Page 9 of Amateur Goddess (Morrigan University #3)

I raised an eyebrow when steam about came out of his ears. “You went against our agreement and tried to use your power to pressure me. It was mortifying to realize some of the council saw this as an opportunity to mate me into their family instead of the gift I’ve given.” I glanced at Tracey’s stunned face. “How much would a session go for?”

“What?” she asked, doing a double take.

“If you announced the owner of Familiar Treasures was offering one-on-one sessions with people and their familiars to strengthen their bonds and grow their magic—how much could we charge for that? Hell, auction them off for?” I nodded when she snorted. “Ballpark it.”

“People have offered ten grand,” she answered easily. “One offered twenty thousand for a single consultation after their familiar almost died. My heart broke, and I knew you would have wanted to do it for free, but you were locked up, and no matter how sad—I won’t risk you for anyone.”

“And yet, I did risk myself to help the council,” I said firmly glancing around. “While charging nothing.” I met the gaze of the four offenders. “Your sessions are now two thousand each.” I kept going when several people coughed. “You’re the bottom of my priority and now have to pay for my time and magic . Gobs of magic. That I’m already donating gobs of.”

“I agree they behaved badly and it shouldn’t be taken lightly, but I think that’s a bit extreme and could damage what we’re trying to do here, Ms. Millen,” one of the other councilmen interjected.

I met his gaze head-on. “Is that how you normally handle it when people treat you with such disrespect? I doubt that. But I’m a young woman and should be more understanding and not so prideful, right? It’s unsightly for a woman to be this brazen. Except we all know the value is there, and apparently being kind and not even thinking of charging led to this.

“So now they will pay because I won’t show respect to people who don’t respect me. More than that, if bad behavior isn’t nipped in the bud, it gets worse. You as a councilman absolutely know that.” I moved closer to Perry, extra pissed at him because he’d lied to his son and cheated on his wife without remorse.

Meaning he was complete trash who wasn’t worthy of being on the council or a leader in our community.

“You made this personal and showed your hand how you viewed me. You are one of thirteen, and yet I’m the only one who can do what I can.” I smirked at him. “And you don’t even know all of it. So before you let your pride and ego make another mistake, make sure you don’t dig yourself a deeper hole and make an enemy you can’t handle.”

“Bev,” Tracey whispered in warning.

I knelt next to his familiar and pet the large monkey. “Your master was mean to me and needs to apologize for that because that’s what a good man would do, right?” I nodded when the monkey did and pushed magic into the familiar. “If he doesn’t, I don’t think you should harvest any magic for him this week.”

“Do not touch her,” Councilman Oliveria snapped. “I will end you if you do, consequences be damned.”

I focused on the monkey. “Are you happy with him? Would you rather live with me instead if he’s going to be such a mean man?”

People gasped when the monkey nodded and immediately came to me.

“You’re starting a fight you cannot win,” Councilman Perry hissed as I picked up his familiar.

I snorted, shocking all of them yet again. “I lived with the biggest evil in our world. The man who sacrificed his own sibling for power and hated me because he couldn’t kill me for my brother. I’m not remotely afraid of you. You are not Charles Shaw, but if you think to out me as a goddess witch if I don’t get in line, I’ll cut your bond with your familiar.”

“What?” Tracey gasped.

I nodded. “I was only going to make a small stink, but he’s pissed he was so insulted , and that’s the threat he was going to make once we’re done here. All of them guessed what I am. Those four were going to press that button and make it clear I need to behave better and someone in their family would be points of my star.”

“Disgusting,” a few of the council said.

But Councilman Oliveria launched at Perry, someone stopping him in time but struggling to do it from what I was hearing.

“You cannot be a councilman without a familiar, right?” I asked Perry, tilting my head and studying him. I pet the monkey and comforted the familiar. “You feel how he’s mad at you and on my side, right?”

“Yes,” he bit out. “You will be arrested for this threat, Ms. Millen. You have no proof or—”

“I understand animals. I have since I was five. That’s how I survived the Shaw house and stayed ahead of them,” I admitted, nodding when his mouth dropped open. “So I heard it from the familiars all talking this whole time. Your four familiars are talking about the plans and upset because they want to be happy like the familiars who get to come to court.

“And they worry you’ve pissed me off and I won’t help them anymore. They don’t like their lives, and they’re worried you would use a goddess witch and risk your magic. Two are so disappointed in their warlocks that they don’t want to harvest magic for them or be their familiars anymore.” I smiled at the monkey. “Tell me something I can’t possibly know so he believes me.”

