by Erin R Flynn
“You rock the boots, love,” I called after her, smiling when she nodded and fidgeted with the dress but kept walking. Damn, she was perfect.
“What is this special trip you’re taking with her?” Dennis demanded as he caught up to me.
“You’re kidding me, right?” I seethed, the balls on him even breaking through my normal mellow mood.
His eyes filled with anger. “Remember what court you belong to and your last name.”
I threw a side punch before I even realized it, watching as he went flying into the wall. I decided to handle this now when people were watching so there was no chance the message got tangled up later, as I trusted the nobles of my mother’s that had come with.
I fisted Dennis’s sweater and dragged him to his feet, slamming him into the wall again. “Do not speak to me about loyalty, child. You are a selfish fucking brat who wields my sister’s power as if it’s his own. I would put money on you being the one who whispered that shite plan in her ear.” I saw it in his eyes that was true, but she was still to blame.
She was the boss after all.
“My baby sister was disloyal to send you to order me home like I’m her fucking dog and not family. And I will be sending her a message from me saying that directly and how disappointed I am that she made a powerplay when she didn’t have enough information—clearly—and not only screwed over two covens of Wessex but possibly the family’s alliance with Princess Nora’s court.
“So let me make it crystal fucking clear that my last name is Wessex and I love my family, but I choose Inez. I. Choose. Her. My loyalty is to her, the one who wouldn’t ever think to use any of us as pawns, would never risk what was best for her coven for power. Olivia made a bad call, and it wasn’t a risk for the coven or help for our family coven, but her standing and power.”
“Traitor,” he hissed. “You’re not even engaged.”
I sighed and thumped his body and head against the wall several times. “Maybe that will knock some sense into you. I’m not a traitor. Olivia betrayed the coven by not doing what was best for them. Mother would never have done that, no matter the power she could have gotten, because what the coven needs is more important.”
“Agreed, and if you think my princess will let this stand after it went against everything agreed on, you are mistaken,” one of Mother’s nobles seethed.
“She’s not the boss anymore,” Dennis growled. “Olivia is.”
“That can be changed if she’s going to burn the coven to the ground, and it has before,” I warned him, nodding when he looked like he didn’t buy it. “What she needs is you not whispering your poison in her ear anymore.”
“Agreed,” that same noble said again. “And I was shocked to see this side of you, Dennis. It was a stark change from your normal, humble, and grateful attitude at court.” His eyes flashed shock when I snorted. “I see, so that was the act, but as Olivia’s brother you saw more. I will explain that to my princess.” He smiled at me. “And how treasured you are, as that is what your mother wants most.”
“Thanks, mate. I knew she would.”
“Do you think there is any chance your princess would have a discussion with me on behalf of your mother?”
“She would,” Inez said from a few feet away, her eyes darting around and taking in the dynamic before storming over to Dennis. “If you did something else to upset Cerdic or make the Wessexes look bad, which would hurt him, I’m going to fucking sick my knights on you and they’ll chew on you even if stupid is gamey.”
“No, love, I just wanted to get a few things straightened out, mostly whose team I’m on.”
Her eyes filled with emotion. “I heard that part.” She held her hand out to me. “Fuck him. Let’s go handle something else.” She looked at my mother’s noble once I took her hand. “We can have a conversation after you prove to be useful when we go corrupted hunting and soon. If you’re his mother’s noble, then you’re old.”
“I am at that,” he agreed, understanding the point but amused at her turn of phrase. “Thank you, Princess, we will not fail you again.”
She smiled at him and led me outside with Sebastian before letting go of my hand. She took her bag from him and handed it to me. “Can you lead and he can follow with me?”
“Do I get to know where we’re going?” Sebastian asked, looking equal parts amused and curious.
“Too many ears. I’ll tell you when we get there.” She smirked and held her hands out to him like a toddler asking to be picked up, making him snort which amused her. He lifted her up, and I took off, feeling him easily able to keep up with me. I arrived at the spot from yesterday in Montana, which she was supposed to go to next and hoped again that meant she was getting closer to being done with this quest.
It wore on her more than I liked, and the faster she established her coven, the safer she would be. We could make all the raiding trips later, but people knew of her now… She needed a coven.
My eyes went wide when she turned and leaned against a tree the moment Sebastian set her on her feet. She puked her guts out and looked ridiculously ill.
“She reacts like that?” Sebastian worried. “No, I’ve seen her be fine.”
“Love, what happened?” I asked as I slid my arm around her just in case. She held up a finger for me to hold off. I remembered I’d brought her a water and handed it over along with some tissues I’d stuck in my pocket earlier to clean the smartphone off and had extras.
“Thanks,” she groaned, taking both and cleaning out her mouth a few times before drinking. “Sebastian, I’m assuming you’ve done that before and you were trying to be polite and not hold me too closely, but if you don’t, it’s way more distressing. I felt it worse like bouncing around when it’s smooth always but unsettling.”
“I apologize, I didn’t know that,” Sebastian murmured, wincing. “I’ve only carried my princess or family when they were young. Most would never trust someone else to blur them off as you call it.”
