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by Alanea Alder
Aiden recoiled back in shock looking sick. "What?" he whispered.
Suddenly, everything made sense. Meryn was acting the way she thought she should, so that she wouldn't cause problems for her mate. Something in the way she said the words 'childish' and 'embarrassing' sounded as though she were channeling someone else.
"Etain, my love. Why don't you tell Meryn what Aiden spent the afternoon doing," she suggested.
Frowning he looked down at her. She saw the moment of realization dawn in his eyes when he figured out what was going on. He nodded and squeezed her hand under the table. "Today I was privileged enough to witness something that will become legend. The retelling of this afternoon's events will be passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years to come."
Meryn looked at him. "What did you see?"
"Your mate, the Unit Commander, Aiden McKenzie challenging every level of Noctem Falls."
Meryn's head spun around to Aiden. "Why on earth did you do something like that?" she asked sounding more like herself and less like the wooden doll she was trying to be.
Aiden looked down at her, his wounded soul shining in his eyes. "Because I was tired of the people in this city hurting the most important person in my world."
Meryn's mouth dropped. "You fought an entire city... for me? Why! They're just gonna hate you now, and it's all my fault!" she buried her face in her hands.
Aiden couldn't bear it a second more and scooped her into his lap. She thrashed around, but he didn't let her go. "What makes you think I care if they hate me? They're a city of douchebags right?" he asked.
She stopped wiggling and looked up at him her eyes narrowing. "Are you seriously quoting me back at me?"
"I'll do whatever it takes to protect you," he growled. "You are mine, made perfect just for me! What makes you think I want a mini version of Daphne Bowers?" he asked shuddering. "I want my tiny, mouthy, crazy, quirky, brilliant mate to throw things at me, accidentally shoot me and beat me with my toilet!" he roared breathing heavily.
Meryn's mouth twitched and a moment later the air around her shimmered until she was wearing her Cheeto stained Pikachu pajamas. "I knew you were a mannequin."
Aiden rolled his eyes. "Masochist baby. The word is masochist."
Someone snorted out loud and the entire room erupted into laughter. Colton banged on the table. "I knew you were a glutton for punishment!"
Aiden gave his best friend a flat look. "It's easier to just roll with what she says than to argue."
"He likes it," Meryn said grinning.
"Thank the everloving gods!" Kendrick muttered sitting back in his chair.
Beth glared at Meryn. "If you ever scare me like that again I will... I will..."
"Yeah?" Meryn challenged grinning.
"I will block all your streaming accounts and super glue your laptop shut!" Beth threatened.
Meryn's eyes widened. "You wouldn't!"
"Try me," Beth crossed her arms over her chest.
Meryn looked down at the table. "I thought I was helping Aiden. I didn't want to embarrass him."
Rheia laughed. "You're only now worrying about that?"
Meryn looked up concern on her face. "I do embarrass him?"
The men were all shaking their heads, but Anne and Rheia were nodding and laughing. "Of course you do, but he doesn't care," Rheia replied.
"Rheia..." Colton started.
Rheia held up a hand to head off her mate before focusing on Meryn. "You ignored protocol and moved into the Alpha Estate. You called René Evreux a douchebag in the council chambers. You beat Aiden with a toilet, set his car on fire, took over trainee assignments, somehow managed to get an article printed that Daphne Bowers had vaginoplasty, covered the entire Lycaonia town square in flour glue, flew a drone into Noctem Falls' detention cells to bewitch Gerard Dubois into calling himself a douchebag while under oath..." Rheia gasped for breath. "Do I need to go on?"
Meryn looked up at her mate. "Was that embarrassing?"
Aiden's mouth opened and closed. He looked around then back down at his mate. "I'm not quite sure how to answer this."
Most of the men around the table at this point could barely breathe including Etain. Vivi had no idea the woman in front of her was so wonderfully nuts. She rubbed her mate's back as he gasped for air.
Beth wiped her eyes from laughing. "I think Rheia's point is, that if you can do all that and Aiden thinks you are adorable, what made you think that the way you dress or spoke made a difference?"
