Page 70 of Knowing Trust

“She was sleeping with the enemy which many of you accused our princess of doing! That woman covered for her lover and buried stories. Princess Tamsin is completely vindicated, and I would be walking around saying ‘I told you so’ with each breath I took after all the grief she has received. So people better start apologizing. Fast.”

“I hadn’t actually thought about that, but I’m with Shael, and I’m annoyed for you,” Hudson grumbled before sipping his coffee. “I’m just glad those assholes won’t be on the air anymore.” He frowned when I snorted.

“Oh no, yeah, they’re all going to jail for a list of reasons. They didn’t seem to get that. I had a list of text updates when I woke, and they are repeatedly demanding how much longer until they’re released so they can get back to their lives and start doing damage control.”

“They really are all fucking stupid,” Julian grumbled, shaking his head. “I love that three are my species. Seriously.” He smirked at me over his mug. “It was a bold move, Tams.”

“Bold enough that you want to tell me I’m smart after breakfast and we shower together?” I asked innocently as I batted my eyelashes at him.

Yes. His answer was yes.

Hudson and Darby both tried to join us, and even my huge shower got too cramped. Hudson growled and stepped out, pouting as they did dirty things to me.

He was happy after I let him screw me on the bed until I passed out.

So was I.

It was a lot of crazy though as more and more came out. Those people had been dirty for a long time, and honestly the best interrogation tactic was to just poke them and let them all scream at each other. They let out so much when they did and wanted to be vicious because of the runes. Then we gave them a break before poking them for more details.

Good times.

The more that came out, the less outrage people had. The network was showing it all, and then other stations were picking it up, pissed they weren’t getting the scoop or couldn’t turn it all around.

Oh boo-hoo. Assholes.

The video also played explaining the formation of the new Faerie media company and the deal made. Also, part of my interrogation and showing how it hit me back and even edited to show Calarel agreeing it had to be shut down for my safety. Then Lageos agreeing to show me how to do it the right way and letting Leigh film it along with my schooling.

From what I heard it was well received and people were nice about it. There were a lot of stories about they were way worse when drunk, so that was nice. It was really nice that people could give me a pass now and again not to be princess perfect.

I read more of my mom’s journal in Faerie over the next few days while I could and spent some time with my day simply relaxing. I asked him about Mom’s knitting and he was a bit confused at first, but then he remembered and told me how often she cussed when she did it.

It was a nice moment, but I’d been noticing more often how his memory was fading. I didn’t think it was only the darkness and what he’d suffered but just how half of his soul was gone and he was ready to let go. Humans talked about it sometimes when one of their grandparents died and the other faded fast, ready to be with their partner.

I didn’t want to make him feel like I noticed or he’d done anything wrong… But I noticed. We just needed to keep trucking along and make it across the finish line.

Even if I wanted to keep extending it. I couldn’t. I knew I couldn’t.

“You are so much stronger than any of us could ever be, my sweet mate,” Julian told me that night as he held me. “I don’t know if I could ever let my da go as you are. Losing him broke me, but to let him go—”

“He’s fading. He’s ready to go. I can’t be selfish with him and say I love him. That’s not love.” I swallowed a wince at how pointed that sounded, but I was glad he didn’t take it that way, simply holding me and telling me he was proud of me.

He reminded me that there were a lot of good things coming and stuff my dad would get to see that others didn’t have parents to support them in. He said it the right way and gently. I knew what he meant and I needed to appreciate the time I had left, not grieve—none of this was easy. He was being supportive and not condescending.

But I could tell Julian worried about going over the line. I could see it. I promised him that we were good and I knew he wished his dad was here. I understood. He wasn’t being a jerk.

Truly.

What he said reminded me of our having a wedding after exams. I felt like I blinked and the semester was almost over. It was two weeks until finals started, and I was just—too much was always going on.

And we kept adding to it.

Neldor and I had both jumped multiple levels of power and had to be cautious of everything we did. We could have our wings back in, so there was that. People wanted me to wake more fairies, but we had the problem of where to put them without chaos.

It was time to face that we couldn’t get everything fixed before we let people back into their homes. I would have to let some of them live in those lean-tos and hovels.

I wanted to open every palace and vacation home I had, but the logistics of that were a nightmare. Not every fairy was a good person—there was a reason the castle wasn’t just open to everyone. Even the Guardians. There was priceless everything in my castles and houses. It was stupid to risk tempting people who were scared and recovering from war.

Finally, people heard me that we needed to think of something so we could keep construction ramped up. We were demolishing and rebuilding huge sections of cities for better housing. Where were those people to go?

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