“What would you have us do, Garrett? You know as well as I do that the half-breeds’ ability to replenish Fae atern cannot be made available to the public,” Madhavi said. She turned to Helen and The Coven members. “We provide the breeds in our care with shelter, food, and clothing. We teach them skills to make a life for themselves outside The Sanctuary. It is their choice along with their family whether they accept unification, or enter the service so that we may continue our protection efforts.”
“Let us move this discussion to private quarters,” Amadeus said, and gestured to the exit.
Garrett ignored him. “There is no choice for them. Service, unity, or banishment. This is not freedom or equality. It is slavery.”
“This is an absurd claim, and we will not tolerate such baseless accusations even if they are from a member of the former royal family.” Madhavi rose from her chair, and seemed to notice the broadcast continued and motioned again for them to end it.
“Baseless would be an accurate description if I had no evidence. Luckily, the documentation is far reaching.”
There was a sudden rush of bodies as the members moved to stand behind Madhavi. But before they could organize any counter attack, Marcella had already erected a containment wall around them, blocking them in with a pale blue wall.
Madhavi and the other members shrieked and banged on the barrier. Their fury created a strain in the room as Fae and witch shifted apart.
Helen slammed her hand on the table, and everyone froze. Garrett tensed. He'd taken a leap of faith, trusting Anton and Sophie about The Coven wanting to help expose The Council.
She leaned forward. “We will all hear what Garrett has to say. Here, where there is no hiding.”
Garrett shook his head. “It’s not what I have to say. It’s what The Council does.”
He pulled his notebook from his pocket and tossed it on the podium. The cover flipped open and a beam of light burst forth. Immediately, the voices of the member rang through the room.
“Send her to the service wing.”
“He belongs to his mate. She can do with him as she pleases.”
“We need more service staff. Have Amadeus pull a few breeds before us for infractions.”
The images of breeds standing before The Council in tears as they faced a choice no one should have to make accompanied the voice overs. Months of images of dozens of breeds filled the room with their anguish as the lives they'd thought to have were cruelly snatched away.
Garrett swept his hand in front of him, and their incriminating voices lowered as images of Depository statements went on display.
“Over the years, the flow of atern has shifted. Initially, they invested in The Sanctuary, helping to fund the breed haven. But not long after Madhavi took over, the atern funding stopped. The annual budget was slashed, and The Council demanded more services from the breeds. Amadeus obliged.”
He gave the man a hard look and watched as Amadeus hesitantly retreated a few steps.
“As you can see from the statements over the last few years, the breeds in The Sanctuary—breeds who had been forced in to service—produce more atern than needed to sustain the facility and its defenses. Amadeus has been transferring that surplus to The Council.”
There was a stunned silence, then Madhavi began to laugh a hideous cackle that abruptly cut off.
“Of course we have a surplus,” she said dismissively. “The Council needs atern to function. It is essential that we tap in to the endless resources available to us before they hit the open market.”
Garrett started to say something, but from the back of the room, a loud war cry erupted. A chill swept through him as he suddenly realized that the peaceful end of The Council was about to become something much worse.
The thrill cry was then joined by another and another until it was one continuous sound. He met Helen’s gaze, and she picked up her glass, giving a small salute with it. Then she flung the glass out in front of her spraying wine through the air. Her hand swept up, and the droplets froze, suspended with her magic.
He held his breath, wondering, until she thrust her hand toward the containment wall Marcella had created around the members. The droplets peppered the wall like a fiery storm of bullets, creating cracks in it.
The attack spurred on the witches in the crowd and in the blink of an eye chaos reigned. Sparks of magic flew around them, and Garrett ducked behind the table.
He needed to get to Thora.
A few feet away, he saw Marcella surrounded by a shield she'd placed around herself, busy firing off magic in the direction of Madhavi.
He sprinted past her, around the table, and down to the main floor. Dodging rays of magic and their residue, he ran to where he'd seen Thora. But she wasn’t cowering behind Anton, or in the corner.
She wasn’t anywhere around.
“Thora!” he yelled, spinning in a circle.
“She’s not here.”
Garrett faced Anton, and gripped his shirt, balling it up to drag the man closer.
“Where is she?”
“She went to the east wing.”
“Why did she go back there?”
“To free the service breeds,” Anton said, and grabbed Garrett as he moved to go after her. “She’ll be fine.”
“The guards won’t let her in.”
“Do you really think there are any guards there right now? She’ll be back.”
Anton let him go and faced the Fae in the center of the room. Unlike the Fae who had been caught off guard by the attack, the witches had been working together to corral their foe into a tight group.
“This wasn’t the plan,” Garrett said.
“Maybe not your plan, but this was The Coven’s plan.” Anton drew a pouch from his pocket, and with his other hand, he cast a spell toward the group. The stream of magic joined with the other spells, holding the Fae, forcing them into a tighter group.
On the stage, the tables had been pushed aside and Helen, with Marcella by her side, fronted a group of witches, holding The Council members at bay.
The fight was seemingly over before it had even fully begun. That hadn’t been a spontaneous event. The Coven had planned it.
