by Erin R Flynn
“When are we finally getting to leave here?” he demanded.
“You were free to go the moment you gave me your shit plan I didn’t accept,” I reminded him. “But you prisses wanted a plane or special treatment. You could have walked your asses home like others, but you wanted to spy so Olivia could try and steal from me and trap me into pledging to her court.” I burst out laughing when I saw the array of shocked looks. “It was fairly obvious.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so given Kristof is courting you,” Eddie admitted. “Most princesses wouldn’t ever have even tried for it.”
“Yes, because they’re sane and not narcissists. Clearly Olivia has a very high opinion of herself and she’s sooo smart that she’s never been in a fight,” I drawled. “She faked with the left, that I would just accept that she answered my request for desperate aid I didn’t give. If that actually worked, bonus, but that wasn’t the plan with a princess even Nora was playing nice with.
“So the real hit was to get here and spy, get all of everything they wanted. That was the real threat. They could come take it all, use that information and be at the center of everything. And then they’d not only come take but rattle everything and the noose would close in around me until I was begging for protection from a coven like hers, as she thinks it so great.”
“You’ve been playing him from the beginning,” Jacob surmised. “You let them stay just so you could give him everything you wanted to.” He threw back his head when I just smirked. It was a good fucking bluff, and he might tell his princess he thought it was, but Dennis could suck it.
“There’s currently a noble in Nora’s dungeon that thought he got all the goods and put it together so wrong he was feeding Sebastian a lot of crazy.” I winked at Dennis who was on the ground hurting. “You better be right about what you tell Olivia. I don’t think she’s the type of woman to forgive someone when they’re wrong. You think I’m only involved with these four, and that’s not even true.”
I left it at that and let him stew on it. I went over to Sebastian, and we worked out the details of their leaving in the morning. They were taking all of their people—along with all the Wessexes—on the cargo plane to regroup and trade out.
Cerdic surprised me as we were wrapping up by waving over Jacob and a few more from Matilda’s court. “We have good news on the trains and railway lines front.”
“Yes, and with your agreement, Cerdic has outlined which areas specifically we’re allowed to raid when I return with the right party,” Jacob said. He pointed them out, and I nodded. It was basically a few dozen tiny towns or neighborhoods along the route to Prince Rupert. I was fine with that. “Now, more than that and we’ve discussed what needs to happen.”
“But we’ve discussed which towns and areas we’re open to allowing him to have this summer along with Sebastian,” Cerdic said, pointing out towns along highways in the Northwest Territories of Canada. “That will be the long and tedious process for them to appreciate the gift you’re allowing.”
Again, I nodded. There were no rail lines or major ways for transportation besides a semi dragging each trailer over small highways that hadn’t been kept up in a long time. “Hunting?”
“A separate topic, for sure,” Jacob promised. “And I will make that clear to my princess.”
“Good.”
“Now, we tested the track to Prince Rupert and besides a few spikes we replaced, it’s in wonderful shape,” he told me, showing me on the map. “Even better, the line west from here to Edmonton is also in good shape and tested. Then down to Calgary is also good. From there south to Montana even.”
“And then we run into a few problems,” Cerdic explained. “Denver was taken out, so we need to head down this way to Salt Lake City. There needs to be some repairs there, and the wildlife is insane, but able to be handled for sure once we get the corrupted out. None of the lines will get you to the heart of your coven, but with some work we’ll get it within two hours’ drive.”
“That’s amazing, really, awesome,” I breathed, smiling brightly at them. I glanced at Jacob. “I’m not trying to usurp anyone or whatever, but you can tell your princess I’m happy with this and if these lines are worked and even further south, this could aid us. I would be willing to aid her court, but not if the optics are of me grabbing my ankles or whatever.”
“We can easily find others who could also handle this project and move on from your coven,” Kristof said firmly. “And I plan on letting Matilda and Olivia know that when I visit.”
“Hurry back to me,” I whispered, giving him a heated look even as I blushed. “I don’t like you leaving my side so long.”
“Me neither, My Princess,” he promised, the look he gave me setting my body on fire.
I really hoped he felt the same and I wasn’t being stupid again. We could do it better, be smarter, and learn from our mistakes, right?
Someone please just tell me I was right even if it was a lie.
18
I didn’t like Kristof leaving for a few days after all that had happened, and while I knew he could take care of himself… It was logical to worry. They weren’t our friends given how Dennis had reacted. Okay, maybe it wasn’t logical given how scary Kristof could be, but there had to be someone out there scarier than him.
Right?
But I was happy for a distraction after seeing him off especially because there were nummies at the meeting. I really had put my foot down and required them if I had to be a real adult and boss.
I smiled at Sammy when I saw him, holding my arms out for him. He hurried over to me, and I pulled him up on my lap, giving him snuggles that he wanted to give me as well. I nodded to Darius whose lap I was sitting on. “Have you met Darius? He’s my—”
“Daddy,” he said firmly, looking at how we were sitting.
“Well, that went somewhere awkward,” one of Thomas’s owls chuckled.
