Managing Expectations

by Erin R Flynn

  I shrugged as I dropped the barrier. “No matter how big of a monster he is, the man can’t fight physically. It’s like beating a weakling then and not much fun. Plus, he’d hit a nerve with some of his thoughts.”

  “That you’re a violent, slutty bitch no one will ever respect or allow to lead the noble race of light fairies,” Campbell called over as she fought against her restraints and the fairy holding her.

  Yeah, like that. I frowned at her, wondering how she was talking. Then I realized the restraints were gone too. Right, my magic must have gotten distracted with my other barrier and fight.

  “Queen Meira must be sick that her daughter turned out—” Campbell tried to add, but Lageos was suddenly in front of her before we could all blink.

  “Do not speak to the thoughts or feelings of my mate, you insignificant traitor,” he seethed, the very air around him getting colder, he was so upset. “You look down your nose at my daughter because of what she has suffered, but the fault was not hers. Meira would never have judged that, and her heart will break when she learns of it. But I know without a doubt that my mate will be proud of Tamsin.”

  “Thanks, Lageos,” I whispered, knowing he would hear me.

  “And you also do not speak for light fairies,” Iolas added. “The majority of us already adore Princess Tamsin and so do a large portion of the dark fairies. Never has one queen brought us all together, much less an heir. So do not speak on things you think you know as we have all witnessed that you are you unable to see what was right in front of your eyes. Your opinion means nothing to us.”

  I soaked up the support and moved over by Julian, shooting Campbell a smirk and snuggling up with him. “Alright, let’s get them to their new homes, shall we?” I focused on her specifically as I repeated what I’d said earlier. “You always wanted to see Faerie. You’re going to. Whether we let you ever leave again is what I would be worried about.”

  A couple of portals opened and fairies started moving the restrained warlocks and witches along, who could not seem to process this was truly happening.

  I gave Julian a soft kiss when he glanced at me, running my fingers down his cheek and moving my arm around him. “Come on, let’s get this done so we can move on with our day. Everyone else will be the adults and knows what to do. I have other plans for you.”

  He nodded, brushing his lips over mine before leading me to one of the portals… And into his family seeming to wake up from their shock. The vile things they shouted at him made him flinch, and fairies started gagging the idiots.

  I kissed Julian again and bit back a smirk when Campbell flipped out. I’d asked for someone to block the mistress charm for one day so everyone could see what was really between us.

  “If he had any respect for you at all, he wouldn’t need a mistress charm to hide you’re his mate,” Campbell shouted. “How many of those charms are you using? No one in his family will welcome you, no matter your supposed bloodline when—”

  “Enough,” Julian growled, tapping into my magic and simply thinking the correct rune to gag her. He flinched away when I tried to kiss him again, muttering to everyone to give us a minute before leading me away from the portal to Faerie people were starting to go through.

  “I know it’s—” I started to say, but he interrupted me.

  “I get you’re jealous of Campbell and doubt me when it comes to her, but I’m not comfortable with you acting like we’re like this when we’re not like this yet. And I get it, we’re not there yet, and I can be patient. I more than deserve your distrust and whatever time you need to warm back up to me, but I can’t fake our intimacy level, and certainly not for that stupid cunt I never wanted, even before you.”

  I was so shocked he was telling me what he honestly wanted instead of worrying I’d get upset and break up with him that it took me several moments to actually register what he’d said. That took me a few more, the two of us simply staring at each other. I shook off my surprise and made my mouth work.

  “That’s not—yes, I was jealous of her, but I’m honestly not. Not anymore.” I couldn’t blame him when he raised an eyebrow at me. “What happened still stings, and she will always be a sensitive topic, but more because… She’s one we lost. We couldn’t get her to see reality and come around to the truth. Yes, I poke her because she chose to be blind and do all of this, let her jealousy get her.

  “But that’s not what this was today.” I held my finger to his lips when he went to speak. “It’s not. You’re hurting. She would treat you like trash and I wanted her to see I won’t. I don’t want to change you…” I sighed. “I want you to be my Julian again. That’s not changing you. She wanted to make you someone new. I loved the person you were before…”

  “I abandoned you,” he finished for me, his voice tight.

  I wasn’t sure if it was because months later, I was still holding on to that or if—I honestly didn’t know, so I kept moving on in what I was saying. “I might have smirked at her for that, but I also wanted to comfort you. You tapped into my magic, and I could feel how much this is hurting you, Julian. You agree with doing this, but that was your family screaming for your head on a pike.”

  He nodded, cupping my cheek. “You were so happy when I told you I couldn’t fake our intimacy. I’m trying not to be hurt here, love, but you have to—”

  I stood on my toes and gave him a soft kiss. “You were my Julian again, not this guy who does whatever I want so I won’t dump him. You talked to me about what’s really going on and—I hate you just give me whatever I want without us talking. I know that sounds horrible because I hurt you took your eyes off of me, but—I swear it make sense in my heart.”