He glanced from me to the councilman and leaned into me for comfort. “He wanted to date your mother. He was pushing this so that he could have her daughter in his family because you’re more powerful when she turned him down for your father. I don’t like telling this, but he’s doing bad things that upset me.”

I repeated all of that, even the ending.

“You really can hear animals,” someone whispered.

“Can you really break the bonds with familiars, Bevin?” Councilman Oliviera asked quietly.

I glanced at him. “I have no idea. I’ve never tried.” I flinched when several shot me pissed looks. “That wasn’t trying. That was—I didn’t lie.”

“Your aura flared of almost guilt,” Tracey explained so I understood what they were seeing or sensing.

I nodded, focusing on Councilman Oliveria. “I told you that Father broke his familiar. The animal is—it’s heartbreaking. I didn’t try to sever their bond. I tried to make it happy and wished it was free of him. I was young and didn’t understand. Father said it was distant for a week. I don’t know if it was really me or—I don’t know that I muted the bond.”

He nodded and then glanced at the familiar I was holding. “What does your magic tell you?”

I licked my lips and looked at the monkey before meeting his gaze again. “That it’s a stove I don’t want to touch unless an emergency.” I focused on Perry then. “But if you don’t think I will to protect myself and Tracey—I will. I have lots of options besides having to rely on the council. I’d rather slit my throat than be trapped like that ever again.”

“That I believe, and I will pay the fee and give a true apology,” one of the councilmen said—Councilman Hanson, who was a total dick about me not doing the session.

“I find that shocking,” I admitted.

He bobbed his head, crossing his arms over his chest and not meeting my gaze. “I’m very sure that I’m one of the two you’re referring to, and it explains a lot I’ve been getting off my familiar that I’ve not understood. But also, I realized I’m a failure as a father with the way my son reacted to what happened.”

“How so?” Tracey pushed.

“He exploded and sounded like the monsters we throw into prison,” the councilman admitted. “ He is the one who was demanding we out you as a goddess witch and get you in line so he can be your priest and control you. And he thought I would totally agree which was a slap in the face at how horrific of a man I have become.”

“So you told your son what she is and who she is?” Tracey seethed, her magic ramping up.

“Not who,” he sighed. “I wasn’t going to go against the promise I made, but if they bumped into each other—things like that happened.”

“That’s semantics and over the line,” Councilman Reid snapped. “How could you be so damn selfish—I have top-tier families threatening my life—my mate’s life and you’re—unbelievable! This is all so far over the line that I’m tempted to hold a vote to remove the four of you. Let the top-tier families eat themselves trying to fight for the seats if this evil is already here.”

I was shocked when he stormed out of the room.

“Now you’ve done it,” Councilman Oliveria chuckled. “I’m the hothead. Reid is the cool one. If he’s blown his temper, then your days are numbered unless you get your shit together, and we all know it . And there is no recovering from the disgrace of being voted out. Your whole family will be shamed. For generations.”

The four councilmen went pale. My threat scared them, but that put them over the edge. It was crystal clear.

I kissed the monkey and set him down. “Keep him in line and we’ll talk soon. I promise. I won’t let you guys be punished because they’re bad. We’ll get them to be better.”

“Or I can come live with you?” the monkey asked.

I nodded. “Or you can come live with me. Yeah, I can’t let any more familiars be broken or miserable around me. Not when I’m old enough to help now.”

He hesitated. “I don’t like my room. The butler is mean to me because my warlock cheats on his mate and it upsets the staff. I just don’t like being with him anymore or that house.”

“I’ll tell your warlock,” I rasped, squatting down and giving him a hug. “I’ll make sure he makes it right and deserves you. He got lost in the power and all the shit they get for being councilmen, but I think he can come back.”

The monkey nodded. “That’s what his mate says, but she cries a lot and it’s upsetting.”

“What is he saying?” Councilman Perry asked.

“Nothing you want me to say in front of everyone, but when Tracey tells you later, believe her and fix it or even I can’t repair your bond with your familiar,” I told him firmly as I stood. “Too bad you didn’t care more about that instead of trying to control me when I’m a person and not fucking property, huh?”

Pure rage was in his eyes. “I clearly deserve that, but I hate you for humiliating me like this and risking my position. You should absolutely be punished for that.”

