by Erin R Flynn
“Good. Be safe and don’t get shot down.”
“James was a fighter pilot too so we’ve got this,” he reminded me.
I finally let them go then. Darius wrapped his arms around me, and I clutched them as we watched the plane take off. “This is the first time I’m without one of you since we met. I can’t believe how much I’m worried over even a few days. Neither of you can ever leave me or I might crumble and die.”
“We feel the same,” he promised, kissing my hair. “And we won’t. You are stuck with us.”
We watched until I couldn’t see the plane anymore, and then we hurried to the ship I had to fix, too much energy still racing around inside of me. I let it out, knowing there was more to do later, but at least I handled a good chunk of the boat.
And then I did exactly what I’d promised Jaxon. I sat on my ass and “sampled” a lot of what was being made. I even got to do it from the safety of the aircraft carrier where they were using the huge kitchen there now. It had taken days to get it all fixed and running again, but now it was stupid not to use it. There was no comparison between that and using the small camper kitchens.
So I had the very tough job of scooping wheat into the grinder from the stool I was on. They even had boxes and everything right there for me. Really they made it idiot proof, and they weren’t even letting me switch out containers the flour went into. Apparently everyone knew already that I’d slept a full day so they were worried about me.
It was fun though as I got to watch the kitchen crew work. I had thought it was weird to mill all the wheat, but they told me it was much better to have all the doughs made and frozen so once on the ocean it was just the baking. I deferred to their expertise, as they used to feed about six thousand people every meal, as that was how many used to be stationed on the ship.
Yikes.
That many wouldn’t be going back and staying with them, but it didn’t hurt to stock freezers and be smart with what we had. They were going to do the same for us, and all we had to do then was put stuff in the oven. Awesome because there was no way I was cooking for as many as we had when I barely knew how to cook.
When it was time to head back to camp, I thanked them for distracting me, laughing when I got a lot of shocked and guilty looks I’d figured that out. Yes, I knew that was part of the plan. I wasn’t sitting there worried about Jaxon and those on the flight if I had something else on my mind.
Or as much at least.
The food they made was excellent, and my tummy was super happy, but I’d gotten spoiled with the smoked meats, and I didn’t think I could give that up being on a ship. Several of the crew said the same and were glad we were still doing so much of that, as a lot of it could be smoked and frozen. Nice.
When we crawled into bed, I stared at Jaxon’s spot, hating it was empty.
“He’ll be fine,” Darius promised. “He’s lived over five hundred years, and that’s a long time to survive. Aether would never be so cruel as to let him find love and then not live long enough to enjoy it. Besides, he was going to help another coven, and She would be in favor of that.”
I nodded even if I didn’t think She really got all involved. And then I wanted to roll my eyes at myself, remembering how I got sick if I skipped an artifact to find on her quest. I hadn’t gotten one for delaying, so I hoped that meant this was where She wanted me. Maybe?
Darius decided to change my mood by doing very dirty things to me, and it worked because I fell asleep sated and smiling, snuggled up against him… Even if my back felt cold as there wasn’t the other man I loved there as he should be.
20
I had finished another part of the merchant ship the night before and the rest that morning. It had been a lot, but I was okay. It was my third day without any ghosts, and after a full day of sleep I was realizing I wasn’t being a baby, but I was a baby for a vampire and time to accept that and do what I should.
It would make the guys worry less, and that was a major goal of mine.
I gasped when I heard something, booking it out from where I’d finished and to the deck of the ship. I looked up and glanced everywhere, all turned around with the back and forth.
“It’s his plane,” Darius promised. “They’re about to land.”
“Really?” I gasped, practically jumping on Cerdic when Darius nodded. “Let’s go! Please, take me there.”
“You are too adorable, love,” he chuckled but did it. He wrapped me around him and whisked us off, knowing Darius would catch up.
