by Erin R Flynn
Except now, the councils and important peoples were all demanding to purchase the system and how it was all done. So instead of simply basking in the glory of doing something good to protect people and things turning out well, I was stuck in a Saturday early morning meeting debating how to handle this new development.
And my eye was twitching. That was a new thing when I was seriously stressed. It was pretty valid. I had been fine with pushing back my first real chance at Valentine’s Day because this was important, unfreezing fairies was super important, and all the other important fucking things, but I was supposed to have my belated fun that day.
Not more of this shit.
Sure, Darby and I had been dating last year, but after what had happened with him drinking my blood on New Year’s and Mason almost killing me right when we’d gotten back to school… Valentine’s Day had been the last thing on our minds.
Really, it had been.
“Tell them I was involved and give the power part that I won’t share how to do,” I interjected when the debating and back and forth went on for too long.
“We’re trying to limit the amount of threats against you and reasons people come for you, Princess,” Iolas reminded me.
“Yes, but let’s be honest that one more thing really isn’t more than a drop in the huge ass bucket right now,” I drawled, crossing my arms over my chest while staring him down. “Make a deal with the dragon royals that we will put this at their guard stations to scan everything coming in their castles, and they’ll back us in throwing down. We’re not putting this in every corrupt fucker’s house.”
“You’re already on thin ice now that you’ve outed yourself as being able to open temp portals on the fly,” Edelman worried.
I shrugged. “And? I’ve been seen dozens of times now while hobgoblins are escaping. At events. It’s all over that it can’t be me.” I glanced over at Cluym with a smirk. “And we have an idea on the next step with that.”
“Oh goodie,” White groaned, massaging her forehead. “Let me guess? You figured out how to make that portal charm that you’ll probably give to the fae dogs to drop off to captive hobgoblins?”
“Yes.” I smiled when several people started cursing.
“If one person gets their hands on the charm, they will trace that magic back to you,” Edelman argued, reminding me of why no one would show me how to make them.
“Then let them!” Neldor snarled. “It’s not one or two of us anymore. There are hundreds of us and we can take on any group. Let them start to worry. We cannot keep allowing fair folk to be treated like this!”
“Agreed,” I said before people started arguing. “On that last part. Not the first. We’re not ready to out that fairies are back, but the fae dogs know that and won’t let themselves get caught. They can turn invisible and burn anything to ash in a flash. They won’t let the charms get caught. They are smarter than people understand. If something goes wrong, they burn the charm or swallow it or whatever.”
“That would work,” White admitted. “There are also dozens of people who have spoken up—powerful people saying they cannot stomach the mistreatment of fair folk. There’s been a lot of speculation of who is helping them besides Tamsin. And as much as we want fewer targets on her, keeping her the focus means we’re not spreading our efforts too thin.”
“You’re not wrong,” Iolas begrudgingly admitted. “Worrying they’ll come after Katrina or Craftsman now, instead of the princess for the moment could distract the visible protection. That would lead to others trying and might out our being back or position before we’re ready. I don’t like it but it’s smarter.”
“Good, then someone make the call and get the royals on board.”
“My parents will be fine with it,” Hudson promised, as annoyed about the meeting as I was. He couldn’t even hide it from where he stood leaning against the wall of my party room with his arms crossed over his wide chest. “We’re done now, right? We can actually get to the plans for today instead of this crap?”
Edelman raised an eyebrow at him. “I would think as a prince you would have more patience for politics.”
I quietly cleared my throat, trying to remind Hudson that by some miracle, Edelman didn’t actually know about us yet. And it was smarter to keep it that way.
Hudson sighed, wiping his hand over his face. “Tamsin’s my friend, and I’m tired of all this always getting dumped on her. I would bet a few are pushing for this system so hard because they think she’s behind it, and it will be another bullshit reason to try and get her into custody. It’s constant and the same games. She needs a damn day off and we’re cutting into it. Again.”
“You might be onto something there,” Geiger muttered, sharing a look with Edelman and then White. “Something to check into. The crystals, they couldn’t make stick as an actual security threat, but this could be. It’s a security invention she will deny some because of corruption—a judgment they won’t allow her to make. This could be a trap.”
“Then we need to investigate the ones pushing the hardest and see what we come up with,” Iolas stated firmly, giving me a glance not to argue and he would handle it.
Fine. By. Me. People could handle a lot more of everything, in my opinion, as long as they did it right.
And Iolas always did.
“Okay, meeting over then,” Darby announced as he came towards me with an evil grin.
And handed me a blindfold.
Huh?
I took it from him with a frown. “I’m not wearing this while getting naked.”
“Jesus, Tamsin,” he hissed, as half the room burst out laughing while some of our teachers and important school people looked like they were as embarrassed as Darby.
Oh geez, grow up.
I put on the blindfold and promised I couldn’t see anything and I had my telepathy off. I even yelped as he picked me up off the chair and carried me away.
Except I knew when he took me to the portal to Faerie. I could feel it. So that blew the surprise that our first fun was in Faerie, but I wasn’t going to bust him on that.
