"Matt Buckner the elder conspired with his grandson, Matt Buckner the younger, to kill the baby we brought back with us, who we have named Alexander Jensen."
Mrs. Grunst stepped out of the back room and held the baby out for everyone to see. Most of the people in the room made an appropriate gesture or sound. A few sat stony-faced, but we couldn't evict everyone from the council who didn't agree with us. They'd all been elected there. Zander had told me he'd been working diligently to slowly have them removed or replaced. Here was a chance to get a major problem off of the council and out of our lives.
It didn’t stop us all from disliking them. Mrs. Grunst’s glare caught my attention. As the former nanny to Zander and Roan, she was fiercely loyal. I liked her more every day.
"I ask you to vote to strip Mr. Buckner's title on the council. He is currently in a holding cell with his grandson, who has confessed under a truth spell to his and Mr. Buckner's collusion to attempt to poison the infant we have taken into our home."
The vote was unanimous. Even those who probably didn't want to vote him off did, under fear of being next.
"Thank you," Zander said. "Hopefully we will resolve the matters with the Leyak quickly and these frequent council meetings will no longer be necessary."
He dismissed the group. Riley squeezed my arm as I hurriedly whispered what Old Buckner had said. "Zander fought hard to keep you from being harmed," I said. "I wanted you to know."
She smiled. "I'm glad." Then she winked. "Go for it."
I planned to do exactly that.
10
"Goodbye sweet boy."I pressed a kiss to Alex's temple and smiled at Mrs. Grunst. "You're worth twice your weight in gold."
She laughed a rich, booming laugh that made Alex jump, which made all of us laugh with her.
"The poor darling." She pressed his cheek to hers and began to rock. "Nanny's sorry she scared you." She winked at me. "I accept gifts, my dear, never fear."
Zander snorted. "You never let us have extra gifts growing up."
With the hand not holding Alex to her shoulder, she swatted at Zander affectionately. "And look at what a wonderful man you grew into, hmm?"
"You're right," I said. "The nanny gets the gifts, and the children aren't spoiled. Because Roan and Zander are..." I winked at her, then turned to eye them. "They're pretty good."
"Pretty good?" Roan whisper-yelled. "How dare you?"
Mrs. Grunst shooed us out of the room from her rocker. We went out quietly and shut the door.
"Well, now I feel like I should be in there taking care of him," I said with a bit of guilt. "What am I supposed to do now?"
Zander wrapped his arms around me from behind. "You're doing a great job."
I turned in his embrace and buried my face in his neck. "Thank you, but it's so hard."
"I know, sweetheart. But you're doing amazing." He breathed deeply, inhaling my scent. "For now, let's take the afternoon for ourselves. Just you and me."
I raised my eyebrows and looked over his shoulder at Roan and Doryu.
Roan shrugged. "I promised Cindy I'd help her with a legal problem they're having."
"And I have a contractor coming today to the school." Doryu reached over and squeezed my hand. "Before you even think about it, no, you don't need to be there. It's just about the addition of the bigger music room. Stay here and decompress. We're all on edge, but there's nothing we can do at the moment until we can let Dumadi contact his people. That's at least a few days away."
"See?" Zander said. He still hadn't let me go. "Everyone is taken care of. Now, what do you say to a picnic?"
I grinned up at him. "I hear there's a private spot on the beach that's perfect for one." I hated that I knew that because it was Kelly who had told me. She was off somewhere with the bad Leyak, the ones who wanted to kill all the Sárkány. And I'd thought she was my friend.
He chuckled. "That there is, my lady. That there is." I pulled my thoughts away from Kelly and her betrayal and the rest of my worries and let myself be lost in Zander's eyes.
Half an hour later, we spread out a blanket in the sand and unpacked our picnic.
"Wine, cheese, and fruit?" I asked with raised eyebrows as I looked at the contents of the basket.
