“So you became a starter, but not someone that finishes things. What a loser you turned out to be. That is not going to be me.” Jackson had a feeling that this child was going to be in prison long before she had her prestigious attorney job. “You make me sick the way you’ve come in here spouting off your views on what we’re going to be when we get out of here. Tell me, everyone, has anyone learned a thing from this man?”

  Everyone raised their hands, even her little group of girls that had shut up when Samuel had had the right questions concerning the neighbor. When she pointed to one of her friends and asked her what she could possibly have gotten from him, Jackson waited to see how he’d enlightened a room full of seventeen and eighteen-year-olds.

  “I actually took away a lot from him. And I’d sit and hear him lecture us again if he was willing to come back.” Sandra pointed out that wasn’t what she’d asked her. “What I took away from him was that you aren’t a nice person. I don’t think you ever have been. I’d never use you as my attorney because, and I’m only just coming to realize this, you only care about the bottom line. Also, you have to be right about everything, no matter what it might cost those around you.”

  Samuel stood up then. “I’d not be so hard on her if I were you, Wendy. It’s her upbringing. She was taught from a very early age that her crap doesn’t stink, as well as that she gets her way no matter if she is right or not. My mom used to work for the household, before Sandra decided that she didn’t like going to school with her domestic help’s children. And as soon as her parents hired someone else, having my mom train her, Mom was out of a job. I don’t hate her for it. My family is better off anyway. Mom has a new job working in something that she likes, and is making better money. To me, it was a win win situation for us all.”

  “You lie.” Samuel asked Sandra about what. “I could have gone to any school I wanted. My dad said it would look good for his businesses if I were to attend classes with the local kids.”

  “This is getting us nowhere, kids.” Sandra came stomping down the steps toward Jackson, and he didn’t move. When she slapped him hard across the cheek, Jackson just stared down at her. “Do you feel better, young lady?”

  “I’m going to own you by the end of the day. You will never teach again for as long as you live. Which, if I had my way about it, you’d be pushing up flowers right now.” No one in the room made a sound. Jackson didn’t speak either, but the man at the top of the room—the seating like movie seating at the mall—stood up. “You’re nothing, do you understand me? Nothing. And when my dad hears what I tell him about this, you’re going to be so fucked that not even your wonderful doctorate in law will get you out of it.”

  “That’s enough.” Devon hadn’t spoken until then, but the kids knew the sound of a voice that meant business. “Sandra, take your seat. The rest of you sit down as well.”

  “I don’t listen to shit holes like you. You brought him here. As far as I’m concerned, you’re going to suffer as badly as he will. My daddy will make sure you both burn for this.” Jackson looked over her head at the man and woman that came up behind her. He also noticed that the kids were seated and pretending to work on anything but showing interest in what was going on in front of them. “You just wait, Mr. Wakefield. You’ll be out of your home before I can go crying to my daddy and mom. Then you’ll see who is living in your big castle.”

  “Sandra Milner, you will shut that trap of yours right this moment.” Her father, Jackson thought, and the man was embarrassed more than Samuel had been. “Thank you for calling me, Lord Devon. I have been hearing her side of the trouble going on around here, and I didn’t get an opportunity until today to hear the other side.”

  “Daddy, they were mean to me. Treating me like I was nothing.” The tears were fake, and Jackson was sure that even her mother could see that. “You should have heard what they said to me. Mr. Wakefield treated me like dirt, calling me names and everything. Then his man, he tried to sexually assault me in—”

  “Lies, all of it. We’ve been here since you put that other young man down. You didn’t tell me the real reason that you wanted Martha fired. You told us both that she’d stolen a bracelet from you. There wasn’t any mention of domestics working for us and their children. Why, Martha was the nicest, sweetest woman that has ever worked for us. Until you were kicked from that fancy school that you just had to go to. I’m ashamed of you, Sandra. Ashamed that you even carry my last name right now. I’m so sorry, Lord Devon. And you as well, Lord Jackson. I thought you made some very good points in what you were saying. I should like to hear more about it. And I’m sure that the other children here would as well.”

  “I just came in to talk with them about life in general, sir. I’m only here for a short time.” Devon said he was working on trying to make him stay. “Yes, his entire family is bombarding me with reasons that I should stick around.”

  “Well, I’m serious about you coming to hang out with me for a few days. I’d like to hear your theory about a great many things, I think.” Jackson had his hand shook hard. “Now, if you gentlemen would forgive me for this, I’m going to take my errant daughter home and teach her a few lessons that she should have learned at my knee a long time ago.”

  When they left, Jackson turned to Devon. Before he could tell him that he’d been set up, Devon pointed to the kids. Every one of them had a hand up, and their eager faces made him try and forget about Devon. Turning to the first kid in the front, he began answering questions about their job choices, as well as how they could become successful.

  ~*~

  Nicole had had no choice. Well, she supposed she had plenty of them, but none of them that would put a roof over her head as well as food in her belly. Since she’d been able to pick her own crew from the other applicants that had applied, she thought that she might enjoy working. Especially with the promises that she’d been given.

