Page 29 of Fallen Heirs

She’d wanted to be at peace.

Despite her detractors and even her own doubts near the end, no one had worked harder for the wellbeing of thesupernatural world than her. And it had been a thankless job. More than that, it had been a job that had constantly invited criticism.

And, for her, loss. She’d lost her husband, her daughter had been taken and corrupted by Constantine Vale and as to whether Alena would even fully recover from that, it still remained to be seen.

Abigail had had enough. Most people would have retired. But being a Fallen, she couldn’t allow herself to do that. Her life was her duty. In essence, she’d been trapped.

But now she was free.

I just wished so deeply that there’d been another way for her to achieve that.

Weeks had gone by and I still felt her loss as painfully as I had the day it had occurred.

Time assisted, but it didn’t cure.

Nothing did when it came to that.

There hadn’t been a lot of time to mourn properly either.

There’d been far too much to do.

Losing Abi, her leadership, her magic, it had taken its toll and I’d been doing my damnedest to try to ease the impact of that upon those whom we’d sworn to safeguard.

I’d had to re-erect all of her fallen magic. Structures, wards, numerous spells, everything. Fortunately, Saryan had lent his power and extensive knowledge base to assist me and to share some of the load. He’d taken on more in that regard than the King of the Light Fae, whoExemplarwas known for having a much better relationship with. Gregor was extremely kingdom-centric, though, and helping anyone outside the Light Fae Realm was always second to him.

Abi had prepared for that, I’d realized, with the way she’d ensured she’d made peace with Saryan just before she’d died. Even at her end, she’d tried to protect and prepare.

I sighed and finished up sending another email to my second atSabre Tech,Frederick. I was in the middle of the product launch of theIlluminex Shieldwhile dealing with all of this and essentially pulling double duty and operating fulltime atExemplar.

That weight would be eased somewhat soon, however.

At least that was my intention with the meeting I had scheduled here at the compound today.

It had been Abi’s intention too. Yet another thing she’d had the foresight to prepare for.

Her successor.

Unfortunately, it took a great deal to match her, so her successor was supposed to be two beings in her place—her daughter and the Dark Fae Prince.

As it stood currently, Alena was struggling, haunted, and traumatized by what she’d endured with her mother’s loss and during Constantine’s captivity.

No matter, for now I would focus on the Dark Fae Prince, someone who’d demonstrated his capacity for this role to me during several instances of late.

Despite him being extremely close to my son, because of my own estrangement with Xavier that he’d enforced in his misguided bid to protect me from my own worse instincts when it came to doing what was best for him, I hadn’t spent much time with Orpheus. There’d been brief interactions here and there, but not enough to really get to know him.

Today that was about to change.

I pocketed my phone in my suit jacket pocket and continued on down the corridor which I had been doing before a series of emails had come in demanding my immediate attention. Everything was immediate lately. And it had me off-schedule, something I hated.

I was even late to meet with the Dark Fae Prince and give him an induction intoExemplar.

I hurriedly made it into the Diplomatic Lounge, the space in which we received various leaders, monarchs, and heads throughout the supernatural world.

I’d been putting out fires non-stop for the last two weeks, those key individuals panicking at Abi’s demise, others reacting to Constantine’s threat upon the world, and a worrying amount also up in arms once news had leaked of just how close the demon had come to subjugating the magical community to his will.

Thankfully, a result of my efforts and that of my team here meant that I actually found myself walking into an empty room—all except for Orpheus Hart sitting in one of the sleek white armchairs typing rapidly on his phone.

I gave Gareth, the up-and-coming warlock monitoring the security desk in the room, a polite chin lift, then I strode to Orpheus.

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