23

Everyone at school was talking about how I'd pulled off a miracle to heal the little girl and had to kill my uncle in the same day. It was too crazy of giving life and taking life that were both my responsibility somehow that it blew people's minds. I saw more than one interview where someone said they thought being a princess was cool but now changed their mind.

They preferred to be a regular person and not ever have to deal with all of that.

Yeah, I wish I could say the same most days.

But we didn't let it out that I'd healed the girl. Shael basically called up the Witches and Warlocks Council and told them they shit their own bed by leaking stuff constantly and that was why we didn't tell them things we told others. So to not bother bitching about it again.

Part of me wondered if it was Anya so we always had a leg to stand on if we kept the councils out of what we were doing. Or she knew it was going to be leaked and did it first so it went out accurately. It wouldn't have been the first time someone had taken credit for what I'd done after all.

I could name a few of the council members that would absolutely pull the same.

Either way, the result was the same, and a mob of supes showed up at Artemis demanding I heal them.

Yeah, demanded. Like I fucking owed it to them.

No good deed really went unpunished.

"You know, you want to feel bad for them because obviously they've been through a lot if they have an injury no one else can heal," Izzy grumbled at lunch. "But showing up here and treating you like their fucking HMO is just so far over the line that I can't forgive it."

"Yeah, kinda where I am too," I whispered, leaning over and giving her a hug.

"Pull up the news," someone called out right as lunch was about to wrap up.

Magical screens appeared all over the cafeteria and different news reports were pulled up. I groaned when I saw there were a ton of people at the main location of HAVEN.

"While we have reports of people going directly to her school to hassle her, others have come here to peacefully wait for any word of a list they can get on," the reporter said as the camera panned the large group. "We've learned that it's mostly parents who are asking if they can do some sort of service for the fairies if their leader can meet their injured child."

Fuck. Just… Fuck.

I shot a glance to Edelman and he nodded, giving me permission to break the rules. I opened a portal to Shael, and after a few moments she walked through with the usual suspects. "So this is a thing, huh?"

"It is, and we're trying to bring you suggestions on how to handle it," she sighed.

I shrugged. "Be honest. This is a gift from the gods to help fairy wings that no one else can heal and has never been done before. I'm their leader, and that was what the gods wanted from me if they are willing to pay the cost. Nothing is free. And I have a world of people I'm in charge of and help. I'm the final boss people can't just run to and demand things from me."

"The people at HAVEN are not and have been very careful not to interrupt business," Talila clarified. "But we agree. The statement needs to be made, but we think—there are healers in Faerie who could use more training and experience. There are issues that they could possibly handle. We thought maybe like clinic days the royal healers can oversee?"

"If they want. I won't force that, but our budget is already full, so someone better be ready to foot the bill for this instead of just expecting we give and give. It takes food to recharge—all of it. But yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Anything they really can't heal—we can discuss my involvement and handling it. For children ."

I wouldn't budge on that. We had fairies who couldn't access their magic or fly, and it made everything worse for them.

Plus, I had a lot of other things going on. Maybe I could help people later or grow this ability better now that I wasn't waking fairies all the time, but for now, that was my answer.

And anyone who had demanded anything of me could go fuck themselves.

That went without saying, but I still always did.

But yeah, there would always be some sort of drama like this in my life. I was more focused on everything with my dad. Hopefully, he would actually show at class tomorrow.

Or maybe not?

The next morning at breakfast, portals started opening all over the place and I simply sighed. Seriously, what now?

"Your Highness, Amethyst went into labor," one of the majors reported after bowing to me. He glanced and saw several other parties. "I don't think people knew who was coming to tell you."

"Clearly," I chuckled. Then what he said hit me. "Really? Isn't that like weeks early?"

"Two, I believe, which is completely normal like humans," he promised. "Her mate is kicking up a fuss and you were clear to immediately let you know."

