Page 57 of Princess For All

I listened to it all and couldn’t find a single flaw.

But I wasn’t as seasoned.

“I love all of this, but we need to take it to the next level,” I told them. “I will not let anyone disrespect or bully you. If they do, Kristof will eat them, I promise.”

“Gladly, because this is amazing and will—thank you, because this will help me immensely,” he admitted.

And I loved the princesses just for that. They could stay forever and be my aides just for helping the man I loved with all of this crazy. I gave them both a look that I wouldn’t forget this if we could make it work, and I was glad they seemed to understand where my head was even.

Good. They should be proud of this too.

After lunch, we had all our nobles, knights, and all the visiting nobles from our alliances gathered for them to present it again. They were timid, but they’d already presented it once, so that helped.

“I think the plan is solid and well thought out,” Jamelle said firmly, the first to speak. He dipped his head to each princess. “Truly, you both have quite a talent for organization and facilitating largedauntingprojects which is not something to look down on. It’s a gift that overwhelms even the most seasoned princess.

“And princesses who work well as a team and with other princesses are rare. Aether has blessed Her champion to lead you to this coven even if temporarily. I would even advise my princess you one day audit our coven this meticulously in this new, terrifying world so we could hope to be so efficient and healthy going forward.”

“Thank you. Everyone was helpful when we gathered the information and were working towards the same goal,” Josephine praised. “What is your concern?”

He nodded, obviously having been getting to that. “What is the plan if everyone originally from Bahati’s coven tells you to sod off? Some from Safie’s coven are members, but what about the rest? There has to be a plan for that.”

“There is,” she told him firmly, before looking to me.

Yeah, smart. I should be the one to answer that or divulge it… I just wasn’t sure if it was smart to. “We do have one.” I opened my mouth but then closed it. I did it a few more times before chuckling darkly.

“Yes, it is a tough situation,” Jamelle accepted. “You wonder if it will become a hostile situation if you start or announce the threat, but you don’t want to have people immediately call your bluff thinking you don’t have a threat.”

“My advice would be to mention who is involved should they not get in line with your vision and wishes,” Ceawlin said. “You didn’t ask, and I apologize for being so forward, but I helped Princess Noel for that part, and—I believe it’s the best balance. You have too much going on to risk this. Plus, you have alotof good coven members who won’t walk.”

“You have a bit of bias,” Jamelle countered.

He blinked at him a moment and snorted. “Sorry, mate, I didn’t even mean the good ones from my former coven. I meant some from Safie’s. TheyadorePrincess Inez. The ones who have already joined would give their lives a dozen times over for the vision of the world she wants and that’s a powerful statement. They just need better guidance and team leaders.”

“He wasn’t knocking any of us,” Jaxon quickly said. “He means on the ground when we’re not looking and can’t always manage. We know what he meant and we’re all tired.”

“Cheers,” Ceawlin agreed. “Yes, sorry. I wasn’t picking. Just adding my thoughts. On that, while I would never recommend taking anything to the levels Bahati did, she was effective in the way she publicly shamed people. No one likes everyone to know they’re a useless bastard.”

“We agree,” I told him, gesturing to myself and the princesses. “Thank you, and we can discuss ideas privately. We’re asking if you see flaws. What you might have seen or know specifically that you can inform us about now that you know where we’re at.”

He dipped his head to me, catching on that he was moving on to the next part too fast. Plus, yeah, everyone didn’t need to know that.

Plus, that we planned to do this with the shifters and humans.

Then they had all of the information they wanted to give us and help so we could help their covens more. Noel and Josphine were thrilled and started plotting times to speak with them so we could get this rolled out faster. I was glad, but then pain and an image formed in my brain.

Instantly, I put a barrier up over the castle and turned to Kristof. “Do not leave this room. None of you. I’m ordering it. My barrier will hurt any of you and I will never forgive you.”

I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I trusted Aether on this. I also didn’t wait for him to respond and moved Vitor by the door.

“Stop any of them from leaving. Don’t fail me.”

“Don’t make me regret doing as you asked,” he said under his breath.

Fair enough, but I reminded him of one thing. “I didn’t last time.”

He nodded, so I was glad I had that track record to use right then.

I was outside and to where Aether showed me in a flash. There wasn’t a single brain cell working as I pulled back my fist and punched Keres in the face. She went down, and I felt two vampires rushing towards me.

---