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That was how things went sometimes, wasn’t it? Look at how West and I had been cuddled together just a few minutes ago. He and I had hardly gotten off on the right foot either. And now the thought of him being taken from my side was physically painful. All that gruffness and criticism had softened as he’d seen who I was and who I couldbe.
So much angst and hurt could be avoided if you just took the chance to get to knowsomeone.
That thought settled with an unexpected strength in my mind. Saving our kin wasn’t all on me and the alphas. I hadn’t given our other option everything I had. Ihadto try, before we lost everything. We couldn’t understand how the fae saw us—and they couldn’t understand why we feared them, or why I was willing to consider trusting them again. But maybe if I could let them know us, if I could showthem…
I pushed my chair back. Everyone glanced up. “Ren?” Natesaid.
I waved off their attention. “I just thought of something I need to do. I’m not leaving the house. I’ll be back soon, Ithink.”
I hurried from the dining hall to the far end of the house, to the door of the records room. The light glowed on as I scrambled down the steps. The two main crystal tablets I’d listened to lay on the table where I’d left them: the one that detailed how dragon shifters and fae had worked together, and the one that explained how we’d fallen apart, from ourperspective.
A slanted perspective, I knew. Mirabel had sounded so certain that the fae were in the wrong. But she’d gone into her meeting with the monarch already expecting her suspicions to be justified. Maybe even wanting them to be. If I could show today’s fae that I understood ourhistory—
I couldn’t bring them down here. I knew that much. If the room wouldn’t even admit my alphas, non-shifters had to be out of the question. But maybe… Maybe I could bring that proof to thefae.
I could give instead of asking totake.
My arms trembled as I headed back up the steps, the tablets clutched to my chest. For a second I thought the room might block me from leaving with them. But I stepped out into the thinner air of the hall without anyrestriction.
For all I knew the fae wouldn’t be able to make any use of these anyway. They were precious historical records. If I was wrong to take them from the room, if they were lostsomehow…
I looked down the hall. In my mind’s eye I saw myself as a little girl, scampering through this house. Never thinking anyone would want to hurt me or my family. Never worrying about who might be coming down theroad.
That was what I wanted for my children. They deserved to grow up without this fear hanging over them. If this was what it took to end the threats we faced once and for all, then I’d take that risk. For them, and all the other shifter children not yetborn.
I carried the tablets down the hall to the dining room. When I reached the doorway, I cleared my throat. My mates and Kylie and the gathered kin stopped their tense conversations to look over atme.
“It wasn’t enough to talk to the local fae,” I said. “I need to speak with the monarch. Now, before the vampires have another chance to attack. The jet is still here. Can we fly to your estate,Aaron?”
The avian alpha stood up. “We can,” he said. “Are you sure? We can lock this house up as tightly as possible, but the vampires who scouted the place out last night will probably beback.”
My gut tightened, but I nodded anyway. “If they damage the property, we’ll just have to rebuild when we’re done with them. If they come back with help, it’s probably better if we’re not here anyway. There aren’t enough of us to really defend theplace.”
Aaron’s gaze settled on the tablets in my arms, but he didn’t ask. West got up beside him, motioning to hiskin.
“You heard the dragon shifter. Let’smove!”
* * *
The sun was still high over the trees as the jet came into view of the avian estate. I watched the property expand beneath us, my face nearly pressed to theglass.
The last time we’d parlayed with the fae monarch, it had taken us a little more than an hour to reach the fae monarch’s chosen meeting place, on neutral ground between her territory and Aaron’s. Aaron had called one of his kin to reach out to her immediately as we’d packed up at the dragon shifter estate, but I didn’t even know if she would agree to seeme.
The last time we’d met, I’d spilled the truth-seeking flames her people had helped create down over her and forced her to admit a lot more than she’d have wanted to. All things we deserved to know, but I couldn’t imagine she was feeling particularly happy with me or my alphas at themoment.
“We have time,” Aaron assured me from the seat behind mine. “The sun won’t set for hoursyet.”
“I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait for her,” Isaid.
As soon as the words fell from my mouth, the wrongness of them stuck me.We. That didn’t feelright.
A heavy certainty settled over me. I looked down at the tablets, the crystalline memories meant just for me. With etchings of fae and dragon. It had always been the dragon shifters the fae had dealt with when they’d made their alliance with our kind. They’d seen my mother as their greatest threat… but they’d also once seen the women like her as their greatestallies.
The plane touched down with a jolt and a rattling of its wheels. I was out of my seat the moment it jerked to a halt. “A car should already be waiting for us to take us most of the way there,” Aaron said as we all hurried down the steps. “Wecan—”
“Wait.” I raised my hand to hold him and the other alphas back. Kylie glanced at me curiously, but I motioned for her to go on with the rest of the kin. My mates gathered aroundme.
“What’s up, princess?” Marcoasked.
