I wasn’t surprised that the donations came flooding in. Some were as generous as they always were, like the Vogels and the good people. Others raised their donations above what they normally gave to fit the requirement… And then we had people donate who had no association with Artemis simply to be allowed to come and get the party gifts or be near me.
Edelman was floored and let me know the fund already had enough to cover every scholarship already granted to Artemis students, plus more than they had planned for incoming freshmen. Good, they could put that money towards more education.
He had asked me what I’d meant by that and I was honest, telling him I planned on fairies attending Artemis again one day, and some of them might need scholarships as well. We both smiled at the thought that that day could be around the corner.
For now, the party was here. I looked stunning in the dress my friends had prepared for me and the makeup they’d done, and it was about time to get going.
“We have a problem,” Mel said as she flew into the room with her cousins Avril and Ellen who ran HAVEN.
I sighed. Heavily. “I was honestly shocked we hadn’t had one yet.”
“People brought crystals,” she told me. “Lots of them, and lots of people brought them.”
I felt my temper flare as I fisted my hands. “Wow, they really want everything they can get for that money they donated, huh? And of course, they all thought they’d be the only ones.”
“We’re not sure they care if they were,” Avril admitted, shrugging when I shot her a shocked look. “We wrote on the invitations that security would be tight, bags and people would be checked, but we didn’t address crystals being confiscated. That’s exactly what each of them have said when we’ve bitched about them bringing them and tried to take them or refuse them entry with them on their person.”
Ellen sighed when my mouth dropped open. “Some seemed like they wanted you to implode, or this was the way to take you out, and in such a fantastic manner with all these witnesses at your own fucking party. I mean, they were like giddy with it, and we’re talking millions of crystals, Tams. And what would you do? Ruin your own party and toss them out because we didn’t think to cover it in the invite?”
“No, but it also doesn’t say in the invite I’ll attend,” I chuckled darkly, shrugging when they gave me shocked looks. “Where does it say that? It’s hosted by me. Does it promise I’ll be there? No. I’ll say something from the balcony, but I’m certainly not happy enough to set off crystals, and fuck them for being such assholes. They want to play these games? They once again blew their one chance.”
Mel looked like she was going to burst out laughing. “We did hate you attending this party in the first place before this even.”
That was an understatement. Not only had the guest list kept growing and growing, but with so many elders who were not my friends, we knew they were going to try something bad. It was why we hired Alpha Geoff and dozens of his wolves to add to our security at the party to try and keep me and the place safe.
Try being the key word there.
“Oh shit, you’re really going to do this,” Ellen hissed as I slid past them out of the room.
“I don’t bluff, and I don’t fuck around with babies.” I went to the balcony off the second floor lounge and opened the doors. It faced the terrace and backyard where the party was being held. The guests were also allowed in the party room as that had several bathrooms and led right outside.
And that was it. We’d planned that one out well and had security posted all over so no one tried to slip into the offices or take a tour of their own. Plus, we had a store that sold hobgoblin goods that we weren’t letting people into tonight to misbehave at.
As clearly they were all going to be such upstanding citizens.
Mel must have radioed someone because the music was cut, and slowly people quieted down. They glanced around to see what was going on, and I bit back a smirk.
This was going to be fun.
“I’d like to thank everyone who donated to the new scholarship fund I started,” I said loudly, pausing to give people a chance to find me. I smiled out at them. “While I hope you all enjoy the party I painstakingly planned to celebrate the success, it seems I won’t be able to join you for it. Security has informed me that people have brought millions of crystals in the hopes I’d raise them to high-tier crystals for them.
“So much for those charitable donations expecting nothing in return, huh? For those of you who truly gave to be kind and generous, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Those of you who gave the minimum to get into the party in the hopes of crystals—thanks for ruining the fun for me and others, as this was supposed to be a drama free night. I hope everyone enjoys the party and gets home safely.”
“You cannot be serious,” someone shouted. “We were promised you would attend.”
I raised an eyebrow and smirked down at the woman who wore hundreds of crystals on her dress, like I had months ago.
“I don’t remember the invitation saying that, only that I would host the party. Isn’t
