Page 83 of Knowing Trust

“Don’t side with her!” he roared. “She was a monster who—”

“Yeah, if this is true, she was, but I’m not on your crazy ass side either,” I drawled. “And I can’t exactly get her side of the story since she’s dead and…”

And I was looking at her murderer. A sick glee filled his eyes as he realized I’d pieced it together.

“Don’t take the high road with me,” I told him. “You have no idea why she did what she did and what she faced. The corruption and more that—”

“There is no excuse to do what she did!” he roared.

That was debatable. I couldn’t have ever done it, but I was looking at a pawn to be used against her and more. If I took all of the emotion out of it, that was what he was.

“And I am her eldest child so—”

“So nothing changes,” I told him with a shrug. “My mother was still crowned queen. She took over ruling. I’m her eldest and only daughter. I’m the heir. I’ve connected with—”

“The sexist laws of Faerie are too much and—”

“Yeah, they are,” I agreed, stopping him in his tracks again as he stared at me with shock. “And I have no idea what I’m going to do if my first kid is a boy. Well, not send him out to Earth, but I’m not dealing with corrupt ancients and more since they’re all gone.” Again, I shrugged. “But the law is the law. Girls rule in Faerie. That changes nothing.”

“I’m the first-born Vale to—”

“There’s no record of you. There’s no way to prove that probably. We both know you aren’t really trying to call my claim into question.” I gave him a look to not underestimate me. “You’ve tried killing me—several times—and failed. Your help is all gone and fractured, and now I’m coming for you and out for blood after what you did.

“So this is a smear campaign, and you think if you announce to the world that you exist that I won’t kill you.” I teleported to right above him as I let my wings out and swung my sword at him. He was faster and got out of the way. I landed easily and smirked at him when there was fear in his eyes. “Except you have committed so many crimes that you’re already dead.

“Like super dead. Just on trying to assassinate me the first time.” I flipped my sword around as I moved towards him. “Oh no, people are going to talk shit about me. I’ve never had that before. I care about that big time.” I used my speed and sliced his leg before he was able to get out of range. “I don’t give a shit if you’re my uncle or—”

“You’re just as big of a monster as your grandmother,” he seethed.

“Dude, you’ve tried to kill me how many times now? Don’t go throwing stones in glass houses and…” I trailed off and smirked when I felt energy pass through my door in the barrier. “Time’s up.”

Lageos appeared, but I caught a thought from the fairy and immediately teleported my dad away.

“Naw, he can wait since I’m having fun.” Then I thought better of it and teleported the box Mom made. “I just have to…” My mouth fell open as the guy dropped something on the ground as he opened a portal and walked through it.

The magic from the barrier faded and a very pissed-off demigod appeared back in front of me. Immediately, I turned on my telepathy.

“Dad, he was very confident he could not only block your attacks but do something really bad to you. I couldn’t take the chance and pulled out the trump card. It worked and he left, okay?”

Lageos let out a slow breath and nodded before giving me a hug.

Portals started opening all over the place, and I nodded to Shael as she gave orders to collect every knocked-out fairy and make sure we got a headcount of each student, guard, and more.

I went over and picked up what my “uncle” dropped, frowning when I saw it was an envelope. Inside was a copy of a birth certificate and his documentation like I had—basically an intake form into the system. “Mario.”

“What?” my dad asked.

“Says here that his name is Mario,” I sighed. I shrugged. “It can all be fake. We have no idea if he’s legit or—I can get a birth certificate here tomorrow. And a copy of a copy is—there’s no way to know unless I find Grandmother’s journals, and if Mom didn’t find this out—”

“She didn’t read much of them,” Lageos admitted, rubbing his head. “Their relationship was too—”

“I apologize for interrupting, but you’re both still being livestreamed,” one of the commanders came over and reminded us.

I nodded but then shrugged. “It wasn’t like we were going to hide all of this anyways. I mean, fine, we shouldn’t talk about Mom’s relationship with Grandma, but there were questions about how the former Queen of the Light Realm died. Now we know a murder was covered up. Why? Who helped?”

“I doubt you’ll get much of an answer,” Lageos sighed. “That is the way of life more than everything wrapped up neatly.”

That was for damn sure. I swallowed a flinch when I saw what else was in the envelope.

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