I didn’t know what to say, and when I looked at Darius, he was staring up at the ceiling as if trying not to laugh at the kid. Well great, thanks for the help.
“Mommy used to sit on my lap like that,” Thomas’s son, Kevin, told Sammy. “It’s nice for snuggles and showing love just like she’s hugging you.”
It was amusing that the adults had gotten a bit squirrely or amused, but Sammy simply nodded like it was no big deal and he understood now. Yeah, kids were good like that and rolled with things.
“I would like to become one of your knights,” Thomas said, starting the meeting. “It’s my hope you would allow my clan to stay in Prince George and oversee it as an outpost of your coven for you.”
I didn’t answer right away, pinching off a bite of my muffin and thinking on that. “I don’t like that you feel you’d have to give your oath for that, and I’m trying not to be offended that you think me so horrible that I would require your oath to help your clan. Also, there might be a better place than Prince George, so why are you picking here?”
“The head of a clan being your knight protects them too, Inez,” Darius said gently. “It means if anyone screws with them, the whole weight of your coven would come for those people. It’s not something that could be a valid threat without that oath. There’s no ‘friend of the coven’ sort of label like I’m sure you’re thinking. Yes, you’d want that, but others wouldn’t respect it.”
Thomas waited until I nodded before addressing my other issue. “We like the area. Plus, we know farming and ranching. We are knowledgeable in this. If we could work to move the herds closer instead of an hour and a half away, we would have a dream setup here.”
“We could be an asset for the coven,” Kevin added. “We think it smart you also take into account what’s in the areas to think towards the future. There’s a jerky factory to the north of town. Fine, that could be easily done anywhere, but it’s already there. There’s a whole factory for making cheese, and while we don’t know that, Sebastian hinted he might teach us to stay in your favor.”
“Father flat o
ut told me as well,” Jaxon promised. “It’s smart. The hotel is great for now, but it doesn’t have to be forever. Eventually after the coven is built or a good amount settled, there’s no reason we can’t rebuild Prince George the way it needs to be. Nothing will ever be what it was, but in some ways that’s not a bad idea. This is how things used to be and not so… Selfish.”
“That’s fairly accurate,” Thomas agreed. “It just became the way that everything became me and I instead of the collective group. The progress was great, but too many were also hurt as everyone wanted what others had, so they pulled in and we all became our own islands instead of working together. We can fix that now.”
Still I didn’t answer, thinking it over. “So you would become mayor of the town in my area? We’re going to call this as part of my coven all the way over here?”
Thomas answered, which shocked me. “You got it all back up and running, yes, you should. You didn’t colonize when people were here. You saved the ghost town and handled the corrupted. Someone else could have but didn’t, so yes, it’s yours.”
He spent the next half an hour outlining their plans if I allowed it. They were going to oversee clearing the outskirts of town first while getting more in place for the long term. They wanted James to leave some of the trained people to teach some in the clan to use the weapons and defenses we would leave in place. The trains would be the best way to ship things out going forward.
I studied it all, understanding that any noble from another court—Sebastian or otherwise—would check in with Thomas and he would handle the raiding and hunting even. He would manage central British Columbia basically… Which made me wonder why only there, and I said as much, as this seemed the first step in a larger plan.
“We know other clans who are in the same state we were,” Kevin admitted. “They hide as we did and live out of the way, struggling each day and only surviving because there’s enough to manage. We’d like to contact them and show them there’s a better way with you and your coven.”
“You have the surviving Begleys as your knights. That is a huge win for any coven you didn’t even realize, Princess,” Thomas told me gently. “They’ve never sworn to any princess, never in their history, and many, many have tried. For them to have such a place in your coven and seeing how you treat them as equals instead of foot soldiers will endear you to many more shifters.”
“It’s disgusting to treat them any other way,” I grumbled, studying the map again. “Where are the surviving covens located?”
“Quebec City, Niagara Falls, and Florida,” Jaxon told me, nodding when I gave him a shocked look. “There were nowhere near as many in the Americas as Europe or Asia. Even Africa had more, as it’s the origination of life according to what scientists said. Most were in major cities that were taken out.” He leaned in closer. “Though there were two in Mexico, but Mexico City was taken out.”
“We’ll have to check on that,” Darius agreed. “And there was one in New Orleans, but it disbanded about a decade before the corrupted. What happened was always hush, hush, but most took it as a warning that trying to fly too high could get you burned.”
I flinched but then nodded. “You think it was established courts squashing someone who went to branch out instead of being adopted into a court or taking over. That’s why you’re all so worried from the beginning.”
Jaxon nodded. “Most don’t like change, and while it makes sense we all change to adapt to the apocalypse, it’s rare to establish new covens, and not many have pulled it off. Normally it’s with a huge backing of the family coven and the promise of almost a tithe paid to the original coven to keep them safe.”
“It’s also why there was a huge population of shifters in the Americas,” Thomas told me. “No courts around to pressure them or try and control them like pets.”
“So we should get a clan in at Boston fast, as we handled a good dent there and we don’t want someone else to think of this plan when we’ve done the work,” I muttered. “We give a wide berth to the covens that are here, but they snoozed, they lost is what we’re going with?” I waited until they nodded. “You have farming experience, so that’s the focus here. We get those who fish to Anchorage and Boston.”
