5

Monday morning I had a meeting with the Witches and Warlocks Council. Well, technically, Julian did, but I was there to make sure no one caused problems and everyone behaved as they should.

I was going as his muscle… Who had gobs of guards?

Yeah, my life was weird.

I saw something out of the corner of my eye and teleported over to Izzy in a flash. I grabbed the man who just about plowed her over and flung him into the wall. "Are you having a laugh knocking into the right hand of the ruler of Faerie and not even apologizing?"

He couldn't seem to make his mouth work but then dipped his head. "I apologize, Your Highness, I didn't see her."

"Bull," I pushed. I snickered when the people flinched. "You didn't see someone you crashed into and almost knocked on her ass? Do you have some visual impairment? Or fine, you were engrossed in what you were doing, but you have nerve endings and felt crashing into another person, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course, I apologize."

"Apologize to her ," I bit out when I heard the truth in his mind. I bared my teeth at him when he hesitated. "You think her some low-born witch to social climbers, but she is the right hand to the future queen of all Faerie. You are second aide to one councilman on one council." I stepped closer and got in his face. "So who really has more value here?"

"At least I have better manners," Izzy grumbled. "Yes, how horrible of me to stand by the chair I'm supposed to sit in out of the way. However will you survive your power trip and ego having to put up with that?"

"I couldn't agree more," I purred, smirking at the guy. "And she is Isabella Thorne . If you are too ignorant to know what that means, I suggest you ask around and get caught up. Because if you get physical with one of mine again, I will put you in the ground, you fucking bully."

"I understand, Your Highness," he whispered, his face completely drained of color. "I apologize, Ms. Thorne."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure," Izzy grumbled. "I agree with Katrina's idea that we send the sexists and idiots to an island and don't send food."

That definitely sounded like something Katrina would suggest. It was hard not to laugh.

I checked she was fine and went back to where I was so we could get things started. I shrugged when Anya seemed amused. "I had to educate one of the council's aides."

"He won't be an aide much longer after this, Your Highness," she promised.

Even better.

She frowned. "It's unlike Dr. Craftsman to not be this early for an appointment, especially one of this importance."

"He's probably being dragged into something else about this weekend," I drawled. Several people tried to push and ask what that meant, but Anya simply nodded and moved on.

"Well, then I'm going to use the time wisely to be an annoying friend and skip the normal channels since I have you in front of me," she told me.

"You are always welcome to do that, Councilwoman," I told her. "Only you."

Her lips twitched, but she focused on what was in front of her. "The program for unknowns has been approved across the board. Now that there is something in place and working, all of the other councils are agreeing that any unknown found be turned over to the fairies' program to have a mentor and counselor to adjust to our world.

"It's shown great progress especially with some of your people actively searching for unknowns. Definitely better than the hostility towards them you faced and the shame we tried to hide or ignore as if that helped anything." I appreciated her saying all of that, especially with so many ears, but I was confused why she was bringing it up. "We want to expand it."

"Look for more unknowns?" I hedged, not thinking she would want to set a meeting just for that.

"No, having fairy mentors and counselors," she answered, shocking everyone there with me. "We both know I respect Ms. Thorne, and she has a special place in my heart given my bond with both of you and the time we've spent together. So what I'm about to say is in no way a reflection upon her—probably her sexist parents."

"Thank you for trying to spare my feelings, Councilwoman, but you can be blunt. The problem is the princess won't understand," Izzy interjected, smiling when I looked at her. "I got into Artemis because I studied hard. My academics were great. My power level was at the bottom for witches and warlocks. That's what she's trying to say gently."

"I didn't know that," I… Apologized? I sounded apologetic to my ears.

She snorted. "You wouldn't have cared, Your Highness."

"No, not about your level, but rooming with me must have made everything so much more difficult for you," I whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I never realized."

"Actually, several of us believe the opposite, Your Highness," Anya cut in. "Your relationship with Ms. Thorne—I don't think there's ever been a case of a fairy and a witch becoming as close as you have during such important developmental years. Understandable with how fairies are more reclusive and protective of their children, but the results are undeniable."

"I tested the highest power level of our graduating class," Izzy explained and then snorted. "Beside you. Of course."

"That's awesome." Then I caught up to what Anya was saying and frowned. "You can't give me credit for that. Izzy works harder than anyone else and is dedicated."

"Yes, but why is that, Your Highness?" a councilman cut in. "I respect Ms. Thorne as well. She is an intelligent, loyal, and fierce witch, especially overcoming everything she has with her family. But her focus was academics, not the magical side. We've learned that from her high school teachers. Yes, she deserves the credit for her hard work. Absolutely, and no one denies that."

"You're saying I was the fire lit under her?" I hedged, not sure that was fair.

Izzy snickered though. "You were, Your Highness." She winked when I looked at her. "From the first time you excitedly had us go write runes a million times on Doc's whiteboards, you pushed me. You have always pushed me and shown me I could do way more than I thought. And you were right. I'm more powerful than a few of the teachers."

I opened my mouth to argue it wasn't me but then closed it and snickered, shaking my head even.

"This is amusing, Your Highness?" someone asked, their tone tight. "We're paying you a compliment."

"No, sorry, something Julian said about my dad and me," I admitted, smiling as I thought of being like Lageos. "He said we were both born with an infuriating gift of pushing people further and further. I've pushed the commanders to step up their training without even realizing it or something."

"Infuriating is how close you're coming to our best times and training, Your Highness," one of the commanders grumbled. "We all accept you will have more magic than us, and you work harder than I ever did with my magic. But I train to always deserve my position, and you are getting too close to my levels."

