Page 55 of Princess For All

“You wiped out on the damn beads, didn’t you?” Cerdic checked, chuckling when Darius nodded. “You’re not the only one. I went ass over head and had to heal fucking road burn I’d been running so fast.”

“You are not the only one,” Kristof grumbled. “It’s a smart plan, but we should have coordinated that better.”

“The idea was to not coordinate so no one could hear it,” Jaxon admitted. “I apologize. I didn’t think you would go there when there’s more to do around here and you don’t like leaving the castle.”

“Fair,” he accepted. “I wanted to get eyes…” He sighed when I gave him a look that I would beat him. “I didn’t go to the coven. I didn’t go remotely close. None of us have. I was miles and miles away still. I wanted the feeling andvibeas you all say. I promise I was more than far enough to retreat.”

“We’re being careful—overly careful and paranoid,” Cerdic promised.

“Good, but take your paranoid level up to fifteen,” I said firmly. “We haven’t lost anyone. I’m not losing one of you because of underestimating the help she might have or ego. No one would have thought someone like Vitor or Petre would have stuck around the moment they had the option to go. Some could want the world to burn after their pain and she can give them that.”

“That is a really,reallygood point we’d not thought of,” Kristof muttered, seeming a bit shell-shocked.

I sometimes wished Matilda or Nora lived with me. They would have gotten it. Most times my husbands were right there with me. Lots of times they were ahead of me or understood things I didn’t.

But every so often when it really mattered, they were a step behind and I had to bite my tongue.

“The guest princesses scheduled time into your day after this,” Cerdic hedged, giving me a worried look as if not sure how I would react.

“Do they have good news?” I drawled. That was what really mattered more than one of them had the same name as my crazy fucking mother.

“They’re nervous, but—they took over the ballroom and have been working tirelessly for over a week. Since they’ve arrived. They’ve taken care of themselves, but they’ve just been in there besides asking for information and talking to people.”

“I think they’re worried that you’re going to hate their first real attempt to be people of their own, but I think you will be thrilled about the meeting. But I don’t know really. I have high hopes,” Kristof added. “And I find that hard to have most days.”

“Are you okay?” I worried.

“Tired. Glad to have you to myself tonight and rest.” He gave me a soft kiss, but I saw something more was going on. Aether had sent him a vision or he was having a problem putting the pieces of a puzzle together. It was more than being tired—he was frustrated. Probably with himself.

We went over there and I knocked on the door even if it was my castle. I didn’t want to be rude or—even I could feel the nerves from whatever was going on.

Noel arrived at the door first and Josephine right behind her. Both dipped their heads to me and stepped aside for me to come in.

“We ask you hear us out because we’ve never presented anything before and we won’t be the best at it,” Noel said quietly.

“Of course, but we might interject for clarification.” I moved my hand to her arm. “No one will yell or get upset. I promise. I will pull down their pants and spank them in front of you if they so much as laugh at you. You have my word.”

I was glad when that seemed to lighten their mood, and they brought us by the first rolling whiteboard.

Yes, thefirstone. There were whiteboards, chalkboards, presentations, and a fuck ton of Post-It Easel Pads all over the walls. They had little Post-Its on them and color everywhere.

I blinked at it all and then back at them. “You have my undivided attention. What are you cooking up here, ladies?”

“Hopefully, how to organize the coven better,” Josephine answered.

“Um, yes please,” I muttered and focused on what was in front of me. “What am I looking at?”

“Mostly, the current data we have,” she told me. “The full directory of who came from each coven, who is an official member of this coven now—” She tapped the other list. “That’s who was shown the door but still has family or friends here so could be a problem.” Then she pointed to another list. “That’s who is on the chopping block as problems.”

“And these are the lazy ones who aren’t problems yet but are being a bad influence and need a kick in the teeth,” Noel added.

“Pants,” Cerdic corrected, nodding when she looked at him. “Your English is flawless, but you miss some of the slang. Kick in the teeth is to beat someone up for being an asshole for something they said normally. Kick in the pants or ass is to motivate them or pull their heads out of their asses because they’re being stupid.”

“Oh, that’s helpful, thank you.” She accepted that and moved on. “Now, not to play favorites, but even your people have noticed that people from our former coven have been…” She shrugged.

Yeah, they’d been angels and really stepped up. For all intents and purposes, Kaitlin hadn’t always been a bad princess. She hadn’t been great, but it wasn’t the level of crazy and all the traumas like Safie or Bahati. But she’d gone off the rails in the apocalypse and handling it all, completely unequipped, and—it went bad. No need to rehash it all.

So people were ready to push past it.

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