I had so many mixed feelings about that. Of course I felt for what this Vanessa person had gone through, but that didn’t give her the right to take over my magic and try to hurt people.
“She had no right whatsoever,”Dain said through our link.“If I ever see her again, I’m going to wring her neck.”He sounded like he meant it.
I kissed his hair again.“I’m alright now, sweetheart. Everything’s fine.”
I glanced around the room, and when my eyes landed on our king, I could see so much guilt written on his face. Over the years, he’d given some speeches and had done a ton of interviews explaining what had happened and why our territory had become such a horror for the fae, and I could tell how deeply that hurt him. He could’ve done something about it if only he’d been paying attention to his kingdom rather than burying himself in grief.
But… he was doing so much good now.
I didn’t blame him for it. It wasn’t his fault that the people under him who were supposed to carry out his will had been lying to him for so long.
Just like it wasn’t my fault someone else had used me in such a horrific way.
Before I could contemplate anything further, Jed walked into the room, glanced around, and headed straight for Dain and me, even as he spoke to the room at large. “She’s locked up in a cell here at the Tower. She’ll have a trial soon—but we caught everything on video, and she confessed, so there’s no way she’s getting off. She’ll be moved to the prison after her trial, and she won’t be free for a very long time.”
Being a vampire meant she would eventually get out—we couldn’t imprison people forever—but it would likely be decades before that happened.
Dain gave him a nod, tapped my arm so I’d release him, and once free, he gave Jed a big hug. The vampire seemed surprised but happily hugged my viramore back. A part of me wanted to growl at the contact, but I didn’t truly feel any threat from Jed.
Maybe because I knew him a little and knew he and Dain had absolutely zero interest in one another.
Or maybe I was calming down a little and getting back to normal… and my normal didn’t typically include growling at people, no matter who they were or what they were doing.
As soon as Dain released the vamp, my viramore stepped right back into my arms, letting me hug him tight again.
Jed shot me a small, knowing smile before refocusing on Dain. “She told us where she got the spell that broke through your wards, but it was off the black market, so finding the culprit is going to take some time. We’ll be starting an investigation right away.”
Anton sighed. “Jed, are you taking point on that?”
Jed looked at his sire and nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.”
I’d thought Jed worked at the bookshop, so I was a little surprised he was taking charge of an investigation.
Inside my head, Dain said,“He only helps out at the shop when he’s not doing investigations for Garrick, which he hasn’t really been doing lately. He basically only takes bigger cases and only when Tan and Garrick ask him… kinda like Anton and the rest of his children. I don’t know all of the details, but they’ve all known each other for centuries, so I guess they just… work where and whenever they want?”
Huh. I supposed it made sense. I certainly only took jobs I actually wanted to do, and I wasn’t nearly as old as any of them.
Anton quickly wrapped up the meeting and told everyone to go home, so I turned to my brother and said, “Can you please run interference? I really want to take my mate home. I’m exhausted and need to get out of here.”
The last thing I needed was being swarmed by my family. Ten minutes ago, I would’ve happily seen them, but now, all I could think about was taking Dain to a safe place… and nowhere was safer for us than my den.
Dain turned to me with wide eyes. “Won’t they be upset? I don’t want them to think I’m stealing you away from them or something.”
My heart warmed. He wanted my family to like him. That was so sweet of my little grouchy werewolf. “We can see them in two days for Winter Solstice… if that’s okay with you?”
Ailin and Sebastian overheard me, and Ailin said, “Your entire family is coming to our home for our Solstice celebration.”
He said it like a statement, not a question.
Glacier’s eyes widened. “Um… we always do our own family dinner thing.”
“And you still can. But our celebration lasts the entire day. So come to ours for a little while in the morning and afternoon, then do your own.”
Sebastian sighed. “That wasn’t a demand, by the way. This one”—he pointed at his viramore—“doesn’t understand how to ask nicely. We would love to have you come—Dain, this invitation includes your brother—but we understand if you can’t. But please… please come. We would love to get to know you all better.”
Dain and I glanced at each other before looking back at Sebastian and nodding, and Dain asked, “Are you sure it’s okay if Paxton comes too?”