  “It does to me, and I’m trying,” he whispered as he slid his other arm around me. “I am. I’m not going to lie that I’m not terrified you’ll leave me again but—”

  I tried to pull away. “You left me and—”

  “You’re right,” he cut in, hugging me closer. “You are right. I’m not just agreeing. I meant you officially ended things. I wasn’t pushing the blame onto you or being the victim. But you did end things with me and I died inside. I can’t feel that again. I’m terrified to feel that again so I’m trying, but it will take me time.”

  I nodded. That was fair. I still needed time trying to let go of what happened. I might have forgiven him enough to take him back, but clearly I hadn’t to the point where I could trust he would stay. Still, we had more going on besides rehashing all of that.

  “I meant what I said about doing other things today. I get it came off dirty but… Can we just have the day for us? Let’s go to one of our places and just read in my library? I want to give you an us day. You need the comfort.”

  “I’d love that, my sweet fairy,” he whispered against my lips before hugging me with all he had.

  Good. I would love that as well.

  And I loved him. Getting the glimpse of him being my Julian again was enough to help me hold on. For now, at least. I could hold on for now.

  I might change my mind tomorrow but right then, I was able to manage where we were.

  “Handle what you need to and be the sexy boss, and then we’ll have a quiet day for just us.”

  That was a winning plan, and I hurried to lead him through the portal to Faerie so we could get to the fun. I walked over to Taeral, one thing that was still bugging me about the plan.

  “Some of them have children. They’re with nannies and sitters because even they weren’t stupid enough to bring them for this fight. What do we do about that? Is there a plan? We can’t just leave them to worry and wonder.”

  “We’ve both handled situations like this,” Taeral assured me, gesturing to Iolas. “We will take everyone into custody, even the staff and guards. We will interview them first and see who is complicit or innocent, maybe trapped in their situation, as we find that in corrupt families.”

  I nodded, knowing that was common.

  “The children we will watch for now, find caretakers
for later once we’re out. Some of the Craftsmans won’t be high level evil and will be reduced to house arrest and watched by us for so many years. Like probation, as the humans have. They will probably raise the children. We try for that as opposed to adopting children as fairies as that can overstep.”

  Iolas hummed in agreement. “But we also can’t hand them over to any relatives who didn’t show that might be as corrupt. If we can find some in-laws to raise them, we will. The children won’t fall through the cracks and will get the chance to turn out like your mate instead of the next generation of evil. The goal is for this to be a clean slate for the Craftsman family and have it return to an honorable path.”

  Again I nodded, having read in history class how fairies made that a priority. It was surreal to be on this end of it and sort of in charge of it even. But it was nice they had a plan and knew what they were doing.

  Taeral continued when he saw I accepted that. “The plan will be to send back the clean staff and make it seem like the family went into hiding for the moment. Shortly after, we’ll leak some of their worst misdeeds to the media, and then later once we’re out, hold a public trial.”

  I scrubbed the back of my neck. “It might behoove us to spin it like they were about to pull something big with some of the other corrupt, elite families we want to handle. We need to take players off the board before we can go after the council, or they will slide into their seats and we’ll play Whack-A-Mole forever.”

  “That’s smart,” Iolas praised. “Not that they went to the Underground, but an implication they were making a move to take over the council and shoring up forces from a secure location would help us immensely.

  Taeral snorted the same time I did, the dark fairy speaking what we were both thinking. “If they weren’t making a move to take over the council, I will be supremely shocked.”

  Amen.

  We headed out to leave them to handle it, but I paused, glancing at Campbell and almost using my telepathy to talk to her. I debated it but honestly, I couldn’t see any path back for her. She didn’t want to see the truth or what was actually happening. No one could be helped then.

  So why waste my precious time and breath with them?

  Craftsman slid his arm around me as if sensing my internal struggle and led me out of there. Yeah, it was best to move forward.

  And on to a great authentic Mexican place we loved. That was always a better way to add to your day. We loaded up and after some arguing, I ended up just leaving whatever cash I had on me—which didn’t remotely cover the bill—since they wouldn’t take my card.

  Craftsman chuckled as we walked back to the hidden spot where we could open a portal. “So some guys were hassling their young daughter and they disappeared like magic after talking with you and are now terrified of you and whatever drugs you slipped them without them knowing? What did you really do, love?”

  “I froze them, stripped them, and portaled them out to the middle of nowhere with animal blood all over them to make them think they’d killed someone or gone feral hunting animals raw. They’re so busy worrying what the fuck they did or killed, they won’t have time to try and share the virginity of a fifteen-year-old girl.”

  “I love you, Tamsin. Really, you are just so perfect.”

  I snorted. “Glad someone thinks so.”

  We arrived back at my house and I realized Lageos wasn’t there, probably giving us space and handling everything as my father. Zach and Ray were on campus, Sean, Marshall, and a few of the wolves I’d snagged from Artemis’s security were mostly staying at the havens and working there. And Lageos had made Neldor move out.

  So for the first time in a long time, I was completely alone in my house with only one of the men I was involved with. It was ridiculously nice and peaceful.

  Which of course meant it didn’t last, but not in the way I would have thought.

  With Julian’s help, I had changed my portal so that when I locked it, certain people still had access always for emergencies and strangers could never simply portal to it. That helped, given how many were trying to always get at me, even the “trusted” faculty of Artemis.

