Page 56 of Princess For All

The people under Safie or Bahati had either loved that toxic coven culture and wanted it back or were so traumatized that they were acting out or didn’t know how to be normal. There was a range. Either way, it was a problem and one we couldn’t leave anymore now that we’d given them time to heal and adjust.

And they had that plan all mapped out… For now, which confused me.

I needed less to confuse me in life.

Was that really too much to ask?

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I managed to keep my annoyance in check but yeah, they needed to explain that part. And why they put in all this work to clearly have this be a very temporary plan.

“We want people to start telling us more,” Josephine explained. “While the humans are telling you everything and padding their resumes, the vampires are refusing to tell you much so it can’t be used against them. Especially any gifts as that has been used against them in the past, but their older generations are making them keep tight-lipped.”

Kristof chuckle. “You think if they shovel shit enough, they’ll suddenly confess which are system analysts and have engineering experience finally so shoveling shit isn’t their whole future, and screw what their elders say.”

The princesses shared a look and nodded, Noel going on. “We think it’s a good plan.”

It was better than the no plan we had and constantly just handling the fires and issues. It was what we’dtriedto do. We matched people from different covens and tried to get them grouped by their gifts, but it went nowhere. People clammed up and wanted to stay with their friends or family. They took orders but gave us nothing and were railing against the change.

So my first question was how to handle that?

Fast.

Noel clearly understood where my mind was and nodded, waving for us to follow to the next board. “This might seem a bit remedial or childish, but people are most concerned about their standing in the coven. This is all new to them and that’s scary. It makes people act out. And while we don’t want to give gold stars to the children, it’s—”

“Why would you give something as valuable to children and in stars?” I asked, glancing between them and the boards.

Josephine elbowed Noel when she snickered. “She thought you were making a joke. Please forgive her, Princess.”

“I did. I apologize. I wasn’t thinking of your circumstances,” Noel whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

I nodded but was glad when Jaxon explained it to me. “So you’re proposing a ranking system? Probation and about to be shown the door all the way to…”

“Sent to other covens to be reformed actually,” Josephine corrected, nodding when I couldn’t hide my shock. “Some are under the misconception they can pressure you to behave like other covens. That Safie or Bahati were just so crazy, but you’re too far on the other end of extreme and will come totheiridea of normal.

“They have a misconception of other covens and the influence they could have. It was Joi of the Sisters of the Earth that said they needed a ‘reality check’ and the one others are getting has helped. Also, that Aether’s idea to split those last three covens has really helped. And very quickly made it clear who are the good people and the problems.”

“Mother has said the same,” Jaxon muttered. “And she’s fine with taking those problems in forever because they always can use people to shovel shite. You know what I’m saying. It’s a very smart threat when the vamps here think you won’t really do much when we need bodies and help.”

“Except too many haven’t been enough help and are more headaches. That is the phrasing and framing this all has to take,” Noel said firmly. “But yes, a ranking system and make it clear we will be watching and readjusting.”

We moved along and the next piece Josephine took over and was nervous. I let her settle and didn’t push, but I already glimpsed enough to guess what was going on.

“There are others like me who want a fresh start or want to leave the past behind them. You already met one son who wanted to break from his mother—his family might. Others want to break from their families and become their own. The family structure of vampires inside of the covens can be just as toxic as the covens themselves.

“I would like to introduce a test idea of how to facilitate that while not removing them from the coven as it used to be. You can do that when you’ll have multiple locations. Not to hide their crimes or who they were, but—everyone needs a real interview and sit-down. People need applications to become members of the coven like a country.”

“Agreed, but the process and how—we weren’t there,” I told them.

Noel and Josephine shared a glance before Noel cleared her throat. “You were, Princess, but you were busy keeping everyone alive. They took advantage of that.”

Fair enough.

There was more. There was a schedule of families intentionally being broken up for a week here and there. Even telling them it was required to stay in the coven because the level of toxic was beyond the scope.

Or fucking leave and good luck joining any of the decent covens because we would be handing this all over to them. So play our games to make sure you were worth giving our supplies to and were useful or take a long walk off a short pier.

And give us back everything you’ve taken. It was great, and with the other covens that were our allies having lists for us of people they would recommend to come here and join… It could work. It was alotof work, but apparently I was staring at two organizational geniuses.

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