Page 27 of Vibing Unity

I was impressed when the commander met my gaze head-on.

“I won’t be bullied either, Your Highness, but I do accept your decree because I did overstep today. I will consider today and my future after I have a bit of time to settle with this feedback and that it’s not only from you.” He bowed to me and then waited until Hudson moved to leave.

“That’s about as gracefully as you can handle that situation,” I muttered, sort of shrugging it off.

“You okay?” Hudson worried.

“Tired. This meeting was a lot and there’s a lot more to do.” I leaned in for a kiss which he gave me with a smile. “Thanks for the backup. I never know if I’m being sensitive or valid.”

He cupped my face with his large, warm hand. “You’re always valid, Tams, even if you’re being sensitive. How to act on it because you hear too much is a hard line none of us could handle alone.” He gave me another kiss. “What can I do to help?”

“Fruit tarts?” I asked hopefully. “That place with all the cheesecake-type fruit tarts and different varieties? I have piles of paperwork and budgets to review and I want healthy?” That last part was more of a statement but really a question if I could get away with calling a fruit tart healthy.

When it was Hudson, apparently I could.

“Sure, I’ll get you healthy foods, shorty,” he chuckled and gave me another kiss.

I promised I was fine when he showed up with boxes and boxes, Lucca carrying even more. They confirmed they were going to put some in the fridge and go snowboarding if I was really okay.

I gave them each a kiss and swore I was. I just wanted to get through some of the piles people were waiting on so I could dress shop in the morning with Stefanie with a clear conscious. That was really it.

However, it seemed I always needed some sort of fucking supervision.

“What the hell is this?” someone exclaimed, scaring the absolute shit out of me.

I jumped up and knocked a bunch of files over, swearing and ready to beat someone’s ass for making me do that and my heart racing in my throat.

Neldor came flying into the huge dining room that I was using as an office and his eyes went wide. “Fuck. Okay, you saw nothing.”

I recognized the man who had scared me but blanked on his name. He was a friend of Dalyor, Rafe, Kerym, and Agis’s. He was the one they called in before to kick my training up and had helped me for a bit… While never saying much. He was there when people found out Neldor was my mate and the media snuck onto campus.

So what was he on about?

“Saw nothing? I saw a lot, Your Grace,” he snapped.

“I’m going to beat your fucking ass,” I growled as I bent down to get everything I knocked over. “Now I have a mess—”

“Tams, focus,” Neldor growled as I stood with some of the files.

I frowned as he used his magic to practically throw the fairy out of the room… Except the damage was done and he alerted people there was a problem.

Morgan and Onas raced into the room even with Neldor in the doorway since it was an oversized double one. The graceful fairies just about tripped over each other.

Then Shael, Dalyor, and others piled in and had the same reaction as them.

I winced as I saw all the empty boxes on the huge fourteen-person table. “Okay, let’s settle down. I’ve done way worse than scarf down twenty fruit tarts.”

“Fuck the fruit tarts,” Onas whispered. “Why is there a pile of fuckingdiamondsover here, Your Highness?”

I set down the files as my vision got blurry. “Nel, something’s wrong.”

He caught me before I went down. “Get Calarel here now!”

“She just used too much magic,” Iolas told him. “Onas, fuck the diamonds and help us!” Iolas gave me some energy, and amoment later I was holding a box of my crystals which I quickly absorbed.

I blinked at Iolas. He shouldn’t have been able to give me magic like that. I was too powerful and only my dad could.

“I’m your godsfather, blessed as such by your mother and the gods,” he said under his breath.

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