I saw the plane already on the ground and slowing down when we arrived. Cerdic set me on my feet but kept his arm around me until I settled. Them whisking me off wasn’t something I’d get used to anytime soon, especially since they did it at different speeds and when emotions were involved like right then. I let him, fidgeting as we watched the plane come closer.
Glancing down, I remembered I was still taking it easy on helping, so I was wearing a black, long sleeved, winter wrap dress and those cute maroon boots. I hadn’t thought he’d be back so soon, but I was glad I was wearing something nice.
I hoped he was back at least.
I let out a whimper when the plane’s door opened and he was there. I pulled away from Cerdic and raced over to Jaxon, barely making it ten feet before he got to me with his much faster speed. He hugged me tight, and I practically climbed him so I was as close to him as possible.
“You can’t leave again,” I whispered, burying my face against his skin. “I’m beating up whoever had the stupid fucking idea to send you.”
“That was you, My Princess,” he chuckled, rubbing his hands over my back. “I’m home.”
“I was so scared you wouldn’t come back,” I rasped.
“I won’t ever leave you, Inez,” he promised. “You’re used to humans going out and not coming back. I’ve done way more dangerous things than a round trip flight and a conversation with my mother.”
“In the apocalypse,” I growled, pulling my legs in tighter so I could touch as much of him as possible.
“You wanted to help my family coven, and I love your big heart.”
“No, you’re not leaving me again. I don’t care if it’s to save blind children, you’re not going.”
“Are you going to release me?” he asked as the hug went on.
“No, I am the barnacle known as Inez, and I’m now attached for good.”
“I so fucking love you,” he chuckled, moving his face against my neck. “A barnacle, huh?”
“I was just on a ship. It came to mind first,” I grumbled, smacking him when he kept laughing. “Fine, I’m getting dirty restraints and tying you to our bed permanently. Maybe a leash so you can use the washroom, but that’s it.”
“That might be more than I needed to hear,” a man said from behind me.
“Don’t ruin our first and only reunion or I’ll shoot you,” I warned whoever it was. I leaned back and held Jaxon’s face in my hands, checking out every inch of him. “No one even fucked with a hair on you, right? Do I have to beat anyone up? I will. James gave me that big gun, and I will absolutely shoot it.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “You just like shooting things.”
“I do, but that’s not the point. Was anyone mean to you? I have the fangs now and could totally eat them. I might get my vampire card back if I eat people when they’re mean.”
He really burst out laughing then, spinning us while hugging me tightly. He stopped and gave me a heated kiss before setting me on my feet, holding onto me when I wobbled a bit.
“No one was mean to me, I’m perfectly fine, not even air sick, and I missed you too, My Princess.”
“Okay, good,” I sighed heavily, leaning my forehead against him. “The leopards were freaking out. I mean, totally pacing and being babies.”
“Right, that was us,” Wilson drawled. “And we ate all the brownies too.”
I winced, resting my chin on Jaxon’s chest as I met his curious gaze. “The cooks made brownies, which app
arently I really like, and I got upset you weren’t there to see that and ate yours.”
“You knew I was coming back,” he whispered as he cupped my cheek and stroked my skin with his thumb.
“You guys make coven courts sound like Russian Roulette, and even if it’s your family coven, I don’t like risks with you.” I let out a slow breath when I saw he knew it was more than that. “I saw a plane get shot down when I was in the UK. I saw a few in Asia in that first year, but not that long ago I saw one in the UK. You know, right by where you were.”
“Well, those people weren’t there, and we had no trouble at all,” Jaxon promised, giving me another soft kiss. “Time to stop ignoring the people I brought back, including my father you snarked at.”
I winced. “Well shit, that’s a memorable first impression.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw an almost carbon copy of Jaxon who looked immensely amused. “Sorry I threatened to shoot you. I wouldn’t have.” Darius snorted, and I gave him a look that promised to beat him later. “Are you never going to let me forget I shot you?”
“Twice.”
