8

Lucca was there next to me the moment people started standing and held out his hand to me. I let him help me up, but then he winked at me and hit something on his phone.

"Take a break, Tams," he said quietly when I went to object. Rita Ora's "Let Me Love You" came through the speakers and I chuckled. Only Lucca could get me to dance in a meeting this damn serious.

He pulled me away from others and spun me again and again until I was almost dizzy. Then it was a big bear hug that we swayed during. It worked for me and I needed it.

"You're doing great, cream puff. My brain was leaking out my ears and I'm not the one handling it all. Hell, I'm impressed with Juan expanding this much and building it higher in such a short time."

"Yeah, he was the right choice," I agreed. I took his phone when the song was done and put on Meghan Trainor's "Better When I'm Dancin'."

I bounced over to Izzy and Ara and smiled when they joined in. We even got Shael and a bunch of the captains to take a dance break with us. I blew kisses to my bear as he watched since this wasn't his type of dancing.

I also made sure to wiggle my butt at him a few times too.

Then we all started chuckling as we did a conga line.

I used the washroom then and grabbed a few more drinks, thanking the helpers who loaded my area with more food. I smiled when I saw some people still stretching and dancing. I made sure to give Lucca a kiss and thank him.

It also cleared my head, so when we got back to it, I knew what I wanted.

"We do twice a week for the farmers market—for now—but not more vendors. We planned security and the hours based on that many," I said firmly to the noble in charge. "We also need to remember Faerie comes first to feed and this is extra. Also, we can extend to do a night or day switch on those days for those who cannot come during the normal times because of work."

"I will see it done, Your Highness," she accepted.

"Expand the bakery however is needed. A bigger facility and storefront for wherever we do this, and let's have some fresh produce always available from the royal groves or whatever," I continued. "That should be a good compromise. Whatever correlates with what the bakery's seasonal options are. Yes, we can temporarily hire whatever bakers are available.

"But let's also make sure we're training people to take over. So put out the word in Faerie that we're looking for apprentices who would like to learn the craft and get into the trade. Even if they don't stay with us, that's useful education they can take back to Faerie. And let's get some input on items customers would like the bakery to carry after the success of the quiche."

"Well done, Princess," one of the commanders praised, everyone nodding in approval.

We talked over the rest and everything was about to wrap up on nothing but positive vibes, but of course someone had to ruin it.

"Now maybe you will tell us whatever Iolas is handling by himself that is bringing in vast funds for the realm instead of hiding it, Your Highness?" one of the commanders who still wasn't getting with the program and I hoped retired once things settled demanded.

"No," I chuckled darkly, staring down the asshole. I snickered when he couldn't hide his surprise. "Commander, I don't let people bully me. You could have asked me a dozen different times, but you brought it up in this huge setting live for all of Faerie to see. Most would consider that trying to embarrass the leader of Faerie."

"Others of us consider it insubordination and grounds to be demoted," Onas bit out. "The princess does not answer to us, and while we have all made that misstep given what we woke to, the rest of us have corrected our behavior."

I held up my hand to Onas and kept the other commander's gaze. "Others do know what is going on. Commander Taeral…" I frowned when the man flinched and glanced at Neldor. "I thought you were telling him."

"No, I was under the impression that—you didn't tell me specifically," Neldor replied.

I smiled at him. "If I tell my godsfather, you get to tell yours. Unless I say otherwise. That's fair."

"Yes, clearly, it's something shady and you're not the asshole here," Talila drawled. "Are you new to a monarchy and we're told everything? Even democracies don't tell everyone everything. The princess is generating income for Faerie. Yes, we should demand answers instead of simply thanking her."

I tried to hide my shock that she was defending me like that, but maybe I really had fully converted the woman to my team. "Plus, others had figured out the timing, so I'm sorry you're not as astute as your colleagues, Commander." I smirked at the guy when he frowned. "Shael, Onas, Talila, and a few others asked if the gods gave me another way to generate income.

