Page 72 of Dark Fae's Destiny

“You’re not going to attend…?” Devi blinks at me now, as the grand re-opening of the Hotel we’ve been planning all week is suddenly wrecked for her. “Quinn! You have to be there! You’re Head of this Hotel, damitall, and you have duties to?—”

“Peace, Devi.” I hold my hand up to her tirade as I chuckle, an easy grin slipping from me. “Take a moment and listen. I promise, it will interest you.”

“I’m listening.” Devi crosses her arms now in her little black lace cocktail dress. Her energy is beyond peeved as I feel it whirl all through me like a thousand blades, via our bonds in the United Haven of Florence.

“I will not attend the gala because I’m no longer Head of the Red Letter Hotel Florence. You are.”

Devi’s full, red lips fall open as her dark chocolate eyes bulge. “What?! Quinn!”

“No, I’ve decided.” I hold my hand up again, motioning her to listen. “I’ve already signed the necessary paperwork; as of three o’clock today, you are officially Head of the Red Letter Hotel Florence, and I have stepped down. I’ll continue my duties to the Hotel Board, but I have so many new duties on the reformed Vampire Council of Rome, plus the new United Council of Ascendant Lineages—the new unified, overarching council that includes all Fae, Dark Fae, and Vampires—that I have no more time to manage the day-to-day operations here in Florence. Thus, I have made you Hotel Head and I am retiring. My cathedral apartments are nearly cleared and will be completely empty by tonight. They are yours now, as Hotel Head. I hope you enjoy them.”

“Quinn…” Devi stares at me, shocked as I feel deep, conflicting sensations of joy, fear, and wonder careen through her. “But… where will you live?”

“Ariana is working on that.” I smile now, thinking about it as I feel Ariana’s whereabouts through our bond. “She’s at the ruins of her original family’s manor, on the outskirts of Florence here in the Twilight Realm. She’s having one last final look at it tonight with Illyria and Adicus, and a Summer Fae Adjudicator of the Royal Houses, to confirm her Summer Fae bloodline and inheritance of the property. She and her parents have been moving the entire Summers estate there from the human world. Magically, of course. Her parents are part of the Summer Fae Council now and have moved into apartments at the Palace of Light; they can no longer take care of their farm, so Ariana is taking it over, but here in the Twilight Realm.”

“Where you, she, and Lucca can all be together. At last.” Devi smirks at me now, no longer incensed at what I’m doing. I know she has my number as she takes a sip of her Boulevardier, swirling it around her mouth as she thinks, before regarding me again. “Well, it’s the end of an era, Quinn. Are you sure you don’t want to turn tonight’s gala into a grand send-off for you? You know our people would enjoy it.”

“No. I think it’s better if I slip off silently into the night, and simply let you all enjoy this new Grand Re-opening of the Hotel,” I say now as a deep peace settles inside me. My beautiful Night aura unfurls around me now in our niche, calm and quiet, as it feels my deepest heart.

And all the blessings I now have in my life.

“Will you remain the magical pinnacle of the United Haven of Florence?” Devi asks, as she cocks her head.

“I am currently working with Ariana, her parents, and Master Ilyov to rearrange that,” I tell her now as I shake my head. “The magic here in the United Haven needs to be shared all ways, rather than have a pinnacle anymore, so everyone can share equally in the Light our unity creates.”

“We nearly do, right now.” Devi chuckles as she shakes her head. Swirling a hand, she manifests a shifting ball of crimson Dark Scarlet Fae energy above her palm, though even I can see how much it whirls through with Lucca’s bright rainbows, Ariana’s darker ones, and my scalding firelight.

Among countless other magics from those bound to us, though ours are the brightest.

“It may be that I need do nothing,” I agree now as I see all those powers manifest in Devi’s. “Given time, we may all simply reach a balance of power in our magics, with no one power larger or smaller than any other. Though perhaps our own native magic may persist as strongest in our own manifestations.”

“Perhaps,” Devi agrees, as she snuffs that swirling ball out. Her gaze flicks now to a large, slender parcel I have wrapped in plain brown paper beside me. A lovely gold-white ribbon is around it, tied in a draping bow. “Is that for me?” She teases now as she grins. “A present for my new tenure as Hotel Head?”

“That’s for Ariana.” I smile more, keeping my secret from flowing into Devi’s mind via our connection, because I want it to be a surprise for Ariana and not get spilled via any of our mind-connections before I give it to her tonight. “A little gesture from me to her, now that we’ve vanquished the Gold Eyes.”

“He’s not been truly vanquished,” Devi reminds me now, sobering as she lifts an eyebrow. “Though Ariana turned him mortal with your Music and he opted to stay in his ruined hideaway of the world he first built, it’s not like he’s completely gone.”

“Gone enough for our purposes.” I smile, unconcerned.

“What did the returned Revenants have to say about it?” Devi asks me now, having not been party to the meeting I had with all of them last night, before most of them departed to go their separate ways, except the three oathed to us. “Did they insist you honor your blood-oath to them and kill the Gold Eyes outright?”

“They were satisfied by the outcome of what happened.” I think over my conversation with all those ancient Vampires. “It seems my blood-oath to them is fulfilled enough; they feel as I do, that the Gold Eyes is gone from bothering any of us for a vast eternity. Long enough that they do not care whether or not he is dead. Maybe he’ll even die in his empty nowhere realm. Who knows?”

“Creatures like that do not simply wink out,” Devi warns me as she gives me a severe eyeball.

“I know, but we will, long before he can ever come for us.” I shrug. “To me and to the returned Revenants… it is enough.”

“I suppose.” Devi sits back in her booth, mollified, though I see a thousand questions swirl through her now about my sudden departure from the Red Letter Hotel Florence. “Won’t you be bored, though, Quinn? Living on a farm and doing nothing for the rest of your life?”

“I’m hardly doing nothing, Devi.” I chuckle as I regard her. “I sit a seat on the newly reformed and far more progressive Vampire Council, plus the Ascendant Council. I still sit on the Red Letter Hotel board and have plenty of duties there. I am very much looking forward to slowing down a bit, perhaps working on new concoctions for all the aphrodisiac chocolates and wines the Florence Hotel produces. If you’ll let me sell them to you.”

“Of course.” Devi grins now. “You always were the best formulator of aphrodisiacs we ever had, Quinn, with your deviously sensual magic. I would welcome buying any new concoctions you dream up with your power. You know that.”

“I do.” I chuckle as eagerness sweeps up inside me now to do more of what I most liked for the Red Letter Hotel Florence. But the hour is growing late; I check my watch, seeing how far the sun has now dropped beneath the rim of the sky, and I realize I must get going. I rise from our booth, and Devi rises with me.

Facing me, she sticks a hand out.

I draw her into a deep hug instead.

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