“I figured,” she groaned. “Sorry, going to need a minute. My head feels like it’s going to float away and up my ass at the same time, so there’s that.”
I snorted, loving her snark and how honest she was always. “Take your time, love.”
“Can you explain the quest to him? We only covered a bit of that.”
“Why did you decide to tell him more now?”
“Jaxon told me he’s a historian, all into gifts from gods and tracing this and that from covens and houses.”
“And clans,” Sebastian muttered. “It’s more a hobby, as I’m nowhere near as old as Kristof and court keeps me busy, especially the past several years again.”
I did as she asked though, filling him in and seeing the disbelief in his eyes.
“Okay, done being sick,” Inez sighed as she stepped into me. I got the hint she didn’t want to be by her puke and moved us back. She stayed leaning on me though, and I moved my cool hand to her forehead. “Thanks.”
“What else did you want to talk to us about without ears?” I asked her.
“I realized there’s someone else I refuse to have the stuff we’re raiding traded to,” she admitted, glancing up at me. “Did the coven your twin joined survive?”
“It did,” Sebastian answered for me as shock rocked me. “Africa didn’t get attacked much initially, but the electricity and everything still went down. Later though some racist fanatics who got access to weapons attacked what they could with what they had. However, Nigeria was fine last I heard.”
She gave a quick nod. “Please inform Princess Nora that nothing ever gets traded to that fucking whore piece of shit, no matter if they’re friends or not. She and her court can sit and spin.”
“You are fucking amazing, love,” I whispered, burying my face against her neck, hugging her to me. I let out a shaky breath. Even my family didn’t take a stand like that against what the princess had done. No, they were allies of ours as my brother was hers. No one ever took stands like that, certainly not for
the nobles, only when slighted themselves.
“I should have thought of it sooner,” she grumbled. “Does Nora have an alliance with her?”
“No, as I heard what happened from Cerdic right after the betrayal and I warned my princess that was the type of people the new ruling princess there was. We didn’t have contact with them before, as they’re a bit reclusive, but I will tell her you take this stand as even they will come into the light for what people will learn we have or is going on.”
“It’s smart to do the coasts first, as most will hear and think to just come raid themselves and fuck you and you can’t watch it all,” I muttered, still hugging her. “But if they immediately find nothing, they can’t just traipse around forever hoping for what could not be there.”
“That’s something to seriously consider, as we could get invaded just for the raiding potential,” she worried.
“We’ve thought of it. It’s why Kristoff and I are pushing to start on your coven, and teams can keep going, but clearing corrupted and your quest have to come first.”
“Got it, okay, well, we have more help now so we’ll focused on close to coasts and the rest,” she declared, sighing when Sebastian muttered in agreement. “Are you my barnacle now?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to rub my fuzzy butt later?”
“Yes.”
“I’m on your team too, Cerdic,” she whispered, rubbing her hands over my arms. “I couldn’t ever be friends with someone who was so horrible to you. Fuck that cunt.”
“Yeah, I feel the same,” I chuckled, giving her one more quick kiss. “Okay, let’s go retrieve your whatever.”
She guided us, and I carried her this time since we weren’t going that far. We stopped at a huge mansion on an abandoned ranch. She moved her hand to block out the sun and checked the place out as I set her on her feet.
“Damn, can this be like our weekend vacation home for just us when we need a break from the coven and ears?”
“I’ll make sure the others know that it’s a project for later,” I promised her.
She smiled at me and headed for the front door. “It must be a private collection then. Crap, we didn’t bring supplies.”
“Places always have shovels and stuff around,” I assured her. I broke the lock on the door once I checked there was no one remotely around, not people or corrupted.
She went inside first and headed to the library, pointing to a tablet with ancient writing on it in a display case. “That’s one, but there are two more. This guy must have been a real collector or, you know, thief since I’ve found several items in books as being lost or stolen and yet they were sitting in someone’s collection.” She shrugged it off and brought us to a ceremonial gold knife and a statue.
“That knife, I believe, was a gift from an Asian god,” Sebastian muttered as he looked closer. “Fascinating.”
“More like a pain in the ass,” she grumbled. “There are hundreds of things I’ve recovered over years without so much as a note that I’m not nuts. Yeah, thanks.”
I snorted, and we got to work, able to bury them together because they were located together. Sebastian and I made quick work of it, and she didn’t even try to argue, thanking us and smiling when I told her I was coming for that promise to rub her fuzzy ass.
We almost went for more items, but she seemed hesitant for Sebastian to see where everything would be hidden until she saw how he handled knowing this. Inez was ridiculously smart and pragmatic like that, cautious to worry for all of us.
Which made the task I handled once we were back all that much easier. I found a quiet place away from others and recorded a message to my sister.
“Olivia, I loved you,” I rasped. “You were the cutest little babe and then girl ever, but you grew into a brat that I believed would mature, but instead you became selfish, cruel, and someone I don’t even recognize anymore. I pushed for Inez to allow Sebastian to reach out to you and help both Wessex covens. And this is what you do? You send that asshole to act like that to the princess I’m courting?