"It started immediately after that meeting where I admitted the gods gave me visions and part of what happened was getting a few at once. Yes, a god gave me a way to generate more income for Faerie that doesn't fool or trick humans. However, given there is too much sentiment in Faerie still that I belong to the people and live for them, I'm uncomfortable sharing what it is."

I felt better when several people snorted.

And Neldor looked ready to rip the commander's head off.

That commander might have wanted to say more, but he saw that he didn't have any allies on this and backed down. He dipped his head to me and apologized. He was simply concerned and wanted to make sure I was fine.

Yeah, sure, buddy.

I noticed that Neldor and Iolas both moved towards that commander once people were leaving and the cameras were off.

But Hudson got to him first, throwing out his arm and blocking the path of the fairy. "I'm glad to hear that you're getting together your retirement papers to be submitted before my mate becomes queen because I'm increasingly uncomfortable with you being allowed in her castle, and that will become her home after she's queen."

"I've said no such thing, Prince Hudson," he argued.

"No, you have ," he chuffed. "This isn't the first time you've pulled shit like this. There is a way to politely question what is going on or even object to the path of her government. Commander Talila does a lot. Onas. Even Shael. You undermine your boss and try to embarrass her, and this time it was on a live broadcast in front of all of Faerie. It was clear you're retiring."

"Agreed," Iolas and Neldor said together, Iolas continuing. "After the princess has awoken all fairies besides the previous queens. That gives us a good month to start transferring your duties and getting more people under us to shoulder the load."

Neldor snorted. "What load? He always objects to the plans and just helps during emergencies. Other commanders are constantly killing themselves or taking on too much—Onas almost completely broke himself. But you don't seem to ever have a project. Yes, we need people to step in and make the gears turn and the machine work, but you work against everything mostly."

"Agreed," Stefanie, Onas, Taeral, and Talila said together.

Which said a lot since he was a dark fairy.

He looked like he might argue but did a double take when he saw I was standing there… And I was clearly listening to his thoughts.

I snickered when he swore in his mind. "I've always known this, Commander. It's not a shock that you continue to hate I'll run the dark realm, but you still worked for what was best for Faerie. Undermining me live like that scares people, and we're still in crisis. So I can't force you to retire, but if my mate says you're a danger, it's more than your thoughts.

"And I trust him completely, so you're banned from my castle and any residence of mine. You are not to be in charge of my detail or in contact with them. As of this moment, you're being frozen out from everything other than your immediate assignment. And if you pull a stunt like this again today, I'm demoting you."

"Accept it because we both know my mother would have done worse," Neldor warned. "My father would have had a much different conversation with you, so be grateful Hudson handled it well and I'm not mated to our future queen."

I was impressed when the commander met my gaze head-on.

"I won't be bullied either, Your Highness, but I do accept your decree because I did overstep today. I will consider today and my future after I have a bit of time to settle with this feedback and that it's not only from you." He bowed to me and then waited until Hudson moved to leave.

"That's about as gracefully as you can handle that situation," I muttered, sort of shrugging it off.

"You okay?" Hudson worried.

"Tired. This meeting was a lot and there's a lot more to do." I leaned in for a kiss which he gave me with a smile. "Thanks for the backup. I never know if I'm being sensitive or valid."

He cupped my face with his large, warm hand. "You're always valid, Tams, even if you're being sensitive. How to act on it because you hear too much is a hard line none of us could handle alone." He gave me another kiss. "What can I do to help?"

"Fruit tarts?" I asked hopefully. "That place with all the cheesecake-type fruit tarts and different varieties? I have piles of paperwork and budgets to review and I want healthy?" That last part was more of a statement but really a question if I could get away with calling a fruit tart healthy.

When it was Hudson, apparently I could.

"Sure, I'll get you healthy foods, shorty," he chuckled and gave me another kiss.

I promised I was fine when he showed up with boxes and boxes, Lucca carrying even more. They confirmed they were going to put some in the fridge and go snowboarding if I was really okay.

