“You’ll wait a lifetime before we get in touch with you,” Jarvic ground out.
She smirked. “Oh, really? Just think about the brave, new world you’re stepping into, and consider this… which side of things would you prefer me to be on?”
My father frowned. “I think you’ve made your allegiance quite clear, Gabriella.”
“It does seem that way, doesn’t it? But I owe neither witch nor Fae any favors. My Virgo are all Fae, and technically, I belong to a troupe—unconfirmed by trial or not.” She hitched a shoulder. “The witches have enough power of their own. You, on the other hand, have nothing. When you figure that out, and try to pull any remnants of a magic that doesn’t belong to you from the meteor, finally hitting rock bottom, as I said, you know where to come.”
And with that, she drifted down the line of petrified warriors and returned them to their original state.
Only as she headed toward us, pushing us forward toward the exit, did we hear groans as the warriors awoke. When we stepped out and into the bustling human town hall, the ice locking the guards in place began to crack as it ruptured open.
“Was that wise? Baiting them like that?” Matt asked in a low voice as we headed down the busy corridor and toward the external exit.
“Maybe not, but nobody ever said I had to be wise, did they?”
Sixteen
Riel
With my cell phone in hand, I hurried out of the doors that led to the newly constructed Eight Wings Academy, and grunted at the sight of a few thousand warriors in the courtyard where, all those months ago I’d been dropped off, and saw they were, to a one, ready to attack.
Weary with boredom at their inability to add two and two together to get four, I stared at them, well aware that they weren’t here to defend me. If anything, they were prepared to hurt me to access my power, and I knew that Matthew would forgive me my broken promise.
In the aftermath of the meteor shower, when daylight had fallen once more, a full twenty-four hours after our visit to the volcano Heklugjá, we’d begun to realize how difficult it was for them to function without magic, and Matthew had had me promise that I wouldn’t abuse my powers against my Virgo’s kind.
Of course, he hadn’t expected the Assembly to send a few thousand troupes my way, had he?
I, on the other hand, had.
I knew they wouldn’t take things lying down. They were so accustomed to the belief that ‘might was right’ that they couldn’t possibly understand that Gaia and Sol had worked together to combat their might, and had used me to do so, had used me to make things right.
Two months on, I was as unhappy about my situation, as I had been at the very start, but some things you just had to suck up. I had a role to play now, a role I didn’t want, but it was important nonetheless.
Someone had to teach these fools how to live without magic, someone had to act as an intermediary between the Conclave and the Fae, and that someone was actually someones. Daniel, as well as a lot of the admin caste, had been hauled into Eight Wings, not only to instruct the warrior and instructor castes as to how to use their blood magic, but my other Virgo were helping the cause too. Helping in a field that definitely wasn’t their expertise.
Eight Wings had reared warriors, made fighters into an army. But what use was an army without a power base? As it stood, even though they outnumbered the witches, the witches could decimate them in an instant. Without magic to shield them, they knew they were at an immediate disadvantage, so my mates had hauled in more admin caste, and were assigning a kind of triage to the Fae people—discerning who needed to be taught first at the Academy—while also creating satellite schools with Fae who’d never thought they’d have to teach males and females who they’d always considered their betters how to use their magic.
It was a complicated time, boring too. Every night, I craved my drafting board, craved my design tools. Sol, I missed my sewing machine so badly that I’d almost willed one into being last night, but only knowing we could be free once all this shit was in place had stopped me.
The Fae and the witches needed me at this moment.
The Fae to help guide them into a new future, and the witches to help steer them in the right direction.
In the aftermath of that day, a day the Conclave was starting to call the Day of Redemption—I had no doubt the Fae would grant it a far less polite title—Fae society had crumbled.
The magic they had stored, what they used as currency, had reverted to the simple metal that had facilitated their tyranny—gold. They were cash-rich, but that was of no use to them. Money meant nothing to the Fae… at least, it hadn’t until recently.
Now, with no magic, and the witches magic-rich, there was a new business opportunity for witches. Which, to my mind, was how it should have always been.
A fair exchange.
Nothing about the Fae’s earlier actions had been fair. But that was how they rolled. Until now. When things would definitely be changing.
Eight Wings was crafted out of witch magic this time, not Fae illusion, and it had cost the Assembly a pretty penny to build. But by that point, they’d been desperate. The richest, the most powerful of their kind, had been useless without magic, while the poorest and the most ‘menial’ of Fae hadn’t felt the pinch thanks to their blood magic.
Swiftly, they’d seen why the Academy needed to be reopened with a different curriculum, and the Conclave, now filled with AFata, had strong-armed the Assembly into letting me be the principal—along with my mates—by promising to build them an Assembly House that made the White House look shoddy.
Still, even though things were starting to work out, that didn’t mean people were happy about it. Case in point, the Fae standing in front of me with war and blood on their mind.
A smile creased my lips at the thought and, calling on the wind, I yelled out, “All these warriors for little old me?” Fire sparkled in my eyes. “I consider it a compliment.” And with that, I let my magic loose.
