19

I wasn't wrong about the tons of tea. It was honestly ridiculous. Interrogating them was still going on when Leigh started putting everything out to launch the network. She went with a bang and shared a clip of the woman confessing she'd been having an affair with a commander from the Underground all over supe social media.

We all did. I had it all over mine that had millions and millions of followers.

And then it was just a countdown timer and how to access the new network on our supe dark web. That was it.

I was more than fine when the time rolled around, healed and even had a chance to get some really good sleep. I skipped the show of the first hour of what happened—including my intro of the idea—and tuned in when Shael did a press conference after to address it with all of the media outlets, including the new Faerie one.

She was brutal. She reminded people that the police held sting operations all of the time and no one forced criminals to participate in drug deals to get them busted. That was how the good guys trapped people all of the time. That they knew coming to Faerie was illegal but still did it anyways.

And for those who thought that wasn't a good enough reason, I had diplomatic immunity so to shut their faces.

Nice.

Also, she made it clear that people should start apologizing to me which shocked a lot of those gathered. She sighed, and I loved her sass.

"Many of you were offended when our princess said that the focus on the clip taken of her talking with Commander Stefanie seemed like a diversion instead of focusing on that we were taking out the Underground. How many of you called her paranoid or deluded? And yet she was completely correct that someone in the media was involved with the Underground.

"She was sleeping with the enemy which many of you accused our princess of doing! That woman covered for her lover and buried stories. Princess Tamsin is completely vindicated, and I would be walking around saying ‘I told you so' with each breath I took after all the grief she has received. So people better start apologizing. Fast."

"I hadn't actually thought about that, but I'm with Shael, and I'm annoyed for you," Hudson grumbled before sipping his coffee. "I'm just glad those assholes won't be on the air anymore." He frowned when I snorted.

"Oh no, yeah, they're all going to jail for a list of reasons. They didn't seem to get that. I had a list of text updates when I woke, and they are repeatedly demanding how much longer until they're released so they can get back to their lives and start doing damage control."

"They really are all fucking stupid," Julian grumbled, shaking his head. "I love that three are my species. Seriously." He smirked at me over his mug. "It was a bold move, Tams."

"Bold enough that you want to tell me I'm smart after breakfast and we shower together?" I asked innocently as I batted my eyelashes at him.

Yes. His answer was yes.

Hudson and Darby both tried to join us, and even my huge shower got too cramped. Hudson growled and stepped out, pouting as they did dirty things to me.

He was happy after I let him screw me on the bed until I passed out.

So was I.

It was a lot of crazy though as more and more came out. Those people had been dirty for a long time, and honestly the best interrogation tactic was to just poke them and let them all scream at each other. They let out so much when they did and wanted to be vicious because of the runes. Then we gave them a break before poking them for more details.

Good times.

The more that came out, the less outrage people had. The network was showing it all, and then other stations were picking it up, pissed they weren't getting the scoop or couldn't turn it all around.

Oh boo-hoo. Assholes.

The video also played explaining the formation of the new Faerie media company and the deal made. Also, part of my interrogation and showing how it hit me back and even edited to show Calarel agreeing it had to be shut down for my safety. Then Lageos agreeing to show me how to do it the right way and letting Leigh film it along with my schooling.

From what I heard it was well received and people were nice about it. There were a lot of stories about they were way worse when drunk, so that was nice. It was really nice that people could give me a pass now and again not to be princess perfect.

I read more of my mom's journal in Faerie over the next few days while I could and spent some time with my day simply relaxing. I asked him about Mom's knitting and he was a bit confused at first, but then he remembered and told me how often she cussed when she did it.

It was a nice moment, but I'd been noticing more often how his memory was fading. I didn't think it was only the darkness and what he'd suffered but just how half of his soul was gone and he was ready to let go. Humans talked about it sometimes when one of their grandparents died and the other faded fast, ready to be with their partner.

I didn't want to make him feel like I noticed or he'd done anything wrong… But I noticed. We just needed to keep trucking along and make it across the finish line.

