6

I’d actually finished my midterms Wednesday, so I had a few extra days of break and the press conference had been on Thursday. Friday morning, Hudson talked me into cleansing early since I obviously needed it.

The day before, I’d shown everyone about the power crystals I’d made and Neldor had promised he’d handle getting them set up and labeled for any fairy to test themselves against. I didn’t really care. I felt bad for being so petty and wasting magic to let the haters get at me.

I should be above that, and I said as much to Hudson. He disagreed, and the moment a ruler—any leader—became numb like that, they stopped caring to fix the problems. He also thought it was why I had five mates and needed more love than a normal woman.

Maybe. Maybe he had a point.

He really wanted to go flying first, and I thought River was just anxious and wanted attention, but then I realized it was so Hudson could show me how many red flags were flying all around both realms. It really helped my mental state.

I heard a few thoughts that River was worried about Hudson and decided to give my dragon a fantasy he really wanted—something I wanted to give him. I warned my security that I was going to be dirty with my mate and to give us some space before telling River to follow me. I sped off, laughing when the dragon roared as he struggled to keep up.

I found a secluded area in my lands and landed like a missile just outside of them so there was more than enough room for River. He was landing when I jogged off into the forest so he could see which way I went.

And I was completely naked too when he found me.

“Suddenly, I don’t feel like yelling at you,” he groaned as he reached for me.

I chuckled as he pulled me close and kissed me desperately, giving him the same back. I slowed it down and met his confused, pretty eyes. “If it was just us and all about us , I would marry you right now, beastie.”

“What?” he gasped, his mouth falling open.

I nodded. “Be my husband, Hudson. Just for us. Let me be your wife?” I felt awkward saying it, but he’d been hurting that I would marry Julian and push back our wedding for at least another year.

Silly dragon. It wasn’t that I loved him any less. It was the pomp and crazy that I couldn’t handle.

“You’re serious,” he whispered, shocked in almost an amusing way.

I nodded as I cupped his cheek, smiling when he rubbed his skin against mine. “I love you so, so much, Hudson Vogel. More than I could ever put into words. You’re mine and I’m yours.”

“Promise me we’ll mate one day,” he begged.

“We’ll mate one day,” I immediately said, ignoring when he did a double take and his eyes went bug wide. “Be my husband.”

“Stupid fairy,” he chuckled and brushed his lips over mine. “I’m already yours in every way. Yes. Yes, you’re my wife now.”

We kissed to seal the deal, but I wanted much much more than that.

So I dropped to my knees. “This is so much better than a dress and even that awesome cake. Just us and nature.”

“Yeah,” he agreed as I licked his leaking cock.

“And you taking all of my holes until I pass out,” I added.

“Fuck, shorty,” he groaned and then hissed as I swallowed him down. He stroked my hair and praised me as I loved on him, somehow being so tender even if it was all kinky too.

When he got close he surprised me by pulling out of my mouth and pushing me to sit back on my feet. Then he lowered himself onto one knee and stroked himself roughly until he finished on me, mostly my lower stomach.

And clearly, it meant something by the way his eyes flashed power and he was chuffing.

I let him, simply watching him.

He licked his lips as he stared at what he’d done. Then he moved his hand over his spunk, using some to tease my pussy. “That is your promise to give us babies one day, my wife, my mate.” He met my gaze and dared me to deny it or argue with him.

I didn’t. I swallowed loudly but then slowly nodded. “I promise.”

“Good, because he wants them now.” He gave me a soft kiss when I flinched. “But River would never scare you or push. So he’s willing to compromise. As long as you always renew this promise when he has the drive for children, he will be patient as long as you need.”

“Always, beastie,” I promised. “I will always give you and River what you guys need.” I gasped as he pushed two fingers in me. “Always, my husband.”

“Good mate,” he chuffed. “When we feel the drive for children, we will bring you out here and show you how our children will be conceived in nature with our mate so perfect and completely ours.”

“Completely,” I agreed, moaning when he leaned in and licked along my neck. “Please, I’m right there. Please?”

“You will show us your nape and give yourself to us completely today, right?”

“Anything you want,” I agreed, crying out his name as he gave me the orgasm I needed.

He had me put up my hair so my nape and neck were completely exposed to him and then made me orgasm again and again as he stretched out both my holes. We made love on our knees, my back plastered to his chest as he cupped my breasts and told me he never thought he could love someone the way he loved me.

