4

“Why am I involved in this?” I asked Avril a few days later as she and Ellen dragged me off to a meeting with her family. “I’m supposed to be reviewing for midterms.”

Sean snorted. “You’ll ace everything like always. You’re coming because you adore us.”

“And Trigger Rothchild is fucking terrifying,” Marshall added. “But he likes you.”

“Don’t drag me into your crap when I have so much else already going on,” I whined even as I grabbed the fruit tarts my security had picked up. I sighed and let Ellen push me along, waving off my security from yelling at her.

We made our way to the Rothchilds’s wing of the castle and into their family dining room.

“Your Highness, we weren’t expecting you,” Mel’s mother said when she saw me. “Is everything okay?”

“I think that remains to be seen,” I grumbled, sighing when Avril elbowed me. “Sorry to intrude. I brought some fruit tarts I love.”

“I think she was asking why you’re joining us, Your Highness,” Mel’s grandmother chuckled. She did a double take when she saw Sean and Marshall. “And with your old wolf security?”

“Apparently, I’m their security now,” I drawled as I set down the bags, nodding for my actual security to do the same. I sighed when Sean and Marshall shot me annoyed looks. “Dude, you should know better to drag me into things to help. I rarely help these kinds of situations.”

“What kind of situations?” one of Mel’s siblings asked, looking amused.

I gestured with my head for Ellen and Avril to answer, but they both looked like deer in headlights. “Oh, for the love—don’t make me tell them. That wasn’t part of the deal. You told me to come make sure no one beat your asses.”

“Oh, this should be good,” Trigger drawled as he walked in with his brother. He did a double take when he saw me. “Did I know you were joining us, Your Highness?”

“No, I’m a party crasher,” I joked and poked Ellen. “I swear I will just blurt it out if you make me tell them.”

“Someone tell us something,” Mel’s grandmother demanded.

I lasted a whole two minutes in the awkward silence. “They’re mates.” I gestured between Avril and Sean before Ellen and Marshall.

“You are the worst friend ever,” Marshall grumbled… Even as he moved behind me.

“So are you for dragging me into this shit,” I threw right back.

“What shit? ” Trigger asked with a deep frown. He focused on Ellen and Avril who still couldn’t seem to get their mouths to work. “Explain yourselves.”

“Yeah, you’re the one they’re worried about, so being overbearing won’t help,” I drawled.

“Me?” he gasped. “What have I ever done to make you think I’m some racist asshole who wouldn’t be thrilled you found your mates?”

“Trigger has never had a problem with interspecies mating,” his mate added, looking upset.

Ellen and Avril shared a look before Ellen finally jumped in. “There was upset in the family last time a Rothchild mated a non-dragon. And given Colton is, but she’s a commander—”

“But Grandmother was upset there wouldn’t be a dragon child,” Avril blurted. “And some of you are still mad at us for finding our own path, and then we’re fated to mate wolves and we don’t want to be disowned, but it wasn’t right to deny them like we were embarrassed with them.”

I knew what was going on, and that took me a moment to catch up with since she said it so fast.

“Wait, wait ,” their grandmother called out when everyone started talking at once. “Just hold the fuck on!” She waited for everyone to calm down, glancing around the room a moment before focusing on Ellen and Avril. “You are both severely—you misunderstood the situation or didn’t hear the whole story. And Colton—”

“Colton’s talked about having a baby dragon to teach to fly since he hit like forty and his first friend had a kid,” Mel said from off to the side. “Grandmother wasn’t being a bigot. She was worried because it was Colton-specific. I reminded her Prince Hudson taught Tams to fly, and I was sure that he could hover those flying lessons and be fine.”

I nodded to Mel, not having even seen her there. She gave the nod back but looked a bit miffed. Yeah, I didn’t blame her.

I’d apologize and explain later.

“That’s more than fair to worry about as family,” Sean interjected, always the peacemaker.

Their grandmother nodded before looking at Ellen and Avril. “My aunt was fated mates with a vampire.” She nodded when both women flinched.

“We hate vamps around here?” I hedged.

“No, it means no children at all,” Trigger explained. “Technically, it’s possible, but since dragons are dragons first and we actually shift into people—vampires are just too different. The odds are—very few are ever born.”