  “We won’t bother you until there is a problem. Also, we promise not to come at you all at once, nor without an appointment. Unless, as I said, it is an emergency. I know that you’re afraid of us—I even know why—but I hope that someday you’ll tell me more about your life.” Nicole told Bryce she wouldn’t. “You say that now, but I know that you are letting what happened to you fester in your belly, and it will make you ill someday. Also, I’ve made you aware that the couple that caused you such problems, not dragon related, are dead.”

  “Yes, you said that. I don’t know why you’d think that would make a difference to me, but it’s none of your business.” Bryce said that it wasn’t, but that didn’t make her any less concerned about her. “Just keep your end of the bargain, and I will give you all I have in my cooking abilities.”

  Then when she’d entered the empty space that was going to be her area, she was dismayed to find that it wasn’t just empty of any cooking items, stoves, cupboards, as well as pots pans and plates, but the faeries were there. Some of them on the floor, others just hanging above the floor with their wings going too fast for her to see. When one of them faced her almost to her nose, Nicole took a step back and waited for her to attack or something.

  “Hello, Lady Nicole. My name is Bloom. I will be your faerie to call while working. There are others that will stay with you when you are not on duty, and—” Nicole told her that she wanted no one to be with her when she wasn’t working. “There are many creatures here, my lady, most of them good. But there are a few that may harm you should they not know you. We will be there without you seeing us until we are needed. To keep you safe. It is my understanding that you are afraid of our masters. We will keep them away from you as well.”

  “All right. I’m not just afraid of dragons or faeries, but I’m terrified of all of you.” Bloom nodded. “What do I have to do to get this kitchen ready for service? I was told that our first meal will be very soon.”

  “You have only to let me see what you wish in this room and I will tell the others. We are, so you are aware, able to change anything that doesn’t work out for you in just a moment. Our magic is very strong, as we are all very old too.” Nicole nodded, but still wasn’t sure about this. “You have thought of your kitchen, correct?”

  Closing her eyes after telling Bloom that was all she’d been thinking about, she felt the slightest touch to her forehead, Nicole could feel the room moving, things making noises as they were placed in the room. When she was told to open her eyes, she walked around the filled room with an eye to how it looked, and whether it would work where it was sitting. Standing at the grill stove, she looked around the room again.

  “There will be a need for several different types of plates. I didn’t think about where they would go in relation to where the stove is. Do any of you have any ideas?” They, of course, had no idea. But Bloom asked several members of her team to go to several other restaurants to find out what they had done. “Thank you, Bloom. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

  In seconds they returned, each of them with a different set up for the room. As she looked over each of them as they were set up in place of her own, she took parts of all of them and incorporated her ideas in with them.

  “Lady Nicole. We can enlarge this space without moving the outside of the building. If you should like to make the walk-in freezer larger, what I heard the man at the other restaurant complaining about, we can do that as well.” Nicole nodded, and the room shifted to about double the space she had now. “There is room now for you to have a large shelf that will hold double the plates that we can store on it for viewing.”

  “You mean with magic you can make things appear like there is more of them?” Bloom nodded. “Okay, that works. But can you possibly make it so that I have one plate at a time back here with me, but when I pick it up to use one replaces it? Like there is an endless supply of them at my reach.” Bloom said that she could do that, and would love to. When the six different types of plates were lined up on the bottom shelf, Bloom adjusted the height of them so that she’d not have to bend to get them. “This will save all of us so much time, don’t you think?”

  “Oh yes, my lady. A great deal. Also, if you should wish, we can do the same to the food stuffs.” Nicole told her that she couldn’t do that. “It would cost us no more magic, my lady.”

  “No, I don’t imagine that it would. But Bryce told me that they bought the things locally that I use in here, and I don’t want some farmer to go out of business because it was quicker and cheaper for us to just use magic. The plates hurt no one, the food would.” They moved around the room, pointing out other places where they could use help. No more endless supplies, but she did make sure that everyone understood that if they knew of a safer idea in the kitchen, she was all for it. If it worked.

  Bloom and her worked for another two hours. The faeries were excited, even after depleting their energy on her whims. After sending some of the crew out again, this time to gather up flowers as a treat, Nicole sat down at her newly appointed desk and thought about the menu. She wasn’t sure of the theme of the place, but she wanted to go slowly on her first few nights.

  When the woman appeared in the room with her, Nicole screamed. It brought nearly every one of the little faeries to her with weapons drawn. Aurora. She knew her too, and even though she said she meant no harm, Nicole didn’t want to talk to her.

  “I never knew that you were injured as badly as you were.” Nicole only nodded. “The dragon that bit you, did you know that he was not right in his mind?”

  “How do you suppose that makes me feel any better?” She asked the faeries to go back to their snack, and Nicole sat down in the chair again. “I saw them—the faeries that were killed by the monster. You lost many that day, and I still feel as if I was tricked into coming to you.”