It was perfect.

He was perfect and exactly what I needed. It was so beautiful that I cried.

And gave him another piece of my soul. My magic asked me this time. No mistakes or painful issues.

But then I realized it wasn’t another piece but a strengthening of the piece I gave him. I basically confirmed that I didn’t regret the decision to give it to him.

Yes, that was what I wanted. I wanted to do that more with my guys even. I thanked my magic and asked it to do that more often. That was what we needed.

“Thanks, shorty,” he whispered when we were done. “I felt that it was intentional this time somehow. Your magic is so weird and layered but—thank you.”

“Thank you for loving me that much too, beastie.” I angled my head for a kiss. “Now fuck my ass like my dragon should and has been dying to.”

He chuffed several times and did as I wanted. It was a bit too rough and burned sometimes, but he fucking loved it . I would do it like that anytime he wanted he enjoyed it so damn much.

And he couldn’t even hide it even if he knew it was over the top.

“That’s what healing runes are for,” I promised him as I used one. “All better.”

“I want you like a hundred more times,” he groaned. “Let’s go soak in your hot spring and then cleanse.”

Perfect.

We soaked and then went for food… And got a couple of great updates. Darby joined us and said everything went through to make Izzy Freya’s legal guardian as well. Plus, she and Claudia had found two single moms with kids Freya’s age who weren’t in the best spots. One had an abusive partner and the other had parents who basically wanted to sell her in a mating.

And have her ditch her child, ignoring it was their grandchild. Apparently, bastard children didn’t count as if that changed their DNA or blood somehow.

Assholes.

Either way, they were perfect for several reasons. They wanted to live in the house and always be on call then. They had a kid Freya’s age, so now she could get the socialization she would need and with vampires. Both women needed this to work out, so they wouldn’t become lazy and spoiled like the last nannies had.

It was a total win on several fronts.

Darby was thrilled with both of them… After he made it clear to one that she needed to not flirt with him and he was very loyal to his mate who was about to become Queen of Faerie.

Apparently, she wasn’t in the loop and hadn’t recognized him or his name. It was minor and he wouldn’t even have brought it up, but he didn’t want any more misunderstandings between us, and I would rightfully be mad if I found out later on my own.

Maybe men could be trained if you beat them enough after all?

I cleansed for a bit and then more food arrived, and we had a bit of a picnic in Faerie.

“You know, with your magic, if everything does go tits up, you could teleport us to Mars and give us oxygen,” Hudson said as he opened more containers. “We could just like have a life there or any planet. Or dragons are super popular right now with all the HBO shows. We could come back and say I was a Martian and humans would go nuts.”

“You’d end up in a government facility before the media would ever get wind of it,” Darby drawled.

Hudson snorted. “Not with the way no one can ever keep a secret. I mean there were like seventy books about the last few presidents. Seriously, like a hundred now or something? No one keeps juicy secrets, and the government doesn’t actually impose real punishments on NDAs or—”

“You both are really fucking weird,” I chuckled when Darby started arguing the logistics of the plan. I was glad when they laughed it off and the conversation was light and just goofy.

We definitely needed more goofy.

“You’re the hottest alien ever, but I’d be at least a sexy one, right?” Hudson checked a few minutes later.

I died. Seriously, I burst out laughing and just died. It was too funny how that was his concern and he genuinely seemed to want to know with everything else going on.

I really, really loved this dragon.

“You would be the sexist Martian dragon ever,” I promised him.

That seemed to satisfy him while Darby looked as if he was trying not to die of laughter.

One of my security interrupted my cleansing about an hour later to show me something. Morgan was giving a live interview in Faerie.

“I can’t believe how far things have come in the few years you talked them into solar panels and invented the energy transfer stones,” Darby muttered.

I nodded. We now had cell towers and internet. No phone calls because… Why? We portaled everywhere but yeah, we could now watch our fae network and even access Earth’s Google in Faerie.

No, I had no fucking clue how it worked. I envisioned some huge cable sitting in a portal, and really that could be how it happened. I had no engineering background, and it wasn’t my knowledge.

At. All.

“If people don’t stop pushing and blaming the wrong person for everything that has happened, we will lose the one person who is saving all of Faerie,” he said firmly, anger in his eyes. “I hope those of you who woke last now see and fully understand the vast support Princess Tamsin has from both realms.