“Why tell me The Coven was going to back me up when they intended to attack? Why not do it before I ever spoke?”
Anton glanced over his shoulder at him. “We needed the faction to see that not all Fae support what has been done. We needed the people to know the witches weren’t alone and that this wasn’t an attempted coup.”
His explanation was cut off when the ballroom doors were flung open to reveal Thora with dozens of breeds behind her. Not all of them were from the service wing, but they all wore the same look of determination.
A breed stepped around Thora, and he recognized Lorelle. But she didn’t acknowledge him. Instead, she strode toward the group of Fae, and swung her arm out, lashing a magical whip through the group. It passed through them, but only two dropped to the ground as she severed their souls from their bodies.
Panicked, the Fae pressed against the magical lasso holding them, but the witches held firm. Another breed moved in and sent a band of magic toward Amadeus, catching him in a web of light. Others joined the breed until every Council member was withering in agony at the magic that slowly tore them apart.
A hand slipped in his, and he glanced down to see Thora beside him. Together, they watched the breeds exact their revenge against those who had used and abused them. Some for decades. It was a horrific scene, but when he thought of the horrors these breeds had endured, he couldn’t imagine that it was severe enough.
In the end, only a handful of Fae remained standing amid the carnage of the breeds’ revenge. Those who remained fell to their knees, cowering in fear.
Helen stepped up to the podium and looked first at the throng of breeds and witches in the room, then up to Darrian and the group of Fae broadcasting the events.
“The Council not only violated The Peace Treaty, but they also violated th
e trust of every Fae and witch who sent their child to The Sanctuary,” she said. “They violated the trust of the innocents they were sworn to protect. Retribution laws of Neraida established the right of the breeds to take the lives of those who wronged them in such heinous ways.
“But laws must prevail, and we must remain committed to the ideals Queen Tatiana established in The Peace Treaty,” she continued. “With the dismantling of the Fae Council, we return to the ancient laws of Neraida to govern the Fae. Those laws state that the reigning head of the royal bloodline will take their place as Queen or King of the faction.”
Garrett’s eyes flew to his sister, but the stunned expression he expected was missing. She had known that was coming, and he wondered if it had been her end goal and the freedom of the breeds had just been a side effect. But he pushed the thought aside. Ultimately, it didn’t matter if she'd had ulterior motives. What mattered was that those people were free.
Chapter 21
Thora stared out the window, watching the gardeners prune the bushes around the foundation of the house that had flourished overnight. It seemed horribly sad that she waited weeks for anything to bloom there and the plants would choose her last day to suddenly come alive.
It had been nearly four months since The Summit, and she still struggled to wrap her mind around what had happened. Everything moved so fast it had been a blur. Part of that was because Anton had used some sort of compliance charm on her.
In a daze, she'd followed him to the ballroom and docilely listened to Garrett speak. Once The Council realized what was happening, Anton told her to go to the service wing. Automatically, she'd gone, and when she arrived, the breeds were already there waiting for her. All she needed to do was open the door for them.
At the time, her mind was hazy, and she hadn’t even worried that it didn’t make sense how easy it had been. Now, though, she knew that Anton had planted a sympathetic Fae in the broadcast circle, who sent the images of The Summit to the service wing.
Every breed there watched the shift in power, and that had been all they needed to spur them into breaking their bonds of servitude.
Thora didn’t remember the deaths that followed, though, at night, when she was drifting to sleep, the cries of fear and pain would ring through her head, waking her.
In the aftermath, Marcella accepted her place as Queen of Neraida. She stepped down from her position as the head of The Depository and assumed control of all negotiations with The Coven and the newly formed Association of Breed Affairs.
Thora had anticipated the start of a quiet life. A life in which she and Garrett lived in the city, spending time learning about each other as mates. But the fallout from The Summit had been widespread, and the Zannis family had been in the center of it.
They were seen both as accomplices of The Council and as betrayers of them. The Fae were running scared as witches and breeds sought vengeance against those who wronged them and who enabled the members for decades. It had taken a number of meetings between Marcella, Helen, and Xavier, the new Chief of the Association before tensions began to ease.
Yet, even then, it hadn’t been safe for Thora to venture out on her own, and she became as trapped in the city as she'd been at The Sanctuary.
Garrett’s arms slipped around her waist as he snuggled up against her back. Her breath hitched as he nuzzled her ear, sending a wave of tingles through her. Her head fell back and tipped to the side, and he kissed the exposed flesh of her neck.
“I think you’re trying to distract me,” she said. Garrett seemed to possess an unnatural ability to read her mind, and anytime she started feeling down, he was there to shift her focus.
“Is it working?”
“Perhaps.”
He laughed and turned her in his arms. “I should exert more effort then.”
His head dipped for a kiss, but she leaned back.
“I think you should wait until our guests have left.”
“Something I would greatly appreciate,” Marcella said as she entered the living room.
Garrett sighed and dropped one of his arms, keeping the other snug around Thora’s waist.
“I would say it’s time for you to head home.”