  “You were.” Nicole looked at her. “Not by me. No, I don’t work that way. But by the very same dragon that harmed you. As I said, he was out of his mind by the time he hurt you and caused harm to so many.”

  “I have his blood running in my veins, don’t I?” Aurora nodded. “Can it be removed? And if so, why wasn’t it removed long ago?”

  “Had it been removed it would have killed you. Even now, with it being so many weeks ago, you still can be killed by removing it. Did you tell anyone about that day?” She shook her head as she doodled on the paper in front of her. “You should let Devon know that it happened. He is the king of the dragons, and does not take it lightly when one of his own is harmed by them.”

  “I don’t belong to anyone.” Aurora reached out to put her hand over hers. Nicole jerked it back. “Don’t. I don’t want you to read my mind, nor do I want you to see into my future. I made that clear when I met you the first time.”

  “I only wanted to offer you comfort, Nicole. I know that you have been suffering greatly by the blood. As well as the reasons that you were terminated at your other job. You cannot continue to carry such a burden without letting someone listen to your nightmares too.” Nicole pulled her pant leg up as far as she could. The bite mark, wide and deep, had never healed. Neither had the one at her back, where the great monster had clawed her. “That can be healed if you should let someone. I’m not saying that the nightmares will end, love. But you will not have to suffer as much.”

  “My suffering and my nightmares are my own.” Aurora asked her what she was going to do when the pain took her to the floor again. “When it gets bad enough, I will move on. I’ve done it before. No one is going to touch me again that is a dragon. I do not want your help in healing me either. I think that you have done plenty for me in the name of helping.”

  “You will not be able to run this time, I’m afraid.” Aurora stood up. “There is a being here that will be able not just to save you and your body, but he will love you until you will wonder why you have waited so long to find him. When his mate, Laura lay dying, she asked that I find him another. You. I’m afraid you are Jackson’s mate.”

  “I don’t want anyone to love me.” Aurora nodded and asked after the faeries. “They’re doing a good job. Some of them have asked to stay on, to keep an eye on things and any improvements that I might need to make this work. I explained to them that it was up to Bryce and Kelly to talk to you. I’m only making you aware of their wants in this.”

  “You have my permission to keep as many of them as you wish. Bloom has also been made aware that if any of them, herself included, wish to cook and work alongside of you, then she can change them. They will continue to be faeries, but they will be human looking for those that see them differently than you do.” Aurora stepped out into the kitchen, but turned at the last moment. “It is my duty to let Devon know that you have been hurt. I told you before that your blood, mixed with this other creature’s, will call to all manner of dragons. You will give off the scent of being in heat to the less intelligent dragons.”

  “You told me that. I’m not worried about them. I can take care of myself.” Aurora nodded again. “Don’t come here again, Aurora, unless you warn me. I’m not in the habit of being comfortable with you or your kind. The others can do as they wish, but I don’t want you to come near me again. Not unless I know that you’re coming.”

  “So that you might hide from me?” Nicole said nothing. “I only wish the best for you, Nicole. I am sorry that we got off on the wrong footing. But should you need me, I am only as far away as your breath to call me can carry.”

  Chapter 3

  Aurora didn’t care for the feelings that the younger woman had for her. It really wasn’t anything that she could blame her for. Aurora had done her wrong, had treated her poorly, and on top of that, she hadn’t done a thing that she should have. First and foremost, she had picked her as a mate to Jackson, when he should have, rightfully, been without.

  His mate, Laura, a beautiful blue dragon, had laid dying on the ground, her left wing nearly gone, her heart pierced just enough that she could hold on just a bit more. When Laura, a creature that both served and used faeries, dug into the earth and called to her, Aurora had little choice but to go to her aid.

  “My mate, you told me once long ago that he was awaiting me. I have met him, Aurora. He is a great man.” Aurora said that she agreed, that the fates had done well for them both. “I am dying. I am near there already. I wish for you to find him another. A woman for him to love.”

  “I can heal you, Laura. I shall.” Laura stayed her hand and shook her head. “Please, allow me to do this for the two of you.”

  “There are others that you may help, Aurora, Queen of the Faeries, that need lesser help than I. When you have done as I have asked, you should go to them. Not waste your considerable power to save me, when we both know my death is but beats away.” When she closed her eyes, Aurora thought it was finished. Laura, a strong dragon, looked at her once again with pain filled eyes. “Find him a woman from the future. One that will mend his broken heart, which as I know, as well as mine, is broken. He will think that his is as well. I want her to be hard on him. Keeping him focused on tasks. But most importantly, I wish for you to find him someone that will make him laugh aloud. That she gives him her heart, all of it, but doesn’t give in to him. Please, Aurora, my queen. I wish for him to have someone that he can love for all time, because I cannot be there for him.”

  “I will do it now.” Reaching into the same ground stained with Laura’s blood, Aurora followed the lines to a good family. A child that would be born that would be hardened by life. More of her life, her reactions and actions, flooded her mind, but it was too late by then. Nicole. “I have found her. She will come to him and love him as you should have been able to do.”

 

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