19

A few weeks after Julian and I accidentally mated, our happy bubble was tested with another meeting about his mother and the progress of the cleansing and healing therapy. I thought it was a bit fast after starting the third stage, but we hadn't had a full meeting with all of the players for the designated time they had wanted after the second stage.

So really, it was for that.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up when it was the full Witch and Warlock Council in attendance, not just those who were a part of the research. Anya had a blank face, but that in itself said a lot as someone who knew her, and I felt the fairies with me were tense as well.

"We should have been warned all of the council members were going to be in attendance," Shael said, her tone frosty. "We would have had all of the royal healers and commanders attend, not simply the ones involved."

"I apologize, but I wasn't made aware of the change until it was too late to alert people," Anya replied, accepting the chastising.

"Mutiny already?" I chuckled darkly. "That's unwise." I made sure the warning was in my eyes as I stared down the others.

"No, not mutiny," one of the councilmen I genuinely liked and rooted for said firmly. "Miscommunication on the part of many of us."

"A few being petty and testing limits," a councilwoman drawled.

Ahhh, the kids were starting trouble and making it like Anya wasn't a good boss or didn't have things under control.

Well, I could easily handle that. I looked at Shael and smiled. "After the meeting, find out which ones are the problem, and they are removed from any meetings going forward that involve issues regarding Faerie as is our right. I don't feel comfortable with them attending meetings I or Neldor will be at. For our safety, of course."

"Of course, Your Highness."

I smirked out at the room and took my seat. "Let's get started." It was amusing to see three warlocks with steam practically coming out of their ears wanting to explode at the move I'd pulled.

Geez, I wondered who were the problems?

Idiots really were easy to fuck with.

"They're showing significant improvement," Anya said, starting off with a bang. "Most notably, Mary Craftsman. She's retaining more information. Her caretakers have shown her videos of herself and she's—she's healing."

"I believe that, but you sounded like you have specifics," I hedged. "I'm not trying to embarrass her or air Craftsman dirty laundry." I gave Julian a worried look.

"Tamsin could focus on the next stage of the healing or fine-tune something depending on the specifics of what you're seeing is being healed," Lageos explained.

Yes, that was where my mind was.

Julian nodded that he understood and then nodded he was fine with them sharing.

Anya focused on me. "She saw the security video of Julian's cousins trying to coerce her with lies you were going to abort his bastard. She immediately scoffed that you weren't old enough to have a child, and while she hated you, you could never hurt Julian's child."

My mouth dropped open. That was huge.

And fast.

"I honestly didn't think she ever had that much faith in me," I admitted, wincing as I shot Julian an apologetic look.

He sighed. "She never approved of you, but she didn't originally dislike you. She pitied you. She… She felt you tried hard. I don't… I don't know, Tams."

I nodded. There wasn't a point to going through this. I focused back on Anya. "Anything else?"

"Yes, she remembered the cousins were ‘tossers' and ‘leeches' annoyed she wasted time on them. Things—context. She's remembering context. She's also—she knows something is wrong now and isn't fighting her caretakers. She's asking how to do more or what else could work."

"Wow, that's a lot fast," I whispered. I glanced at Lageos. "It really fucking worked."

He beamed at me, everyone in the room feeling his demigod side and several gasping because of it. "I never doubted you, Daughter. You don't know how to fail."

"You don't know how to let me." I winked at him and looked back at Anya. "Okay so—the others agree it's working too? No more pushback or wavering?"

"No, they all admit they were suffering now even, not just they agreed for lighter sentences or their family pushed them," she confirmed. "Even Campbell." Her lips twitched as she said that. "There hasn't been any decline in efficacy. We're seeing about the same amount of healing each time."

"Good, then we stay here for as long as we can. I'll see if I can come up with some sort of fourth level, but maybe everyone doesn't even need it," I muttered, sharing a look with my dad. "The turtle wins the race. It took years for this damage, and it won't—"

"Agreed. You're absolutely right, and if you are impatient and keep reminding us of that, we should have all taken that to heart and listened," he said firmly. "Some might not even need the third stage and keep on the second with the other healing and put in the work."

Yeah, good. I was glad when everyone seemed to agree with that.

"The discussion now is how to expand the program," Anya said, looking down at the pages in front of her instead of directly at me. "And the suggestion has been raised to broaden it to our prison."

"And more importantly, it's time the magic is turned over to us," Councilman Kempton declared. He was the asshole who made it clear that he thought I should answer to them as their pet fairy and I very much regretted allowing on the council.

Being fair and letting people make mistakes was really a pain in the ass sometimes.

I snickered. "No."

"I wasn't asking, Your Highness," he drawled.

"No, you were demanding it, but without any right or like leverage." I moved my elbows to the table and folded my hands before lowering my chin to them and batting my eyelashes. "Make it yourself then. Oh, you can't? Why is that? Because you don't know how? Right. It's fairy magic. So my answer is noooooo. Do you need me to say it slower? In another language?"

