Page 15 of Finding Closure

I teleported two feet to the other side of Marshall. “Fair. I did ask if there was a way to keep a fairy from opening their wings so if I get pissed at Neldor again I could teleport up in the air and watch him go splat.”

Not really, but it was a good threat when he was a shit.

“I have questions starting with how the princess knows about this before your parents,” a woman said… Probably Ellen or Avril’s mom from the way she wasn’t happy.

“Uhhh,” I mumbled, feeling like the deer in headlights.

Sean’s hand moved over my mouth. “She walked in while I was kissing Avril and everything unraveled from there.”

Technically, he wasn’t lying.

He simply didn’t specify what he was kissing on Avril.

Well, I wasn’t going to rat him out.

I smacked his wrist so he let me go. “Enough with the covering my mouth shtick. You fools asked me to come with. You get me then. I’m hungry.” I opened one of the fruit tart boxes and grabbed the plates before dishing it out. I was about to snark more, but I felt intense worry off of the four of them. “They know you’re good guys. Just breathe, okay?”

“I don’t think that helps, Your Highness,” one of my security muttered.

I sighed. “The Rothchilds aren’tidiots. Of course, they know Sean and Marshall are good men. You guys wouldn’t let themnear meif they weren’t. Your future queen? Who you constantly try to put into a bubble and listen in on the thoughts of—you’re listening to the thoughts of this room right now. It’s standard protocol and yet Sean and Marshall are my friends too.

“They’ve worked for me foryears. Helped keep me alive before I found fairies. Hell, they willingly got painful tattoos to protect my secret and had no stake in getting Faerie back like Zack and Ray. They were on Artemis’s payroll then. Do you know how much money they could have made selling me out? Money their familiesneeded?

“But it never crossed their mind. Notonce, and I listened too. Instead, they gave up weekends and free time to bring the hobgoblins over and help me get settled into the first house I ever had. Took me around to experience the world safely. Crashed in guest rooms that I never really got set up just so I felt safer. They are rock stars. I’m not sure Avril and Ellen are worthy ofthem.”

“Well, that was the wrong thing to say in this audience,” Mel drawled.

I shrugged. “You expected me to be anything but honest?”

“No, not ever, Tams,” she chuckled.

“I’m a bit miffed they didn’t acknowledge them sooner,” I admitted. “They deserved better. If they weren’t ready to go public, that’s one thing. Or fuck, my worry people would use magic to make me brain-dead so Neldor could puppet me when they found out we were fated mates. Those are valid but…” I sighed and shook my head. “Not my life, but don’t hurt my friends.”

“I thought we were your friends too,” Ellen whispered, sounding hurt.

“You are. I just know Marshall and Sean better, much,muchbetter. And I’m a super loyal friend. If they’re the jerks though, I’ll beat them up. I think it’s awesome you broke tradition to run the havens and followed your heart, do some good to help this world. I see you guys being a great fit, and I hope you’re all ridiculously happy. I was just saying—”

“We don’t have to worry about the caliber of these men,” the woman who had blasted Avril early cut in. “I apologize for interrupting you, Your Highness. I’m not myself.”

I smiled at her. “I’m not here as the princess. I’m here as… I’m not really sure. Ignore the protocols, but just don’t throw anything at me and piss off my security.” I was glad when some people politely chuckled at the lame joke. “And I’m sorry I’m being me in this situation without better tact. I’m exhausted. I normally am.”

“You good?” Sean worried as we sat down.

“I’m fine. Trying to make about a million puzzle pieces fit a frame that doesn’t work for Faerie anymore,” I answered.

“Yes, we’ve witnessed that for many years working with the Vogels,” Mel’s grandmother said.

I swallowed down my annoyance and kept calm. “Yes, but it’s a bit different when I’m the full government for a world, not just the dragons in one area in a secret world that the humans mostly control.”

She accepted that, but I saw the curiosity in her eyes. “A lot does transfer over. Balance is balance, and good judgment is something you have, Princess.”

“Thank you. I wish more people thought that,” I chuckled darkly. “It’s a matter of letting people know how much corruption was really right in front of them when I want them to focus on the future. Will they be offended and think I’m pickingon them again? Do they have a right to know? I would want to know, and I want them to stop judging the queens so much but…”

“Yeah, that’s a tough one,” Marshall sighed. “Especially since fairies are way harsher than I would ever have thought. But they seem to have come around alotand especially with you, Tams. Our birth pack is basically the town while hiding what we are. Our Alpha is the mayor, so he does deal with a lot of that stuff. And they don’t always agree, but they listen. People listen to you now.”

“Plus, you always say you have to know the truth not to make the same mistakes,” Sean added. “You’re right, and I thinkthat—showing fairies the truth—is what has made the leaps and bounds to peace and uniting the realms. It’s not you’re the only option and both queens are gone. You’ve given them something to work towards that could be real. Be real with them.”

“Fine, I won’t tear the mickey out of you in front of your potential in-laws as Julian says,” I purred, giving him a wink.

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