by Amelia Shaw
I frowned at the change in attitude and tone. Tavlor was only half Fae, but was that the better half as far as the wolf shifter’s attitude went? Or the worse?
“Ava is deciding on whether she will become the official heir to her father, or if she will hand the mantle over to a man of the Council’s choosing,” Tavlor said.
Robert’s gaze narrowed. “I’m surprised it would even be a choice to be considered,” he said with a sneer. “But what does that have to do with me?”
“She wanted to meet some of the people from the realms the Council oversee,” Tavlor answered smoothly. “And we thought it prudent to her education that she meet you.”
“You mean control, don’t you?” the shifter corrected him with a bitter tone. “She needs to meet the people and the realms she’s going to control.”
Tavlor didn’t blink, of course. Didn’t even flinch, like he expected this.
I couldn’t help but take the bait. “Exactly!” I exclaimed. “But can we go back a step, Robert? Why would you assume I’d jump at the chance to be High Warlock?”
Assuming I’d read him correctly in what he’d just said.
He moved on his large armchair so he was facing me directly. The original softness and warmth was gone from his face, and there was now an aged weariness I hadn’t expected to see.
“The High Warlock has an enchanted life. Power. Wealth. Status. His own realm,” he said. “What isn’t there to jump at?”
I wrinkled my nose, trying to remind myself that he and his people had been suppressed by the Council for a long time, longer than I could imagine. “You mean the rules and regulations? The fact that the Council will use me as a puppet and essentially, I’ll have no real power? Or the fact they want to marry me off to some... asshole of a Warlock I’ve never met? And I have to produce the next one, of course. A boy. Only one child. It’s all in the contract. I know that means nothing to you...”
I let my words hang in the air, because he was a man. He’d probably mate with anyone, not caring who it was, if it meant good things for his people.
“But I’m already in love,” I continued, “and I don’t want to give him up just because of some stupid rule in an ancient text that has nothing to do with what I can do for the people in my realms.”
Robert slid forward, sitting on the edge of his seat. “What did you just say?”
I grinned. “Um, which part?”
“You said that the High Warlock is just a... puppet?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much. The Council pulls all the strings. And that is so not the way I roll. Even if I did accept the position, they’d probably have me kicked out within the week for stirring things up.”
Robert hadn’t taken his eyes off me, and as he swallowed awkwardly, I noticed a woman hanging around in the background. She kept looking down at her hands, trying to busy herself, but I could tell she was listening in.
I glanced up at her, then back at the Alpha. “Do you get to choose who you marry?”
His demeanor changed completely at my question. He sat straighter, prouder, and held out his hand. The woman who’d been hanging around in the background stepped forward and took his hand.
She stood tall and proud. She was also visibly pregnant, her bulging belly pressing against her long, thin dress.
“Hello. I’m Ava,” I said with a smile, wondering if I should stand up as she was, but deciding it was better to stay seated unless requested to change.
“I am Jennifer. The Alpha’s mate.”
Something tickled in the back of my mind, an old lesson of my mother’s. “Do you mean, fated mate? Or... how does it work here?” I lifted my hands. “I grew up in a totally private realm with only my mother for company and she wasn’t exactly forthcoming about all of this. So please excuse my ignorance.”
“How do you know about Fated Mates?” the woman asked, cocking her head like a bird.
I shrugged. “I remember my mother teaching me something about it when I was young, and it stuck.”
Bella had dismissed the notion as nothing more than biological urge while Courtney was young and thought it was gross. “It was such a beautiful ideal. Though, I’m not much of a book worm and don’t remember all the details, I’m sorry.”
The mate and the Alpha exchanged glances, then she spoke. “Yes, we are fated mates.”
She looked considerably younger than the Alpha, but what did I know about wolf genetics and aging?
“And is this your first child?” I asked, gesturing to her swollen belly.
She laughed. “No. We have five others.”
“Five.” I gaped at her. “Wow. You’re amazing!”
Her face lit up with a smile, then she tugged her smile down as she looked at her mate with regret. It was obvious they had no intention of liking me.
I slid to the edge of the couch and addressed them as honestly as I could.
“Listen, the main reason I am here is to find out what sort of damage the Council has done over the years, and if I want to be part of a solution,” I admitted. “Because being the High Warlock will mean basically giving up all my freedom, and then I’ll be fighting tooth and nail for the rest of my life to help people the Council doesn’t want me to. I want you to know that despite this legacy, I am on the complete other end of the spectrum. I am aware I have to prove myself to you, but I wanted to tell you myself.” I caught my breath. “So please... help me understand what your life is like. What would you change? If I had the power to help, what help would you need?”
The Alpha and his mate exchanged a look.
Then the Alpha asked me, “Are you serious?”
“As a seizure.” I said, using one of my mother’s old expressions.
“You want to know... how to improve our lives?” he asked again. It was as though the thought was incomprehensible to him.
I frowned. “Well, yes. Unless you think your lives are perfect, and don’t want anything to change.”
I bloody well hoped that wasn’t the case. How could anyone be happy to be so poor, so undernourished, so...