"Yes, thank you." I wiped my mouth and stood, telling my detail to handle everything that was just brought over for breakfast so it didn't go to waste.

All the fairies who went to school at Artemis stood and were giving their blessings.

"I don't get it? All of this over a unicorn giving birth?" a shifter said a few tables over, looking confused but also like we were all nuts.

I met his gaze head-on. "The royal unicorns are said to be the bloodline of the first fair folk the gods blessed Faerie with. They're not just horses but a lot like your animals, some more intelligent than a lot of the shifter animals I've been around."

"Plus, the parents are a historical mating that means a lot more to our planet than simply one royal unicorn birth," Neldor said from behind me, obviously having heard the news.

I blinked back tears. "Yeah, it's one of the wishes someone always had in the hopes of peace." I held my hand out to him and he took it before we did the portal dance to get to where we needed to be.

Immediately, I went to soothe Gambit and promise him that his mate was in the best care. He basically yelled at me to go help her and stop worrying about him being a stupid baby.

The unicorn really had come a long way.

"He threw the fit because I wasn't here," I told everyone. "He didn't hear anyone say they were rushing to inform me and I was supposed to be here."

"Pain in the ass," the caretaker said without any real malice.

Gambit was for sure.

Neldor was kneeling by Amethyst's head and promising that she would make it just fine through this. I saw the worry in his eyes as he pet her, but I ignored it and focused on the patient.

Well, I ignored it as much as possible. I think he was there when she was born and was probably thinking about her mom who had died when his mom had. They shared a special bond because of that, and I wouldn't ignore that.

It was more I was focused on my girl.

"Hey, pretty momma," I greeted as I knelt down as well. I nodded when she told me that she wanted to put her head on my lap. I sat cross-legged and kissed her nose when she let me scoot under her. "You're doing great. It's totally normal to give birth early. We've been monitoring everything and you're in great shape. It's going to hurt, but you can do it."

We kept whispering encouragement to her until the fair folk healer told us it was time for her to push… Or whatever unicorns did. I didn't think it was like that but more her body—I really had no clue. He said it was time.

It was still so weird to me that there were basically unicorn and fae dog veterinarians, but calling them that would be offensive when fair folk weren't animals. So yeah, my head exploded all of the time.

It took another hour, but then her baby came out and the healer promised everything was perfect with the unicorn.

"You did it," I rasped, kissing her face. "A baby boy and he's perfect. You did—"

"Your Highness, there's another baby," the healer whispered, his eyes wide with shock.

"Come again?" Neldor sputtered. "How was that missed?" The healer didn't answer, seeming too shocked to respond. Neldor clapped his hands. "Focus, man! What the hell is going on?"

The healer snapped himself out of it and met Neldor's gaze. "A miracle. There have only been a few twin unicorn births ever , Your Grace. We checked the fetus was in good condition and the heart rate—everything normal. We never thought to check for two."

"You did say she was larger than normal and that she might give birth early," I muttered. "Is the other baby okay?"

The healer didn't answer for a moment but then nodded. "Yes. Ready to come out, so we have to do this again and now. You can place healing on Amethyst to help her since you're bonded."

I nodded and did as he said, glad when Amethyst seemed better. "You can do this. You're a proud momma twice now. Bring your baby to the world safely and then you get spoiled and can rest. You can do this." I swallowed a flinch when my dad knelt down next to me.

"You bless the peace of Faerie with this miracle," he said gently. "You bring the vision alive your mother had with Neldor's mother even if they're gone. Hang on and push through it." He leaned in and kissed my hair. "I'm sorry I'm late."

I nodded, glad we could put everything else aside for this and simply enjoy the moment, be there for Amethyst.

It was a harder birth, but the healer promised she was okay… And so was her baby girl.

"One of each?" I rasped, kissing Amethyst. "Did you hear that? You had a boy and a girl. You did so well, Momma. You did amazing."

"You can give her more healing and then she needs to sleep," the healer told me.