Even if I wanted to keep extending it. I couldn't. I knew I couldn't.

"You are so much stronger than any of us could ever be, my sweet mate," Julian told me that night as he held me. "I don't know if I could ever let my da go as you are. Losing him broke me, but to let him go—"

"He's fading. He's ready to go. I can't be selfish with him and say I love him. That's not love." I swallowed a wince at how pointed that sounded, but I was glad he didn't take it that way, simply holding me and telling me he was proud of me.

He reminded me that there were a lot of good things coming and stuff my dad would get to see that others didn't have parents to support them in. He said it the right way and gently. I knew what he meant and I needed to appreciate the time I had left, not grieve—none of this was easy. He was being supportive and not condescending.

But I could tell Julian worried about going over the line. I could see it. I promised him that we were good and I knew he wished his dad was here. I understood. He wasn't being a jerk.

Truly.

What he said reminded me of our having a wedding after exams. I felt like I blinked and the semester was almost over. It was two weeks until finals started, and I was just—too much was always going on.

And we kept adding to it.

Neldor and I had both jumped multiple levels of power and had to be cautious of everything we did. We could have our wings back in, so there was that. People wanted me to wake more fairies, but we had the problem of where to put them without chaos.

It was time to face that we couldn't get everything fixed before we let people back into their homes. I would have to let some of them live in those lean-tos and hovels.

I wanted to open every palace and vacation home I had, but the logistics of that were a nightmare. Not every fairy was a good person—there was a reason the castle wasn't just open to everyone. Even the Guardians. There was priceless everything in my castles and houses. It was stupid to risk tempting people who were scared and recovering from war .

Finally, people heard me that we needed to think of something so we could keep construction ramped up. We were demolishing and rebuilding huge sections of cities for better housing. Where were those people to go?

One of the nobles said we had to let them into their houses and we could handle that as it came. That he would open his home to a couple dozen if they didn't mind doubling up. He could put protective magic on his expensive paintings and seal off part of the house they shouldn't be in.

And that was the answer. We could all do that. We'd been so focused on the mess that we didn't take a step back and figure out the solution was right in front of us.

It made me feel stupid if I was honest, but there was just so much .

People came out of the woodwork to open their homes when they realized that was the hold up to waking more fairies. I spent hours and hours unlocking barriers I put over housing and sections of cities once all the paperwork was in order and fairies were able to prove they owned the houses. It all started to come together much faster.

Which led to another huge awakening Saturday morning. This was probably going to be the last one before finals, everyone agreeing that more needed to be handled with getting the administrative side done and even the logistics to plan out where all the construction would be next. People needed notice and to make plans as well. It was all complicated.

Too complicated, but we needed to make it work… And I needed to accept some people were going to have to live in slums while we fixed the world.

It seemed like such a bitch move while I was looking at wedding dresses and excited about the cake I'd decided on after the hobgoblin bakery had made a bunch of samples. I was honestly all hearts and rainbows as I told the commanders how cute Julian and I had been tasting all of the samples and he wanted to make the flowers for our ceremony.

Yeah, they were shocked.

They would get over it.

The guest list was already getting out of control though for us to elope . My dad, Izzy, Darby, Hudson, Lucca, and Neldor. Then Iolas demanded to be there since he was my godsfather. Katrina hinted that she would cry if she wasn't involved. Irma too. Fine, I accepted that. Shael and Stefanie were hinting as well.

Well, I couldn't just invite some of the commanders even if I only liked some of them… Actually, screw it. It was my wedding.

But it also seemed wrong not to invite White if Katrina was coming. Oh, and Katrina was involved with Taeral now so we couldn't exclude him. Ara seemed like she hoped she'd get to see it just on my detail… And so did the rest of them.

And Claudia was with Izzy. But Geiger also looked sad he wouldn't be invited, but then that meant Cluym. Now it was getting weird if I didn't invite Mel and probably Sasha… So yeah, the guest list was spinning out fast.