“Got it. Sorry. Didn’t know—why didn’t my classes really teach me the normal stuff?” I grumbled, bringing a bit of humor to the situation.

“My aunt always wanted children. Desperately, not caring if they were dragons, just—she was born to be a mother and give love,” their grandmother explained. “Plus, the man was a rat bastard. I witnessed how horrible he was when I was a child. She—mating him ruined her. It gave me a bad taste for all fated matings.

“It’s said to be a gift from the gods, but sometimes it seems a punishment. The man was horrible and tried to raise his station and couldn’t mate the vampire he wanted. So my mother said. Instead, he was fated to a lowly knight dragon of all things, and instead of teaching what it should, it ruined my aunt. My mother talked about the woman she was and I…”

“It was gone,” I whispered. “He beat it out of her even if not physically.” I nodded when she did. “Yeah, I’ve been there.” I winced when worry filled the whole room. “I didn’t mean with my mates. I meant my abuse in the foster system and then allowing what I shouldn’t because I wanted any love or affection. She lost who she was.”

“Yes, but I never saw who she was, simply the shell she became,” she told me sadly. “And I always said it was better to die instead of leading a life as a corpse like that.”

“That’s much different than what we thought,” Ellen admitted. “But they’re good men.” She looked at me. “Right, Tamsin?”

I blinked at her. “I’m here as a character witness too? Geez, warn a woman.”

“You have an evil streak a mile long,” Marshall grumbled.

“Me? Who laughed when my demigod father threatened to punt Hudson when he caught us making out? Do you remember what you—” I snorted when he covered my mouth.

“I regret all of my snark and enjoyment of their suffering,” he said firmly. “I was immature and have since repented.”

“In his defense, it was more how you’re a carbon copy of your dad,” Sean added. “I mean that whole rant about how he would have to figure out a different spot if Prince Hudson was in dragon form because his center of mass would be different for kicking—that’s something you would absolutely say when pissed.”

I teleported two feet to the other side of Marshall. “Fair. I did ask if there was a way to keep a fairy from opening their wings so if I get pissed at Neldor again I could teleport up in the air and watch him go splat.”

Not really, but it was a good threat when he was a shit.

“I have questions starting with how the princess knows about this before your parents,” a woman said… Probably Ellen or Avril’s mom from the way she wasn’t happy.

“Uhhh,” I mumbled, feeling like the deer in headlights.

Sean’s hand moved over my mouth. “She walked in while I was kissing Avril and everything unraveled from there.”

Technically , he wasn’t lying.

He simply didn’t specify what he was kissing on Avril.

Well, I wasn’t going to rat him out.

I smacked his wrist so he let me go. “Enough with the covering my mouth shtick. You fools asked me to come with. You get me then. I’m hungry.” I opened one of the fruit tart boxes and grabbed the plates before dishing it out. I was about to snark more, but I felt intense worry off of the four of them. “They know you’re good guys. Just breathe, okay?”

“I don’t think that helps, Your Highness,” one of my security muttered.

I sighed. “The Rothchilds aren’t idiots . Of course, they know Sean and Marshall are good men. You guys wouldn’t let them near me if they weren’t. Your future queen? Who you constantly try to put into a bubble and listen in on the thoughts of—you’re listening to the thoughts of this room right now. It’s standard protocol and yet Sean and Marshall are my friends too.

“They’ve worked for me for years . Helped keep me alive before I found fairies. Hell, they willingly got painful tattoos to protect my secret and had no stake in getting Faerie back like Zack and Ray. They were on Artemis’s payroll then. Do you know how much money they could have made selling me out? Money their families needed?

“But it never crossed their mind. Not once , and I listened too. Instead, they gave up weekends and free time to bring the hobgoblins over and help me get settled into the first house I ever had. Took me around to experience the world safely. Crashed in guest rooms that I never really got set up just so I felt safer. They are rock stars. I’m not sure Avril and Ellen are worthy of them .”

“Well, that was the wrong thing to say in this audience,” Mel drawled.

I shrugged. “You expected me to be anything but honest?”

“No, not ever, Tams,” she chuckled.

“I’m a bit miffed they didn’t acknowledge them sooner,” I admitted. “They deserved better. If they weren’t ready to go public, that’s one thing. Or fuck, my worry people would use magic to make me brain-dead so Neldor could puppet me when they found out we were fated mates. Those are valid but…” I sighed and shook my head. “Not my life, but don’t hurt my friends.”

