Page 24 of Princess For All

“Seriously, what the hell happened that they’re all so scared for you?” Vanessa asked, glancing between them. “They all have indicators of fear when they focus on you.”

I ignored her question and focused on Jaxon. “Let’s get the rest of the details about what’s going on with the Fort Knox people and if we need to beat any up or kick them out. I don’t like that it was completely acceptable to that guy to try and silence her and no one around them blinked.”

“Agreed. There’s a line, and they seem to be crossing it with keeping order now under someone else. I don’t like they’re limiting the information we might receive. Their priorities aren’t what everyone else might have and they’re still too much of a military mindset on that when we’re not doing the protecting.”

“I knew you would understand. Let’s also talk to the heads of the different areas and start figuring a system to pull out medical personnel without issue and liars.”

“Yes, My Princess. I would also recommend your doctor not be among the groups of people,” Jaxon worried. “Especially if she’s human. That’s too easy for someone to slip in and take advantage of.”

Or kill her. If she was helping me, and Keres and those with her didn’t want that… Vanessa would become a target.

“Smart,” I agreed before looking at Vanessa. “We would move you to the wing of the castle with the nobles not sworn to the coven. You would be the head of our human medical… Czar? Director? I have no idea the right term. But that would be your baby along with trying to keep me sane.”

“Yes, yeah, that would be great,” she said firmly. “And I can get you the list of medical personnel that was at Fort Knox.”

“Even better.” I thanked all of them and went off with Branko.

I hadn’t realized that it was dark out, but it made sense since it was winter now. It surprised me that we left the castle… And that there were massive lights set up where we ended up?

My vacation home. We were there.

I raised an eyebrow and he chuckled.

“You’re the lure for some hunting tonight too,” he explained. “The US is too vast. So some of our dates will be lures for the remote areas. You appreciate multitasking.”

That I did.

And a man with a plan. I smiled when we went inside and I saw it was updated. The place had been cleaned and some renovations done.

He shrugged. “You really like this place. It’s nice to have somewhere outside of the castle where so many people are coming and going. We all agree.” He blew out a slow breath and glanced around. “Plus, sometimes it’s nice to have a quiet project when I can’t sleep or am frustrated.”

Fair enough. I could more than understand that.

I was excited to see everything set up and to learn what it all was. I mean, I knew what hot pot was, but there were four different pots plugged in and I didn’t think that was normal.

“Growing up in Russia, other Asian countries were the easiest to visit when I needed a break,” he said as he started uncovering dishes. “I love Chinese food. Love it. So one of these is my favorite type of hot pot—which is what I always want for comfort—and one is the basic, starter, not spicy base for hot pot.”

“And the other two?” I asked as I glanced at the options.

“One is the recommended for seafood and the last is a safe tomato soup base,” he answered. He was smiling as I moved closer. “I figured just fun and we can kinda graze while talking.”

He had to explain that to me. I knew cows grazed, but I didn’t know how people did it.

Apparently, it was the same. Basically, it was a way to say take our time eating and over a longer period than most meals. “Over a long time” seemed to be how all supes ate, but without rushing and simply enjoying it for the fun was a nice idea.

And it was cool. He’d actually gotten produce from Asia that they still had growing over there. He said he’d talked to some of the farmers we had in Seattle and they wanted to add extra greenhouses to get more variety going. We needed more food—we always did—and expanding what we grew meant we could bring back more to our lives.

I fully agreed.

We ate and ate and enjoyed the fun he’d set up for us. Most everything was great, and apparently I really liked all kinds of different mushrooms, especially in the tomato broth. I saw he was taking note of it all and how I was trying new things.

I decided to address the elephant in the room. “I guess it’s the Italian in me,” I muttered, gesturing to the tomato base and noodles I’d gone with.

He went tense but then nodded. “Have you thought of getting in contact with your birth family or coven?”

I sighed. “It seems a very slippery slope. I think Kristof should go give them notice of what they’d allowed to happen around under their nose. That I’ve renounced being their family and name, and if they want to keep their lives, they should leave me alone. Also, that my father’s dead. But Aether didn’t include that coven in the ones to make deals with.”

“Yes, but because you might find out the truth too early or because they’re not good people?” he hedged.

---