I was floored the guy went there, his co-anchor as well, from the way her mouth fell open. Wow, we were really just throwing the normally perfectly, composed supe media people today.
Always nice to keep people on their toes.
And the waves of it all were bigger than even I could have imaged or hoped for.
Finally, finally, we were going to have a moment to breathe and keep people off us.
Finally.
19
The outrage was immediate. Families who had lost loved ones by the guy from the Underground—or just Underground in general—showed up at the councilman’s house and started protesting for his resignation. Apparently, there was a line that everyone could agree on was way too far and wouldn’t ignore anymore.
And the asshole had leapt over it.
The councilman tried to deny it, saying it was all made up and fabrications done by me, who was clearly out of control and trying to destroy our world. He even hinted I was working with the Underground and should be taken out.
Which made it so much funnier when the guy from the Underground actually submitted proof to the media it wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with the councilman. Many questioned why he would do that… But to me, that part had been obvious.
They wanted the councils taken out, though for vastly different reasons than we did. We didn’t want the councils disbanded, simply the current corrupt assholes ousted.
Big difference. That was a very big fucking difference.
For real.
But it still rallied a lot of upset, which the Underground thrived on. It was also why I had some fae dogs monitoring prime targets for the Underground. If we were having issues and distractions in our world… That was a great time for them to make a move, which I would guess was their goal.
Something Neldor actually agreed with and praised me for handling with such clarity.
I almost fell off my chair at the compliment. I didn’t think he could really give them, and without even some backhanded chastising.
The dragon elders lost what little face they had trying to distance themselves from the situation and retracting their order. They even attempted to explain it by saying they had been lied to, that there was proof I was a witch, and I was being abused by a dragon to make crystals.
The only dragon who wanted to abuse me was Alpha Berman. That asshole had sent word that if I didn’t help him with his crystal situation soon and stop stealing his hobgoblins, I wouldn’t like the measure he would take. Because if he couldn’t have the hobgoblins, no one would.
I actually was glad to have backup to handle the response since I was still injured. Neldor took a few packs of fae dogs and let them be seen destroying several areas of Alpha Berman’s, freeing the captive hobgoblins there and helping them to safety… While I was very publicly at a big event at school.
That spread like wildfire, and that the fae dogs were at the center of it all now that they had safe places to be and heard a lot of what was going on from Tanesha and I. There were some guesses that maybe the portals were opened with crystals from me or magical items they brought to the hobgoblins. It was a completely plausible idea.
And one we were a bit upset we hadn’t thought to push ourselves. But it took more heat off of me.
It was also amusing how Neldor seemed to want a pat on the back and all the praise for doing one thing right.
Uh-huh, keep up, dick. We did this shit all the time.
But the best news was learning he could actually heal Faerie. Once he was fully charged up and worked with Dean White to learn what I’d been doing, we got him everything he needed. It took him a bit and then he was where I was.
“Wait, how old is he?” Mel had asked, saying what I’d been feeling.
“Technically, Prince Neldor is about to be forty-three, but he was twenty-three when he was frozen in the magic,” White had answered. “I think that’s something all fairies will have to decide later, but—”
“He didn’t know how to use reservoirs and make crystals and unleash them together, and here I did it myself with as little knowledge as I have?” I hadn’t remotely hid my amusement and mocking.
Neither could they.
Apparently, what I’d been doing was much more advanced than I had known. At least that made me feel better and let me know that I was more powerful than Neldor when I was healed and caught up a bit.
I had a feeling I would need to be, so that was good.
There was something else interesting that came out in all that dirt Marisol had been digging up. Apparently, McGrath had been a busy, busy boy in his treachery. As much as the warlock elders hadn’t believed me that he was disloyal—and they should have—we now had piles of proof of it.
One of the best things we found out and released was McGrath’s plan on not turning me over to his council. I had told them he didn’t plan to, but they hadn’t believed me because how could he get around that? How could he avoid them when they were so powerful and controlled everyone?
The answer was the deer shifter council. He’d struck a deal with them; they were going to give him sanctuary and he was going to give them a very generous cut of the revenue of all the crystals I would pump out and sell to the dragons.
Oh, and
