Page 59 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

“So it’s our place to plead and kneel before you after we spent seventeen years providing for you and you simply up and leave without that first glance back?” Mom asked.

I could feel Aleksei , but more, his beast, responding to this, so I had to shut it down.

“Fine. I’ll attend a reconciliation meeting,” I conceded.

Aleksei’s fingers bit into my waist.

I kept talking.

“You can assert to the adjudicator what great parents you were. And then I can share my medical records. I can ask Mr . and Mrs . Truelock to testify regarding how often I was at their house because I couldn’t bear being around you and your constant arguments with each other that you never hid from me, and the ugly things you said to me.

I can comm the Vinestrongs , and they can tell tales of how you never came to the school plays I designed the costumes for, and sometimes didn’t even bother to pick me up after rehearsals and performances, so they had to take me home.

I can ask Cat to share the loving story of how Dad lost it and shouted at me for half an hour right in front of her when I accidentally dropped my school tablet, and he had to buy me another one.

I’m sure Gayle will be happy to tell the delightful tale of you ripping my Summer Solstice gown to shreds, not because of anything I’d done, but because you were angry at Dad for the seven millionth time.

I’d designed that gown. I’d stitched it with my own fingers.

You refused to give me the money to buy the materials to replace it, so in the end, I had to borrow something from Cat to wear on my date. Shall I go on?”

“Excuse my interruption, Mistress Laura ,” Allain called.

Everyone looked to him.

He had his Palm turned our way and there was a male’s face on it.

“Please note,” the male’s voice came from the Palm , “the Ministry of Law and Justice considers this a reconciliation meeting, and any request to reject the no contact order has been denied.”

“Thank you, minister,” the queen called.

“Your majesty,” the male said, and Allain turned the Palm back to himself.

“This is a travesty,” Mom declared.

“Again, Mom , what do you want ?” I asked.

“We have a rightful place in your life,” she stated.

“What you mean is, you have a rightful place as parents of a princess of the realm,” I amended.

“That is what you’ll be, and that is who we are,” Mom declared.

“All right, I’ll ask a different question,” I returned. “ How on earth can you think you deserve that respect with the disregard you used in raising me?”

My mother’s face twisted. “ I didn’t want to do this, coming here. Tern has been riddled with guilt since you left…”

My gaze darted to my father to see his riveted to the step of the dais.

Mom kept talking.

“Losing her, it twisted something in him. It was like he thought you’d be her, born again. And then when you weren’t, he blamed me.”

“He also blamed Laura ,” the queen pointed out.

“Whatever,” my mom returned. “ That’s what I lived with all my life. A husband who wanted someone else.”

“So you came here because you thought you deserved to get something out of the fact that you… you …decided to marry a man who had lost his mate, and whatever you were expecting to get out of that didn’t come to fruition, so you acted like a bitter cow to everyone around you, including your own daughter? Is that what I’m hearing?” I asked.

“I thought I could make him love me,” Mom snapped.

“Newsflash, Mom , acting like an absolute bitch all the time isn’t really loveable,’ I shot back.

I heard Aleece stifle a laugh.

The king stood.

“Laura, have you said your piece?” he asked.

I opened my mouth, but Mom got there before me.

“We—”

That was as far as she got.

“Aleksei.” The king said my mate’s name like an order.

Aleksei accepted that order, and he delivered.

Boy, did he.

“You will return to your lives,” Aleksei declared.

“ You will resume them as you’ve been living them, with no contact with your daughter.

You will not contact the Palace for any reason.

You will also not speak to any media, even if they’re stubborn in their requests for you to do so.

You will cease to exist for her, and you will consider her the same for you. ”

Mom played her ace.

“And we will confirm the interview we have scheduled after this, which we have been assured will be aired precisely after your engagement interview with our daughter.”

Dad scowled at Mom like he could burn her to cinders with his gaze.

Aleksei inclined his head as if conceding.

But then he said, “ Therefore , I’m sorry to say, if you do that, I will be forced to release the pics I have of you fornicating with Shivell Chevalforce , which I can assure you are quite indelicate.”

Dad’s inhale of outraged shock could be heard throughout the massive room, and that was good, because it covered my surprised one.

I didn’t know him very well, but I did know Shivell Chevalforce was a jerk. He was in my parents’ circle, married to a friend of my mother’s, but none of them really liked him, he was that much of a jerk.

Mom’s face became devoid of color.

“And you, Mr . Makepeace ,” Aleksei continued, “will shortly be receiving the news that the Revenue Department is right now in the process of administering a warrant for the seizure of all comp units from your home and office.”

Dad sat very still.

Aleksei kept going.

“As well as those of a Mr . Neeru Sandslot , who I believe is your partner in a few ventures that have not been appropriately reported on your tax forms.”

