Page 8 of Finding Closure

But then we had to get back down to details.

“Vampires know about Freya and tried to out her, but there was always other news that took over instead of one of your mates having a sister,” Darby explained. “But you can’t just foster a vampire without them sticking their heads in. That would be the possible problem.”

I snorted. “Not if they like living. You’re a future prince of Faerie. They thought I was ruthless before, but the moment I become queen, I have all the power.”

“If I’m her guardian then she becomes a citizen of Faerie like I am,” Izzy reminded Darby. “That protects her too. And we don’t want to take her from you. We just—this is the reality.”

Fair enough.

Darby was all for it. He was fine with Izzy being Freya’s mom basically even if it was more a foster parent situation for now. And Claudia could be an auntie like I was until they were mated or at least married?

“We want to look at preschools and—”

I choked on my bite, and Darby chuckled as he patted me on the back.

“Preschool doesn’t start at just four anymore, Tams,” Izzy chuckled. “Freya’s not a baby anymore. She talks. She walks. She gets into trouble and needs more.”

“Yeah, no, I know, I just…” Wow, this was crazy, but she was right.

“There’s a human one that—” Izzy started to say.

“It’s against vampire laws for any of us to be in any human school until our college is completed and with good reason,” Darby cut in.

“We’ve never seen any issue to—” Claudia replied, but then sighed. “Of course, you would know better, and we don’t want problems. Okay, so I need to read up on the vampire laws more closely. We haven’t had many of them as clients.”

Darby sighed. “But given my position with vampires, there’s no chance she’ll be accepted at any of their preschools. I’m sorry.”

“I should be the one to apologize,” I grumbled.

“No, neither of you should, and the vampire leadership are assholes,” Izzy snapped. “I was going to ask about how thingswere going since I haven’t heard about your stalker or any of her bullshit.”

Darby snorted. “She got tossed from school.” He nodded when they couldn’t hide their shock, but I already knew this. “She cheated to get in and was dumb as shit. She kept using powers on professors to change grades, and rumors started she was fucking them for her spot. It got so bad a dean stepped in and a professor said she’d threatened him and she got booted.”

“Wow. And she didn’t get into any trouble, right?” Izzy drawled.

“No, she did. We submitted a ton of proof to her council and reminded them that they wanted things from me, plus they had given me shit about doing livestreams ofkitesurfingand she was pulling this? Yeah, she’s in shit.” I sighed. “Not as deep of shit as she should be, but in shit.”

“Well, that’s finally something over.” Izzy looked at me and sighed. “I honestly can’t keep up with all the drama we’ve all had. It just never ends, and I can’t keep up.”

“Me neither, Izzy,” I told her honestly. I smiled at her. “Seems like we have two remodeling projects to manage then, huh?”

“We don’t need anything remodeled,” Claudia hedged.

I shrugged. “Everything was picked by Mel. If you’re moving in, we can get it set up differently and handle anything you guys want. Make this place your own.” I focused on Izzy. “I’ll always keep my room here so I can run away to where my bestie is if I need to, but my home will be in Faerie soon. We know it.”

“Yeah, we do, Tams. I’m really glad you’re safe there now.”

Me too.

3

A week later, I was getting dressed for a wedding, and I was thrilled it wasn’t mine. It was so,somuch easier to help plan a wedding that wasn’t mine. And simply as a guest?

Amazing.

Jordan and Zack were mating in a double union with Cara and Ray, and I was beyond thrilled. I couldn’t believe this day was finally,finallyhere.

“Why am I even bothering to try with makeup?” I asked Izzy, chuckling when she nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks as well. “Okay, so just throw on some waterproof mascara and we’re done. Seriously.”

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