So it’s not exactly what they want to hear but it’s blunt and to the point. What else is there to say? I am not going to be giving them back any of my people.
“You cannot just come in here and take it away from us!” someone cries from the middle of the crowd, gaining the support of many others who join in.
“I am not taking it away from you,” I say and there is a stunned silence. Presumably because they think that I have another trick up my sleeve. Sadly it is less complex than that. “All of you here have your Silver. You will continue to have it and it will continue to work. All I have done is ensure that no new Silver can be enchanted.”
“So, none of our new charges will be able to walk in the sun?”
I shake my head. “No, I cannot justify it. I am sorry, but this is how it is going to be.”
CK’s shoulders tense under my hand and Xane grimaces as well.
“Never apologize,” he mutters.
“It’s not fair!” is yelled at me from several different sides and the crowd is starting to get agitated.
“I don’t want charges who skulk in the shadows like the commoners,” a Master Vampire sneers at me.
I want to yell at him to not make any more then, but that won’t exactly appease them. Before I can get a word in, poor CK gets hit with an accusation that he is not happy with.
“Constantine,” another Master Vampire yells at him. “You are the only one left able to create Masters, and yet rumor has it you refuse to continue siring. Our race is going to devolve without your input.”
Sooo…this has basically just turned into a free-for-all grievance airing by the sounds of it. Anything else?
CK doesn’t get a chance to answer as he is being battered by questions and complaints. I hear someone shout at him, “She is your charge, sort her the fuck out before someone else does!”
CK growls and steps forward, but I pull him back. He can probably wipe the floor with the lot of them, even without his current power boost, but that will solve nothing.
I am about to call this meeting to order and once again reiterate that this is how things are going to be from now on and add that anyone caught actively seeking out Dark Fae will be beheaded by my own hand, when a familiar voice rings out above the sound of the others. “She is Dark Fae, why does she not offer up her own blood?”
I turn to Xane and gape at him, before I turn my vicious glare on the bitch
that has just called me out in front of an angry mob of Vampires. I knew we should have silenced her, but getting to the Faeries just seemed more important at the time. Dammit!
“CeeCee!” Xane roars at her and jumps down off the wall, Shifting in the process. He is beyond mad. CK drags me off the wall and keeps me behind him protectively as thousands of pairs of sharp, Vampire eyes land on me with renewed interest.
“This meeting is adjourned,” I call around CK quickly because I can sense a bloodbath of the Demonic kind brewing. Not to mention I am a little bit scared for my own fate here. Every Vampire in the garden turns their attentions away from me momentarily and to the shit storm that is about to break out. If you can say one thing about Vampires, it is that they have a strong sense of self-preservation and hanging around here to harass me further about the Dark Fae and my own now not-so-secret Fae-ness has suddenly lost all of its appeal. I doubt I have heard the end of it, but within seconds the garden has been cleared of the Vampires and I turn my attention to CeeCee.
“How dare you!” I shriek at her and lunge towards her as CK holds me back. He needn’t have bothered though as Xane has already stepped in front of me and barks, “Enough!”
In the ensuing silence at his command, Xerxei decides now is a good time to stand by her man, so pulling away from CK, I Shift and walk up to stand next to him.
“Unacceptable, Cefalonia,” he says in that voice like gravel. “You are causing too much conflict, too much strife in your quest to destroy those who you think have wronged you. There are no more chances. You are sentenced to death in thirty days.”
WHAT?
“Xane,” I say quietly, putting my hand on his arm. Talk about overkill. Geez.
He shakes me off and you could hear a pin drop. I don’t think anyone believes him. I sure don’t, until he adds, “You have put the life of your Queen in serious jeopardy by revealing her secret. It is treason and for that you will die.”
When the “T” word gets dropped there is a collective gasp and I gulp. He really means this.
CeeCee drops to her knees with a wail as two guards, who have also Shifted, take her by her arms and drag her to her feet. “No, my Lord! Please, please, I beg for my life, please do not do this.”
“It is done,” he says with finality.
“My Queen,” she says to me beseechingly. “Please, I meant no real harm, do not let him put me to death.”
Let him? Bad, bad, bad choice of words. Xerxei isn’t feeling very merciful and that just annoyed me further, like I am his mother or something.