“Garrett,” Thora admonished, giving his chest a light smack before gracing his sister with a smile. “Marcella, you’re welcome to stay as long as you'd like.”
“Thank you, dear. However, my brother is right. It is time for me to head home.”
“They’ve finished the last of the restoration?” Thora asked.
Marcella nodded. “They have, though it will never be the same.”
She had reclaimed the royal family home, which The Council had turned into their headquarters after they had ousted Marcella and Garrett’s father. The past few months had been spent clearing out the mess and rebuilding the sections they had torn down.
“Besides,” Marcella continued, “it would be dreadfully boring here by myself.”
“What a shame that would be,” Garrett said.
Despite the sarcasm in his voice, Thora knew he would miss his sister. They had a comfortable sort of relationship, though she didn’t think it was particularly close. At least not as close as she and Britta had been. Of course, she and her sister had only been a handful of years apart. Not over a century like Garrett and Marcella.
“Yes, it would be. Which is why I’ve called for my carriage.”
“You’re leaving so soon?” Thora asked. “I thought you'd stay for breakfast.”
“I must. I have years of work to catch up on, and every Fae, witch, and breed expects me to have it completed already.”
She leaned down to press her check to Thora’s along with an air kiss, then did the same to her brother.
Thora walked the new queen to the door and waved goodbye as disappointment stirred within her. She hadn’t expected her relationship with her new sister to instantly transform into what she'd had with Britta, but she'd hoped that Marcella would ease some of the loneliness she felt at the thought of her sister. But Marcella just wasn’t one to inspire sisterly affection. She was friendly but private, and Thora suspected that centuries from now, she still wouldn’t know the woman any better than she did today.
Marcella was just climbing in to the carriage with help from a guard when Garrett slammed the door shut. He turned and grabbed Thora around the waist, swinging her up in to his arms. She gave a small shriek and wiggled against his hold as he laughed and carried her toward the bedroom.
“What are you doing?”
“I plan to thoroughly distract you for the next hour. Perhaps even two,” he answered.
“Have you forgotten we’re leaving today, too?”
Garrett groaned but didn’t spot moving. “Then perhaps just a few minutes.”
“A few minutes?”
“Do you doubt my ability to satisfy you that quickly?”
Oh, she didn’t doubt he could, but she doubted she'd want it to end so soon.
“You do enjoy taking your time,” she pointed out.
“I do believe you’re challenging me.” He set her down in front of him, and with a gentle nudge, he sent her falling back on the bed. “And I gladly accept your challenge.”
Thora giggled as he shucked his pants and shirt, and she made short work of her own clothing before he pounced.
Garrett landed with his mouth level with her breasts. Thora cupped them, pushing them in his direction, and he sucked in one of her nipples. He circled the rigid flesh with his tongue, then teased it by grazing it with his teeth before moving to the other nipple.
His fingers found the tight nub between her legs, and he concentrated on rubbing it in a rhythm that had her back arching. Her hips pressed in to the bed as she strained to build the tension in her body.
“Garrett,” she gasped. “If you keep going at this pace, we’ll be here longer than an hour.”
“As I said, challenge accepted.”
He pulled back and lifted one of her legs to the side, turnin
g her on to her stomach, and lowered himself on top of her. The weight of his body pressed her into the bed, and for a moment, it was hard to breathe, but he lifted his upper body up and slipped his legs between hers.
With his hands on her hips, Garrett urged her up, and she lifted up on her knees. She slipped a hand down to grip his hard flesh. His fingers bit in to flesh as she stroked him and then guided him to her entrance.
The tip of his penis nudged its way in, and she let him go, moving her fingers to her clitoris. He pressed a hand to the small of her back and rocked forward. The pressure of him slowly working his way inside her along with the firm massaging of her clit caused her muscles to contract.
The groan Garrett gave emboldened her, and she clenched her muscles again. He responded with a hard thrust that left her gasping. He furiously pumped his hips, and all she could do was lay there as he drove them both toward ecstasy.
Thora’s body convulsed with release, and she dropped to the bed. Garrett collapsed on her, then gathered her in his arms and rolled them to their sides. Gradually, their breathing slowed, and Thora wiggled back, loving how his arms tightened around her.
“That definitely took longer than a few minutes,” she said.
“Hmm. Well then, we should probably try again,” he murmured as he kissed her shoulder.
A few minutes turned into two hours, and by the time they left the city, they were well behind schedule.
The carriage bounced along the rough, snow-covered road, and Thora shivered as the cold infiltrated the small enclosed space. They'd left the last dome nearly an hour before, and the protective enchantment was fading in the harsh weather.
She gazed out the window at the marble wall they drove beside. Behind it stood The Sanctuary. Once, it had captured her fascination with its grand towers that sparkled with the enchantment. Now the sparkles were a product of the frost that encased it. When the last of the breeds left, they left open the gate, and the freezing outside had taken over.
They passed the entrance, and Thora glanced through to see the once thriving gardens withered from the cold and shrouded in ice crystals.
Hunter: Faction 10: The Isa Fae Collection Page 23