“You are late to the party. You are behind and I’m sorry for that. We all are. Someone had to be! It wasn’t intentional. It was—we all did the best we could. Ask questions. Get information. Stop lashing out and demanding everything we never had before the war. You are being unreasonable and petty. If you don’t stop, you will ruin everything we have worked for.

“You could ruin everything we could possibly have including peace. The princess is but one person and you are burning her out. What will we do then? What will happen if you burn out our leader and break her? Do you think she’ll ever have an heir to be abused next?” He glanced around at the gathered group. “This is not the same monarchy you know.

“Queen Meira was very specific that after she saved all of our lives that her daughter not sacrifice the same. That she live her life and free herself from us if she wanted, if we could not start appreciating the gift from the gods our heirs and queens are instead of abusing them! The rest of us have learned from our mistakes through some very painful times. Pay attention!”

“Or we will toss you all to Earth,” Talila added, moving into frame. “I’m not risking the peace our planet can have for some assholes. I’m not. These new problems aren’t even being fair. You can object to her plans or dislike the changes. I disagree with the princess now and again, and she is always respectful of opposing views.

“Always. She always listens to my objections or adjusts her plans for new information. That’s a true leader and someone who cares. But these last of you are just full of hate. You are so bitter and petty that you were woken last and didn’t have a bigger voice in the new direction of Faerie you’d rather see it all burn down and go back to war instead of accepting the change you weren’t a part of.

“Well, then leave. You now see how many want this . Red flags are everywhere. People are wearing red, and it is not a normal color of clothing in Faerie. And it’s both realms, which—gods willing—will become one Faerie in mere months. Something I never thought to see in my lifetime. And you risk it with your pettiness.

“No, we will not allow it. I had my doubts about the princess at every turn , but I was never this rude, this hostile, or this unreasonable! You demand and demand for her to do more while complaining about everything she does. What have you been doing? Yelling. Nothing but yelling. Certainly not helping . The rest of us help constantly, so shut up and help or leave.”

“Well said,” Morgan chuckled when Talila stormed off.

“I second that,” Hudson agreed as I handed the phone back to my security, “I didn’t realize that was what was going on.”

I nodded, reaching for my drink. “It’s hard to tell. There’s been a lot of it from a lot of parties over the years. It just becomes noise and a lot of constant hate, and—it’s exhausting.”

“It’s nice people are fighting for you this time and fighting back,” Darby muttered, sounding more hopeful that I would agree than anything.

“It is nice,” I accepted.

I felt that a lot more after I cleansed. I really did. A lot of what I’d been feeling was pushing too hard and using too much magic—letting people bully me again so I didn’t have to deal with hate. But there was always going to be hate for me. That was just part of the job.

Sad but true.

Really, really sad.

But I would still become queen and learn to deal with it better. After seeing all the red cloth and clothes to support me… I wouldn’t abandon those people.

I would just make others do more as well. That was only fair.

And we believed in fairness in Faerie. Or we said we did.

It was time to finally make people start acting like that.

“What else is on your mind, shorty?” Hudson asked when we were getting ready for bed.

“So much that we’d never sleep if we talked about it all,” I joked, but then hesitated, realizing what I’d missed. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing.” He did a double take at whatever was on my face and smiled. “Really. Nothing. Just some funny thoughts.”

“I like funny thoughts,” I promised as pulled back the covers for him and motioned for him to get in.

He gave me a funny look but then laid down, groaning when I jumped on him. “I was just thinking that for someone who doesn’t like to meddle, you’re quite the matchmaker.”

I frowned as I sat up and straddled his hips. “I meddle. It just depends.”

“Yeah, fair, but you’re not like drama. You aren’t pushy—”

“You don’t walk around trying to set people up,” Julian said as he walked in. “Who gets the bed tonight?”

“You get the couch besides one night this last break because you got it so much over winter break because of your wedding,” Darby answered as he joined us. “And I agree. You don’t push people towards men. Even if you’re happy in your love life, you’re not one of those women who then want all of her friends in relationships.”

I nodded, understanding the point. “No, I hate that shit. People can be perfectly happy on their own. Do I want the people I care about to be loved and have that support like me? Of course, but pushing never helps. It just makes people feel more alone and isolated.”