I gave them each a kiss and swore I was. I just wanted to get through some of the piles people were waiting on so I could dress shop in the morning with Stefanie with a clear conscious. That was really it.

However, it seemed I always needed some sort of fucking supervision.

"What the hell is this?" someone exclaimed, scaring the absolute shit out of me.

I jumped up and knocked a bunch of files over, swearing and ready to beat someone's ass for making me do that and my heart racing in my throat.

Neldor came flying into the huge dining room that I was using as an office and his eyes went wide. "Fuck. Okay, you saw nothing."

I recognized the man who had scared me but blanked on his name. He was a friend of Dalyor, Rafe, Kerym, and Agis's. He was the one they called in before to kick my training up and had helped me for a bit… While never saying much. He was there when people found out Neldor was my mate and the media snuck onto campus.

So what was he on about?

"Saw nothing? I saw a lot, Your Grace," he snapped.

"I'm going to beat your fucking ass," I growled as I bent down to get everything I knocked over. "Now I have a mess—"

"Tams, focus," Neldor growled as I stood with some of the files.

I frowned as he used his magic to practically throw the fairy out of the room… Except the damage was done and he alerted people there was a problem.

Morgan and Onas raced into the room even with Neldor in the doorway since it was an oversized double one. The graceful fairies just about tripped over each other.

Then Shael, Dalyor, and others piled in and had the same reaction as them.

I winced as I saw all the empty boxes on the huge fourteen-person table. "Okay, let's settle down. I've done way worse than scarf down twenty fruit tarts."

"Fuck the fruit tarts," Onas whispered. "Why is there a pile of fucking diamonds over here, Your Highness?"

I set down the files as my vision got blurry. "Nel, something's wrong."

He caught me before I went down. "Get Calarel here now!"

"She just used too much magic," Iolas told him. "Onas, fuck the diamonds and help us!" Iolas gave me some energy, and a moment later I was holding a box of my crystals which I quickly absorbed.

I blinked at Iolas. He shouldn't have been able to give me magic like that. I was too powerful and only my dad could.

"I'm your godsfather, blessed as such by your mother and the gods," he said under his breath.

Okay, that made sense and good we kept it a secret too.

He helped me to sit and I blinked around, shocked it was dark outside or maybe so dark outside. "What happened?" Iolas asked.

"What time is it?" I mumbled, feeling for my phone but remembering it was on the table.

"Nine," Julian said as he came into view with something to drink, nodding when I couldn't hide my shock. "I texted you asking about dinner, Tams. You responded. You said to just bring you some leftovers because you were making good progress and didn't want to interrupt your flow."

I opened my mouth but then closed it. I took the pop from him and chugged about half of it. Calarel arrived and checked me out, saying I needed to seriously fuel up.

I looked at Julian then. "I think the diamonds are too easy for me that I can space out like cleansing. I remember replying that, but I had no idea it was dinner or… The meeting was an early lunch and we went for…"

"You've been working for over five hours. Are you saying you were making diamonds that whole time?" he whispered.

Onas snorted. "The whole dining room floor is fucking covered in them with huge piles in the corners and overflowing the end of that large table."

"Shit," I hissed, glancing around at all of the people who now knew I could make diamonds. "Fuck, fuck, fuck ." I rubbed my forehead. "I was just eating and reading, and it seemed like wasted time. I thought I'd make some here and there to cover the additional funds for the new rest stop maybe."

" Agra , you—" Darby started to say, but I interrupted him and focused on Iolas.

"You said we could get more money if they were better clarity or whatever," I said with a whimper. "And they all have different things for being lab made with the fancy vivid or Truly Brilliant designations. I just wanted them to be worth more since I can't make them bigger yet." I broke down sobbing.

Hudson pulled me onto his lap and begged me to eat. He went so far as to say the pizza would be sad if it got cold waiting for me to eat it.

"I messed everything up," I cried to him as I ate. "I'm supposed to wake fairies in the morning and I messed up again. This is why everyone hates me. They're right that I can't do anything right. I just wanted to make money for the rest stop and I ruined everything."

