34. Aurelia

Chapter 34

Aurelia

T he next morning, I was a woman on fire. I gave Vemar a thumbs-up as I exited Weston's room and passed him by.

"Hello, Captive Lady," he said, catching up to me with a laugh. "Damn fine morning, isn't it?"

"Damn fine." I stopped by my room and grabbed the notes from my journals. "Change of routine for today, Vemar."

"I love changes in routine."

"Take me to the royals."

"Very dangerous to disturb them so early in the morning." He pointed to indicate our new trajectory, and we started walking. "I can't wait to see what happens."

"Dragons," I murmured with a smile.

He took me right to their door, and I didn't miss the warning looks of those we passed on the way there. I knocked, hoping to holy hell I didn't wake the baby. If I were them, I'd punch me in the face if I did.

A fierce-eyed Finley swung the door open—hair wild, robe open down the middle exposing bare skin, and war imminent.

"Is the king awake?" I pushed into her room, on dangerous ground. I was a fairy, though. It was my right to be arrogant. At least twenty-five percent so.

Vemar stepped into the room but stayed by the door. He wasn't a fool.

Clearly, I was.

"Sit there." She pointed at a couch in a finely appointed sitting room and continued farther into the large quarters.

In a moment, Nyfain walked into the room wearing his robe fastened at the waist.

"No, I meant I need to speak with both of you, not just you."

He glared at me and growled, "The only reason you should ever be here at this hour is if it is an absolute emergency. Because of your unique situation in this moment , I am allowing it. Do it again, and I will beat the ever-loving hell out of you, and then the hell out of your mate when he tries to come to your rescue. Do I make myself clear?"

His threat sizzled through me because of his intensity, but I could tell he didn't really mean it. Whether or not Finley would mean it, though...

"Clear," I said for the sake of appearances.

Finley joined us a moment later in jeans and a T-shirt, taking the couch opposite me, while Nyfain sat in a chair at the head of the arrangement.

"Why do you wake up this early, and why are you here?" Finley asked me, glancing at Vemar.

"I'm going to take your offer, but with non-negotiable stipulations." My tone made it evident I wasn't playing around when I said, "Give me what I want, or I walk."

Nyfain's brow arched. Neither of them said a word, so I just got into it.

"I want to create a whole line of products to sell at market and beyond. I want to corner the shadow markets, and I want the traditional markets and I want the medics. All of them. This is all under the banner of your kingdom, obviously. I'd like access to the people of your kingdom for ideas and to test the products you have deemed safe. The current products need a fresh look, and I'd like to design that. They work great but look lame. Granny has taught me the value of packaging. I'd like to create a dragon-centric logo for anything with Everlass in it. My logo would be different—I'd like to put a fairy on it, but I know that might be... touchy, since I won't be accepting the fairies' deal, so I'll have to think of something else."

I cleared my throat and took a breath before continuing.

"I do want training for my fairy magic. I think it would benefit us all. You said the king can be bought. Maybe he can get a percentage of proceeds from the product I make, or maybe they get a deal on it. I'm okay with offering twenty-five percent of myself, however that might work. Maybe giving some of my time to them? I don't like the idea of forcing emotions on people so that the king can get what he wants, but I'm willing to negotiate. That said, I am also willing to walk away without training if they get heavy-handed or ask too much, so please keep that in mind. I can probably learn to control it if I try. Training with them would be helpful, but..." I shrugged.

"Anything else?" Nyfain asked, his gaze piercing. Fuck, he was an intimidating bastard.

"I would like that apartment for me and Weston. If I'm able, I'd like to have children someday, and we'd need space for that. Though I'm fine to wait until we get to that point."

"Let me see if I'm getting this right." Finley crossed her ankles. "Your demands are essentially that you want a job, you want to improve the marketing and sales of my products, you're willing to put yourself in a very precarious position with the fairies in order to get training to help our kingdom, and you want space for a family to continue a very powerful bloodline that will make our kingdom great for years to come."

