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Trinity
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I was trying not to let the emotions show on my face when I went downstairs with Reece. Mom and Lila had just brought Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley back from the waterpark and I knew that they would want to excitedly tell me about their day. Not only that, but I needed to hear about Talia's training session with Lucifer and the tour that Reagan and Rika went on. It was going to be a busy night for me since I was their mom. And, of course, Reece would be right there with me as well. We would listen to them all, make sure that they felt appreciated and loved, and only when they went back to their rooms would Reece and I be able to attend the meeting that we were calling the others to.
Reece had already told everyone that we would be meeting them in my office after dinner. My office would be the best because, as the queen, my office was the biggest. Way bigger than Reece's office and his was the second largest in the entire castle.
“It was so cool, Mom. I swear. That big water slide was so tall that I felt like I was sliding down it forever. It was so amazing.” Zachary was excitedly recounting a story for me as I smiled at him.
“It's true. It was so big, and the floor just dropped out from under you, it was amazing.” Zander was adding to the tale for him.
.....
“I liked it too, but the falling was a bit scary at first. Once I got over that though, it was fun. I went on that slide several times.” Zayden grinned as he excitedly shared his part of the story.
“What about you, Zaley, did you like it too?” Reagan asked his youngest sister. She had been very quiet since dinner started and was letting her brothers talk for the most part.
“I loved that slide. I loved them all. They were really fun.” I could see that she was not the happiest though, and I had a feeling I knew why. Mom had warned me that something happened, but she said she would leave it to the kids to tell me what it was. Though, knowing the group that was gone, I had a feeling that I knew what had happened.
“What happened today?” I didn't probe into a specific situation. I didn't lead them into what to say. I just asked that sort of vague question. And that was all it took.
All four of them were looking at each other then. I could tell that they had something to tell me about the water park. And they were deciding who it was that was going to tell me and Reece about it. It was decided that the natural leader of them would tell us what had transpired at the waterpark.
“Well, some people were making fun of Zaley.” Zachary looked angry as he spoke. “They were calling her names and saying that she should leave. They treated her badly, and we couldn't let that happen.”
“They were older than us and were so childish.” Zayden was angry. He was only ever angry when it came to Zaley.
“I didn't care though. I could handle it.” Zaley was looking between her brothers as she said that. She didn't like it when they got angry at people. She just wanted everyone to get along as best as they could.
“That's not the point.” Zander's voice was soft and soothing for her. “And we're your brothers. It's our job to protect you. It's always been our job.”
“Yeah, Zaley, we need to protect you.” Zachary added in a calming voice.
“What did you do?” Reece, knowing his boys, asked in his 'dad' voice. He knew what they were capable of since they were exactly like him.
“We didn't hurt anyone. We just, uhm, w..w..we just made them a little scared. That was all. We didn't shift or do anything that would expose us.” Zachary was always the strong one, unless me or Reece were being stern. Then he was always repentant with us.
“They were shifters too, Momma. They were being mean to Zaley when she is their princess.” Zander was adding in their defense.
“We just sort of got a little mad at them and we, uhm, we reminded them who we were and why they needed to go to hell.”
“ZACHARY!” Both Reece and I snapped at him when he swore. Yeah, it wasn't a truly bad word, but he didn't need to be saying it right now.
“I'm sorry.” He hung his head in shame. “I..I just wanted to protect my sister.”
“I understand.” Reagan called out to him. “I would have done the same. Actually, when some boy was talking to Rika today, I basically wanted to do the same thing. But I think this boy that she was talking to was actually a human, so I had to be nice.”
“You think he was a human?” I asked Reagan is a skeptical sort of voice.
“Rika was talking to a boy?” Of course, that was where Reece's mind would go.
“Yes, Daddy, I was talking to a boy.” Rika rolled her eyes at him and tried not to laugh at his over the top response.
“Yes, Momma, I think that he was a human. He smelled human, but he had a different sort of aura to him. I don't know how to explain it.”
“Hmm.” I thought about it for a moment. “Maybe they are humans but they have someone supernatural in their lineage. Like someone that had been pretty far back like Athair mór was for me.” I was thinking about the fact that I had Fae blood going back for generations and no one knew about it. “If they were just pure humans other than that one Fae, it might have diluted the blood line and made it so they no longer have the Fae abilities but they are just a little less than pure human.”
“Possibly.” I watched Reagan shrug his shoulders like he didn't really care one way or the other. “Still, he wasn't a bad guy. Not really. Just the fact that he was flirting with my little sister.”
“We're twins, Reagan.” Rika snapped at him. “I am not your little sister.”
“I'm still a month older than you.” He snapped back at her.
“OH MY GODDESS!” She threw her head back at the outburst from her brother. We were all used to this by now. “You are like twenty minutes older than me. We just happened to be born on two different days that were in two different months. That does not make you a month older than me. For crying out loud, Reagan, grow up.”
“Me, grow up? Look at the way you were fawning all over that guy. That was like a middle school crush if you ask me.”
“Enough!” Reece shuddered as he lashed out. “I do not want to think about that. None of my daughters are allowed to date or be married until they're a hundred years old.”
“What in the world!?” Rika snapped at him.
“That isn't fair, Daddy!” Talia recoiled.
“I don't care.” Zaley added last.
“Reece, I think that is unfair.” I supported them. “When they find someone, like their mate, you can't stand in their way.”
“Watch me.” Reece glared at me. “I will scare away all of the guys. Or make them disappear.” He rubbed his hand together like he was some sort of evil villain.
“You're such an idiot sometimes, Dad. You know that. Such a big idiot.” Rika crossed her arms and pouted at him. “I was only talking to him. Nothing else. You need to stop treating me like a baby.”
“I know. I know.” Reece sounded repentant. He didn't like that his daughter was mad at him. “It's just that, well, I love you. You're my baby girl. And I can't have some boy hurting you like that.”
“I can take care of myself Dad. And it's not like I was all that interested in him. He was just there and I talked to him. There was nothing else to it. We talked and I got to know a little about him and his friends. They're all orphans that came here from Germany.”
“Really? That's interesting.” I tried to support Rika in her endeavor. At the very least, I wanted to let her know that I was not against her making new friends.
“We all ended up talking. Not just Rika and Clovio. The whole group made friends. There were the five German kids and then these three girls that were from the surrounding areas. That was all that was in our group for the tour. I never really realized just how large of a group we had until now though. Seeing it was sort of overwhelming.”
Reagan and Rika had grown up with all of these people around them. To them, it was just normal. But seeing how large of a group they had compared to others was definitely a shock to them. If the entire group of kids had gone to that school, it would have overwhelmed the tour guides for sure.
For the rest of dinner, I listened to Reagan and Rika tell us all about their day and then Talia told us about her lessons with Lucifer. All seven had an interesting time, one way or another. And that right there was why I made sure that I listened to them every day. I needed to know these things. I needed to be told what was going on if I wanted to be there for my children.
Not to mention, I loved them all so much and I wanted to be there for them.