“You’re sleeping on the floor,” I grumbled, smiling when he laughed. Yeah, I could never do that to them. Or if I did, there was no way I’d sleep worrying about them on the mean old floor.
“Princess Inez Garner, I’d like to introduce you to Sebastian O’Cleirgh, noble to Princess Nora, and my father.”
“Princess, it is my honor to meet you and see with my own eyes that my son has found happiness,” Sebastian greeted, bowing to me and then kissing my hand when I extended it.
“Thank you for traveling so far, um, Sebastian.” I glanced up at Jaxon with a WTF look.
He shrugged. “You offered something amazing and only asked they not fuck it up and help us as well. It’s the apocalypse, and it would be insane not to jump on that. My parents agreed, and Father will be overseeing it all.” He gave me a wink. “And he knows you’re not up on court greetings. All of this will stay within my family as a family matter, nothing even to the coven or others, my mother swore it.”
“Oh, awesome.” My eyes went wide as I saw there were about another fifty people they’d brought. Wow. Then I saw James and Tyson—who was also a pilot—and pulled away from Jaxon to go hug them. “You guys good too? No problems?”
“We’re fine,” James promised as Tyson kissed my hair. “They had the runway cleared and hangar loaded with fuel. Princess Nora knows how to get shit done.” He studied me a moment. “Did you know the solar panels get blown even if they weren’t plugged in? Something about them fried a certain component as something, something, and something I couldn’t keep up with one of their guys said.”
I nodded. “Right, we fixed ones in that showroom. Callum said it was because of the dual input/output converter thing. It was ultra sensitive to other energy types, and an EMP is electromagnetic energy.”
“Princess, was he able to pinpoint which circuits or components and fix them?” a guy in Sebastian’s party asked, wincing at whatever look he got from someone. “I apologize for my interjecting. We’ve been struggling to find answers. All the alternative energy options completely blew out.”
“I’m not the right person to ask,” I answered, giving Jaxon a glance to help me before I said something I shouldn’t. “The ship’s fixed, but they’re getting it all online and doing whatever else.” I glanced between him and his father. “Do you want to see that or blur to camp?”
“Blur?” Sebastian asked me.
“That quick running thing that you all do that’s a blur. Well, Kristof has his own wormholes I think because he’s faster than air displacement. I can’t even feel it when he blurs with me.”
The science guy burst out laughing, apologizing for doing it. “It’s funny. You’re very clever, Princess.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks. I liked the joke, but some give me weird looks. It’s crack jokes and laugh at the craziness or run screaming from the apocalypse, and where would we run to?”
“First, my princess sent me with a gift for her soon to be daughter-in-law and in thanks for your generous gift to us,” Sebastian informed me, waving some people over. “Jaxon said you have found some milk now and are working from that, but for us milk spoils so fast and cheese doesn’t. However, there were ways to store goods before modern electronics, and we have adopted those ways again.”
I nodded, knowing some of the settlements did with underground storage and cold bunkers, especially when it was cold outside. I gasped as he opened a large container and saw cheese wheels and more inside.
“Also, as we were not displaced and had working wells, our greenhouses are still fine. Jaxon said you cook mostly with expired herbs or freeze dried this and that, so we brought an array fresh that your cooks can use or preserve.”
I let out a squee as I grabbed a stalk of mint leaves out of another large container, chomping on one. “So good. I used to stop anytime I could get mint or basil when I was running. Thank you.”
“Thank you for your generousness and being so good to our son,” he replied, dipping his head. “I also made sure to bring a few experienced fishermen of our coven that could teach any of your people.”
I glanced at Jaxon, remembering what he said and worried something was up.
He shook his head. “Several from another coven joined my mother’s. Their coven was destroyed, and like the Begley’s, they had been traveling at the time, so they had nowhere. They’re experienced fishermen, I promise.”
