“It is insanity to think by slapping a silence rune on me and plotting who best to mate me off to, that it was as good as done and I was handled. Order me to keep quiet all you want, but I will not stay silent on the council breaking our laws. Not ever.
“And personally, I thank Tamsin Vale for pulling back the curtain and showing us how much corruption is in our world. It is to a level that I didn’t even realize, and I have my finger on the pulse; I have to in my business. We have all become too lax and accepting of this behavior. Instead of dismissing her that she is used to human ways and not one of us, we should have listened to her.
“I wish I had sooner. Maybe I would have been more prepared for my own leaders to treat me like a pawn, a possession, they believe they can do with as they please because I am a witch, instead of warlock they might value. I have never been more mortified than after the way my own elders spoke down to me, and of me, today in my presence, and I have lived long enough to endure a lot.
“There is one glimmer of hope and warning I wish to leave everyone with, that I have learned working closely with the hobgoblin co-op. The fairies are not gone forever. They believe that. They say there are signs all around, and this is why they do not fight their lot. They know the truth that most have lost faith in or hope for, so no one will restore honor to our world.
“I would also remind people that there are lots of us who would fight to free hobgoblins from those would keep them in captivity. I saw the reports of them living in cells and cages like animals. I’ve heard it from their own mouths. Monsters who would do such things to fair folk, and when the fairies come back, those monsters will be the first they seek justice upon.
“So maybe it’s time we stop blaming everything in our world on Tamsin Vale and start owning our part of it and taking the blinders off as to how much is truly wrong. I sincerely hope others do, as today shook me to my core as to how far over the line my own council would go for power, and to own one woman they see as fair game, no matter her species.
“For now, my manger will be running my branch of Veritas Portas and knows how to contact me. I will be staying in Paris as a guest of the dragon royals, the Courtenays, who have long been clients of mine and my cousin’s, who owns the local branch there. I thank all my loyal customers and know—as always—I will keep confidentiality, and my honor, sacred, no matter the cost.”
My heart ached as she thanked everyone and turned away from the cameras. Her life was totally blown up because of me and my fight, my need to stay hidden as the last fairy.
At least the Courtenays are giving her protection. The council would have to be suicidal to go after her.
Still, I was out of my seat and heading for a side door with my phone in my hand the moment I saw that the news clip we had just seen wasn’t live, but from an hour ago. So someone had gotten word, and it was airing during the normal dinner news broadcast.
“Are you okay?” I asked her when she answered, a barrier already up to keep anyone from listening in. “What can I do?”
“Nothing,” she sighed.
“Katrina, this—”
“My fight, darling,” she chuckled. “They were going to mate me off and take everything of mine. This was clearly already their plan and you were the lead-in they needed. I didn’t see this coming and I should have. I’m probably one of the most powerful and wealthiest unmated witches of a certain age, and that worries them. They’re also making a move against my family, who isn’t elite, but powerful.”
“I still should—”
“You will do nothing.”
I closed my eyes, sighing. “It’s a trap. You’re a witch and under their jurisdiction. I get involved, and they have actual legal grounds to do something real with me.”
“Yes, as I just knowingly broke a council mandate by discussing a closed proceeding and ruling, even if it was all against our laws and about my forced mating, as I would never have agreed. They would never have considered a woman telling them no, but well, it’s still a forced mating. I will accept the consequences.”
Dread filled me. “What consequences, Katrina? You’re with the Courtenays, right? They’re protecting you?”
She sighed. “For as knowledgeable and street-smart as you are, you’ve never had much to lose. Yes, I’m with them, and the store is protected under a charter of my family. They can’t make a move against the business unless the business is directly involved, plus there’s not much stock there, which is why we structure our stores as we do.”
“I don’t understand. What can they do?”
“My house has probably already been raided by council guards for any information about you,” she admitted after a moment. “My vacation homes I have to register, I would assume as well. They will destroy or take what they want as evidence.”
“No,” I whispered in horror. “No, we can’t let them—”
“It’s done, darling. I knew that.”
“I’m so, so sorry.”
She was quiet a moment. “It’s my penance, Tamsin. I should have done more earlier. I was neutral too long,