"Morgan is training like a beast in his free time," Shael chuckled. She shrugged when I glanced at her. "I am as well, Your Highness. Yes, you and your father are infuriating . Even Prince Hudson at times how easily he does certain training better than fairies if we didn't have our wings. Your drive has no limits, and we all agree it's a positive force on many."

I wasn't shocked when my face and chest felt lava hot. Wow, that was all really nice of people to say about me.

Anya seemed amused by that but moved on. "Previously, this type of program would have been immediately shut down because no one wanted to be responsible for helping a witch or warlock grow power and then them becoming a problem. Now that you have invented a way for us to cleanse that works—the way it has been implemented works—"

"We've taken out that concern," I said, but mentally swore. Meaning we took out our reason not to get involved, and this was now something else fairies could handle for this world.

And the look I shared with the commanders clearly said this was a slippery slope they didn't know we should touch.

"I'll take back the idea and we can discuss it. Immediately, I have some concerns."

"We welcome them so we can formulate a possible proposal to fully present to you, Your Highness," one of the councilwomen agreed.

I shot Izzy a worried look and she smiled. "No one has pressured me or—that aide has an issue with me because I've been in some closed-door meetings. I was asked , and—I want my people to succeed as well, but I have the same reservations you'll have. Starting with the fact that there might be a way to cleanse now, but that doesn't mean people will . Some people want to be evil."

And that was our excuse to shut down talks should we ever want to.

"Yes, that's my main one," I fibbed. "We might need to invent some sort of…" I glanced at Shael who nodded.

"Gauge of how much buildup a witch or warlock's magic has. Yes, we've been discussing that already for our own security. We allowed people around you who had problematic magic and we didn't know. We want to not make the same mistakes in the future or risk Faerie. I will speak to our academic heads."

"Not Lageos?" I hedged.

"We can speak to him as well, but we invented a great many magical items, runes, and more before your father came into the lives of Faerie, Your Highness," she reminded me gently.

Fair enough.

I focused back on the topic at hand. "So that's my concern. Also, I wouldn't ever want this to be something people threw money at. No more of this elite everything that only the wealthy can have access to."

" Several of us agree, Your Highness," Anya said firmly. "Plus, it's clear that it worked in Ms. Thorne's case because of her dedication. That has to be a factor. No more giving a leg up to the lazy."

"Exactly, but more than that, Izzy always gave back." I thought of how to phrase what I was trying to say when I saw the confused looks. "From the moment we met, she's always jumped in, Anya. You know that. Babysitting hobgoblins. Helping me drastically as an unknown. All the countless—the havens wouldn't be without Izzy.

"The bakery getting going. Even Natalie's business. Helping fairies come back. She never stopped. I'm not saying people need to dedicate themselves like that, but there has to be some sort of give and take. Why should we otherwise? Because we can?" I gestured to the council. "So could you, but you have other things to do too."

"You're not wrong," Anya immediately agreed. "In my perfect world, it would be some sort of summer program for those who were towards the bottom of their grade and wanted to improve. And as you said, not bought with money but hard work. Ms. Thorne made it clear that part of it was the physical aspect you push. Being in Faerie—the complete package."

"The idea has possibilities," Shael accepted. "And certainly something for a small group to test the idea with this summer. That we select and check everyone is willing and deserving so our people aren't wasting their time. We also have been talking about the level of education since we've been gone."

Anya seemed amused and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't be polite now, Commander. I've heard your rant about our spoiled brats getting away with too much and the entitled parents making everything too easy for them and being too stupid to realize the damage they've done to our communities."

Shael simply smiled. "I was going to say it nicer in public, Anya."

"I appreciate your bluntness, Shael. Half of us here do. Just get it out."

So Shael did. She made it clear that she could bring the proof too and had access to old lesson plans she used to audit on behalf of the light realm to make sure they were knowledgeable about the supes of this world. Everything used to be more challenging from classes to the physical.

She wasn't picking on anyone in particular, but even sitting through some of the master's level classes at Artemis was ridiculous. She said they reminded her of freshman lectures she used to audit, and it wasn't her memory because she checked. And there was no more punishment system. Bad kids used to be punished.

Now they were just excused for being kids.

Julian came rushing into the room just as she wrapped up. I had forgotten that was why we were there, and I couldn't hide my surprise that he was fifteen minutes late for his appointed time. "Queen Sasha does not like to be told no."

I groaned.

Mrs. Rothchild was right behind him and bowed to the council. "Our queen takes full responsibility for Dr. Craftsman's delay and apologizes profusely for disrespecting this council. She was overly focused and didn't realize this was where Dr. Craftsman needed to be when he said it was important."

"These things happen," a different council member said, clearly wanting to know more. "We appreciate Queen Sasha's apology and respect for our time. We were able to handle other matters, and all is forgiven."

I was glad when they all agreed.

However , I told Mrs. Rothchild in her mind that I was going to spank Sasha if she bullied my mate when I wasn't there and about my damn wedding. She looked worried, so I'd called that one accurately.

Then went pale when I said I could always rescind my offer to have the Royal Performers play when Connor got mated if she was going to be mean.

"It's fine," Julian promised, figuring out what I was doing. He kissed my hair. "I got a bit snippy when she decided to change things."

"That doesn't make it okay," I growled. I thanked Mrs. Rothchild and the dragons, waiting until they left to sigh and then glanced at the council. "Excuse your aides and help and I will explain. The minds here are about to explode. You will not leak this or pull the petty shit, or so help me—do not test us this time."

"You need to remove the normal problems," Shael warned.

I met the gazes of those three normal issue councilmen. "I will come question you this time and file charges. I'm done." I was glad that I heard them all accept that in their minds. They would always hate me.

But they believed me.

Yeah, well, I hated them too.