I had no intention of harming them, even though their intent had been the opposite, but I instantly felled half by sending torrents of water at them. The floods formed into a single flow that had them drifting downhill away from me. I had no doubt they’d return, so I made sure to send ice down that flow to keep them in place.
Next, I captured a good many of those who were flying in the wind. I’d learned from the AFata who’d attempted to capture me and used dozens of twisters to tear hundreds from the sky, letting the storms toss them out and away from my sight.
In a matter of minutes, I’d done away with over two-thirds, and the warriors who remained downed their swords to gape at me.
When I saw a dozen of the Assemblymen standing at the back of the warriors, I tutted under my breath. “You shouldn’t fight me, boys. Not when it’s a battle you can’t and won’t ever be able to win.”
I surged upward, flying away from them, not even bothering to look back to see if anyone was following. They could follow me, but they’d rue the consequences.
Eight Wings wasn’t as big as it used to be, but it was plenty big enough. One side of the ‘U’ shaped campus was for admin, the other was used as dorms, and in the middle was where they held all the classes.
I didn’t get involved in that stuff. Mostly, my Virgo dealt with that because I didn’t have the patience. My major role was acting as a go-between. Dealing with the Conclave, who was still coming to terms with their sudden strength as well as a shuffle at the top to weed out those witches who were in the Assembly’s pocket, took up the largest part of the day. Why? Because I had to make sure certain rules were implemented.
Without me, the witches would take advantage of the Fae’s situation. Just as the Fae had the witches’. If I wasn’t careful, in five hundred years, it would be the Fae who’d need a Redeemer to save them from witchkind’s tyranny.
The AFata I’d come across did have their uses however. Those strong witches were willing to protect the Conclave from Fae attacks as, dumba
sses that they were, they carried on trying to use their might to overpower us…
Like they could.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take for them to finally figure shit out, but until then, we’d all have to be on our guard. Only yesterday, I’d read a report of a young witch who’d been kidnapped by a group of Fae males. I knew those situations were going to surge into being more and more often as the Fae tried to redress the balance in their own favor, but until they understood that there was no favor, just equality, we were going to be bashing our heads against a brick wall for a long time to come.
As I soared through the wind, enjoying the moment of freedom, I dove down sharply as I made it to the residential wing. My descent was too fast, but I loved the feel of the wind in my face, and I kept it a little too close for comfort as I braked to a halt within inches of smashing into the balcony outside our quarters.
The second I heard voices inside, I groaned. I’d wanted to fuck my mates, not deal with family shit, but before I could even think about retreating, the doors to the patio opened and Matthew was there.
He looked hot. As always. And his eyebrow was cocked as he ran his gaze over me. “Been in the wars?”
I peered down at myself, grimacing when I saw how windswept I looked. “You could say that. The Assembly tried to attack again.”
Matt frowned, but it was Dan who rushed forward to grab me and haul me into a hug. “Are you okay?” he demanded, peering down into my eyes with a face that was loaded with concern.
Matt snorted, ever secure in my abilities. “Of course, she is. You shouldn’t be asking if she’s okay, but if the Assembly is.”
“They’re better off than they should be,” I muttered with a sniff.
Dan was always the first to hug me, and Matt was always the first to have faith in me and my strength. Both sometimes grew annoying. I didn’t always want to be hugged, and contrary creature that I was, I didn’t always want to be thought of as strong. Still, with Seph to act as intermediary, things didn’t blow up too often.
It was handy having three mates, especially as my fiery Latina temper had only grown more volatile in the aftermath.
Squeezing Dan for a second, I sought out Seph with my gaze but he wasn’t there to soothe my ruffled feathers. Instead, when I found him through the open door, talking to his father in the other room, I grimaced. “What’s he doing here?”
“Noa wants you to make him young again.”
I rolled my eyes. “What makes him think that I’m going to say yes this time?” He’d already asked about twenty times, and I’d said no. I wasn’t about to reverse my principles, not when it could cause chaos.
“He says that he and the rest of your grandmother’s living Virgo want to make another go of it.”
Arching a brow, I pulled myself out of Dan’s arms—the only place I really wanted to be at that moment—and headed into our private office. It had four desks in here, since each of us preferred to deal with the shitshow that was our lives in a private space.
It was weird to think that only two months ago, I’d been a student within these walls, and now I was faculty, but Sol, it wasn’t like it was my choice.
I wasn’t happy with my position. Not at all. The only thing that was bearable about my life was the fact that I was doing all this crap with my Virgo.
I’d never wanted power. I’d never even wanted to be a part of either witch or Fae society, yet somehow, I was both. Integral to peace on both sides.
It sucked, and yet, it seemed that was the Redeemer’s destiny.
“Noa,” I said in greeting.
He turned to me, his eyes pleading. “Please, Riel.”
I frowned at him. “Why? Why should I?”
“Because I want a second chance.”
I snorted. “Don’t we all.” Heading over to Seph’s side, I pressed a hand against his shoulder, and dipped down so I could kiss the top of his head. It wasn’t the type of kiss I wanted to bestow upon him, but beggars couldn’t exactly be choosers, could they? “You know as well as I do, Noa, that if I did something like this for you, then—”
“I’d move away. I’d leave the Assembly.”