“While also avoiding what’s left of the American government,” Jaxon added. “From what Vance and James have pieced together, there’s more than what we found at Fort Knox. There’s a group in Texas, and they’re very content to do their own thing so the independent state of Texas and fuck off.”
Darius snorted. “They wanted that when it was still the USA.”
“Yes, but also Puerto Rico.”
Darius flinched. “Oh, they gave a fuck about Puerto Rico then? They raped that island for everything of value and taxed the shit out of it to throw the island into poverty almost. Then they neglected it after that huge hurricane, saying to pay to fix it all themselves even if they were Americans. But the zombie fucking apocalypse hits and yes, head to Puerto Rico that we love. Ass. Holes.”
Jaxon’s lips twitched as he let that all out. “Yes, clearly.” He tapped the area where we’d end up. “But I think we need to focus on intel gathering especially in this area. The more corrupted we clear out, the more brazen settlements and others will become as if they have any right to be.”
“Or take credit for it,” I muttered. “I lured in a shit ton of corrupted with my blood into a building in France and then blew it, and a raiding group was bragging they’d done it. Everyone was celebrating them, and they never went near it. And then one had the gall to tell me I was his reward and to get naked. So yeah, too many assholes survived when too many good people died.”
“If we get the good people to band together and fast, we’ll make major progress for a future and pushing back against assholes.”
“Assuming the clans you’ll contact are good people who won’t immediately turn around and try to take it all,” I muttered, worrying my lower lip. I wasn’t shocked when Darius pulled me closer and kissed me even with Sammy on my lap. “Sorry, it’s a valid concern.”
“It is, but it’s a risk worth taking when we can help others, right?”
“Yeah, sorry, just really negative after Dennis and worried how things could spin out again,” I mumbled. “I mean, we’ll have to tell Thomas everything, and even if he’s oathed to me, there are dangers to that too and for us maybe.” I glanced between Thomas and Kevin’s hopeful gazes. “I’m fine with leaving you in charge and to keep going, but I need to think on contacting others.”
“You want to wait until Kristof is back for sure,” Jaxon surmised, nodding when I did. “Smart.”
“Or Branko,” Thomas muttered, quickly shivering. “A lot of us know the tales from his family court. I was there as a boy, and knowing that sort of power and darkness is on your side would make someone supremely stupid to fuck with you.”
“Yeah, it’s a dance, as we’re also going to give them weapons that they could turn against us.”
“No weapons without the oath, no way,” Darius agreed.
“But the whole clan wouldn’t swear loyalty, just Thomas,” I reminded him. “What if someone else decided to take him over and then that oath means nothing? But I don’t want the whole clan’s loyalty, right? That’s just over the top, and I get why they don’t like to give it.” I blew a raspberry which amused Sammy. “Yeah, my head’s going to pop. Let me think on this.”
“There might be another option we’re just not thinking of,” Darius comforted but sounded as worried as I did now.
Good thing I could bring them down to my level instead of the other way around.
We moved on from the meeting, and Darius pulled me off to the side for what I assumed was cheering me up before ghost time, but he had more planned. He kissed me softly and slid an iPod in my hand.
“We’ve been collecting the music off the ones we find to create a library of all the songs we can,” he explained. “We haven’t had much time for it yet, but we’ve got the computers now at le
ast. I know it’s the apocalypse and hard to keep moving some days, and now we have better insight maybe on how it’s harder for you and why. I made you a playlist for when you’re feeling dark.”
“Peppy stuff?” I asked as I looked down at the sleek iPod Nano with the gray cover.
“No, songs about depression and fighting against falling over the edge,” he said quietly. “Some talk about dealing with pushing past suicidal thoughts and—”
“I didn’t have that,” I argued, thinking that was harsher than what I’d been feeling. “I just didn’t want to fight anymore.”
“I know, and that’s not all that different,” he murmured, hugging me tightly. “It’s not a judgment, Inez. It’s help to show you that no matter how alone you can feel at times, you aren’t the only one. All those artists had the same fight or knew people who lost the fight with the darkness. I thought it was worth a chance that maybe it could help. Maybe it won’t, but I felt alone for a while, and you saved me from that.”
I nodded, getting where his mind was now and he was so into music it made sense he would pick that path. I kissed his neck since he was too tall to get his lips without egging him into it. He turned, and then I could kiss him, knowing how much he loved I did that. “Thanks. Really, thank you for taking the time and thinking of how to help. I’ll try it.”
“If it doesn’t, tell me and we’ll find something else. Maybe it’s peppy songs. Whatever it is, we’ll find it and you’re not alone. Neither of us are anymore because we have each other and the family we’re building.” He pulled something else out of his pocket, and tears filled my eyes when I saw it was a necklace with an extra clasp ready to hold a charm.
Or an engagement ring. I took it off my finger and attached it to the necklace after he put it on me. I pulled him down and kissed him with all I had, demanding he put his blood on his ring.