“That piece of shit is lucky I didn’t snap him like a twig as he talked down to my princess while hissing at me I’m a traitor. What about me, Sister? You could have ruined my chance at happiness, and then he orders me to come home like your dog? What did I ever do to deserve that, baby sister? You are unworthy to rule the Wessex coven or even stand in the presence of Inez.
“She is what a princess should be—loyal, intelligent, pragmatic, and beautiful, and not just in body. No, she puts her coven first. Her coven adores her for it while you’re petty and ruin the chance of what she could give our coven and more. She’s considering pulling the plug and not helping any other covens. What will they do when they learn that and it was because of you?
“You’re in charge now, and Mother can’t save you when you throw a fit or poke someone too much and they snap back. All the lives of the coven are on you. You are their hope of survival. Deserve that. And if you never listen to another thing I say again, listen to this—stop listening to Dennis. That man is poison. I can’t blame him because you listen and you’re an adult, but his bile is poison.
“You had a chance to grow into the woman I thought you would before you started listening to him. I cannot fathom why you seriously did something so insane and ridiculous. You’ve blown the chance with Inez. You’ve pissed off Sebastian and soon Nora as they brokered the contact. ‘Desperate request for aid?’ Are you having a laugh? We took over a hotel and have everything.
“We’ve got ample food, power, water, working toilets, and kitchen. Fuck, the damn pool is heated. Yes, clearly she’s desperate and that play did nothing but make her laugh at you. You looked a fool in front of two covens and more who are nobles trying to get the chance to court her. Some huge covens too. And do you think they won’t tell what the new Wessex princess did? Of course they will.
“I wash my hands of you, Olivia. I love our family, but I will not be loyal to a woman who isn’t loyal to them, and you are only loyal to yourself. That was abundantly clear.” I sniffled. “And that you have no love for me that you would order me home from the woman I love without so much as talking with me first, your young asshole beckoning me like I answer to him too.
“So goodbye, my tiny lass, and I hope this gives you exactly what you deserve because what you think you deserve sickens me. I thought the apocalypse could smack you upside the head and make you live in reality, but clearly I was wrong. I won’t give an ounce of faith in you again.”
I ended the recording and wiped my eyes, my heart broken that a second sibling could be so cruel to me. My twin and my baby sister. What had I ever done to deserve such pain from them?
Maybe nothing and maybe Inez was what the Goddess thought I deserved to balance out the hurt and pain I’d had.
Another reason to always treasure her.
6
Darius and Jaxon had both said something to me at lunch that had me spinning out a bit, completely lost in my head the rest of the afternoon. I’d been bitten by Kristof, and even if we were working it out, he’d bitten me, so thinking of getting involved with someone new was scary.
However, it seemed to have worked out with Cerdic. I didn’t want to jinx it, but things were going really, really well, and I thought he liked me as much as I liked him. It wasn’t just the hot stuff, but I liked him.
So maybe that was the answer. Going slow.
But thinking of Cerdic made me think of the phone he’d had me charge that morning, and a plan formed that made me shiver with how much fun it sounded. Something naughty but also not because Darius and Jaxon knew. So that taste of illicit but only because we were hiding it from everyone else. Fun. Exciting.
Really exciting.
I’d stopped by a cell phone store that was still intact, as those were really low on the priority list. But the door was broken, so I had a moment to wonder if it was the one Cerdic had even gone to. It took me a few minutes of looking around, but I found the
smartphone option with the largest memory capacity. I charged it up and checked it was working before heading to the hotel and onto phase two.
I burst out in peels of giggles. Phase two? Really? Well, it was exciting to think about, like my Mission Impossible date with Jaxon even if he’d gotten hurt. It was that rush of more than day in and day out raiding.
After parking I headed inside and went to the computer behind the front desk that Wilson had gotten back up running for us along with the keycard system. He’d changed the passwords, and only we and my nobles knew it. I checked the floorplan and found what I was looking for. I activated two keycards for that room and stuck a small sticky note on one with the number.
I relocked the computer, tucked it all into my bag, and headed for dinner trying to hide my grin.
“Happy Birthday!” everyone cheered as I entered the restaurant.
I gasped, lost in my head and so surprised I honestly almost fell over. I rubbed my hand over my racing heart, and then it sunk in what they’d said. “It’s my birthday?”
“I told you she forgot,” Darius chuckled. “Yes, my love, it’s the first of May.” He came over to me and hugged me, giving me a soft kiss. “Happy twenty-third birthday, Inez.”
“Thanks.” I smiled brightly at him, excited to the max. “I’ve never had people to celebrate with before. What do we do?”
“We have a lot planned,” Jaxon promised, taking his hug next. He kissed me, lifting me and spinning us. “To be born May 1st, you are the most special ever.”
“I don’t get it?” I admitted when he set me back down. “I’ve read in books it’s like May Day to some or a bit of this and that which really starts in April or different May days, but it’s always spread out and vague.”
“It’s said to be Aether’s day of birth and the day life began,” he explained.
I shrugged. “It’s what my passport said.”
“Happy birthday, My Princess,” Kristof greeted as he held out a huge bouquet of flowers to me.