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He dipped his head. “Yes, Princess. We double and triple checked, some of us even checking every inch of outbuildings and other residences. It’s all clear.”
“Good. Thank you for handling that so diligently.” I nodded to Kristof who seemed relieved as well that we were finally handling it.
He blurred me to that area and kissed my hair after setting me on my feet. I hugged him acting like we were waiting for people to catch up but really… I just needed it. I’d had to kill someone else. It was better for everyone and she was a monster, but that didn’t make it easy on me to do.
It really didn’t.
Once everyone was there, I let out my power and took down the coven.
And then we got the hell out of there because corrupted sensed me and were coming for me. Fuckers.
Plus, we had too much to do and not enough hours in the day.
Like normal.
3
Branko
There was a question on my mind—and had been since Inez said Aether had let her know what princesses to handle… Was my mother on that list?
I was pretty damn sure, but I was terrified at the idea of Inez going up against her. Abso-fucking-lutely terrified. My mother was strong. Much stronger than probably any other princess alive.
That didn’t change because Inez was Ather’s champion. She was coming into her power faster than I would have ever thought a princess could, but that didn’t counter thousands of years in power.
But that was another worry for another day. We had enough right now.
Luckily, it seemed most of Kaitlin’s coven had been hoping that Inez would take over like they knew she had Bahati’s. We didn’t have any problem with them.
Adam Mendez—who originally was from New Orleans and was thrilled to be head of the outpost in his hometown—had a very clever idea after he learned we were bringing in other settlements. He’d lived there during Hurricane Katrina and said one of the smarter moves the city did was tell people to head to their massive convention center for safety.
And it had been updated since.
Unfortunately, that had been what the leaders said to do when the apocalypse hit and that hadn’t worked well. But it could with work, and he thought that was what we should do for the next settlements we saved.
Inez’s nobles agreed and there were plans in place.
And our impressive princess just added over three hundred thousand vampires to make that happen.
Inez waited until it seemed as if everyone from Kaitlin’s coven who was coming was gathered. So were a lot of others including nobles not of our court but of the coven. She’d also called off raiding for the day so the visiting nobles could speak with their princesses, but that left a lot of vampires from Bahati’s and Safie’s covens to be there as well.
That seemed to help the vampires from Kaitlin’s coven to see them with their own eyes.
“This is the starting point you have with us as guests,” Inez said loudly. “You will be staying here and working to prep it for the humans we have to get out of their settlements. I am trusting you to help us with this in good faith.” She gave people a moment with that. “This failed as a safe place for humans.
“We know that. How do we do better? Yes, part of the problem was having the highway above this place and corrupted coming in from there. Which means we have to get that handled, guards up there all of the time with heavy weapons. We need fences. We need bathrooms extended. More showers added. All of it.
“If you want it, so will the humans, and let’s make it happen.” Again, she gave them a moment. “Once this place is ready—completely and totally—you will be moved to one of the very nice hotels right around here. While you are helping us handle this, we will handle that and getting you food. We know you’ve been starving.
“You’ve had too lean of times. We will get you all you can eat as long as you’re not greedy and share. I’ve got people bringing hog roasters and hogs here. We’ve got food coming right now to help you guys. We’re going to get the food court here running. All of it. We just need your help to do that.”
Damn, the woman knew how to motivate people. Telling them the treat they got at the end—nice hotels to stay in—was clearly motivating as fuck.
“To show that I’m sincere, the hotel right across the street is already online,” she said.
Well, that was news to me and several others. Clearly, she’d been preparing for this as she could. I could see impressed looks from the other nobles I worked with.
“When you check in with either Adam Mendez or Lorenzo Payne so we can get head counts, they will give you one of the keycards. Go shower, grab the fresh clothes we have in the lobby. Everything is ready. We’re going to have to take turns and let the hot water build again. Please do not be wasteful. We will allow this while refurbishing this place.
