by Erin R Flynn
It didn’t get better. We played on the beach until dinner and then we headed back to the hotel. She showered and had fun with Jaxon, but it was like some piece of her was missing. Branko offered to keep reading, and she agreed, but her eyes weren’t as bright as usual. It was understandable, but it killed me too.
I took the first shift of sleeping with her when she drifted off, only needing an hour or two myself. Everyone was anxious because Darius was waiting to get his chance to hold her. I kissed her forehead and he slid in on the other side of her. She seemed to know it was time because she turned over and snuggled up to him.
“I’m worried,” Darius whispered.
“We all are,” I murmured, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “We just need to keep doing what we can to make her smile.”
So that was what I did. I went and raided all night to help get as much done and finished in Everett as I could. Then when morning came, I went with Kristof and Matias, and the wolf showed us the main areas where too many traps had been abandoned or lost. I pushed the water away and Kristof hurried to get them. We realized it was just easier to dive down and get the lines, since we were that fast.
We loaded up the ship twice that way and Matias said it would be a big help. Good. We could just keep helping.
Inez was still quiet and withdrawn at breakfast. I found her in the lounge with Vance, sorting seeds. I told her what we did and she smiled, saying that was great, but not with her normal brightness.
“Let’s go do some tai chi,” I said, glad when she nodded. “Maybe talk a little?”
She shook her head but then sighed. “I’m not sure there’s much to talk about. I’m just upset with the loopholes and inconsistencies. It’s harder to figure this all out and not drown in the crazy with them.”
“Like what?”
She growled. “Oh, like how Aether took care of Clarence when he wanted to hurt me, but now three other vampires tired to assassinate me, but Olivia’s sick, and apparently I killed a princess that I didn’t kill.”
I about felt the lightbulb go off over my head. “I get what you’re missing.” I sat down next to her. “A noble or vampire not sworn to a coven cannot hurt a princess. Once they’re sworn to a princess, they can harm a princess or coven. They can defend their family coven, but… We wouldn’t be of much use if we’re attacked, if we can’t harm a princess or coven to defend you.”
She sighed. “Idiot. Yeah, okay, that makes way more sense. I didn’t even—idiot.”
“No, you’re not,” Vance defended. “I didn’t even know that, and I grew up with shifters. There are a lot of crazy this and that. It’s not only you feeling it, Inez. I didn’t know vamps could slip through or be sent after princesses either. And you’re certainly not Erebus’s champion. I was thinking something got slipped into their water for sure.”
“Yeah, right?” she chuckled darkly. “Like the settlement I was at that was drinking salt water and completely off their rockers. They’ve been drinking extra salty blood maybe.”
We did our tai chi and even made love after, and she was there but not… Whole. I brought her to the place where we brought in the damaged and forgotten crab pots. She went through the motions and turned them into energy beads before moving on with her day. She seemed sad and relieved to see the other princesses leave, thanking Mother, Hanna, and Nora for the help, but looking lighter when they were gone.
Just not happy.
“She’s falling into depression again,” Kristof worried. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I don’t either. Keep pushing forward so there’s less on her?”
“Get her a home where she feels safe,” Darius countered. “She was muttering in her sleep last night that she would never be safe and they would always come for her.”
“Then we know what to do,” I agreed. “What can we do to help?”
“A lot, and the three clans are jumping in fast as they get settled in Salt Lake, now that they’ve all sworn to her. The rebar bending machines can’t be sped up, so they’ll handle a lot of that to start but we can move faster and build the footing and pillars for the subbasements. Once you get the hang of that, you can do a lot to help us, because the whole bottom needs to be built that way, along with all the parts.”
So that was what we did. Two always stayed with her—even if it was one of the three Kristof knew that weren’t hers yet—and the rest of us did everything we could to build her castle, start her physical coven.
