Page 63 of Knowing Trust

He slowly blinked at her, waiting for more. He realized that was all he really was going to get though. “And?”

She frowned. “And you have to convince me then. Explain yourself to me that you think it’s acceptable.”

He waited another moment and then flinched. “Oh, you’re serious?” He glanced around and blinked, realizing they were before focusing on her with amusement in his eyes. “There seems to be a disconnect as to your job title. You’re in news media, maybe entertainment given your lack of factual accuracy, but still the journalism designation.

“You are not in any way legislation. Nor governing. Certainly not judicial anything. I’m sorry for your confusion, but no fairy needs to ever convince you of anything. We do not answer to you.” He gestured to the group. “Any of you. You hold no sway over us. No authority. No… Anything. You are not our leaders. You are not in my hierarchy, nor Empress of Earth.”

“Yes, of course, but—”

“No, Miss, there is no but there,” he chuckled. “Are you trying to ask me the logic behind it? Or maybe the tradition? If you’re asking the history and our beliefs, that’s one thing, but you very bluntly said I needed to convince you and explain myself to you. I explain myself to my senior officers, Prince Neldor, and my future queen. That’s it.”

“How elitest of you not to answer to the people of Faerie,” one of the other women drawled.

He glanced at her. “I do answer to the people of Faerie. I said explain myself. Your leaders do not tell everything about their roles and what they know to individual citizens without permission from their bosses. You do not either. But yes, I do answer to the people of Faerie given it’s their taxes that pay my salary, and I take that seriously.

“If they ever had doubts in my abilities or my dedication to Faerie, I would listen to their concerns. I would hope they would raise them so that I might better myself. Princess Tamsin herself knows that I value constructive criticism and ways I can improve myself. Coming back to this new world left me terrified and I dove into the technology. We all can better ourselves.”

She looked dumbfounded at how easily he volleyed her dig.

The man guy cleared his throat and took back control. “Twenty-five is a bit young. Most people could understandably say that especially given how long fairies can live.”

Morgan nodded. “I can see people feeling that way. It doesn’t change our traditions or laws, but people are allowed their objections. For us, it’s tied into our wings and becoming adults.” He continued when the man opened his mouth. “But the dragons have the law of twenty-one. There are several councils that have no limit for Alphas.

“Humans with their monarchies have long histories of the same. It’s certainly not the best-case scenario, and no one hopes an heir takes the throne so young. None of us wanted Princess Tamsin to have to become queen so young.” They all looked like they won something, but Morgan frowned. “Because it meant our beloved queen died.”

Yeah, they all flinched. Fools.

I shot off a text to Leigh to get things started and focused back on TV.

“This is a failsafe, not the standard,” Morgan continued when the second guy tried to interject. “The other option is we have no queen and Princess Tamsin continues to be our leader while constantly having one arm tied behind her back in what she is limited in doing. That is silly and unreasonable, not having her become queen at twenty-five.

“The gods gifted her family the power and continue to given how strong she is. It’s in our teachings from the gods that the royal family is continued to be blessed as the leaders of Faerie when their wings come in. Our beloved princess went a step further and had a vote of confidence—every woken fairy and hobgoblin voting in it.

“And the results were overwhelming. Our people want her to be our leader with Prince Neldor as her second and right hand—her vice president or prime minister to unite the realms. If making that happen took someone twenty-five, then I recommend more people have young, passionate people become their leaders. Because a miracle happened when ours took charge.

“So the only people who deserve a say in who should lead our world have had it. Even those who do not normally get a say in a monarchy have had it but should have a voice in the fate of Faerie. What none of you here deserve is to judge how we live our lives, and I certainly don’t need to convince you of that like we answer to you. Does that clear things up for you?”

I would have liked to say it got better from there… But it didn’t.

Every time he put them in their place, they just brought up something else that they shouldn’t have. It was—everything was so over the line that it was disgusting.

They demanded to know if I was lying about my mates and how many men I’d been intimate with. Morgan was clear that I was allowed to be with as many men as I wanted as long as I didn’t cheat on my mates and discussed it with them as was the way of fairies.

Also, that they had made comments that I was a prude unlike real fairies, so they couldn’t turn around and call me slut too… But they did still.

They demanded to know if I was engaged or mated to Hudson and if that was why he’d stepped down. If anyone was finally going to force me to end things with Darby like they should.

All while he kept reminding them how a monarchy worked.

“I’m done,” Morgan said finally as he stood and took off the microphone. “You are all the most idiotic—the gods did not give you life to be this foolish. You know you are telling lies and—there is not a single ounce of decency among you. I truly thought some of you were just confused after years of lies being told while we were gone.

“But you know that this is all propaganda and trying to rile up—you’re grateful she’s taken down the Underground while disappointed more didn’t tear into her for her alliance with Luke.” He grabbed the mic pack from his pants and slammed it on the table before pointing to the biggest idiot of the group. “You are so full of jealousy that it’s distracting.

“It is ridiculous. You hate her for being so powerful and beloved—mated to matches you would kill to have, so your sole goal in life is to tear her down. It’s—how have you no shame, no pride as a woman to not let another woman be treated that way? There is—I remember when journalists fought for the truth. They died to show the truth of wars and crimes.

“You shame them. You are jokes compared to those great men and women who risked everything to tell the people the truth of the world. You spit on those graves and memories. The world was in the dark without journalists fighting to spread the truth and knowledge, and you intentionally lie. Shame on you. The gods will judge you harshly.”

The gods wouldn’t be the only ones. Morgan stormed off cussing under his breath and asking the gods to pity those who listened and followed the drivel.

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