“I thought we were your friends too,” Ellen whispered, sounding hurt.

“You are. I just know Marshall and Sean better, much, much better. And I’m a super loyal friend. If they’re the jerks though, I’ll beat them up. I think it’s awesome you broke tradition to run the havens and followed your heart, do some good to help this world. I see you guys being a great fit, and I hope you’re all ridiculously happy. I was just saying—”

“We don’t have to worry about the caliber of these men,” the woman who had blasted Avril early cut in. “I apologize for interrupting you, Your Highness. I’m not myself.”

I smiled at her. “I’m not here as the princess. I’m here as… I’m not really sure. Ignore the protocols, but just don’t throw anything at me and piss off my security.” I was glad when some people politely chuckled at the lame joke. “And I’m sorry I’m being me in this situation without better tact. I’m exhausted. I normally am.”

“You good?” Sean worried as we sat down.

“I’m fine. Trying to make about a million puzzle pieces fit a frame that doesn’t work for Faerie anymore,” I answered.

“Yes, we’ve witnessed that for many years working with the Vogels,” Mel’s grandmother said.

I swallowed down my annoyance and kept calm. “Yes, but it’s a bit different when I’m the full government for a world, not just the dragons in one area in a secret world that the humans mostly control.”

She accepted that, but I saw the curiosity in her eyes. “A lot does transfer over. Balance is balance, and good judgment is something you have, Princess.”

“Thank you. I wish more people thought that,” I chuckled darkly. “It’s a matter of letting people know how much corruption was really right in front of them when I want them to focus on the future. Will they be offended and think I’m picking on them again? Do they have a right to know? I would want to know, and I want them to stop judging the queens so much but…”

“Yeah, that’s a tough one,” Marshall sighed. “Especially since fairies are way harsher than I would ever have thought. But they seem to have come around a lot and especially with you, Tams. Our birth pack is basically the town while hiding what we are. Our Alpha is the mayor, so he does deal with a lot of that stuff. And they don’t always agree, but they listen. People listen to you now.”

“Plus, you always say you have to know the truth not to make the same mistakes,” Sean added. “You’re right, and I think that —showing fairies the truth—is what has made the leaps and bounds to peace and uniting the realms. It’s not you’re the only option and both queens are gone. You’ve given them something to work towards that could be real. Be real with them.”

“Fine, I won’t tear the mickey out of you in front of your potential in-laws as Julian says,” I purred, giving him a wink.

The meeting went pretty well after that. They basically just wanted to get to know Sean and Marshall. I did get a chance to talk to Mel on the side before leaving.

And she was probably still laughing after I told her how I found out and why I didn’t tell her. She was seriously dying.

“I am sorry this all got sprung on you, but they literally cornered me today and begged me,” I told her. “Like puppy eyes and guilted me so I really didn’t have a chance.”

“Oh, that was clear from the amount of sass you gave,” she forgave, patting my shoulder. “What they said earlier was right. You win people over by just telling things like they are. It’s your best attribute. You lay things out fairly. Do it for your people and give them the chance to make the right call. They’ve been doing that a lot lately from what I’ve heard.”

“Thanks, Mel.”

“I’m always here for you even if our lives took different paths.”

“I know.” I wasn’t going to ask, but then I decided to. “How are things going with Connor?”

“Damn kid is persistent. My brother is stronger, but he makes a valid point that my time in the real world makes me stronger in a way that’s not physical and has everything to do with survival. Seriously, he could talk anyone into almost anything.”

I snorted, knowing that well. “I don’t know your brother well, but you always gave the best advice. Maybe there’s a way to have both worlds, Mel.” I shrugged when she looked at me. “No one said two people can’t have the role. Maybe it wouldn’t eat the person who had it as much as it did your dad. Hudson will be handling security, and I have right hands separate.”

“Good point. That role is normally the queen but… Good point. Thanks, Tams.”

“I’m always here for you too, Mel.”

I felt better when I left. Mel had made up with Izzy too and we’d had brunch a few weeks ago, talking about making it a regular thing, maybe monthly. It felt good—right. Not like we’d broken what we’d had, but it had all simply evolved as we’d grown into the roles we were meant to be in.

Something mature like that.

It felt like that to me at least.