"I know about a dozen I'd enjoy telling you no in," Iolas drawled.

Hear, hear.

I ignored when the councilman was pissed off, but did a double take when Anya seemed shocked. "I'm not handing it over to the council, Anya. If you asked me to hand over the devices because you wanted to work with a family member or on something specific, I would. I trust you. We have trust built." I gestured around the room. "That trust isn't here."

"I understand that and accept it, Your Highness, but this is a good way for that trust to be built," the councilman who had been working with us hedged.

I glanced at the commanders who were there with me and Neldor and was glad we were on the same page. "I mean this without as much sarcasm as it would seem, but it's pretty to think so and a bit na?ve of you, Councilman." I held up my hand to hold him off. "First of all, prisons are notoriously corrupt.

"I can't think yours are perfect. So immediately, I'm a hard pass on that being the expansion. I wouldn't use it at our prisons, and we just had a major clean-up and reinterviewing. My next major issue is you cannot force people to heal. Focusing on prison implies you're going to make them, and I cannot support that. It has to be their choice and—"

"You're once again being a hypocrite when you forced your own mate's mother," Kempton drawled.

"I'd watch your mouth, Councilman, or we're going to have words about how you speak to my mate," Julian seethed. "And if I challenge you, remember, I can and have tapped into her power. So it would be a challenge you wouldn't walk away from."

I blinked out at the group and then slowly turned to look at Julian like he'd grown another head.

He let out a heavy breath and looked at me. "I'm tired of the way assholes treat you, my sweet mate. I can't—if they use me or my family as ammunition, I'm not allowing it anymore."

Lageos snorted. "He's actually a worthy son-in-law."

I bit back a groan when Iolas gave a grunt of agreement. I focused on the point. "It's not the same and you know it. She wasn't of sound mind to make the decision. The next of kin made the decision just like medical doctors allow. She had enough mind to know something was wrong and—just stop. It wasn't the same. If she wanted to stop now, I wouldn't allow anyone to continue it.

"That's the line and what I'm saying. And I feel strongly on this." I met Anya's conflicted gaze. "Because it's a slippery fucking slope. Lobotomies used to ‘help' mental illness. They did but destroyed the person in the process. This cleansing could do something to someone who doesn't need it and is just evil. Or if they have black magic. Or even that conversion camp bullshit for gay kids.

"At what point does forcing someone to cleanse cross into those lines because those people think they're helping too? They're fucked in the head, but they believe they're helping. I'm sure at some point they started somewhere okay and the line got pushed back too far. I'm saying clearly I'm not starting anywhere that forces anyone unless it's like Julian and Mary."

"I agree," a few of the council members said firmly, clearly surprising Anya and the other councilman.

One of the councilwomen continued. "This was why we thought we were invited to this meeting. We haven't been on the project and outside perspective is needed. You have worked on a miracle here. You're too close to it though. I've heard you both speak of it like this is a new penicillin, and I agree with the princess that this is like cancer treatment and people have to choose."

"That's a much more eloquent example, thank you," I accepted. "Yes, chemotherapy can have side effects, and changing your personality is a big change." I was glad when she dipped her head to me, clearly on the same page as several others were. "But this is fairy magic. I'm not handing it over. Not now. It's my magic.

"Professor Sontar can't even duplicate it right now. The royal healers can't either. So no, I'm not handing it over. I will allow trusted fairies to oversee some sort of expansion we all agree upon, but the trust isn't here to hand it over. Could that change? Maybe." I gestured around the room in a circle. "Maybe once there is real trust here.

"The same sort of foundation like I have with the commanders. But there are people in this room that just fucking demanded it of me like I'm your pet. No. There's not even mutual respect here. I'm not handing over my magic."

I waited until the ones I cared about accepted that before I looked at the councilman we'd been working with.

"The reason I said you were na?ve is anytime I'm involved, people use the chance to set me up to fail. Yes, it's healing, but just like in medical trials, things can go wrong. We just listed a few possibilities. All it takes is something completely not related to the healing or someone intentionally killing one of the forced participants and my head is on the chopping block."

"Again," Neldor said firmly. "And two people in this room are annoyed Tamsin brought that up like she just took away a great idea they had. So clearly, that was a plot of theirs. It was my first worry as well because the moment something went wrong, they would want to scan her, study her, and demand more access to her.

"Probably lock her up too and maybe have some sort of sham trial about killing one of your people, right? Not everyone here is a member for the best of reasons even if they passed our tests. We can't test for nice people since it's relative like Tamsin has already pointed out. So know that people try to trap us constantly, and that's why we don't release our magic like that."

"And given how badly it was stolen, used, and abused while we were gone, I cannot believe it was even suggested," Onas said, not hiding his disgust well at all. "I respect you, Anya White, maybe more than I have any witch before, but you know how deep this wound runs for us and how fresh it is. I would have thought there would have been more tact from you."

I cleared my throat when he seemed like he might have said more. "It makes sense given she saw the cleansing like penicillin as the other councilwoman said. This also isn't all she's had going on and we're all overworked. She's also protected us more times than any of us can count so remember that as well."

