Page 5 of Vibing Unity

And I was ready to get the fuck off of campus.

“One semester left,” Izzy whispered as we loaded the last of everything to head home. “Then we move into your swankcastle.” A giggle slipped out. “That still sounds so weird to say given where we started, boo.”

“You have no idea.” I couldn’t agree more, but I was still scared to even consider living in Faerie full-time with my connection to that damn planet.

I cleansed all of Friday and was surprised when I stopped for a real lunch break to find Stefanie and Colton waiting for me. I gave a kiss to Lucca to thank him for keeping track of me and we all sat down.

“I’m going to accept your very kind offer,” she told me right away as we settled into our food. “I’m not ready to retire, and—my mission for Faerie and to help you isn’t over. And I believe in this change. My injury has also made me see—I don’t want to end up like Cluym and Geiger where they almost lost everything. I don’t know if we’ll work but—”

I bit back a smile when Colton snorted. Now that I knew about them, I felt a bit foolish that I hadn’t caught it sooner. Colton watched her the way Hudson did me.

And others had made comments as well that they felt stupid. Then again, we all had too much going on and distracting us.

Fair enough.

“There are some changes I think smart, and most of the commanders agree—the few grumps still are digging in their heels but ignore them. I think at least one will retire.” She nodded when I couldn’t hide my shock. “None want to retire while we’re still in crisis, Your Highness, but I think a handful—the problems will go when we’re past that. We don’t need so many commanders.”

And I’d promoted two. Fair. Yeah, I was all for cutting the dead weight.

“I’m open to hearing ideas. I really am,” I assured her.

I was glad that she came to see me separately and I could have this moment with her alone to feel confident that this waswhat she really wanted. She seemed in a good headspace even. She could put her wings away even if she wasn’t fully healed up and able to use magic yet—she was healing. All around.

And she didn’t seem hopeless. There was a future for her.

I shot Colton a relieved look and saw he felt the same.

The next morning, we had the meeting before I was going to wake fairies. I wasn’t pushing the gas today, but doing about half of that. Hopefully.

Construction and more were going even better, and now that I had dealt with my own shit that people would have to live in slums for a bit while we fixed Faerie, we could get them home. But with my promise, they wouldn’t have to be there for long or a lot were staying with others.

People were motivated with the hope though, and we were flying through everything.

Honestly, we were going to eat through next year’s budget before spring if we kept up this pace.

Good.

“We have a few changes,” Onas said to start the meeting. “First, we want my position to be under Stefanie but sort of adjacent. Meaning I don’t report to her,butI’m still in the Faerie Guardians.”

I nodded as I looked at the hierarchy tree that was up on the screen. It was as he said. Shael and Morgan would be directly under Stefanie, but Onas was sort of off to the side and also directly under me as well. I was about to ask why, but then it hit me. “She’s still in charge of transfers and personnel that way.”

“Yes, exactly that, Your Highness,” he said, his tone impressed. “Some are just not suited to be police and vice versa. This will keep everything with less red tape still. Also, cross training—logistics.”

“Smart,” I accepted, nodding for him to continue. The only other change was for Hudson to have a captain assigned to himdirectly as an aide, one who would report to Stefanie and Onas as well. They wanted a direct path should Theripolis ever need to be locked down or the castle under attack—that sort of thing.

People seemed shocked when I immediately looked at Hudson.

But I was glad when he gave me a look of love.

“I think it’s potentially a good idea,” he told me after a moment. “But not a rotating door like your details have been. Also, they would need some training with Trigger. Trigger is avault, and that needs to be the standard to be near the future queen. And train with the head of the Silva clan. They’re the same.”

“We agree and were thinking three captains trained in case of time off and whatnot,” Iolas said. “Plus, I will be as well as I agree with your father, and I want to be the commander liaison as your godsfather.” He held up his hands in surrender when we both looked at him.

“Heused tobe a vault with Meira,” Lageos defended. “He’ll get his head out of his ass. He promised.” He sighed when I looked at him like I doubted it. “He’s been much better, Tamsin. It’s hard when he was there when you were born and changed your first diapers, Daughter. I know it seems forever ago for you but for us…”

“I’m open to a trial basis,” I conceded, being a softy. I sighed when Hudson snorted. He’d fully known I would cave.

I was glad everyone seemed to agree that Shael and Morgan were the two commanders to be ranked right under Stefanie with Shael as the most senior. From there, they had set up an organization chart. Everyone was on board with like eighty percent of it all. We agreed on the wide structure and who should be in charge of this and that.

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