Dark Promise by Annika West

55

After I’d gorged myself on convenience store candy, chips, soda, some weird cactus drink that I kinda dug after a while, and two pints of ice cream, I declared I was ready to begin negotiations once more.

Licking my fingers, I challenged, “So, you say you can’t possibly meet my demands. What’s stopping you? You have all the money. The power. The say-so. Give me one convincing reason why you can’t have two Cut members elected to every Council across the world. Big and small.”

The vampire spokesperson had conferred with her colleagues while I’d been eating and had a very pinched expression. “It’s off the table.”

“I guess I’ll just hand over the portal lawmaking to Adair and let him decide who and what comes through —”

“You’ll be arrested and prosecuted at the highest Council!” she threatened, not even caring that Hux’s hackles had risen, and he now hovered behind me like the good boy he was.

A magenta collar with a chain leash.

I gasped, coughed on a stray chunk of chip that lodged itself into my throat, and nearly died on the spot for the second time today.

When I’d recovered, I replied, “You keep threatening me like you have any hold over me. What laws cover faery Cuts? Also, what law will cover me if I become a member of Lord Adair’s Court? Also, what laws say that when said faery Cut holds power to open and close all faery portals, the Council can arrest her? How does that help anyone?”

She shot back, “Putting Cuts on the Councils will mess up every society at every level. The Unions would be in an uproar.”

Scoffing, I said, “Adapt, Miss Vampire. You’re so stuck in what should be done that you’re not even considering what can be done. Get your dusty brain into a power-washer and come back to me when you have a solution.”

This was, more or less, how the next four hours went.

The Council gave me all the excuses. All the threats.

But the cool thing was that I wasn’t alone. The Council thought I was some nobody Cut, perfectly ripe to get crushed under their boot.

Just like I’d been at my court hearing. Just like it had been done for an eternity, for all I knew.

However, they didn’t realize that I was still the tip of the spear, which meant I had an entire structure of coolness backing me up with every move.

Hux’s legal knowledge was invaluable, and he countered the Council’s criminal action threats effortlessly. Adair complicated things by popping into existence and confusing them with faery nonsense.

He scared them a lot. They really backed off when he reiterated over and over that I was his child, and he supported my statements.

Even Elias sat quietly through the proceedings, saying nothing but offering an exceptional glare that really made my statements shine.

Maybe I’d get him a collar too.

Then, there was Marigold, who provided at least two dozen examples of how Councils had changed structures and laws in the past without any real effort or upset.

She was the bullshit-o-meter I didn’t know we needed.

August, Willow, and my parents weren’t part of the pummeling force of the negotiations, but they were a steadfast presence that outweighed the Council’s glaring and blustering.

Also, Dad singlehandedly helped me not have a complete meltdown three hours into the meeting. By all the toe fungus in the world, these people were boring. They did so much talking without saying anything, and I really just wanted to nap by the end of it.

Adair had told me that if I wanted to make special requests during the negotiations, I had to be the one to make them. Even Hux agreed it should be me, and both men seemed to think it was ‘good for me as a future inter-species ambassador.’

Whatever that meant.

Well, actually, I knew exactly what it meant.

For the time being, I was keeping control over the portals. Call it a distrust of the fae. Call it curiosity.

It just felt right to hold onto that power. For now.

Hux had told me to bear witness to my actions, and I understood the deeper meaning. It’s not enough just to see the portals open. I had to care about the things that came afterward, too.

Or at least show a bit of interest.

What kind of a world-altering Cut would I be if I just changed the universe and tapped out?

Unfortunately, I’d be sticking around. Because… well… responsibility and shit.

Maybe I’ll eventually give the power over to Adair, the original Keeper of the Portals. But until then, I had to see this through.

The fancy meeting with the International Council wasn’t anything special. It was more like a glorified torture session of ancient dickheads making excuse after excuse.

Five hours in, I started screaming.

Not even Dad could calm me down.

“You people are horrible!” I screeched into the sky, still dusty from the exploded pyramid. I was crouched, chest heaving, eyes tearing with exhaustion, and a cornucopia of junk food trash around me.

The speaker, one of the shifter Council members, became extra fearful. He stated, “Miss King, we are simply attempting to —”

The air rippled. Darkness swarmed us. Everyone, including my allies, disappeared as my illusion magic took over.

I panicked, okay? I just didn’t want to see that stupid immortal’s George Clooney face trying to reasonably mansplain why Cuts didn’t deserve representation.

“Ah… Miss King?” His tentative voice pressed through the darkness.

Shit. I have to figure out how to cut the noise out too. My emotions just got the better of me.

I swirled the darkness back into me, revealing the Council once again. Everyone except for the vampires were pretty flustered.

“I’m done,” I told them, shrugging. “You don’t get any snacks.”

Their brows furrowed. “Snacks?” a witch asked.

“None for you!” I shouted. “None of you get anything! You waste my time, you steal my braincells, you make me wish the sword had done me in. You. Don’t. Get. Any. Snacks. The portals are officially mine, and you don’t get any say in who comes through or when. Deal with it.”

I picked up the last chocolate bar and strode into the rubble.

It was only until Hux found me perched on a huge boulder, claiming the Council was ready to consider my offer, that I relented.

But the details took four entire days to solidify. Four days.

The contracts were massive. The minutia were enough to make me wish for a coma. Thankfully, Adair managed most of the tedious crap that included all of the other court leaders.

But in the end, I got what I wanted. And that’s what mattered.

From this moment on, every Council in every corner of the world would include Cuts.