"So much for eloping," I grumbled after Calarel muttered that she loved weddings and should be there to make sure everything went okay that day.

"Your demigod father could cloak and silence us so we're not imposing, Your Highness," Commander Talila offered. I couldn't even hide my shock. She had hated me! She simply shrugged. "I love weddings too and… We all need some happy. You making it with the warlock who hurt you—I think my soul has healed some that you worked things out."

"Praise be to the gods," someone else agreed as people got into place.

"I'm going to have to invite more of Julian's people. We weren't going to invite Nelson or Edelman, but if you lot are all—this is getting silly."

"You have a lot of people who love you both," Iolas chuckled. "Keep it informal. It's the formal you hate, Tamsin. Have it on the veranda of the castle overlooking the ocean and we can all bring food and just say your vows sweetly as you wanted. No speeches or spotlight things you hate."

I opened my mouth but then closed it. "You promise no speeches?" I blew out a harsh breath when they all nodded. I found Taeral in the group. "You need to reel in Katrina. She's talking floral arrangements and all kinds of crazy. I have enough stress." I pouted. "Julian wanted to make the flowers and be romanticable."

"We will help him—preserve them—whatever," Iolas promised. "And we can handle Katrina." He held up his hands in surrender when Taeral cleared his throat. "I meant Shael and Stefanie can sit on her."

"I would pay to see that," someone else snarked.

Oh, dear gods. Really? These people.

"I will discuss it with Julian," I finally declared. "I would validly skin him if he just decided all of this for us , and I'm not going to do the same to him."

"We're all in place, Your Highness," one of the coordinators told me, giving me a wink when I glanced over at the woman. She was trying to save me from being pressured and I greatly appreciated it.

Still, I got to work letting out my wings and ramping everything up. I felt more and more fairies wake. With this last group that we hoped to get the rest of a large city cleared out completely. It was one in the dark realm that most were waiting to get back to normal.

We had construction going on and more, but… It was difficult to open houses when there was a frozen fairy five feet in front of their door. Nothing was normal about that. So we were done with being fair and going round-robin, and we were going back and forth between the different realms and clearing full cities and surrounding areas in between waking more kids.

It was really the only way to keep things moving.

"Call more people," I warned people after the ringing in my ears stopped after I shut it all down. I nodded when they hesitated. "This was bigger. Much bigger."

"We're ready for a hundred and fifty thousand, Your Highness," Onas told me. "We do learn from our mistakes." He froze when I didn't respond. "Are you saying it's more?"

I ran my tongue over my teeth and met his gaze. "I don't have like a gauge or anything."

"No, but your gut is damn accurate, so what is your gut telling you, Tams?" Neldor asked.

"That it was double the hundred and three thousand. My gut is saying get more people here, and that's not happened before. My magic is… Sort of bragging. There was a large group on the outskirts of the city hiding out in—a farm I think? My magic kind of panted when it was done, and I got the image of Chief wanting a pat on the head after doing something good."

"You keep up this rate and we'll wake the last before spring," Stefanie muttered as she opened a few portals. People immediately came through and she gave orders to get more help and where to search for awaken fairies.

I recovered and accepted something from Ara. I thought she was handing me a sports drink, so I wasn't ready when it was a magazine. I caught it before it fell to the ground since it was heavy too. I swallowed a laugh when I saw it was a bridal gown catalog. "Izzy?"

"Yes, but I added a few that I really like and think would flatter you and are simple ."

"I didn't know you were taking input," Shael muttered, and I noticed Stefanie and Talila looking over as well.

"I'm not," I drawled. "No, seriously, if Sasha or Mrs. Von Thann hear that you all were giving input—you are not ruining my life and those women taking over. There is no reining them back in."

"I would suggest you have three final choices that you ask them which they prefer," Talila muttered after a moment. "The more you let them help with firm boundaries, the more they will get the itch out with and not just go crazy. It was how my mother handled my brother's crazy mother-in-law and he said it helped."

That was actually a great idea. "Or you can all figure out food maybe after I talk to Julian since apparently I was a fool to think we could just elope with a few people."