  I didn’t mind, but that meant we could be interrupted. And we were.

  A few times.

  First, Hudson showed up with a ton of everything awesome from the Vogels’ kitchen staff that was out of this world… Even including the dragon donuts that had been such a sensitive subject between us, but we had managed to get over.

  Or my stomach wanting them mostly pushed us through it.

  Next, Lucca arrived with a ton of fast food and hot fries. He simply shrugged and set it all down, muttering that Julian liked chips.

  Finally, Darby came with some booze.

  I blinked at them as they plopped down and joined us. “Really?”

  Lucca took that one, sort of already explaining. “He can’t tell his friends what’s going on. We like him, and we’ve got a connection unlike any other given we’re mates with you and so is he, kitten.”

  “Plus, you might not have been worried about your plan, but we worry about you all the time,” Darby reminded me as he poured out four double shots and passed them to the men. “Incessantly worry about you, agra.”

  “Sorry.”

  “You never have to apologize, and we’re proud of you for fighting so hard. Just accept we worry, and we’ll show up to check you for bumps and bruises.” He raised a toast to me and they all tossed back their drinks.

  “Great, I drive you to drink,” I drawled.

  “It’s the situation, love, not you,” Julian muttered, glancing at Darby. “Thanks.”

  “I’ve recently been through something similar. Finding the bottom of the bottle helped. A few bottles.” He winced. “Maybe just for not as long as I did.”

  Hudson snorted. “Or drinking the booze of others. I thought Father was going to pound you when he thought you drank his rare bottle of whatever. You lived because you’d simply moved it.”

  Darby adjusted his glasses. “Even hammered, I’m not stupid enough to drink bottles worth more than paying off my council for killing me. I saw the cheaper stuff behind and made a mess. I apologized.”

  Oh boy. These guys were a handful.

  Julian seemed to realize I was getting uncomfortable talking about what had happened after I’d split with Darby. “Plus, I don’t really have any friends. Most want to be friends with me because I’m a Craftsman, just like you guys are used you.”

  Well, not Darby, but Lucca, and especially Hudson understood that, both getting lost in their heads.

  “What do you call a male MC’r?” Darby asked.

  I blinked at him. “Huh?”

  “A Craftsman,” he snickered, pouring them more drinks.

  I couldn’t drink regular alcohol because I was a fairy, but I wondered if I was getting buzzed off the fumes when that made so sense to me. “Huh?”

  “MC is Minecraft,” he explained.

  “Lame,” Lucca chuckled. “Saying that would have given it away. I didn’t get it either.”

  Hudson snorted. “What do you call a man who swings a spoiling day with our super sexy mate because of family drama?”

  “What?” Julian asked, smirking over the rim of his glass.

  “A crafty fucking man,” Hudson answered, toasting him with his drink before tossing it back.

  I died. I laughed so hard, and I wasn’t the only one. It was great, and not because of the pun. It was that stressful kind of laughing we simply needed to get out.

  Which was why we kept going. We kept telling all the stupid jokes and puns on his name we could as they kept drinking and we all ate too much. It was great.

  And then somehow, I got all the spoiling later.

  Sure, that was how that was supposed to go.

  21

  There was a huge hole in my plan that I hadn’t thought of until I arrived at Campbell’s class on Tuesday… And realized I’d never given any consideration to how taking away one of Artemis’s
teachers would go over.

  But apparently, others didn’t make that same mistake.

  Since Iolas was standing at the front of the class.

  Yeah, really.

  Fuck.

  What had the adults come up with as a plan without my knowing now?

  I went through several stages of emotions fast. First, feeling like an idiot for not having thought of the ripples of detaining Campbell. Then, pissed the fairies, and probably Lageos, would think to put someone here to watch me. Next, was realizing it was another layer of smart security and something I would have immediately agreed to or even suggested.

  If they had brought it up to me. This seemed underhanded.

  Then, I chastised myself, as they didn’t all answer to me. From there, I spun out a bit wondering when I’d become so pompous and worried I was becoming like Neldor and that everyone should bow down to me. There were a few more levels of spinning before the bell rang and then I was blinking at Iolas and wondering what the plan was.

  They had a plan, right?

  “I’m Professor Garza, and I’ll be taking over Professor Campbell’s classes for the rest of the semester,” he announced.

  I wasn’t the only one who needed several moments with that statement, and I knew more than they all did. The class was shocked quiet for once.

  “Soooo, she finally got her family to set up a mating or something?” a woman who was one of the many shallow bitches in my year mocked. “How come we didn’t hear this yesterday?”

  I wanted to know that too.

  “It was last minute and arrangements weren’t finalized until late yesterday,” he answered smoothly. “So other teachers filled in for her Monday classes without explanation. Today, it’s official and I’m taking over.”

  “And on my other question?” she pushed.

  “I cannot speak to Professor Campbell’s mindset or personal life except to say she won’t be returning to Artemis or teaching.” Mirth danced in his eyes, probably knowing people would take that the wrong way, but he didn’t care since he loathed Campbell.