I nodded and did as he said, telling Amethyst to rest.

She whined a bit and I nodded, promising her that I would not leave her babies until she woke up again. She was out moments after, knowing I would keep my promise.

People were curious though why she asked that.

I shrugged. "She found her mate here and knows it's her home now, but this was scary and painful for her. This isn't where she grew up, and she knows people still have a lot of animosity towards Elora. She doesn't want her being the daughter of Elora's unicorn or now these are the grandchildren to be a reason they get hurt."

The healer seemed angered by that.

"She's not in her normal head," I reminded him. "She just gave birth twice. She's pretty young for a unicorn, and a lot of people see her mating and now her being pregnant as the symbol of Faerie's peace. That's a lot on her. She gets to be overly worried."

"Yes, of course, Your Highness," he accepted. "Just the idea any of us could ever—it upset me when we've been so careful to take care of her and welcoming. I've spent so many hours here…" He simply sighed.

Yeah, nothing was ever easy, but we all had random thoughts or feelings when upset or in pain.

Unicorns were no different.

"Do you want to feed them, Your Highness?" one of the other healers asked me.

I chuckled at the huge bottle with whatever worked as unicorn formula basically inside and nodded. I moved over to the tiny unicorn that was smaller than me and accepted the bottle. "Hi, baby boy. I bet you're hungry, huh?"

"Family?"

I nodded tears in my eyes. "Yeah, we're family, sweet boy. We're going to be a happy family, so you don't worry about anything and rest and eat, okay?"

"Mommy? Sister?"

"They're both great. Your mom is resting and someone is going to feed your sister too. So eat up. We'll get you clean and then you can—whatever comes next."

"Sleep. Tired."

"Yeah, I bet you are. Being born looked exhausting."

He accepted the bottle then and got about half of it before he practically started snoring on me. I glanced over and found Neldor in the same boat with his sister.

I blinked back tears. "This all happened because you wanted me to ride my first unicorn finally. Did you ever imagine this would be how it all worked out?"

"No, not in a million years, baby doll," he rasped, love thick in his eyes.

And that made it clear he wasn't simply talking about the unicorns.

Leigh arrived with one of the new reporters from the fae network asking if the rumors were true. Neldor confirmed it and was about to give permission to let them be filmed, but I got annoyed.

"Of course, you should give the okay," he accepted, adding an apology.

"Not me. We're not their parents. That's not our call, dummy." I went over to Gambit, not caring about the gunk and gross all over me. I smiled at him. "They're sleeping. We got them fed and cleaned up, but do you want to come see your babies?"

The look of duh the unicorn gave me was hysterical.

I reminded him about being quiet and careful with them… And he reminded me that he'd been around a lot more unicorn births than I had including his younger siblings.

Fair enough.

He gently sniffed them and gave kisses on their heads, relieved they really were okay. Then he glanced around at the others before looking at me and giving the answer.

"I got it," I promised before turning to Leigh. "He says it's fine to get a bit of video so Faerie sees the miracle of his children, but he doesn't want video of his mate taken in her current state. She deserves to be left alone and only something quick for the babies."

To say the others were stunned was an understatement. But they accepted because… Well, it was that or nothing, and I wouldn't overrule my unicorn.

And they were smart enough to know that about me.

Gambit gave me kisses in thanks and my dad as well.

I smiled when my dad took my hand and we watched the camera guy take some footage of the babies.

"I'm glad there's new life after you had to take life, Daughter," Lageos whispered. "Your life will never be easy, and you will always have too much on your shoulders. I know the roller coaster is too much for you at times—and it would be for anyone smart and caring—but I'm happy there are these sorts of highs you get to experience. Your life will be so full that way."

He was right. He was absolutely right even if things were too rough, the highs were worth it, and I just had to remember that.

And every year it seemed like there were fewer lows as more and more people were finally on my side.

Most importantly? I was glad we were okay now. Really okay.