Even if they hadn’t taken their oaths yet, the corrupted James and Trisha killed now affected Inez, but she didn’t seem to mind, working through them and using the energy as we needed. She collected the seeds and sorted them, talking to Vance about the future and hopeful plans.
We figured out a system of going round-robin to the areas that needed her. Once day, she’d tear down a neighborhood that was cleared out in Columbus, before heading to Anchorage, where she would break down batteries they collected and reforming them into industrial batteries, and then head to Salt Lake to get them up and running better.
Part of me was jealous of Darius and Moon, who had such focused and crucial jobs like building her coven, or Moon, who was designing solar farms to sustain the areas in the future. But then again, I got to flow in and out where help was needed and be at her side more.
The only time she showed something was still wrong was when we had to go to Grand Forks, which she clearly didn’t want to go back to. She would hurry to do whatever and get back out. No one blamed her, but we all saw it.
Days passed and the ship left with her gifts, along with everything loaded for going back to Nora and more. Others were planning on sending more to her to fix, taking the three pallets of fixed instead of one pallet of new which was still a good deal for both sides. And they were taking that deal seriously.
Very seriously.
A week after they started, every gun store and police station in Cincinnati was cleared out. There were still a few reserve centers or military places, but it was a huge start, and Inez seemed relieved it was going well. The depression was there, but slowly, things kept going well, it was like one grain of sadness lifted off of her every day that went by.
She had been doubting her decisions, the plays she made, as that was what had led to people coming for her. Maybe? She wasn’t talking about it and we didn’t want to push her.
She did dive into two things that seemed to soothe her. One was helping Nick. Something about kitchen prep or knowing there was real food, aiding to keep the food going, helped her. And second was diving into research on what the world had been like before the apocalypse.
For now, she seemed focused on the wildlife, given we kept telling her what needed to be culled or where the populations exploded, but more and more seemed to be added to her pile of books. When Wilson was looking through the server farm in Seattle and landed the offsite storage for Animal Planet, it was the first real smile we’d seen in almost two weeks.
After tai chi, I decided to take her to the coven and show her how far everyone had gotten. The subbasement flooring and pillars were in, huge walls that would be for a few levels at least. All the piping and more was done and plotted out for everything that would be rebuilt.
“Thanks,” she whispered as she turned and hugged me. “I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to snap out of it.”
“We know. We know how hard you’re trying too, love,” I rasped, hugging her back. “We’re all scared, Inez. I didn’t feel them come, and we will undoubtedly piss off others. It’s not just all on you. I just don’t know how to reach you to help.”
“Just don’t leave me while I try to work through it,” she choked out. “I’m so scared you guys will leave me if I can’t be happy again, or you will get hurt being near me. Please, just don’t leave me.”
“Oh, love, we’re not going anywhere,” I promised. “Life is always dangerous and we want to protect you. We’ll keep doing better and make everyone safer so you take the time we need.”
> “Then show me something beautiful,” she begged me. “Show me something better.”
“That, I can do, My Princess,” I whispered. I wrapped her around me and blurred us up to Canada, to Prince George. I waited until we were in the hotel the Gagnon clan was using, which she’d set up before setting her on her feet. I gave her a few moments to settle from the blurring and then led her towards where I heard was something beautiful.
Namely, kids playing in the pool.
I moved her up to the window and hugged her from behind as she watched all the munchkins playing in the pool with their parents or others in the clan. “You did this, my love. This is their gym class.”
“Gym class is for school?” she asked, frowning like she was piecing together what she’d learned, but not from her memories.
“Aye, it is. Someone found the corporate offices of one of those K12 online schools that used to be popular before everything happened. They found pallets of all the grade level kits and the materials needed. They’re using the conference room as a school. It’s slow starting, as most of these young ones had nothing, but now they can. You fixed computers and now they can.
“One was a teacher and others help and now the kids are getting an education. We’re on the hunt for those learning games and programs for tablets so they can learn even if we can’t update it all, and there won’t be Amazon Kindles online, this is so much more than anyone thought could be around the corner. Their lives are filled with so much happiness and you did this.”