“Who would you want to see find someone?” Hudson asked, searching my eyes.

Darby snorted. “Give it time. Everyone finds love around Tams. Izzy. Claudia. Sean. Marshall. Avril. Ellen.”

“They found love with each other, so that list seems more impressive,” I argued.

“Right, but they might not ever have found it without you,” Darby threw right back. “Like Zack and Ray.”

“No, they already knew their mates,” I reminded him.

“But they wouldn’t have found them again without you.” He knelt on the bed and pulled me off Hudson for a kiss. “And I know who you would say, and I have gossip for you.”

“Who would I say?” I challenged.

“White,” he said at the same time as Julian.

“That wouldn’t have been my guess,” Neldor admitted as he came into the room with Lucca.

Lucca snorted. “You missed how devastated White was when the council used her lover against her. She’s been wounded ever since.”

“Yeah, she really has. It’s a wound that doesn’t heal easily,” I whispered.

“Apparently, Kerym is planning to heal it and much more,” Darby purred, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“Get out!” I gasped.

He nodded. “I heard him gossiping to Rafe that Anya White melted his insides, and even if they’d only kissed, he was completely sunk.”

“That sounds like a disaster match,” Julian groaned.

“I disagree,” Neldor hedged, sharing a look with me. “He might be exactly what she needs.”

“Good point. She needs someone who starts a bit of trouble and will help her break out of her prim and proper everything.” I shrugged when Julian seemed shocked. “She’s spent summers with me and never showed more than her damn arms, Julian. Like never put on a swimsuit and just jumped in the pool. She’s too young to be that old.”

“That’s—good for her,” Hudson chuckled. “I was going to tell you that one of my cousins is gaga for Ara.”

“What?” a few of us gasped.

He nodded, sitting up with a shit-eating grin. “Yeah, they hooked up, and he’s so—he said he didn’t know sex could be like that and women could be so bendy . I just laughed. He wanted to ask about our sex life and if it was like a fairy thing or if he was lucky and how did he win a fairy over.”

“Food,” Neldor and I both said, snorting as we shared another look.

Seriously.

“That’s what I told him,” Hudson admitted before we all burst out laughing.

“I was actually hoping Ara and Juan might get together,” I admitted, shrugging when a few of them gave me shocked looks. “He’s come a long way, but I think he could be good for her after all she’s been through.”

“I was thinking Talila,” Neldor confessed, shocking the shit out of all of us. “She’s too much, and he’s pretty balanced now but knows how to get into trouble like Kerym and White balance.”

“If they knew this was what we all talked about,” Julian chuckled as he got the sofa ready to sleep on. “I always hoped Edelman found someone nice. He went through so much with his family and deserves a happy ending too.”

“I thought White had feelings for him maybe,” I muttered as Darby sat up against the headboard and I snuggled up to him. “She made a few comments that made me think that.”

“I think so too, but he shut it down too hard, and that can’t be recovered from, not after all this time,” Julian confessed. “I think he did it to protect her because anyone he was with would be a pawn to his family. I know that feeling well.”

Fair enough.

“Onas,” Neldor whispered. “I hope he finds someone. His whole life has been war and convicting criminals. He lost himself a few times to the darkness. My dad said that, and my mother pulled him back. I think Onas will never forgive himself that he didn’t do the same for my mother. I hope he meets someone who heals his heart so he realizes it’s not his fault.”

Like I did him. That wasn’t what he said, but it was all over his face when he fucking blushed. Damn the Prince of Darkness for being so cool sometimes.

“We forgot about Colton and Stefanie,” I said to change the topic. “I think that’s the perfect pairing and not just because she got hurt.”

“Yeah, she’s too serious, and he’s the right balance,” Hudson agreed, moving his hands behind his head.

I lost track of what he was saying, my eyes eating up the way his muscles moved and how thick his arms were. The way his Adam’s apple moved as he talked and how perfect his neck was. His shoulders were so ripped and his chest was seriously magnificent. Every inch of Hudson was male perfection and just—

“ Agra , you’re squirming against me completely turned on by your other mate,” Darby whispered in my ear. “Are you seriously getting wet ogling him while in my arms?”

I glanced up at him and licked my lips. “And if I am?”

We had lots of fun. That was the answer. All of us… Except one whose heart wasn’t into it.