“Right, and the boats got stolen or whatever.” I bobbed my head as I glanced at James. “It might be better they take from what was at Boston. There was a ton of ships all over, but I don’t know the difference.”
“I do,” Jaxon told me. “Enough to be of use, and they could use a bit of both, but not everything is right now, and they can come back.”
“Yes, but if they have the correct boats and fish here and fish there and crabs everywhere, they can go back and forth between covens with food when we’re settled,” I muttered, letting down my hair and fluffing it before putting it back up. “Okay, add it to the list. But that means they have someone who can maybe handle the ship or we’ve gotta check, so let’s head back there and someone else can be boss.”
“Jaxon said you had other nobles visiting,” Sebastian said as we headed to the vehicles as everyone wasn’t able to blur, clearly pumping me for information.
“She’s not caught up on houses and the politics,” Jaxon told his father as we got in the SUV. “I warned you of that, Father.”
“Yes, but I’m curious how that went.”
I blew a raspberry. “It seemed crass to meet other nobles and sniff each other’s asses when Jaxon was gone. They waited a few days, and a few more won’t kill them.”
“I love you too,” Jaxon murmured as he started the SUV and threw it in gear. Others could catch up, but James, Sebastian, Jaxon, and I were the main players on this one, and James probably wanted to see how Trisha had been doing while he’d been gone.
Twice in only a few days. Yikes.
“How are you really?” I asked James. “You went there and back and there and back. That’s a lot especially when you’ve not been flying in so long.”
“I’m fine, I promise. Tired and ready for a hot shower and a nap, but I just want to check in with Trisha and make sure the crew hasn’t been going nuts on shore leave just because I wasn’t up their asses.”
I shook my head. “They’ve been working hard. The kitchen crew was using all the flour and making tons of everything for us to even have in the trailer. People were raiding and collecting everything, even throwing away expired and nasty stuff like someone will ever pick up the garbage. I get it. Well, I don’t. I don’t remember normal, but I understand wanting to hold onto something normal.”
I realized what I said too late, Sebastian jumping on it.
“You don’t remember normal? You’re a young woman but not a child. I would think you have lots of memories, Princess.”
<
br /> “My bad,” I grumbled, giving Jaxon a worried look. “Um, yeah, so I lasted a whole twenty minutes before getting busted? Nice.”
“Father is here as family, not the rumor mill,” Jaxon comforted, moving his hand to my thigh. “Inez didn’t get the gift of memories, Father. She remembers nothing before her eighteenth birthday.”
“That’s not possible,” he argued.
“Yeah, and neither were zombies,” I drawled, getting good at using that argument when I needed it. Then I remembered the cover story. “I wasn’t the next princess in line, so I wouldn’t get the memories. Apparently someone thought I should also be a blank slate, but we’re not telling people that. It’s not like we know for sure.”
“Fair enough,” he accepted.
I met his curious and disbelieving gaze, curious about him as well. He clearly wasn’t Irish, but he was European. I couldn’t place his accent, almost as if years of hearing the Irish accent conflicted with his natural one and wiped out anything identifying to it. It was cool but odd.
“So your mom was glad for the deal?” I asked Jaxon, snorting when Sebastian cleared his throat as if I should be asking him. “I’m going to ask him when you’re not around, and there’s nothing wrong with asking my fiancé about his visit home. Would you rather it be in front of you or behind your back like we’re up to something?”
“In front of me,” he admitted. “You are right that she is a breath of blunt fresh air and honesty.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment.”
“I meant it as one.”
I nodded and focused back on Jaxon. “Do you feel better getting to see how they were doing instead of just trading messages?”
“Yes, my home is with you, but it was nice, for sure,” he answered. “I was worried after last year’s winter was so much harsher, but they have fireplaces and everyone made do.”
“Glad it worked out.” I slid my hand in his and linked our fingers, studying them. “I’m still tying you to the bed, and you can’t leave me again. My back was cold without you there.”
“It wasn’t,” he chuckled.