“No! We’d change a hell of a lot if we could.”
I cocked my head at the Alpha. “Again, excuse my ignorance, but why don’t you?”
These men were strong, and fast, and capable. The Council had to have something to do with how badly they were doing.
“Why do you think we don’t?” He threw his arms out carelessly, his eyes at half-mast.
I grimaced. “It has to have something to do with the Council.”
My voice was flat.
“Of course, it does. They put taxes on everything we make and try to sell. They use magic to destroy our lands and crops when we don’t pay. We can barely grow enough to feed our children, and they take the animals we raise for meat.”
I shuddered. “That’s disgusting. How are you surviving?”
The men around me, who hadn’t made a noise since I arrived, chuckled.
The Alpha laughed in response. “We’re tough. Let’s just say that.”
I slid along the couch, getting as close as I could to the power couple.
“Tell me everything,” I said. “Don’t leave anything out.”
Chapter 17.
THE ALPHA DID SPECIFICALLY as I requested and told me everything about the struggles their pack face. The forced labor. The fight to stay alive. The restrictions on trade and lack of technology or electricity and other comforts. By the time we got back to our realm in my father’s offices, I was exhausted.
I flopped down on the couch, ready for a shower if only to wash the day away. “I didn’t think it could get worse than the Fae realm, but freaking hell... seriously.”
I rubbed my hands over my face and groaned.
Those poor people!
Thinking about them did nothing to help me make my decision.
I pushed myself to a more upright position so I could accept the drink Tavlor had made for me. Some sort of sweet liquor. I needed it.
“Thanks.�
�� I took a sip and hummed. Yum...
Then I looked up at my father, who was taking his cloak off and hanging it on the wall in his office. He seemed much more relaxed than I was, as though he was used to seeing and experiencing such horror stories.
“How the hell have the Council gotten away with treating people like this for so long?” I demanded of him. He had to know. Surely? Was he complicit? Maybe he didn’t want to be, but what could he do? He was a puppet, after all, and he seemed content to be just that before I showed up.
My father conjured a glass of wine and took a long drink of the blood colored liquid, before coming to sit with me on the couches. I wasn’t sure if his silence was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I knew it was bad...” my father said, shaking his head, “But I have never travelled to the realms and spoken to the people before. I never thought it was my place, which, thinking about it now, is preposterous. I used that as an excuse so I wouldn’t have to see what was going on for myself. It was...” He took another long sip.
“It was terrible!” I finished for him. “Did you know that the Council rule their people like this? With an iron fist? With an unforgiving attitude? With complete disregard for human life?”
He shook his head. “No. I truly didn’t believe it was this bad.”
“We take their food!” I exclaimed, still shocked by what I’d been told. My fingers shook even as I tried to bring the glass to my lips. It shook too much for me to get a proper sip in, which was okay anyway because I still had more that I wanted to say. “With all our magic, all our resources, we make the shifters do all the hard work, then take the food they need for themselves so they have nothing left.”
He shook his head. “Food made from our magic is not the best. It drains us, and nutritionally...”
He let his voice trail off.
I knew all that! I wanted to scream. That wasn’t the point. My mother had died because of her wasting all her magic and energy to sustain us. That was not a good enough excuse!
I glared at him. “Are you serious right now?” I asked, my voice growing soft. “You are justifying the fact that we are starving a whole realm of people, for our benefit.”
He shook his head. “No. Not at all, I’m simply...”
I put my drink down and crossed my arms over my chest.
“You’re what?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at him. Deep down, I knew my father wasn’t the bad guy, but at the same time, what he was saying wasn’t helping things. “Making excuses for the Council? For yourself? This is disgusting. And it has to stop.”
I got up, nervous energy now replacing the exhaustion of the day. “Someone has to do something.”
And it was obvious no-one else cared. No-one even knew, and if they did, they were bigoted bitches like Mallory who thought of the Shifters as a sub species. Little better than animals. So why would they help them?
Tavlor stirred his drink with a silver spoon. What he was having, I had no idea.
“No-one is going to do anything, Ava. Unless you step up,” he said in a gentle voice. “Your father is un-liked by the Fae and the Shifters, although with a lot of work, we could probably change that. But if you allow Cedric to step up as the next High Warlock, things are guaranteed to stay the same. Or they’ll get worse.”
“Worse?” I groaned, rubbing my fingers over my forehead where the pain was growing. “How could things get worse?”
What more could the Council take from these people?
My father laughed. “You obviously don’t understand much of our history, Ava. The Council have established dominance over the Fae and the Shifters with wars. Death. Using their power to force people into submission, for centuries. Yes, things are bad where they stand currently, but at the moment, there are no wars. No un-necessary deaths. This is peace. And it may not be a good sort of peace, but it is something.”
I glared at him. He couldn’t possibly be serious.
“Only people living in fear, poverty and starvation,” I said, sarcasm dripping out of my mouth. “Yes, so much better!”