I was too excited at the prospect of a morning picnic there. That sounded amazing right then. Or always. Yeah, always.
The portal was already activated and we went right through. He took off the blindfold and smirked at me, letting me know he assumed I could feel the portal. Which meant he didn’t want me to see what had been set up on the way there?
Huh?
I turned towards the portal just in time to see Irma and the hobgoblins from school come through… Along with all their kids who had never been to Faerie. I gasped as my hands moved to cover my mouth and tears immediately filled my eyes.
And I wasn’t the only one having that reaction from the other fairies standing with us to witness this. There were hundreds of us now, and this was maybe exactly what we all needed to keep pushing forward with what we needed to do.
“Tamsin, it’s Faerie!” Elasha squealed so loudly it echoed above all the others. She’d been my first little buddy who had come over to see my hair and meet her first fairy when I was still new to everything. I’d been so scared and too afraid to even admit that to myself, and she was one of the few to reach out to include me, welcome me.
Even if it had only been to bring me an apple.
“Yeah, it’s Faerie, Elasha,” I rasped. I kissed Darby’s cheek and hurried over to the kids, picking her up first and swinging her all around before we all ended up on the ground in a pile of tickling and giggling and just pure joy. There was no other way to categorize it other than blissful joy.
More and more hobgoblins came through the portal with their kids who couldn’t even contain their excitement at getting to see their homeland for the first time. In a way, they were Earth’s ultimate refugees. It was so weird to think about that, but it was true.
And I was still an alien.
Oh well.
Even all the adults who hadn’t been there in twenty years, or were born there and didn�
�t remember it like me, all had bright yellow skin with joy like the kids. All the fairies joined in the fun.
Or so I thought. It was all the light fairies at first, making me realize it was hobgoblins that had lived with light fairies. Maybe? I wasn’t sure how that worked.
I wasn’t sure I cared.
I picked up a giggling, squirming pile of love—also known as Elasha—and handed her to the nearest dark fairy. At first, he simply looked at me like I was nuts, everyone around us going quiet. I simply smirked at him and dropped her, knowing full well he’d have the reflexes to catch her.
Sure enough he did, Elasha squealing in delight like it was a game and peppering his face with kisses, asking him to toss her again.
I kissed the man’s cheek on the other side. “Yeah, do it again. Have fun, mate. This is a celebration. It’s a win for all of us.”
“You’re right, it is, Princess,” he mumbled, giving me a funny look.
Darfin was there next begging to be tossed… So I did, sending him towards another dark fairy who was more than ready. I’d also specifically picked the ones I recognized who were Dark Guardians—the royal guards for the dark fairy royals, just as we had the Light Guardians—since they were the ones who I thought were struggling the most.
Their queen was gone and had done this to all of Faerie and her people. They had no heir to take over their realm, only Neldor. I wasn’t going to vote for him to be leader of anything because he was an asshole, even if he was behaving better, but it was sexist that only the eldest daughter could rule.
It was. I was fighting that bullshit all over the place in reverse, with only men being elders and the bosses. It wasn’t any less sexist because the gods declared it so and said it sided with women. From what I’d read, men had had their chance and blown it, and the gods had decided the daughters of royals were the better choice to give balance in a world that gave too much to men.
I didn’t disagree, but I would call a spade a spade.
But another day, as this was the day to celebrate and enjoy a win. We needed the wins we were getting.
“This is like, the best present ever,” I praised Darby, wiping away happy tears for like the hundredth time.
“It wasn’t mine, agra,” he admitted. “The picnic and day off with all the fairies was mine. The rest was his.” He pointed behind me and I followed the line of sight to see Hudson standing off to the side watching all the fun with a smile. “He lost his patience that the hobgoblins couldn’t come visit and it was a risk that the kids might talk. He worked it out so the castle staff took over at Artemis today so this happened.”
Damn.
And just for the icing on the cake, packs of the fae dogs started coming through the portal. The ones sworn to me had been there several times, but there was no easy way to facilitate getting the others ones in all on my own without stepping on the toes of my packs.
Apparently, we were all taking a break from turfs and sides for the day and simply celebrating.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have more days like that? I wasn’t delusional to think every day could be like this, but just more of them would be my fondest wish.
“A picnic is still an awesome present, my prickly pear,” I praised, giving him a soft kiss. “And I will thank you for it tonight again and again and again.”
“Agra,” he groaned as I backed away from him.
I let out a laugh as I bounded over to Hudson. He saw me coming at the last second and barely had time to catch me as I jumped at him. I wrapped around him like a monkey to give him a heated kiss that got us a lot of whistles and cat calls. Then I climbed up on his back so I could still keep watching the fun and snuggle with him.
“Having fun up there?” he teased me.
“You get to see so much more than I do being this tall,” I complained playfully. I pressed my lips to his ear before he had a chance to snark back. “Thank you for this, my dragon. I needed this and it’s like, the best present ever.”