Tracey was pushing me behind her in a flash and had her muting charm off, taking what he said as a threat. “The problem is you still see this as something Bevin did instead of your fault . You did all of this. You tried to push your son on her. You upset your son. You’re the one who unapologetically cheats on his mate and neglects his familiar.

“Bevin offered to help —donate time and magic when she’s eighteen and drowning. Funny how your vast pride had no problem accepting that when it benefited you. Other councilmen immediately came to me on the side and asked how they could help her in return. You offered nothing and demanded more. So again, all of this is on you and of your making.”

“Of course Oliveria has offered help,” he snapped. “He was friends with Henry Millen. We all know that.”

“Your assumptions are wrong again ,” Tracey chuckled darkly. “Over half the council and their mates came to me privately and have asked how to help. Two councilmen have privately been talking to council guards about their family members who might need jobs or are in tough spots. Referrals we can trust since we’re going to ramp up fast and that’s dangerous.”

“Others have helped me handle the situation with my father, not tried to use it against me,” I added. “They came to show their support of the first treat truck time and make it clear they wouldn’t break the rules or abuse their power.”

“I actually was hoping to get some for my family while showing support, but when I saw how many were acting out, I knew chaos would erupt if one got through the line,” one of the councilmen admitted. “And you do need help fast. Dear gods, was that line ridiculous.”

“Yes, but it moves fast and was impressively organized,” another added. “For a first time—but you have the bigger universities coming up. My mate said we could offer a few of our staff for a few weeks who would be willing to help while you find more people.” He sighed when people seemed shocked. “You do not understand how this helps our people. The treats do.”

“The feedback is ridiculous,” Oliveria agreed. “People are talking all over our social media about how well they work, and not just for harvesting, but feeling closer to their familiars, and that’s been hard with life getting in the way. The fact we’re supporting this and Familiar Treasures is huge , and you fucking risked it—all of us!”

Perry nodded and backed down.

But then it was a matter of how to get us back on track.

“I have to be rude again, but I need you all to be quiet a few minutes,” I said when the silence got awkward. “I don’t know which were the familiars, but three of them said the right thing, and they are the ones who should be acclimated today.”

“Do what you need to, Bevin,” Oliveria accepted.

I thanked him and went to each familiar besides the ones who were already going to court. I found the ones I wanted and talked to them about how to set things up and get things started. Surprisingly, it was one of the jerk’s familiars. He was worried about his warlock snapping with all of the pressure, and even if he was unhappy, he wanted to help his warlock.

Fair enough, but I wasn’t going to reward bad warlocks, so I was sticking to what I’d said.

I had to.

I noticed Councilman Reid was back when I was done. I sighed and faced the councilmen. “I would suggest you have lunch on Sundays for now with your familiars. A few are a bit haughty and look down on birds or don’t want to be in the same room as a stupid monkey all day. That is going to be the holdup now, so they need to be less prideful and get used to each other.”

They all seemed to accept that.

“I hate to ask this, but for the council records—being able to understand animals is incredibly rare,” Councilman Reid hedged. “It now makes sense why you chose your independent study.” He swallowed loudly. “You didn’t know what you were, did you?”

“No, Professor Wyatt just recently informed me,” I admitted. “So there’s a mess. And between us—I’m ready to explode most days, and getting shit on every time I try to help makes me want to give up.”

“Could you please watch your language,” someone grumbled.

I sighed. Heavily. “I think we’re past my damn language and mouth when I threatened to dissolve a familiar’s bond to protect Tracey and myself but sure, harp on something stupid like that.”

“Bev, no one said—it was one of the familiars,” Tracey surmised.

I swore under my breath. “That’s why it’s dangerous for me to be around so many when I’m this tired. I slip up. And some are—” I shut my mouth so fast that I bit my tongue.

No giving people I didn’t trust more fuel to come at me. I moved my position so I could see everyone—even the familiars.

I focused on Councilman Reid who was staring at me in shock. “You want to know who in our history was a fraud for talking to animals, right?” I waited until he nodded. “Most of them. Or at least from what I’ve learned unless there are different levels to hear them. Several describe it like the dog treat commercials of barking bacon or whatever.”

He glanced between me and some of the familiars. “But clearly, you hear them just as you would a person.”