"Shorty, you didn't ruin anything," he whispered as he hugged me tighter. "Stop, just stop, okay? River is very upset right now and is worried about you. You're too low on fuel."

"Don't be sad, River," I mumbled as I snuggled closer and practically stuffed the rest of the slice in my mouth. "It's good."

But I had a full mouth, so it was more "Mhph ood."

I guessed that they could figure it out. I felt more in my head after a full pizza. "I didn't even get to taste the tarts. I just stuffed my face and did work. And that asshole scared me and I knocked it all over! It's a huge mess, and I don't know how to reorganize it."

"We'll handle it, Your Highness," Rafe promised. "We'll look it over with Darby and Prince Neldor and make sure you handled what you should and get it to who it should go to."

"And we'll get you more fruit tarts, agra ," Darby added.

"Sorry." Again, it didn't sound like that since I ate more, but… They were smart.

"And you've ruined nothing, Tamsin," Iolas said from a few seats down. He had a bunch of diamonds in front of him and was looking at one with that little magnifier. He turned to me and smiled. "We'll sell this one diamond for ten thousand. There's a hundred of them here and—"

"That diamond is worth way more than ten grand," Lucca argued. "How can you lowball her like that?"

Iolas raised an eyebrow at him but then chilled out and took in the mood of the group. "This isn't a natural diamond, it's a lab grown one. They don't have the same value. So you need to halve what you're probably thinking. This is also an under the table deal, so we don't get top price when we're doing this sneaky and to avoid taxes."

"That sucks," Lucca grumbled and pouted for me which I thought was adorable.

"That's life," Iolas chuckled. "The distributor will probably sell this for twenty grand to whatever jeweler or customer. It's D color and VVS1 clarity. It's just over four carats and amazing."

"I have no idea what that means," Darby admitted. "Lageos was more worried about the vibe or history of everything we looked at. He was very specific that he didn't want any of that touching his daughter." He shot me a look and then glanced at my hand before focusing back at Iolas.

The hand that wasn't wearing his engagement ring. I still hadn't put it back on.

And it was time.

Probably past time. I'd been so distracted with everything else, and now that we were back to sleeping together—sex and at night—it was time to wear it.

Julian noticed the tension and jumped in. "D is the highest rating for a white diamond. It means colorless. D, E, and F are all colorless designations and cost the most then. VVS1 means very, very small inclusions. There's two in that category, and they're the best before flawless." He shrugged when everyone looked at him. "I needed to learn."

For me. I nodded and ate more pizza.

"So as I said, you've ruined nothing, Tamsin," Iolas said gently. "This is a million dollars right here for Faerie. You've already grown to making three and four-carat stones."

"Only a million?" I whispered, disappointed in myself that I only did that and was in this condition. What was going on with me?

Hudson chuffed and stood with me, telling me to be quiet when I objected. He brought me back to the dining room I'd been working in and my gaze immediately locked onto the huge table… Half of it covered in diamonds.

"Okay, maybe I didn't fail and I'm not weak," I blinked.

Shael burst out laughing from the floor. She stood when I glanced at her. "Look in the corners of this room, Tamsin!"

I did and felt lightheaded. Just the corner nearest to us was comically loaded with diamonds that the captains were trying to clean up. Shael and Onas were working on another corner.

Dalyor stood from the other corner with what looked like a large bath towel loaded with something. "This is like fifty pounds."

Darby pulled out his phone. "Turning that into carats, and Iolas said each stone was about four carats that's just over twenty-eight thousand stones, agra ."

"And they're worth maybe ten grand each?" I whispered, blinking at the ridiculously overloaded towel.

"Even if you say eight grand for bulk discount or making deals with others, that's almost two hundred and twenty-seven million," he whispered, blinking at his phone before staring around the room.

"You just funded a lot more than a rest stop, Your Highness," Dalyor said gently.

"Yeah, but they can't all go on the market at once," I hedged, tapping Hudson's arm to get me out of there. I was glad when he understood and brought me back to the kitchen.