Seph stiffened. “And do what? Where would you go? How would you hide?”
“I’d go to Honolulu. Linford and Gabriella have said I’m welcome there. Darwich wants to as well.”
I narrowed my eyes at that. “So he wants a free pass at another youth too, does he?” I scoffed. “Going to Hawaii isn’t enough. You’re Noa vil der Luir, Noa. It’s not like you can just disappear. Anyway, what about your wife? And Landgow?”
“Yes, what about Mother?” Seph retorted, but I heard the wryness in his tone and knew he found this situation amusing. I wasn’t sure what was funny about your father wanting to abandon your mother, but I was mostly just glad that he wasn’t distressed.
Considering Matt and Dan had told me more about his mother’s frosty reception all those weeks ago, maybe it was fitting. Seph wasn’t close with either of his parents, after all.
“She’s as unhappy with me as I am with her,” Noa ground out. “You know that, boy.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, a thought occurring to me. “Nothing comes for free in this world, Noa.”
His mouth tightened. “I come here knowing that you’ll want something from me.”
Lips twitching, I murmured, “You could say that.”
“I’ll pay whatever price you ask of me.”
I heard the plea in his voice then, heard it and knew it was genuine. He wasn’t trying to play me, he genuinely did want to be with my grandmother.
My relationship with her and Linford hadn’t improved really. I still couldn’t get over her lies, over her absence in my life when I’d needed her the most, and the fact that she’d withheld so much from me—to the point where Seph had suffered because of it.
Since the Day of Redemption, I hadn’t spoken to my family either, and I knew I’d need to rectify that at some point. While the magic wasn’t turning me nuts, it was isolating me. My power hadn’t lessened in the aftermath, and when all was said and done, at the end of a long day, I wanted nothing more than to be with my Virgo.
Preferably with one or more of them inside me.
The last thing I wanted was an argument with my brother or to bicker with my mother. That was the kind of relationship we had. It wasn’t bad, per se. It was just how we rolled, and at the moment, that was more than I could deal with.
Thinking of them made me feel guilty though, and I mumbled, “I will grant your wish, Darwich’s too, if—”
At my hesitation, he eagerly asked, “If?”
“You have to work on the Assembly. That’s the fourth time in the last two weeks that they’ve tried to attack me. It’s getting boring.”
He winced. “That’s not as easy—”
“Who said anything in this life had to be easy?” Matt inserted drolly. “I think that’s a fair exchange, and we’re all about the exchange now, aren’t we?”
Appreciating his wit, I grinned at him, and an hour later, when Noa had left and we were alone, I appreciated him some more as I widened my legs and let him feast on my pussy like he was a starving man in need of sustenance.
When Dan approached me, cock in hand, and I felt the tug of Seph’s lips on my nipple, I had to reason that it wasn’t a bad life.
Sure, nothing was how I’d ever imagined it.
I was in charge of a school I didn’t know how to run. Was an intermediary between two bodies of government I’d never respected, and had more power in my little finger than my Fae mates had, and yet…
I had my Virgo.
Gaia and Sol had taken much from me, but by bestowing these three mates on me?
They’d given me the Earth.
Literally.
Two Decades Later
As I stared at the Thanksgiving table, I had to hide a grimace. I was supposed to be cheerful and thankful today, but into my forties now and with more sass than ever, I never r
eally appreciated having to force those feelings.
Call me the Thanksgiving Grinch, but I was okay with that.
Hovering around my family, with all their heathen brats screaming and playing, I was grateful there'd only been one 'accident' over the years. With zero maternal instinct in my body, I'd had my tubes tied after, and had thanked Gaia all the way to the doctor's office that Olivia was a girl and that my duty to the line was completed with her birth.
It figured that Olivia would be the complete antithesis of her bratty cousins, though. Maybe that was also kismet. Gaia knew I couldn't put up with any of the shit my brothers or my brothers-in-law did with their horrible children.
“Stop scowling.” Dan grinned at me, so fucking cheerful that I wanted to scowl all the more. Only when he dipped down and pressed a kiss to my lips did I stop glowering, and then I sighed into the kiss and purred a little when he slipped his tongue into my mouth.
Sure, I was in front of family, but did I give a fuck?
Nope.
When he pulled back and nipped at my bottom lip, I mumbled, “Later.”
“For definite.” His eyes twinkled as he stared at me, and Sol, if I didn’t just fall that little bit more in love with him.
He, Matt, and Seph were the exact reasons why I didn’t need Thanksgiving. Every Sol-given day I was grateful for them. Thankful for their presence in my life.
They grounded me.
Kept me sane.
Without them? I wasn’t even sure what I’d have done. Not just with the Assembly and Conclave crap, but with Olivia too. Without them? I’d have been dust.
I reached up and cupped his chin, letting my fingers drift over the stubble gathered there. “You growing a beard again?” I complained half-heartedly.
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