“It was a team effort,” she whispered, sniffling and waving when Sammy saw us and called over excitedly. “This is beautiful. Thank you, my love.”
“I’d do anything for you and you only ask for something simple.” I kissed her neck. “Tell us how to help, Inez. We get how being powerful can stab us back. We do. We need you, we love you, so just tell us. It’s not being a baby. It’s not wrecking our days. I love getting to come here and see this.”
“I’ll try,” she sighed. “I keep feeling like I can’t break above the water. I don’t know what I need then.”
“That’s fair, but now at least we know seeing something beautiful helps.”
“It does, my genie Zen master.”
“Want to see something cool?” I offered.
“Yeah, I do.”
We waved goodbye to everyone and then I brought her to Everett, where work was happening. I gave her a few moments again to settle before turning her to see Kristof using his power to start her river that would head to the coven.
“Now that the islands were raided, everything turned into energy beads, and gathered, he’s been working on pushing them out of the way. He’s going to eventually build up a storm wall keeping the beach but helping with floods in the area for when the weather goes bonkers. The rest, he’s loading into fixed train cars to eventually rebuild the parts of the Rocky Mountains that got destroyed.”
“That’s fucking cool,” she agreed, watching him with awe. She leaned against me when I hugged her from behind, and we swayed to the music that wasn’t playing. Her eyes were sparkling when he finished and looked at her.
“Go, it’s fine,” I promised, kissing her hair as I nodded to Kristof.
She thanked me and went bounding over to him, laughing when he caught her and swung her around. I made a mental note to tell the others that this was what helped. Progress was great and there were so many mountains to conquer, but all of that meant nothing if she couldn’t see it, reach out and touch it and feel that things were better.
And how much we loved her.
“Well done,” Sebastian praised as he moved up next to me.
“You’re just all mushy and swoony after Nora beat you up and told you she loves you as much as her Night.”
“I feel guilty I ever doubted her when she was absolutely right that she never said such nonsense, and bore my children.” He turned to leave but then froze. “Don’t make my mistake. She loves you four equally, even if Darius and Kristof are more visibly working on what she needs.”
“I won’t, thanks.” I thought about that. “But I might find you if I need the reminder.”
“As long as you bring some of that booze I hear you keep stockpiling for your princess.”
I threw back my head and laughed. “Yeah, those feisty humans are not happy their booze keeps disappearing. We’re doing it now to keep them chasing their tails while all the raiding is going on.”
“Smart. If they’re focused internally, they’re not looking outward.”
“Exactly. Kristof thought we should give them something to do and leave some of Inez’s blood there, but she wouldn’t like that. It would be the poor blokes stuck there and trapped by the crazy that had to fight and maybe die.”
Sebastian sighed. “No, she would not like that with her kind heart, but I cannot even blame her, as there has been so much death, and wasting life seems so much more vile than it once did. She will like to hear that Columbus has been completely stripped of weapons and gas. We’re still syphoning off vehicles, but every gas station and reserve has been handled.”
“The military bases there?” I asked.
“Done.” He nodded he was serious. “Everyone needed hope, and now we have a path. Knowing your kind princess she will want to give bonuses and I know what we would like.”
I didn’t even have to ask. “Wolfe’s farm machines with the electric engines. Yeah, it was clear many wanted those as the next step to getting back to living instead of surviving.”
“It sounds nice,” he agreed, sounding tired and as old as we all felt some days, no matter our age. “She fixed the merchant ship?”
“Yes, it’s parked at St. Louis to start being loaded and heading to Europe once we get the confirmation that every area has a safe port.”
“Good.”
“Excuse me,” I muttered when I saw Inez pull away from Kristof, clearly not happy.
“I’m going to pound you, Sisay,” Kristof snapped.