He dipped his head to me and then Anya. "The princess is right. I apologize, Councilwoman. Many of my personal stores were stolen. When I say the wound is deep and fresh, I mean mine. I shouldn't have lashed out."

"No, I appreciate your frankness and perspective. My colleagues and I always need it," Anya accepted.

"What other examples of improvement have been noted?" I asked the healers, deciding to get the meeting back on track. "Campbell. I'd know her best."

The royal healers took the hint and jumped on it, the one Neldor knew best looking at his notes. "She asked about the students she had been teaching on her work detail and her concern was genuine. Same with her family and how they've been instead of asking when they're coming to visit or annoyed they haven't sent word for her.

"Subtle but noticeable things like that, Your Highness. The fakeness is less. If I had to classify it specifically for all of the participants, it's as if there is a reduction in narcissistic tendencies. Less lies. Less being fake. More concern for others. Less selfishness. Less trying to manipulate all of us or playing the victim. More focus on the treatment."

"So being more self-aware, like the fog has lifted," I muttered, as I took notes. "To me, that says the same level of magic but maybe longer treatments. I would think a larger hourglass."

"Smarter," Neldor praised. "I agree. I think the level of—you have vast amounts of magic and higher levels being part demigod and heir of Faerie. Plus, your own damage to recover from. We need to get back into a routine of your cleansing as well and can now that this has maybe evened off. But if I was to make any adjustment to your device it would be for longer."

"Or a second flip," I mumbled, sharing a look with him. "I think that should be tested with mine before we consider it. Or the second level after a few more weeks on the third stage. That's an option too. Something with less power would be easier to recharge."

"I apologize for interrupting, but you put in a failsafe against that, Your Highness," the councilman interrupted, nodding when I couldn't hide my shock. "Clearly without realizing it."

"My magic tends to do that," I drawled. I frowned. "No, actually, I thought that it could be bad if someone wasn't careful Mary could be hurt if she flipped again because she wasn't in her right mind."

"That's true," one of the caregivers interjected. "The princess made it clear to watch Mrs. Craftsman closely and make sure we didn't allow that. She was concerned about there being an accident and someone being hurt."

"There was an accident, but the device wouldn't allow it," the councilman explained. "Not for six hours. We've tested it since. It only allows each person to use it once every six hours."

"Well, my magic did well on that one," I muttered, shocked but pleased. I smirked when my dad snorted. "Still, it's worth testing out and having a second one for another step. I think for now, we ride out the progress of this third-level device for as long as it's having good returns."

"I hate to suggest it, but I think speaking with Campbell and the two other warlocks will probably give you the best answers to decide," Julian hedged. He nodded when I gave him a look like I wanted to do just about anything besides speak with Campbell. "We can go get sundaes after."

"I really like that s'more one," I chuckled, smiling when he did.

We all agreed it was the right move, even the other nice council members saying they wanted to join us and ask some questions. They made it clear that they didn't want to overstep or join the project, but basically wanted to see the scope of it with their own eyes—get a feel of it. I understood that and so did Julian.

But he didn't let the three assholes. We were so over this shtick.

What I didn't expect was for Anya to practically drag me off to the side when everyone else was walking through portals. I saw the worried look in her eyes and threw a portal over us on instinct.

"You mated Julian?" she whispered. "Is everything okay or—"

"How did you know?" I worried, not hiding my fear that she figured it out.

Her gaze softened. "I wouldn't have known if I didn't know both your magic so well and have worked with you both so closely. He opened the portal—he has to because of the wards on the property and I felt your soul." She cupped my face and nodded. "Why are you so scared for me to know?"

"Not you," I assured her, patting her hand. "I would have told you, but we're keeping it to Faerie for now. It just happened and it was an accident."

Tears filled her eyes as I told her the real version of what happened knowing she locked things away and her father helped her since he was a fairy. She lowered her forehead to mine and congratulated me and told me to be strong in the same breath.

Yeah, that was fair.

I promised her that I was fine and we were okay.

Really, we were.

We joined the others, and after some dancing, we figured out a way for me to link with their minds to see what they felt while using my magic without my magic getting involved. Yeah, it was about as complicated as it sounded. Neldor basically put me in a bubble, and my dad used his power to link us so I wasn't the telepath in the situation, but he was.

No, I didn't really think that made any difference, but since my magic couldn't be trusted not to "help" when it should stay still, I agreed the extra precautions were needed.

And I was glad that I insisted on this step because the others were so busy patting me on the back on the advancement and progress, they missed something big. I kept my mouth shut until all four of them went through it.

"It's hurting them," I announced. "Not a lot, but it's physically and magically hurting them." I nodded when people looked at me with shock. I knew Calarel would trust me, so I waved her over to me and moved towards Campbell. The witch flinched and I simply smirked at her. "You don't want to help me prove that I made a mistake?"

She snorted and gestured for me to go ahead.

Yeah, I thought so.