Page 77 of Finding Closure

Guardians busted two of the employees for trying to take pictures and I thought the owner was going to beat them, so we didn’t even have to handle it. He was probably making a month’s worth of income off this one day with how much we ate even if we brought in our own drinks to have ones from Faerie.

We had so much fun though, and I noticed how often Izzy was taking pictures. I kept reminding her to have fun since it was her celebration as well. She simply cut a glance to my dad.

Yeah, I would have done the same if the situation was reversed. I had less than a week with him and she was being thorough to make sure to get as many pictures of us as she could.

I kissed her hair and thanked her.

“It’s the least I can do when you gave me a damn house,” she chuckled as her cheeks flushed. “You’ll make it through this, Tams.”

I nodded, hearing it more as a worried question from my best friend instead of a statement. I appreciated the support either way.

And I was glad we’d kept the party smaller. It was just my guys, Dad, and the commanders along with Izzy and Claudia. Oh, and Katrina since she’d set it up and was with Taeral.

This one time I didn’t want tons of people.

This one time I was really selfish even if it felt too much like a last supper before someone died.

Which was why I cried when it was over.

19

I went into “seclusion” the next morning.

The word was simple to define, but when you always had a security team, it was more complicated.

When you were already the leader even more so.

And when no one around you listened to the rules, it was just comical.

I showed up at six in the morning to the vacation castle that was used for the ritual and had the first cleansing bath in the right oils and… Stuff. Honestly, I didn’t get into all of it. Talila was very into the religious side of all of it, so she handled it with Jordan.

I appreciated it. More than they knew.

The castle had a specific bath just for this and was only used for it because of the statues of the gods around the indoor pool. Well, maybe it wasn’t indoor? It was under a structure and had a roof but not walls, only columns.

Half indoor, half outdoor then?

It was cool. That was what mattered. It wasn’t attached directly to the castle but on the grounds. It was all really cool.

I hoped it wasn’t against the rules to add jets to the bath with runes, but it was exactly what I needed, so I did it. I was on restricted magic use, but I saw that as basic and not complicated, so… The gods could let it slide.

I did have to be careful because since everything had been set up, so was the food, and apparently it was a thing in Faerie to have it all on floating trays in the pool. I was all for it but yeah, the rune to make the water behave like a whirlpool messed with that.

So I moved it all to the ledge and chilled it a bit more before snacking on it all while lounging. I had pitchers of fae tea and just… Could I get days off like this? For real. It was like fifteen overloaded fruit platters and all the fae tea and juices I could drink.

While everyone left me alone?

Yeah, I was making this a once-a-month retreat when I was queen. The gods and I could become besties communing… Like having brunch.

I doubted people would have thought I’d eat it all, but I’d done way worse.

I got dressed in the fairy clothes that were common for the temples and praying, noting how flattering they were on me before using the rune for a bra. Then I went to the first temple on the schedule, and after walking around a bit, found the spot I wanted to pray at.

And I wasn’t alone. I figured someone was going to misbehave, but who it was and so early into this shocked me down to my bare toes.

“Fruit isn’t enough for you to eat with your needs,” Iolas said nervously as he set down the bags of what smelled like breakfast sandwich heaven. He was cloaked so no one could see him or the food besides me. “Don’t worry, I did the same for your mother and no one was the wiser. This is for fairies to feel the right person is becoming their leader. The gods don’t really care.”

That meant alotcoming from someone who was as devout as he was. He prayed all of the time. I knew daily even if it was quick.

---