“Thank you for telling me, Sisay,” Inez said instead. “I had forgotten that someone had another woman proposition him and he didn’t even tell me; others did.”
“You’re welcome, Princess,” Sisay replied, smirking at Kristof and muttering at a level she couldn’t hear. “Well, her fire’s back for sure.”
“No, you’re in trouble,” Inez growled as Kristof tried for her. “You still haven’t told me exactly what happened.”
“I informed Matilda and others what Dennis had done, Olivia was sitting right there, and she said if I didn’t approve of Dennis, I should take his place at her side.”
I winced as rage and hurt flashed in Inez’s eyes. “You didn’t think to tell me that? That’s pretty fucking—”
“There’s more,” Kristof admitted, realizing it was better to tell her. He did and I swallowed a sigh, completely believing my sister was so seriously bold and delusional to pull that shit.
“And your response?” Inez whispered.
“I laughed at her. I full-out laughed at the brat,” he promised.
She flinched. “You say I’m a brat.”
“No, you can be bratty, and I love it. I love it when you’re open and bratty with me as you should be; you have the goods to back up that bratty side, My Princess. She does not. I laughed because… She’s nothing compared to you.” He growled when she pulled away. “Be bratty with me, Inez. Punish me. Show me my place and let me prove I only want you.”
She shivered, that sparkle coming back in her eyes as she licked her lips and stared at him. “You are grounded for one week. For one week, no sex.” She smirked when his eyes went wide. “You’re spoiled, and you weren’t honest with the woman you love. You need to remember to deserve that spoiling and you will earn your chance to have me again.
“You will only please me as penance, and your only orgasms this week will be by your hand while I watch and you eat me. Only then. You are mine, not hers, not any princess’s, and you need to remember that and how spoiled you are. You acted
like a free agent who brushed off a proposal instead of in a relationship where you should have told your fiancée. That’s your grounding. That’s the new grounding.”
“Yes, My Princess,” Kristof groaned as he knelt before her. “I thank you for being so good to us and I am truly sorry I failed as a partner to tell you what I should. I ask you give me two weeks of grounding so I can show the woman I love that I truly am sorry.”
“Done, and then we will never speak of Olivia and her fucking ideas of taking you from me again,” she seethed. She reached out and fisted his hair, angling his head to bare his neck. “You are mine, Kristof.”
My cock twitched when she struck hard and fast, laying her claim to him. Shit, I wanted that and to be grounded. A week of her so focused on me? Yeah, sign me up.
A noble from Mother’s court appeared and bowed to her. “Princess Inez, greetings from Princess Matilda and Princess Olivia. I come with a message for you.” He held out a plastic wrapped cell phone, letting us know he’d swam the ocean to get here.
And the timing wasn’t the greatest, as her eyes danced with anger at just hearing Olivia’s name.
“Thank you. If you head south, there’s a hotel we took over. Speak with one of the Perez clan and let them know you’re a guest. I’ll come find you after I’ve seen the message and thought of a reply. Until then, eat your fill and enjoy our hospitality.”
“Thank you, Princess,” he accepted, bowing again before giving me a nod and taking off.
“We can handle this,” I promised her as I took the phone. I waited until she nodded and hugged her to me as it loaded the first message.
“Dear Aether,” I breathed as my sister came into view.
“Um, that’s Olivia?” Inez asked, clearly trying not to say what she was thinking, or gloating she was prettier after what my sister had pulled.
“Her illness has progressed severely since I last saw her,” Kristof muttered, watching over Inez’s shoulder.
“Oh, right, duh,” Inez muttered. “Wait, replay it. Why is she so quiet?”
“She’s sick,” I answered. “Believe me, my sister is never so quiet.” I cleared my throat and restarted it. Tears formed in my eyes as she apologized for how she’d treated me. I believed it. I saw my little lass in her eyes as she begged my forgiveness for forgetting we were brother and sister before all else.