Dad’s face was now devoid of color.

But… dang .

Aleksei didn’t mess around when he tore someone apart.

“Underpayment of taxes once garners a much different penalty than when it happens twice,” Aleksei informed him.

“ And it’s my understanding that the amount left unpaid is much more substantial this time.

You could be looking at a prison term of no less than a year, as well as full repayment of the taxes, along with penalties. ”

“It’s revolting that you would use your superior resources to invade our privacy like this,” Mom snapped.

“You find that revolting, and showing here to assert your position in this family, which, in case you aren’t getting this, you do not have one, after you snapped your daughter’s wrist by accident , not even caring enough for your child to take heed as you handle her, isn’t revolting? ” Aleksei asked.

Before Mom could answer, I said, “ I’ll be releasing my medical history to the media.”

Mom closed her mouth.

“I’ll do this tomorrow, and this will be a topic of discussion during Aleksei and my interview.”

I felt him close in on my back, murmuring, “ Darling .”

I kept my attention locked on my mother.

“I thought it would be embarrassing, everyone in every realm knowing how you raised me, what you did to me, how you treated me, but I’m coming to understand the fullness of my destiny,” I shared.

“ And there are without a doubt far too many beings who will understand my experience intimately, and who will feel no small assurance we share that in common, no matter how unfortunate it is we do. But more, I survived and thrived, which might, if they’re struggling, encourage them that they can too. ”

“I don’t believe that’s necessary,” Dad said swiftly.

“You would be wrong,” I replied. “ My decision is made. I’ll also be discussing this with the Truelocks and the Vinestrongs .

I’ve been a member of Cat’s family since I was eight, Gayle’s , since I was nine.

They’ve seen things, they know things, and they can corroborate any assertions I make along with Dr .

Fearsome explaining about my remodeled bones.

I doubt my friends will mind sitting in front of a cam and sharing their memories.

The visit from the RVPB is on record. Your tax penalty is on record.

And if Aleksei releases what he has, you’ll both have to move to the Three Realms to escape the ire of those of the Fall . ”

It was all coming to me now, everything, the entirety of it.

And I shared that.

“I have a ninety-four percent approval rating. Go ahead, try to fuck with me. We’ll see how that goes.

But my advice, once you deal with whatever the HMRD turns up, find somewhere far away, go there and forget you have a daughter.

Once I walk out of this room, I can promise, I’ll do everything I can to forget about you. ”

With that, I ignored the enraged expression on my mother’s face, the sick one on my father’s, and I took Aleksei’s hand.

I walked him to the king, where I got up on my toes to kiss his cheek (and he blushed too, like father like son cuteness). I smiled at the queen, Aleece , then Aleksei and I stepped off the dais and exited the room.

I caught Allain’s grin of sheer glee and not-minor approval.

Once we left the room, however, it wasn’t me guiding Aleksei .

It was Aleksei guiding me.

Up two flights of stairs and to the left, around a corner and into a room that was more like a vestibule.

He turned me into his arms.

I put my hands on his shoulders and looked up at him.

“That was bloody brilliant,” he growled, his eyes shining again with amethyst light, but this wasn’t anger, it was pride.

I smiled, but my legs were shaking.

He cupped my jaw in his hands. “ Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You don’t have to follow through with your threats, darling,” he assured.

“I think I need to. I think those of the Fall need to know what they’re getting with me.”

“If you’re absolutely sure, I need to get Allain and Nata on discussions with the being who’ll be interviewing us so we can agree a new set of questions.”

I nodded.

Aleksei didn’t immediately get out his Palm .

He said, “ Bissi , this is your story to tell, and you can choose not to tell it. I can handle your parents.”

“I don’t think you understand, Aleksei . I need to be the one who handles them. Anyway , stuff like this finds its way out of the darkness. If we get in front of it, we can put it to good use.”

He bent as he pulled me up and touched his lips to mine.

“I’m seriously fucking proud of you,” he whispered.

My smile was firmer after he said that.

He touched his mouth to mine again.

He let me go, pulled out his Palm and walked us into what had to be his suite of rooms.

It started with a sitting room that was a masculine display of dark, heavily carved wood, a color story of aubergine and myrtle green, the fixtures and furnishings the same as everything else I’d encountered in the Palace , except more welcoming and lived in.

As he spoke to Allain , I noted again how entirely comfortable he was here.

This was his space. His place in the world. His home.

And now, for the first time, I realized it also was mine. It always had been.

Since the day I was born.

I went to the window and peered out to the view of the outer gardens (no less formal, or spectacular, than the courtyard) and the sparkling Dolphin Sea beyond.

I was home here.

I was home at the penthouse.

I was just home.

Because I was Aleksei’s .

And Aleksei was mine.