Meryn shrugged and stared down at the table.
Vivi took a deep breath and went out on a limb. "Don't act childish! It's embarrassing!" she barked. Meryn visibly shrunk against her mate.
"Vivi!" Ellie gasped.
"Meryn, who used to say that to you?" Vivi asked in a softer tone.
"My grandmother," Meryn whispered.
"Where is she now?"
"Dead."
"Good. She sounds like a hateful bitch."
Meryn looked up smiling a bit. "She was. My Aunt Lily said we may be able to get her grave moved closer so we can desecrate it easier."
Law had just taken a huge gulp of wine began to choke. His face turned red as he struggled to breathe. "Gods Meryn, don't do that!" he fussed.
Meryn turned in Aiden's lap and looked at Ryuu who was visibly fighting his emotions. "I'm sorry."
Ryuu walked over and knelt beside Aiden's chair taking both her hands in his. "Please don't ever change. I would rather take on the entire world than to see you become something terrible."
"You mean a douchebag?" Meryn asked.
He shook his head. "No, normal. You are not normal Meryn, that is what makes you so unique and special. When people conform, they make themselves fit a cookie cutter mold and when that happens, they become interchangeable and replaceable. You my dearest heart are so perfectly imperfect that others fear who and what you are, because you reflect back at them how ordinary and small minded they are. Do you understand?" he asked keeping eye contact.
She gave him a wobbly smile, fighting back tears. "Basically, I'm a Fruit Loop in a bowl of Cheerios."
Ryuu raised both of her hands to his lips before pressing them to his forehead. He brought them down between them. "Yes. Yes, you are."
"You're our Fruit Loop Meryn and don't forget it," Colton said wagging a finger at her.
Etain looked down at Vivi. "How did you know about her grandmother?"
"I didn't. I was much older when I attended university. I may have looked like a twenty-year old, but I had several centuries under my belt. My roommate used to put down others, but when she did, her voice became harsher. I didn't understand it until the first Christmas when her family visited. Her father would bark at her in the exact same tone. I knew when I heard Meryn's voice that they weren't her own words, she was just parroting back something she had heard repeatedly," Vivi explained.
"What happened to your roommate?" Meryn asked turning back around to face the table. Ryuu took a step back but didn't move far away from his charge.
Vivi smiled. "She fell in love with a local farmer much to her father's dismay, moved far away and lived long enough to have great-great grandchildren running around her kitchen."
Meryn gave a decisive nod. "Good." She looked up at her mate. "Did you really fight everyone?"
Aiden grinned and held up his knuckles, that, despite shifter healing were still red and swollen. Meryn peppered his hand with kisses. She looked up her eyes sparkling. "Didja kill anyone?" she asked brightly.
"Oh yeah, she's feeling better," Rheia commented, sipping her water.
Aiden shook his head. "No baby I didn't."
"I bet if he had gone after that tunnel escort after Meryn slapped his hand, that would not be true," Gavriel commented.
Aiden's eyes darkened. "More than likely."
Etain cleared his throat. "He didn't just beat them Meryn."
"Oh? What else?" she asked.
"He declared that if anyone else mo
ving forward hurt you through word or deed it would be seen as a direct challenge to him, and he would fight them to the death," Etain explained.
"Holy shit," Colton whispered then frowned at Aiden. "If you were going to go all out you should have invited me. I think I'm pissed."
Aiden rolled his eyes. "I needed the warrior of the city who had witnessed the transgression for which I was basing my challenge on." He gave Colton a sour look. "You would have complicated matters."
Gavriel chuckled. "That is putting it mildly. There would have been a number of disembowelments and our lovely doctors and nurses are busy enough as it is. They did not need to spend the afternoon stitching up bigoted bootlickers."
Declan sat back. "Etain gets all the fun," he griped.
Colton eyed his new friend. "Maybe we could meander through the levels to see if anyone else needs a reminder on how to treat our midget."