Iolas gave me a soft smile. "No, not all at once. We'll do some here and there, but that's security for the future of Faerie. I still have some of the smaller diamonds to sell and those are easier to off-load, so I will start making other deals. We just started this. You can learn to do bigger and maybe without such clarity. Or colored diamonds sell well."

"Going through someone else is stupid when you could just sell these," Agis complained as he set a damn pillowcase on the table.

"No, that would be stupid because companies have to be inspected like organic farms for their certification," Iolas said, his voice cold. "Their machines tested and certified." He crossed his arms over his chest. "How would you like our machine making these to be tested, Captain?"

"Right, sorry, still in shock," he mumbled, dipping his head to me as well.

I felt myself after another pizza, trying not to be embarrassed for crying and acting like I did. Also, that I hadn't seemed to retain anything. I knew Onas had been upset about diamonds everywhere and then was shocked.

Magic really was so weird sometimes.

Neldor came in through a portal loaded with bakery boxes and Kerym right after him. He sat the first bag with two right in front of me. "These are croffles—croissant waffles that are stuffed and topped. They're a new trend in South Korea."

"Which is open and lively given the time difference," Julian muttered. "Well done. I was confused why you immediately left with Morgan."

"Sorry, Nel," I mumbled as I touched the box.

He leaned in and cupped my face. "Baby doll, please stop apologizing. I'm sorry that I'm not strong enough to help you. Thank you for doing so much for Faerie. You're a miracle, and this—this is a huge future for our planet. You'll get it when you fuel up. We can reschedule tomorrow. Let's push it back a few hours and you can get your dress first."

"Yes, good," Shael agreed. "That's—we'll start alerting people that we were working with the princess magically and it went a bit far with her latest power jump, so she's having an easy morning and will come wake fairies at lunch."

"Sorry," I mumbled again.

"Stop apologizing, Your Highness. This is nothing and more than worth the miracle you performed."

I was glad people felt that way… And apparently, I wasn't fully back to myself.

But I was after having my croffle. I blinked at it and couldn't get over what I was tasting. It was like taking the best parts of morning carbs, stuffing it with filling, and just going crazy.

I fucking loved it.

I blinked and two were just gone. I completely inhaled them with moaning and butt wiggling. I went to move to my own chair when I realized how that was teasing Hudson, but he hugged me to him.

"River's not okay yet," he grumbled.

"I'm okay, beastie," I promised but stayed on his lap.

The captains helped me get all of the files and papers reorganized. I confirmed that I did really pay attention to what I was signing. I didn't blame them given how out of it I was. I was just hyperfocused on the documents and not my magic.

Taeral came through the portal with more bakery boxes… And Katrina.

"I told you alone," Neldor snapped.

"I didn't think Katrina counted when the princess tells her everything," Taeral countered.

"She didn't tell me that she robbed a jewelry store or…" Katrina blinked at what was in front of her and then my face. "Really? You can make diamonds now?"

I snorted. "A god gave me a vision on how to do it so we didn't con humans for money. It's way more complicated than just I can make diamonds. They're lab grown ones, so… I'm not sure why the god thought that better." I shrugged and had another croffle.

Katrina didn't seem to know what to say for several moments. "There is wine in this residence, yes?"

I wasn't the only one who laughed. That was such a Katrina response and I loved it. She actually fainted when someone showed her the dining room, and I felt bad about that, but also glad I wasn't the only one acting over the top?

Yeah, maybe that.

I was glad when all of the paperwork was fixed and even delivered where it should have been. I had a tiny pile I could handle in the morning over breakfast… Which apparently was going to include all of the carbs in Seoul.

Neldor bought out the croffles—which I needed in my life again—and Taeral came with crazy macarons. Huge ones stuffed with cream and fruit and nummy.

Morgan arrived with donuts. All the donuts and had to go back and get the rest of what he bought. The shop had forty different types and he got five of each.

Even I couldn't eat that many donuts… In one day at least.