“And as for us?” Rime asked.
I shrugged. “Consider it your lucky day. I’m going to save you all whether you want it or not.”
“There is nothing I wish to be saved from,” Birch grumbled.
“Oh, not even the death of magic?” Verdant asked.
Birch looked away and avoided her gaze.
“I still think this is a plot. You wish to lull us all into a sense of laxness, and then you’ll snap up the power all for yourself,” Fell declared.
“Or that you exaggerate, and you are the only one in danger,” Birch said.
I glanced back at Indigo, but refrained from giving in to the temptation to ask for refreshments. Ineededthem to agree to this.
“I am in danger,” I agreed. “But the monster dumped in the Autumn Court should make it obvious that it isn’t just me they’re targeting.”
“I don’t know that we need other supernaturals,” Rime said.
“We do,” I bluntly disagreed. “I know it’s been our instinct to hunker down with our own kind as magic gets weaker and weaker, but I’ve seen what happens when supernaturals work together. I was part of it—if only a little. If we reach out to them, the wizards will help us, and then the vampires will, too, because they’re nosy and more than a little bossy.”
A faint smile twitched on Solis’s lips, but he was the only one.
“Don’t misunderstand, I don’t intend to beg,” I said. “They need us just as we need them. They need our potions, wards, barriers, and magic. And we need their friendship so when giant Godzilla monsters attack us, we don’t just dump them on the nearest neighbor,Fell.” I couldn’t help that one little verbal smack, but Fell wouldn’t look at me. Who knew if he was even listening?
“What, then, are you asking from us?” Rime asked. “This seems like more than merely making you the representative.”
“Merely?” Birch sputtered.
“I want your cooperation, and your promise that we’llstopthis stupid fighting,” I said.
Birch snorted.
“No more targeting what’s important to each other,” I said. “No more stag hunts, and the next person who tries to poison Flora is going to discover just howdarkthe Night can be,” I growled.
Birch gaped at me, his eyes wide, his expression frozen somewhere between horror and…hope.
“We work together,” I repeated.
“Under your leadership?” Rime asked.
“Yes.”
Quiet enfolded the meeting room, and I held my breath.
This was the defining moment.
It was here that I found out if I alone was strong enough, and if they believed in me.
Solis stood. “The Day Court nominates Queen Leila of the Night Court as the fae representative for the Regional Committee of Magic.”
Verdant shot to her feet. “The Spring Court seconds this nomination.”
The quiet shifted into a stifling silence that threatened to choke me.
“The Winter Court approves of this nomination,” Queen Rime finally said.
I mashed my lips together, and almost sighed with relief.
