Page 31 of Princess For All

They took me to Albuquerque once we picked up all of the diamonds from the collar and leash. I arrived just to hear what seemed to be the end of Inez’s conversation with Chris.

“The time and space—even talking with your friends has clearly helped,” she told him. “It’s obvious. Your points are—even Sisay understands you now. You’ve thought it through and wanted to articulate it all. Your idea worked but got out of hand because of the apocalypse. I would want to hear all of this, Chris.

“Record it. We’re sending messengers all of the time to France and we’ll get it to Ty. Someone actually should as penance.” She looked at Sisay and the vampire nodded. “Calmly ask Ty to just hear you out and start with apologizing how long this took you. That you weren’t leaving for good but a time-out and you blinked and it was too long.

“Don’t accuse him. You can say you didn’t feel he was listening to you and clearly you weren’t hearing him either. That was the time-out, but you need him to hear you and all of what you’re saying now. And ask for help. Ask for someone to mediate. Hope. Someone. Anyone, because clearly for this you guys need it.”

“Yeah, we do and—”

“And tell him what youwant,” Inez continued, not even paying attention to Chris. “They always tell me they’re sorry or that they fucked up or even what happened—sort of. I’m still not sure with Jaxon, but no one tells me what theywant. It always sounds like they want me to declare a fight over and things back to the way they were, but that’s fucking insane after what happened.

“But they don’t tell me anything otherwise. Not start over because that’s fucking insane too and would kill me. It did when one kind of—fucking tell him what you want. If it weremeand I was in your spot, I would say set some fucking boundaries. That’s what Kristof and I did and it helped. It really fucking helped, and I think that’s why we worked.

“We’re the only ones who did work because he asked me what I needed and we talked—we always talk any bump. He immediately apologizes and asks how he can fix it. Then he takes a breather or lets me walk and we talk. He holds me even when I’m upset with him. I know he will always come back. That’s what you guys need to work on to make it through the apocalypse.

“The others—I don’t go see them off when they leave because the flight isn’t what I worry will take them from me anymore. It’s their own stupidity and everything else. It’s them not talking to me and telling me what they want. How do they want to fix things? How do they see working their way back to what we had?

“How can we find a path that will lead to being together in a healthy way that doesn’t break each other? Those are all—why are those weird things to ask or want answered? If that’s too much work to put in or too much trouble to work through, then you don’t deserve a relationship much less me—Tyson. So that’s what I’d do if I was you. Fast.”

“Yeah, okay, yeah, thank you.” He cleared his throat. “Can I check in on his brothers? Just for my own sanity? And people were asking if lemon oil would work like the juice. Maybe put it on our skin before the warping away.”

“Something to ask,” she muttered, nodding to Petre to handle it. “And yes, you can see his brothers if they’re fine seeing you. Otherwise, I’m sure Petre can sneak in and take a picture or you can see them on security so you physically see for your own sanity that they’re fine.”

“Thank you, and thank you for the talk when you’re so busy,” Chris said, dipping his head to her.

She stared at him a moment and snorted. “We both know that was more for me than you.”

“No, you let me go for a good twenty minutes—we both needed it.”

“We did,” she accepted. “I hope you get a better result than I did with any of them besides Kristof. Yeah, I hope you get my ending with Kristof. I’m rooting for you guys.” She went over by Petre. “We have a meeting.”

“Take me to the castle so these can get locked up,” I said to the guard that I wasn’t worried about. “And I need to talk with Jaxon.” I cut a quick glance at the other guard so he understood, nodding he thought it was the right play. He grabbed me and we were off before the other guy could think to say anything.

Security told us where Jaxon was, and the guy offered to go get him since I was staying at the castle and safe. The other guard figured out what was going on by then and looked worried.

“Look, Jaxon needs to know this, and you can’t get in front of him normally,” I told him. “Trust me like I’m trusting you to keep me safe, okay? Please. I’ve been in the boss position and this isn’t a small thing but a cancer that’s a problem.”

“I might hate my mom, but I don’t want her dead either,” he hissed as he went to grab the front of my jacket. He was shocked when I easily blocked him.

“I’m not just some cub,” I reminded him, holding my hand up to him trying to de-escalate. “Think of your siblings, man. Your cousins and other family. Your mom is putting you all on a path to ruin and to get you tossed. There’s gotta be a way to smack her back into line. Jaxon knows court shit and how to handle this stuff. He does it well.

“He and his dad are who I would trust to navigate this minefield. They won’t try and embarrass your family, just fix the problem. They’re not people who go looking for drama like others we all know. That’s why I asked specifically for him, not just it’s his role within Inez’s husbands.” I waited for the guy to chill. “And they take you coming to them well.”

“I’m a little less pissed at you after hearing that,” Sebastian said from behind me. “Did you really trash her gift to you, git?”

“How did you already hear that?” I asked instead. “My guards were with me and hers with her handling things in Albuquerque.”

He winced but then nodded. “There were others around getting turkeys for Princess Hanna and the outpost.” He kept nodding when I cussed under my breath. “So you had witnesses who immediately came running to tell others and how the knight in her bed treats her. It’s a mess.”

“I know. I’ll—coven security first.”

He sighed. “Unfortunately, that’s always the answer and why the princesses are always so hurt.”

Jaxon showed up and my guard and I filled him and Sebastian in. He sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. “I hear you and you were right to bring it to my attention. Really. I’m not giving you the brush-off.”

“But you’ve heard this before—it’s reoccurring,” I said for him, understanding what I was getting off of him. I nodded when he did. “You are for the clans too. The snakes that just came in are the perfect example.”

“Yes, and we have toldallof them that they can cut ties with their family or coven like we did Eddie,” Jaxon said firmly turning to the guy who was sitting there with a frown. “You were there with your annoying mum who I had to tell to shut up several times and listen to me.”

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