I nodded. “Full sentences. I have full conversations with them. The difference is natural animals obviously aren’t as world-smart or have the extended vocabularies as us or even familiars, and familiars don’t get every nuance.” I shrugged. That explained it pretty well.

After all of that fun—which obviously wasn’t fun at all, and they all wanted to talk to me more—I had to go handle more fun.

Yes, I was being sarcastic.

Tracey and I showed up at the facility where we were making the familiar treats. It was actually a massive former food factory for a company that had gone bankrupt or merged and didn’t need this place—I didn’t get all of the details.

I just knew we got a good price because we could overhaul it easier with magic and were letting them sell the equipment inside since we didn’t need it.

For now, we had a lot of food prep stations and a hodgepodge of this and that. We would have to go from there, and I needed to figure out how to do things better with the spell so it wasn’t small batches that I was hand-mixing.

That was part of today because the industrial mixer had been delivered, and we were trying to use that with me pouring in the ingredients and the spell to make it work. And then we had to do samples again—nothing was easy, but this would make it easier in the end.

Kevin Rose—Kelton’s older brother—was there with a dozen guys who were clearly cops. I simply raised an eyebrow at that.

Tracey chuckled. “The product we have here is valuable. For now, we’re keeping the location secret, but it’s going to get out just like our store. Since this is your baby, you’re a part of the decisions, and this time it’s the needed security. Like human police, our police aren’t paid enough.” She nodded when I snorted.

Yeah, I knew that well because that was how so many of them were bought off. Mostly by the top-tier families, but also evil went for power too often and hoped to get into lucrative positions by becoming cops.

Disgusting but true.

“So we’re hiring some of our police to moonlight as security and protect the product,” I muttered, catching on. I shook their hands as I was introduced and realized why I was really there when one of the names made me flinch. I still shook his hand but couldn’t hide my disgust as I met his eyes. “Let’s have a private word, yeah?”

He hid his reaction well, but I saw the shock. “Of course, Ms. Millen.”

I ignored Kevin asking what was going on and let Tracey lead the way, waiting until she said there was a barrier up. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the cop. “Tell Mr. Hughes that if he sends any more of his people to spy on Familiar Treasures or sticking—”

“There’s been a big misunderstanding here and—” he started to protest.

“All of the top-tier families know the dirty cops,” I drawled. “They all know who has bought whom and mostly share information so they don’t waste time trying to buy someone already bought. Especially when they’re allies. Like the Shaw and Hughes families. So cut the bullshit and don’t treat me like I’m not in the loop when I’m from a top-tier family.”

He curled his lip at me. “Forgive me, but you’re just a kid who—”

Tracey and I shared a look and we burst out laughing, Tracey smoothly taking it over when she calmed down. “If she was just a kid that wasn’t of any value, Charles Shaw wouldn’t have threatened my life for getting into business with her and we both know it, asshole. Now enough, and take the message back to your master or we bust you to all your buddies out there.”

“You will anyway,” he snapped.

“No, because we don’t want war,” I argued. “We’re not starting anything, but we will defend what’s ours. I’m mine. Not my father’s, get it?” I waited for the guy to nod. “Now, tell Mr. Hughes to not pull this again and to stay out of Familiar Treasures everything or he will be banned just like the Shaws. I’m sure you’ve seen the upset that’s caused.”

“Employees are threatening to quit across their businesses,” Tracey chuckled darkly. “These treats are groundbreaking in our world, and people don’t like being kept from something like that. People don’t like to be blacklisted. Our toy production is ramping up and we’re branching out. Hughes doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of that.”

“He’s not the type of person to listen or leave it alone,” the cop cautioned. “Especially on the warning of witches.”

“Well, he should this one time,” I drawled. “He’s a businessman, and he should care about his bottom line instead of his pride at witches not laying down and doing what he wants. Tell him to pretend we’re men if that makes it okay in his eyes. But make it clear he does this again and he will not like the outcome, so do not fire a shot at us again, savvy?”

“Yeah, I get it,” he grumbled.

I nodded and led the way back, seeing the upset in Kevin’s eyes and him doing a good job of acting for the others. “It’s fine. Someone in his family was involved with my cousin and I recognized the name. Given my father’s psycho, he understands it’s not a risk we’re willing to take.”

“Thanks for explaining it to me,” the cop said easily, slapping on his own mask. “I didn’t even know that happened since we’re not tight. I understand you needing to feel safe though. Good luck with everything.”

“Thanks.”

Asshole.