overheard snarky soundbite, that was enough.

Fine, but I wanted fun food the rest of the day because I was buried in paperwork. We both were since so much had been pushed back to focus on this.

And I had a ton of schoolwork to get done before Monday.

He agreed, and the next morning I was sitting before a handful of fairy reporters and the press conference was being broadcast to all the town squares.

“The princess will take limited and respectful questions, unlike some that are being demanded of her to answer,” Shael introduced. “We understand that line better as we respect our people, but please keep in mind who you are speaking with.”

I thanked her and nodded to the person to raise their hand first.

“Thank you, Your Highness, and I am sorry for the loss of your friend,” she hedged.

“Let me correct you,” I cut in. “Luke and I weren’t friends like I am with Isabella Thorne or even Katrina Calloway. I would be devastated if I lost either of them. Luke was an ally. In another life, maybe we could have been friends, but while we worked for a common goal of taking down the Underground, we weren’t on the same side.

“We both acknowledged that and were leery of each other because of that. He knew very well the moment the Underground was done, I would try to arrest him.” I nodded when people seemed shocked. “He knew he’d gone over too many lines and I wasn’t just going to let that go. He knew he should be punished and never forgiven.

“So yes, I am upset how things turned out. He gave his life trying to protect me, but it wasn’t out of friendship. He didn’t want the best chance to take down his enemy walking into a trap. There’s a difference. A big one. Even if I tried to comfort him in his last minutes alive and I grieve the loss of him, we weren’t friends.”

“I think that’s what might confuse people, Your Highness,” she said carefully. “I don’t grieve people who I’m not close with.”

“That’s fair,” I accepted and let out a slow breath. “I’m pissed all of this came about. That’s where I am. I’m pissed there was even an Underground ever. I’m pissed fairies didn’t know about it even before the last war. I’m pissed it got so big while fairies were gone. I’m pissed the councils ignored it or turned a blind eye because of their own corruption.

“And then I’m pissed that it always comes down to fairies to save the day for a world not ours. I’m pissed there was so much corruption the generals of the Underground who originally banded together to fight that corruption had to. The police were corrupt. The dragons had so many problems that it was ridiculous.

“All of it should never have come to pass. That’s why I grieve Luke. That’s why I say in another life, we could have been friends. He gave everything to fight the bad, even if he became the bad to do it. He didn’t lose himself like the generals of the Underground. He knew what he’d become and his crimes. That’s worth grieving to me.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

I nodded and looked to the next person.

“I wonder how you met him to work with him, Your Highness?” he asked. “And his last name—any details you have.”

“I don’t know his last name,” I admitted with a shrug, surprising people again. “I’m sure we’ve tracked it down now that we have more information, but it doesn’t matter to me. He’s just Luke. He’s Luke who fought against the Underground because they tricked his mate into joining them and destroyed her. He wanted vengeance and to take down the monsters.

“And we met because he wanted to sniff me out. He wanted to get a feeling for me and if I could be an asset in his fight. How we met is still up on my supe livestream channel I think, saved on the VODs. I was raiding a place and he was sitting there.”

I actually smiled thinking of the memory.

“He actually scared the crap out of me doing things others hadn’t before and pushed me to work harder. He made goofy jokes and did some bad flirting with me for the act, but something irked me about it. He was trying to lay out breadcrumbs for me and get his own information if I would be helpful to his end goal.

“And he wanted me safe until I was strong enough to do just what we have done. He wanted to warn me that things weren’t what they seemed for several things and make sure I was better protected in case I could help him. So yeah, I was ready to jump into saving him because he’d saved me. A few times. Fairies as well.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” he accepted.

I glanced around and raised an eyebrow. “No more questions?”

Several shared a glance and one woman who hadn’t spoken yet raised her hand. “I think the rest of what we’re curious about crosses the line, Your Highness. Fairies by nature are nosy. I’m dying to know what he specifically helped with or how you worked together, but that could compromise the security of you or the Faerie Guardians.”

“Thank you for understanding that,” I praised. “The relationship was simple. If he found out something specific, he would slip into a setting I was at, and I also put a fae dog on him in secret. I will say he is the one who warned us about the threat to Lucca Von Thann and we were able to trap their operatives because of it.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

I let out a slow breath again. “Look, I know that clip that went around was sarcastic and salty—but I wasn’t really wrong. Governments and leaders work with spies. It’s not a weird concept, and we all know it’s sexism and my age spinning people out. It was a hot wolf, so of course we had to be sleeping together and I’m a threat to Faerie.”

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