He turned his head so our lips were almost touching and he could look into my eyes. “I wanted you to have some fun. You did all of this, Tamsin. This is all because of you. You’ve had help, but you started this and have pushed them, just like you did those guys who are now playing with the kids. It’s what you do, but you don’t always get to see the good. You need to stop and see the ripples, the good.”
“I do,” I agreed, giving him a soft kiss. “Thank you for making sure I do.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I appreciate it.”
“I know.”
“No, I really appreciate this. Which is why you’re going to get a special present too. I’m going to reserve a weekend just for us at one of my resorts and it’s going to be a magical weekend as well. A naked weekend with lots of healing runes and offering myself to you the whole time, my nape showing and no clothes.”
“For the love of fuck, Tamsin,” he growled, reaching behind him to try and grab me.
I crawled up him the other way, nipping at his ear. “No, but I’m going to love you fucking me. As hard as you want. As deep as you want. River can even drive and let you do me however he wants his mate. Spread wide or maybe some of that nuzzling I’ve given Darby he gets some jealous of? I think I want to try nuzzling my dragon?”
“I’m so fucking hard for you,” he snarled, catching me on the other side and yanking me around with a fake out. He wrapped me around him and kissed me like no one was around. “That sounds like a great present, but watching you smile and finally getting to enjoy your home instead of wincing at the mention of it or being scared it might only hurt you was the best thank you I could have asked for.”
Damn, he was good. Tears burned my eyes yet again as we kissed. That was amazing and snapped the final thread of what I’d been trying to deny.
“I love you, Hudson,” I breathed against his lips.
His eyes went wide and then he simply blinked at me. “Really? I mean, really?”
He waited until I nodded before letting out a huge whoop and tossing me up in the air like the others did the kids. He easily caught me and spun us around until I was dizzy, finding the nearest tree to press me up against and attacking my mouth, making sure to hide me from the others as if they didn’t know what we were doing.
“I love you too, Tamsin. I really do. I want you to be—I want us to be real. This isn’t just friends with benefits and hookups for me. And this isn’t about us being mates. What I feel is—”
“It’s not casual anymore, and it wasn’t even before everything happened,” I admitted.
“Yeah, it’s been more for a while.” He kissed me when I nodded. “I know we can’t be out, and I’m not saying we announce we’re mates. I just want us to be on the same page.”
“We’re on the same page, you pushy dragon,” I promised. “You’re mine and I’m yours. The rest we’ll figure out as we go. It’s dangerous for both of us to try and go public as things are, so keep up appearances as you need to or take dates to things, but no more betrothals or anything else, or I might claw some bitches up.”
I’d never seen Hudson laugh so hard. Apparently, the damn dragon liked my jealous side.
Glad to hear it, because I didn’t.
The next crazy fun came when Chief trotted over with the football I used to play fetch with the pack. Most of the fairies looked at me like I was nuts when I took the ball and threw it as far as I could.
Especially the dark fairies. The fae dogs who weren’t sworn to me were used to working with dark fairies and were hanging with them… Except I knew the truth.
“I hear their thoughts,” I busted the dogs, smirking at the group of Dark Guardians. “They’re dying to join in and wished you guys gave them as much TLC as I give my packs.” I looked at the dogs with an evil grin. “Whoever brings me the ball back next, I’ll deliver a live cow to the pack to eat, warm and fresh.”
And then I tossed the ball to Hudson to throw since he had a much better arm than I did. He di
dn’t hesitate, launching the damn thing so far, I lost sight of it.
The packs also didn’t hesitate, taking off the moment the ball left his fingertips and racing for it. The ground shook as all the huge dogs raced in the same direction acting like excitable puppies instead of terrifying beings of legend that most thought of as hellhounds.
I was dying as we watched them speed away. Honestly, I was laughing so hard, I would have fallen over if Lucca didn’t wrap his arm around me to keep me standing. It wasn’t only the way the fae dogs acted, but the shock on the faces of all the fairies.
Except Neldor. He actually stood there with a smile on his face, shaking his head. “Glad to see I’m not the only one with that reaction to your antics.” He shrugged when people looked at him. “I was just as surprised, but she can hear their thoughts, and I’ve seen how much they enjoy it. I’ve played with the packs for hours while staking out estates that keep hobgoblins or to reward them for doing a good job.”
I hadn’t known that, and I was a bit surprised to learn he could actually be nice to them, but then I realized there was something I needed to say before the packs came back. “The fair folk have been through a lot more than you all have been caught up on while you were frozen. The fae dogs were chased out of safety. Constantly, for the past twenty years by the dust collectors. They need fun too. They need love.”
“So we add these dust collectors to the list of who we will seek justice from when we are able to say we’re back?” a Dark Guardian asked me.
I smirked at him. “Oh, they’re already on the list, mate. Believe me, they’re already on the list.”
Neldor snorted. “You have the ones highlighted who attacked you in the media for costing them jobs and their livelihoods, all over animals.”
I shrugged. “Yeah and the idiots actually gave me the names of a bunch of their friends when I challenged them on how many jobs it could really be. I mean, it’s hard not to laugh when they’re that stupid.”