I rolled my eyes for effect and kept on pacing. But he was right about one thing: I didn’t know a lot about the Council’s history, but it was something I needed to find out about. I couldn’t change anything without knowing what happened first. I needed to work backwards to understand or this would all be for nothing and everybody involved would have to go and repeat the same thing over and over again. Nothing would be done.
I glanced over to Tavlor, who was sitting quietly, sipping his drink, his brow furrowed.
“What are you thinking about Tavlor?” I asked.
I tried to get the edge out of my voice, but I didn’t do a good job of it. I was still buzzing with frustrated energy despite myself.
He met my gaze and I saw the trouble, the indecision swirling in the dark depths. “I’m thinking... that you’ll never be happy unless you change things to be more fair,” he said. There was no tone to his voice, no reluctance, no sadness. It was as though he was simply reciting facts. “More equitable. And even as the High Warlock, that’s going to be hard. You would be fighting against the Council, every day of your life. But that’s something you want to do, isn’t it, Ava?”
His gaze penetrated deep into my soul. He knew me. He got me.
There was a pile of guilt gathering in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t do much of anything unless I gave up the right to be with Tavlor. And while I wanted to help, I couldn’t give him up, either.
“Is that something you could do?” I asked. I couldn’t dwell on what I could and couldn’t have, not until I figured out what I could do and whether it was worth it or not. “Fight for the people in those other realms, every day? Against the Council? Against the witches and warlocks that want to stay on top of food chain with little to no effort on their behalf.”
He nodded fiercely, his mouth set in a straight line. “Yes. I was born for this.”
“A fighter, you mean?” I asked with a smile.
Considering my path, I couldn’t have picked a better life partner for myself than a warrior like Tavlor. It was exactly why I needed him by my side.
He nodded. “Yes, and a man shunned by the Council, by the Warlocks I’ve served. Half Fae, I have the ability to move between each realm, each community, with ease...”
“And be stronger than both,” I said with a grin. “I love that about you.”
He smiled gently but didn’t respond. He thought my beliefs about him were all in my head.
I slid my gaze over to my father. “Dad, obviously no-one has ever told Tavlor how powerful he is, nor encouraged any self-esteem in that area,” I pointed out. “To me, it’s obvious, but could you help me out and play the parent role for a moment, and tell him the truth?”
I raised one eyebrow and waited. Poor Tavlor had basically been raised an orphan, with only a semi-affectionate aunt for company. Of course, his confidence was lacking, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary that he was an incredible man.
He needed someone other than me to tell him just how amazing he was. I could go on and on about it, but for some inexplicably annoying reason, men seemed to have this thing about being told by someone other than their partner before they believed anything.
My father turned towards Tavlor. “You know that you are one of a kind, Tavlor,” he said. “I would not have hired you to be the head of my guard, my personal body guard, unless you were up to the job, if I didn’t believe in you.”
I groaned internally. Not exactly the way I would have complimented him, but okay... I did put my father on the spot, after all.
Tavlor shrugged. “I was told you had to hire me as there was no other place for me to go.”
My father stared at Tavlor, then his jaw dropped. “Who told you that?”
Tavlor turned to my father with a frown. “My aunt... your wife, everyone.”
My father said some sort of expletive that I didn’t quite understand, but I knew the tone.
; He shook his head. “No. That wasn’t the case at all. I had to fight to get you! They wanted you as a teacher at the college, or fighting with the guard. Someone even asked if you’d consider being the ambassador between the Fae and the Council.”
Tavlor frowned even harder, “Then why...”
“Why would they tell you such lies?” my father finished for him. He shook his head and shrugged once. “I have no idea. But when your tenement came up, I fought to have you by my side. I knew that having no heir made me an easy target for those warlocks who wanted me gone, so as soon as I could, I hired you. I knew I needed you in my camp to protect me if need be.”
Tavlor looked up. “But why would you want me? The Warlock’s believe I’m an abomination to the blood lines, a ...”
“Because I knew you’d protect me!” my father practically shouted at him. To be fair, I wanted to throttle Tavlor at times. He was so calculating, so cunning, when he was making a plan for the battlefield, but he couldn’t seem to understand his own worth. “Your magical scores are off any chart we’ve ever used, and your Fae blood makes you impervious to many warlock tricks.”
“I didn’t realize...” Tavlor began, swallowing hard. He looked down at his palms and my annoyance at his ignorance disappeared. I couldn’t blame him for being wary when this world, with all its bigotry and hatred, was all he knew.
“And it wasn’t just that,” my father went on and my heart pounded a little harder, happiness filling me up at seeing my lover, my fiancé, the man I wanted to marry, finally understanding how valuable he was.
“What do you mean?” Tavlor asked quietly.
“I mean, you have integrity. And courage. And an unbelievable sense of duty. Every Warlock who has ever been assassinated, or betrayed, had those closest to him sell him out. I knew you never would. And I truly believe that I am still alive today, mostly because you frighten anyone who would do me wrong. You are a power to behold, a frighteningly strong warlock, and I would be very happy indeed—in fact, I’d go as far as to say I would be honored—to one day call you my son.”