Page 38 of Finding Closure

“Not as much as we thought,” she confirmed. “Maybe forty percent.” She nodded when I sighed. “As it is inconvenient for humans to vote during the workday, it is for us. Next time you have a large vote like this, we will need to change it to maybe a Sunday/Monday combination with early voting starting Friday since it’s all in person.”

“They will be flooded with crazy after work then,” I worried. “Okay, well, we don’t want everyone standing for hours in line. Let’s get some sort of signal going that it’s less than a hundred in the queues so people can come when they’re done with dinner or whatever instead of all at once. And we’ll keep polling open until every fairy has their vote.”

“You’re going to win, Your Highness,” she hedged. “The numbers are overwhelmingly—”

“I don’t care about that,” I snapped. “I promised people a say in the direction and decisions that would affect them going forward. I meant it, Commander. I won’t have them silenced because we didn’t plan better or they had to work. That’s fucking voter suppression, and I won’t allow it in Faerie. I won’t.”

She nodded. “I will make that clear and see who can help cover people for breaks and stay longer. I’m sure we can spare some Guardians and help.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled. “Sorry. I just—I thought we had this ready.”

“We did. We thought more would have taken the opportunity to vote early last night but people were making sure it was open for Guardians and healers that are all over the place,” she said gently. “No one wanted to be in their way when their schedules aren’t as flexible.”

I smiled. That was nice of them, but it sort of made a mess now. Oh well, at least there was a chance to still fix it.

I felt much better by dinner that over seventy-five percent had voted. Employers and people realized there could be a problem and slipped out to vote, people allowing some to cut in line and hurry back so there wasn’t a disaster later.

“Your Highness, some of us were curious if there was more information about the housing options before we go vote,” one of the students said as I arrived at my table.

I nodded. “It’s all at the polling stations and has been all week, but it’s understandable that you haven’t seen it since you’re focused here at school.” I pulled up the information on my tablet. “It’s basically choosing between a few styles of townhouses and housing ideas. Then it’s whether you support allowing housing outside of city walls or not.”

She nodded. “The walls are outdated, and—of course we need more housing and to expand.”

“We do,” I agreed. “Lastly, we’re asking people how they see those developments shaping up.”

She met my gaze. “That is the part I’m finding most people are confused on. My parents didn’t seem to understand that either.”

Izzy walked up and fielded the question. “It’s common in the human world that apartment complexes have designations. Some are kid-friendly or pet-friendly. Basically, if you guys want it to be more a free-for-all or if you want some structure and definition. Do you want some of the apartment buildings to be like singles-only so kids aren’t bugging you guys?”

“Oh, that makes much more sense. Thank you, Lady Isabella.” She dipped her head to us and took the tablet and went back by her friends.

Izzy blinked after her a moment and then looked at me. “I missed something there, didn’t I?”

“She’s just early,” I chuckled. “You become Lady Isabella Thorne when I become queen.”

“Did I know that was a thing?” she hedged.

I opened my mouth but then frowned. “I’m really sure it was in one of our forty million fucking meetings, but I don’t know. Yeah, you get an honorary title like Geiger did for being the attorney for the nobles here or the crown. It’s like that so people in this world know not to fuck with you.”

“Cool.” She giggled. “Wow, the kid who was constantly told it wasn’t ladylike to do just about everything I did including get better grades than my brothers is the one who actually became a damn lady.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” I chuckled, leaning over and giving her a hug.

I arrived at training the next morning to find out several things.

I’d won.

Faerie approved of the changes I was making.

We now had a path for expanded housing.

And my renovations to my castle were done.

Soooo good news all around.

“I guess it’s time to get your coronation outfits made,” Lageos whispered as he hugged me.

“I’m not ready.”

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