I blinked at her as Vemar started chuckling. "In my head all that sounded way more stacked in my favor. Oh!" I held up a finger. "You do not get to tell me how many hours I will and won't work. I'll work as many as I want, which will be more than you think appropriate. I'll lay off if I need to, and take breaks when I want, which is not something I was afforded with Granny, but otherwise, I'll do what I'm used to."

"And you'll overwork yourself to benefit our kingdom," Finley surmised.

I curled my lips between my teeth.

She shook her head with a smile and looked at Nyfain, who was still surveying me.

"What made you decide to stay?" he asked.

"A few things. The work I'd be able to do here aligns with what I am passionate about. Weston loves it here and I trust his judgment, and I love the people I've met. I want to be part of the community you are building, and I truly want to help people... while also driving Granny's business into the ground."

"The yearly sum of gold—that isn't going to be an issue?" Nyfain asked. "We can match the other material things the fairies might've offered you, like clothes and jewels, but I need to know if the lack of gold is going to be a problem down the line."

I laughed and looked at my knees. "I first started toward this kingdom as a captive thinking I had no magic. I thought I was coming to my death or some other horrible tragedy. To now be offered anything is... To be fought over..." I laughed again. "This is all surreal. I'd be happy with a place to live, food to eat, and a job that makes me relevant. Anything else is extra or unneeded. I'll take the gold to save for any children I may have, but I'm not concerned about it."

"And you'd take less for all you'd be doing for us." Finley smirked. "It's pretty apparent, Aurelia, that you will never, not ever, be in charge of negotiating for this kingdom. You should've sent Weston."

"She's certainly not going anywhere near the fairies to discuss this." Nyfain leaned back and rubbed his chin. "I'll handle those negotiations. We'll be able to figure something out. I assume you'd be okay with having a standing invite to visit any time you like? They'll want some sort of claim on your successes, and it sounds like you won't stop until you own the world."

"That would be..." I nodded earnestly. "That would be really great to have a standing invite, yes. I told Weston I do really want to visit."

"Of course you'll visit," Nyfain said, pushing to standing. "You just won't be allowed to go unattended, at least not until you develop some sort of clue as to how to negotiate."

"I doubt Weston would let her go unattended anyway," Finley said.

"And yet here she is, making the world's worst deal for herself. What does Weston plan to do about the pack, do you know?"

My face heated. "He said he was going to talk to you guys about the timing, but he plans to claim me in front of them. I think he might be planning to try to integrate me, though I don't know how exactly."

"Fuck's sake, woman," Finley spat, standing. "You need to take a firmer grip on your life."

"I am, just in the things that are the most important to me. I trusted Granny and I shouldn't have, but I'm not going to let her treachery close me off. Weston has things in hand, and if he goes too slow, I trust that you'll step in. Nyfain will handle the fairies. That's all sorted. Now I'll go start working on taking down Granny. Between all of us, we'll do what needs to be done. Isn't that what a pack mentality is—working together toward a common goal?"

I stood, and the two blinked at me before a smile spread across Finley's face. "Touché."

"I really do like her," I told Vemar after we'd exited and were halfway down the hall.

"It's hard not to. You're right, by the way. In trusting people. Those royals will look after you, as will Weston. As will I, and Hadriel, too. I would've gone with you regardless of where you chose, but I'm happy you decided to stay here. It's home."

I smiled at him. "You would've gone with me?"

"Of course. Someone needs to help you make product. You don't think those stuffy ol' fairies would have the first clue, do you? They cheat at their potions with magic. They don't know how to get their hands dirty like we do."

I nudged him with my elbow. "Thanks."

"No sweat. Gotta guard that asshole."

I parted ways with him to head to the library. Once there, I searched for the geography sections and grabbed all the books with maps of the Red Lupine kingdom.

Time to see if I could figure out where Granny was hiding.