"I am not a fucking midget Colton," Meryn threw a roll at him.
Adriel and Aiden pinched the bridges of their noses before Adriel turned to Aiden. "That is your second in command."
Aiden pointed to Declan. "And he's yours."
Kendrick looked over at Etain. "That reminds me. We need to attend morning drills with Goddard and Viktor. I owe Goddard a bit of sparring and I told Viktor you would be interested in training with him after I told you how he flirted with Vivi."
Etain's eyes hardened. "Oh, he did, did he?" He gave a menacing smile. "Just let me know when you are available," he offered. Kendrick gave him a mock salute.
"Now that, I have to see," Meryn said eagerly. "It will be better than watching an MMA match."
Magnus sat back in his chair looking relieved. "Now that is more like it. This is what I have come to look forward to," he raised his goblet then stared at it as it began to shake. He looked around confused. "Something is wrong with the glass," he announced before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he collapsed to one side.
"Uncle!" Beth screamed.
Vivi stood as chaos erupted.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Marjoram pushed her way to the end of the table to get to Magnus. Beth was pulled back by Gavriel. He held her close moving them off to one side as she wept hysterically.
The older nurse knelt beside the prince. "I saw this coming a mile away." She looked up. "He's in no immediate danger so everyone calm down. Adriel, Aiden clear the room. Rheia, Ellie you're with me. Broderick prep the infirmary," Marjoram said barking her orders. Everyone began moving, grateful for direction. Vivi and Etain hung back. Vivi wasn't sure if Marjoram would need her help in devising a treatment for the prince.
"Beth honey, come here," Marjoram said in a motherly tone.
Sniffling Beth moved forward until she was beside her uncle. Marjoram took her hand and placed it on his chest. "See, he's breathing. He's just unconscious at the moment."
"What's wrong with him?" Beth asked gently running a hand over his hair.
"I believe that somehow he has contracted the virus. He's probably had it for some time," Marjoram said sighing.
"How?" Beth looked up horrified.
"That I don't know. But he's been too weak and exhausted lately for it to simply be stress." She held his wrist between her fingers.
"Beth if he reacts like the other vampires, he will be unconscious until we can work out a treatment. The adult shifters react in a similar fashion, but they wake up now and then. So far, the vampires haven't," Rheia explained.
Broderick and Caspian ran up to where they knelt. "We're ready."
Marjoram stood as Caspian easily lifted his brother and carried him from the room, Sebastian following close behind them. She turned to Vivi. "The timetable for trials may have just gotten moved up a bit. Be thinking about how to treat an older vampire."
Vivi nodded. "I'll start immediately."
Marjoram turned to Ellie. "I will be taking over Magnus' care personally so you will need someone else assisting on Level Six."
"Don't worry about us," Ellie protested.
Marjoram kissed her granddaughter's cheek and rubbed Beth's shoulder comfortingly before looking around the room. "You girls stay close to one another. I don't believe Fate brought you together for no reason. If you need me, I will be in the infirmary, with the prince." She gave Beth's shoulder a final squeeze then hurried after Broderick and Caspian.
When Vivi and the others walked out of the dining room, she noticed that no one had left. Micah stood from the love seat where he had been sitting and motioned for Gavriel and Beth to sit down. They were decidedly more cramped in the antechamber, but no one seemed to want to return to the dining room.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would give Ryuu and myself some time, we will clear the dinner table and bring out refreshments," Hal announced.
Adriel nodded. "Take your time."
"What do we do now?" Beth asked in a small voice.
Kari paced behind the sofa. "Did not Magnus make Gavriel and Beth his heirs?"
Gavriel shook his head. "That only goes into effect in the event of Magnus' death. If we try to enforce that, we will have pitched battles on each level. Even our allies within the Founding Families would have a hard time backing us."
"What's the difference?" Meryn asked.
Vivi turned to the small human. She knew it would be difficult for her to understand the intricacies of vampire politics. "Because power once bestowed is hard to take back."
