“Enough!” Teagan yelled over everyone and got the silence he demanded. “Please go on, Princess.”
“I understand how this looks,” I began again. “If you had said the same thing to me earlier today, I wouldn't have believed you.”
“Why do you think they're innocent?” Tiernan asked gently.
“For one thing, they told me they are,” I said simply and Councilman Murdock made a disgusted snort. “They have no reason to lie to me but I won't argue the point. Rayetayah, their leader, told me that initially they were behind the attacks but the other local fey, including his mother, asked them to stop out of love for the Native Americans.”
“You're telling me that fairies asked other fairies to stop hurting humans?” Murdock scoffed.
“Councilman Murdock, are you deliberately trying to be insulting or are you just too senile to remember our history?” I said snidely.
“You-” Murdock started but was cut off by Teagan.
“Stop arguing with the Princess,” Teagan said to Murdock. “Let her finish and then we'll ask our questions.”
“Thank you,” I nodded to him. “Fairies have a history of loving humans and vice versa. The Native Americans especially appealed to the nature-loving fey and several fairies became guardians of the tribes. The humans thought they were animal spirits or gods.”
“Gods,” Murdock huffed.
“Say one more word and I will remove you from this room myself,” Teagan glared at the older councilman and Murdock looked away. “Go on, Ambassador.”
“Rayetayah is the son of one of those spirits; a raven spirit to be exact,” I explained and all of the fairies in the room nodded in understanding. It made sense that the mother's traits would influence the son. “His mother had a deep respect for the Cherokee and she felt that he was hurting them, so she asked him to stop. He says that they did but something else had been watching them and took over where they left off.”
“So the monster is telling us it's another monster's fault?” Murdock huffed.
Every fairy in the room tensed, including me. Teagan started to say something but I waved him down as I stood. I had the supreme satisfaction of seeing Murdock's face go white. I admit that I relished his fear as I closed the distance between us.
“How did such a horrid racist become a councilman?” I asked him in a deceptively calm voice.
“I am not a racist,” he sputtered.
“You've insulted me and now you've insulted my people,” I narrowed my eyes on him. “Either you're a liar and a bigot or you're very, very stupid. Because if we truly were monsters, you should be afraid of what we might do to you,” I leaned in to whisper, “without you even knowing we were doing it.”
“How dare you?” Murdock drew back his hand and all of my guard reacted, moving towards us with fairy speed.
They were fast but I didn't need their help. I could protect myself, especially from some old fool. I didn't even strike him or use any of my new fey magic. I used good old fashioned human telekinesis to give his hand a small nudge. Just enough to send it into his own face instead of mine. The slap rang out and the councilman sat there in stunned silence as a red mark appeared on his cheek.
“Stop hitting yourself,” I mocked him in the sing-song tone of a child.
All of my guard stopped short and with extreme effort they managed to hold in their laughter. Not so for the extinguishers and council members. They laughed at Murdock and it was a merciless, growing laughter that started out small and shocked but evolved into full out hilarity. Murdock stood and left the room without another word.
“Why is it that whenever we meet new council people, one of them always ends up leaving the room?” Tiernan mused.
I turned to smile at him and saw that Cat was still relaxed on the floor. She had never viewed Murdock as a threat. I guess after his earlier bluster and my handling of it, she thought I was good on my own. I kind of loved that about her; her ability to analyze like a human. Or a fairy, I guess.
“I have never seen anyone deal with him so brilliantly,” Teagan applauded as he stood. He held his hand out to me and I walked over to shake it. “Bravo, Ambassador.”
“Thank you,” I sat back down. “Now that the room has been cleared of fairy-haters, I'd like to proceed.”
“Please do,” Teagan still had laughter around his lips.
“I believe it speaks to their innocence that Rayetayah is willing to send his people into Fairy while he remains behind to help us in our investigations,” I went on. “The raven mockers will go to the Twilight Court, where my father can watch over them and Rayetayah will be here under our supervision. That way, if there is another attack, we will be certain that it isn't a raven mocker.”
“But how will you know that all of his people are accounted for?” A councilwoman asked. “One of them could stay behind and do the deed.”
“And then be hunted by his or her own leader?” I lifted a brow. “I don't think that would go well for them. Rayetayah knows that we won't stop searching until we have the villain in hand and I have already vowed to them that if we catch the killer and he turns out to be a raven mocker, I will extinguish him myself. Then, not only would one of his raven mockers be dead but the rest of them would be suspect and held for questioning.”
“That's a rather good point,” the woman conceded.
