Page 73 of Princess For All

At least in this.

“Let’s have lunch,” I said to James.

His eyes flashed shock but then heat. “Yeah, I’d like that, My Princess.” He glanced over at his people. “You guys—”

“We got it,” one assured him. “Take a break, boss.”

He waved at them and then focused back on me. “What are you in the mood for? I heard Seattle is having that crab salad you love today.”

“Perfect,” I agreed, leaning into him. “You need to undress me, right?” I smirked at him and wiggled the flight suit at him.

“Tease,” he mumbled under his breath and helped me out of it.

I gave Kristof a kiss and a knowing look. “You don’t get to come and play. That’s your punishment.”

“I understand,” he said, clearly not liking it. He gave a quick glance around and probably realized I was more doing it for show and to quell the whispers that he was really the power of the coven and blah, blah, blah.

Someone else caught my eye and I did some quick math in my head. I got his attention and waved him over, asking Kristof with my eyes to protect us after I pulled Vitor closer with us too. At the last minute, I did Jamelle as well.

“Well, this feels like I’m about to be part of a conspiracy,” Jamelle drawled.

“No, hopefully a way to start doing more and giving appreciation to people,” I snarked right back before focusing on Princess Lawan’s noble. And not just an alliance pairing. He truly loved her and I knew she valued him too. “I want to thank your princess for her extra help. I cannot put into words how Arpa has truly helped.

“My coven,me—I’ve had no training for this role or how to be a noble. She’s—a gift makes her sound like an item to trade. You know what I mean. She’s helped a lot and I’m grateful.” I waited until he nodded. “I’m going to fuel up and I need a place to let it out. I know it’s inconvenient with the time difference, but can you sneak there and wake your princess up…”

His eyes filled with shock. “You’re willing to come to our coven and put things back online? Truly?” His eyes cut to Jamelle and there was confusion again.

“Yes, she’s snuck to my princess and done it, but the logistics were harder because everyone assumes that’s where she would go,” he confirmed. He met my gaze. “You want to start throwing people off by doing it for your other allies with no rhyme or reason. You give too much of yourself and risk—”

“So do they,” I countered. “Don’t even tell me you don’t understand the risks Nora’s taken. I do. I get it. She’s shielding me like I am her daughter and we both know it. Lawan sent hersisterwho she actually loves to help and it worked. She’s a miracle and pulled—do you remember how Noel and Jose—Vivien were when they arrived.”

He sighed. “They are so different.”

“I would say that is as much you as Arpa, my love,” Kristof muttered. “I worry of this risk too, but I agree it’s worth it. You have to keep giving the horse the carrot.” He nodded to Lawan’s noble. “You know what I mean.”

“Of course. I do, and I don’t disagree even if it wasn’t my princess. She gave the most and should get the… Cookie? I believe you say cookie here. It will also motivate people to keep pushing while there is calm. That is when people getlazyand that leads to mistakes. That is what my princess is worried for. She has said we almost need the next layer of motivation.”

Good. Glad we were on the same wavelength.

Kristof gave me a kiss and said he’d handle it and the diversion even like they were plotting something for Nora and going to Boston. Even better.

Lunch was just about to start in Seattle, but there was a ton of food because they normally… We had a bunny hop system in place.

No, leapfrog? I wasn’t sure the right term, but we had a system.

Boston was the first time zone, so of course the sun was there first and people got to work. That meant breakfast first. What they had left they would never just toss. Not everything, but the hot stuff or like fresh was brought to the next places a lot of times to help out. Right now, that was what we had going in Ohio, Illinois, and New Orleans.

Or Ohio was the same zone as Boston?

Yeah, I couldn’t keep it all straight, especially not with Canada brought in.

But that was how it worked and helped because cooking in bulk was always easier. So zone two had their extra brought to zone three spots like where the castle and Albuquerque were—Salt Lake too. And then we brought anything to Seatle which was the end. Same for them when they wrapped up for the day.

There was a lot of their end-of-day stuff that would be fine to toss in for Boston’s breakfast. We all were working together like that. And it worked with vamps who could zip across the country like humans could jog next door and deliver a tray of proofing donuts or whatever.

So there was a lot to load up on before we grabbed some of the first sandwiches and got out of their way. We went out by the water even if it was still cold and enjoyed our picnic.

“Yeah, this was exactly what I needed,” James said when we were finishing up. “I was really struggling with starting another new year in the fucking apocalypse. I think in my mind somewhere I thought we’d be done by now and I was disappointed. Like I had hope and I got too excited?”

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