"You could, but the pouting you'll have to deal with after wouldn't be worth it," Stefanie muttered, her eyes dancing with amusement. "Irma alone, and Elasha wants to be a flower girl after she heard Esta is making the cake."

"Fuck," I groaned with feeling. There was no way I was turning down the hobgoblins. That seemed to amuse people around us, and I shot Stefanie a look that she played dirty.

And clearly, she knew it.

I told her I'm not sharing food with her in the next dozen meetings and she just snorted at me, knowing full well I wouldn't do it.

"You were right that there are even more on the outskirts," Neldor told me. "Get home and rest up and start your refueling before cleansing. I'm taking more squads to scour all over the area. We'll handle it."

I nodded, but he was already gone. My detail came with, but while Shael and Talila stayed to help coordinate, Stefanie came with and so did Morgan because… I forgot. He was going to send more from the hotels? Seriously, there was always too much going on.

Stefanie went through the portal just a step ahead of me while we were still talking about the catalog. Ara was a step behind me.

I crossed through focused on finding the next flagged dress and that was why I missed it. I'd stopped being the boss for a minute and wanted to just be a person enjoying being happy. Just for one fucking minute.

And all hell broke loose when I did.

Stefanie's magic went from nothing to full throttle when we weren't two steps from the portal. That was the only warning I got as her wings popped out. Mine did in response, and I went to throw up a barrier to protect all of us.

But I wasn't fast enough.

The only way I could explain it was she brought the magic to protect me first, so it was up from the ground to block me. I went the other way and dropped it from over us and down. That would matter later, but all I heard in that moment was the scream Stefanie made as magic more powerful than hers hit the barrier and it shattered.

Hitting her as she blocked me, knocked me out of the way.

My barrier came down the next instant and we were safe. I was about to yell at her for being stupid when I always had my charms and everything in place… But I didn't. I couldn't to wake fairies.

It was the one time I couldn't besides riding unicorns.

I threw out my magic even as I caught her, yelling for Morgan to heal her. The squad of fairies was down but alive, knocked out from what I could feel.

"The threat is still there, Your Highness," he argued right as an attack hit my barrier. He was pointing towards where it came from like he was going to go for them.

I grabbed his arm, feeling the magic now that it had touched mine. "No, they're related to me!" I nodded when his eyes went wide. "Heal Stefanie!"

"She cannot take me to Faerie," Stefanie stuttered out, her eyes too wide in shock as she shivered.

"I won't risk it," I promised as I threw magic out and caught the person who was still trying to attack us. I put up a barrier to drain him and let his energy charge me up as I used advanced healing runes on her. Morgan did the same, nodding he was with me.

I also opened a portal to my dad under my barrier.

He came right through and took in the scene, rage filling his eyes as he looked out at the threat.

"Dad, help me save Stefanie!" I bellowed, focusing him.

His gaze snapped to hers and he knelt down, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them and giving me one of pity. "I'm sorry, Daughter."

"No!" I argued. " No! "

"She will live, Your Highness," Morgan assured me, grabbing my arm before I could try and pump energy into her. He nodded, pity in his eyes as well. "I knocked her out. She will live."

Then what the fuck was the problem? Horror filled me when he turned her a bit and the bottom of her wing was completely gone.

"No," I rasped, covering my face. "No, there has to be a—"

"Your fast thinking saved her life, Your Highness," he comforted. "Your barrier came over her so only the bottom of her wing got clipped instead of all of them or her head . Her shield and wing took it. You deflected the rest and—"

"And was fucking around with wedding dresses instead of paying attention and worrying about—"

"Tamsin, you're allowed to live too," Morgan rasped. "Enough, she needs Faerie and help still. Your castle?"

"Yes, whatever she needs," I agreed before glancing over at where I'd put up the other barrier.

"He's gone," Lageos bit out.

Well, fuck . My barrier was still up. The fairy had used some sort of key like I had to other fairy barriers and opened a door in mine.

Fucking, fuck .