"Exactly," Gavriel agreed. "Magnus was able to get away with naming us his heirs because everyone knows how young he his. He has centuries to find a mate and have children of his own. No one thought Beth and I would have to take over, not really," Gavriel's eyebrows were pulled together as he scowled.
"What if we were to confirm Gavriel as the interim prince?" Adriel suggested.
"Gavriel? Not Caspian?" Aiden asked.
Adriel shook his head. "Caspian has never been a leader. He has said so himself on many occasions. His place for now, is at Magnus' side helping him recover." He sighed. "Besides you need four royals to confirm a new prince, even an interim one." He looked to Kendrick, who nodded. A moment later, the room was soundproofed. Adriel continued. "Some of you may not know, but I am of Gavriel's bloodline, an Ambrosios. I have chosen not to claim it, I am happy as I am, as unit leader."
Gavriel leaned forward his elbows on his knees. "Now that I have the Ambrosios Book of Life, we can easily prove our claim."
"Caspian is a Rioux, that makes three." Ellie pointed out. "What about Broderick, Beth and Eva as mates? Do they count?"
Adriel shook his head. "No, only those who carry royal blood can confirm a new prince. Magnus was only able to be confirmed with the support of Caspian and the last DuCoeur. When the remaining members of the DuSang family saw that DuSang's own mate supported Magnus, they threw their lot in with them."
"I thought the DuSangs died in that skirmish thing?" Meryn said frowning.
Adriel nodded. "Nearly all of them did. Only a handful returned to the city with DuSang. He was later challenged by Magnus. When his own family turned against him, he slaughtered them right there in the council room before the Elders."
"I bet that's why the skirmish got left out of the history books, Magnus laying the smack down probably seemed more important," Meryn mused.
Vivi sat very still barely breathing. She clutched at her mate's hand tightly. He gave her hand a squeeze and when she looked up, she saw nothing but support. Without words, she knew what he was trying to say. That he would back her, no matter what she decided to do. Movement by the door caught her eye. Hal stood quietly watching her closely. He smiled and nodded giving her his blessing as well.
"Since Beth's pregnant with a royal can't she just cast a vote for little Jack?" Meryn asked.
Beth sniffled then laughed. "Stop calling my baby Jack."
Gavriel blinked. "I never would have thought of that." He looked over at Meryn. "I love the way your brain works."
Meryn shrugged. "Made sense to me."
Kari leaned against the sofa. "If we do not figure out something soon, this could turn ugly very quickly. Some of the Founding and Noble Families have been positioning for power for years according to Magnus' past reports. Short of an outright coup there has not been much they could do, so they have been held in check, this could be the opening they need to begin a takeover."
"So we have an unknown virus spreading, the city is locked down, fae portals don't work, the city's leader is incapacitated, the council elders are in a different city and to top it all off, we could be facing a civil war?" Meryn asked.
"To be put it succinctly, yes." Aiden confirmed sourly.
Vivi swallowed hard. "If there was a fourth royal, how likely is it that the Founding and Royal Families would capitulate and follow Gavriel's lead. Couldn't they just ignore the confirmation?"
Kari tapped her lips. "I believe they would fall in line. As long as we are able to prove that Gavriel is a true royal and can confirm him using established vampire law, there is nothing they can do to block us. It would be the single rare occasion where them following tradition to the point of idiocy would work in our favor. Confirming a prince is one of our oldest established rituals, they would never overturn it." She looked at Vivi. "Why ask?"
Vivi's throat turned sand dry. She looked between Etain and Hal. Her squire walked over and stood behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder as Etain took her one hand in both of his.
"I could be the fourth. I could confirm him." She spoke softly almost as if by not saying it louder she would be able to call her words back. No one said a word.
Gavriel's eyebrows were nearly to his hairline. "You are a royal?" He really looked at her. "Gods! You are a DuSang. I should have guessed. The DuSangs were known for their blood-red hair." He shook his head. "Of course so many dye their hair nowadays."
Adriel looked shell shocked. "Why hide? Why not step forward and claim your heritage?"