Chapter 11
eleven
OPHELIA
I ate my last cup of noodles the evening of the same day I got out of prison.
I checked my bank account the next morning.
$0.94
Oof. Even emptier than I remembered.
With no other choice, I reluctantly threw on a pair of clean overalls, washed my bangs in the sink, and even put on a little mascara before I drove to Callum Frost's house.
A bunch of Dante's shadows seemed to be stuck to me for some reason, but they weren't really doing anything, so I just tried to ignore them.
I lived smack in the middle of the Shifter Borough, so it was only twenty minutes to his place on Fae Row. My gas tank was still half full, or I would've been truly fucked.
I parked in the driveway and walked up to the front door, even though the outside of the Frost mansion was even less friendly than the outside of the demon royals'.
A grumpy, male voice came through the speaker connected to the doorbell before I had the chance to knock. "How many times have I told you that you have to make an appointment, Ophelia?"
"How many times have I told you that I'm not going to make an appointment, Callum?" I tossed back.
We were kind of friendly enemies. It was a thing with scary, powerful people.
I'd been mostly powerless for a long time, but people didn't really know that.
The fact that I'd built the penitentiary with my magic made me scary enough for the fae.
If they got stuck in there, they'd be just as trapped as anyone else.
Callum sighed loudly. "Fine. Come in. I'm having breakfast with my mate, so this is going to be a very informal meeting."
"Thank god," I muttered.
Formal meetings and I were not on speaking terms.
I heard the door unlock, and swung it open, striding into the house.
The interior was significantly friendlier than the exterior, which I was pretty sure was Callum's mate's doing. She was a werewolf with curly blonde hair and tanned skin, and she was really friendly.
Especially compared to her mate.
My stomach growled when I smelled their food, and coffee. I rarely drank coffee. I only liked the fancy, sugary stuff, and I wasn't willing to save up for a machine or spend an atrocious amount of money at a coffee shop more than a few times a year.
I basically drooled when I walked into their kitchen and found them eating pancakes, while glowing brightly thanks to their soulmate bond. His aura was icy, to match his pale skin, dark hair, and overall cold behavior.
Hers was bright orange.
The individual colors of their auras were overpowered by the glowing bond between them, though.
"Hi. I'm Kat." Callum's mate waved. "I think we met last year?"
"We did. You're a lot more pleasant than your other half."
She grinned.
Callum scoffed. The man was as pretty as he was dickish. "I could say the same thing about your mate, to you."
My eyebrows shot upward. "People are already talking about that?"
"Our family. Not the rest of the city. Not that I know of, at least," Kat said, looking at Callum.
He shook his head. "It hasn't hit the news sites. Grayson and Merrily are keeping it quiet for now."
"They only texted it into the family group chat," Kat explained.
Of course they had a family group chat.
Group chats were perhaps my least favorite part of texting, for the short time I took part in it, and I had only been in one.
I wasn't even sure how I'd gotten added to it, but it was for people who sold things at a farmer's market that I'd taken my pottery to a bunch of times. The number of texts had been atrocious. It definitely contributed to getting rid of my phone for good.
That, and the phone bill.
I plopped down in a chair next to Kat's. She offered me a to-go container of pancakes that hadn't been touched yet. I accepted it without hesitation, dumping syrup all over them and cutting in immediately.
"Do you want coffee?" she checked. "I make a mean latte."
"God, yes," I said around a mouthful of food.
"Don't offer fallen angels coffee, Kitten," Callum grumbled.
"If she's making a torturous fae king coffee, she can make it for a fallen angel too," I countered.
"That's a good point," Kat agreed. "Caramel or vanilla?"
"Both?"
She gave me a nod that said she understood and appreciated the request.
"What do you want, Ophelia?" Callum asked.
"I'm out of money. Before you complain, you gave me hardly anything last year, and I stretched it very well.
All I've eaten is cup noodles. It's been a serious test for my digestive system, but I think I passed.
I have no debt, and I'm not interested in it.
I just need money for food while I fix the prison. "
Kat snorted, but the fancy coffee machine on her kitchen counter softened it.
Callum eyed me suspiciously. "What else is wrong with the prison?"
"How long do you have?"
He grimaced. "How badly did you fuck it up?"
"There are a hundred more people I need to break out."
Callum blinked. "Excuse me?"
"A hundred. There are other issues, too. Smaller ones. But still issues. Like, all the vampires down there are constantly starving. Who knew? Anyway, I have more power now, so I think I can fix it and break the innocent people out. Probably. Depending on what, exactly, is broken."
"Probably? How long has it been used as a weapon?" Callum demanded.
"Thirty years."
"It's a fucking miracle no one has tried to use it on my family, then."
"Maybe they tried, and failed?"
Kat caught my attention, and made a slicing motion over her neck, telling me to cut it off.
I cleared my throat. "Anyway. I'm going to fix it.
If I can't, I'll take it down and rebuild it somehow.
But I need to eat while I figure it out, and I currently only have ninety-four cents.
Last time I went to the grocery store, that wasn't even enough to buy a gumball.
Inflation sucks, man. Gets to the best of us. "
He narrowed his eyes at me "You're mated to Dante Dusk, and you're here to ask me for money? While telling me that anyone in my family could've easily been thrown in your prison for the past thirty years?"
"Is that his last name? I didn't know." I took another bite of my pancake.
Kat coughed in the kitchen. Definitely trying to hide a laugh.
"You realize that many of your mate's businesses compete directly with mine, right? And that a significant number of them do better than mine?"
I blinked. "No."
"Did you even ask him for money?"
"Of course not. We've been mated for less than twenty-four hours, and we only sealed a bond so we could get out of prison. We don't even know each other's middle names. I wasn't going to ask him to buy me more noodle cups."
"Well, now you know. And if anyone's going to bankroll your prison reorganization, it should be your mate."
"You mean, the guy I just broke out of that prison? The one who spent twelve years trapped in a hellhole I created?" I countered.
"The one who's now reliant on you for his survival, Ophelia."
"Don't remind me of that while I'm trying to eat," I grumbled.
Callum set his hands on his table. "I think you're missing the extreme of what a mating bond means for both parties."
"Mating bonds aren't extreme for angels," I pointed out.
"They are when that angel is mated to a vampire." Callum cleaned his fingers on a napkin nearby, then picked up his phone.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
He ignored me.
I looked at Kat, who shrugged and mouthed, "Sorry."
He set the device back down.
I heard a familiar sound, a moment later.
He was calling someone.
On speaker.
I peered over the screen, and groaned aloud when I saw the contact name.
I tried to reach over and end the call, but Callum slid the phone away right as Dante picked up.
"What do you want, Frost?" my mate asked smoothly.
God, it should've been illegal for his voice to be so sexy. There was no good reason for me to be warm at the sound of it.
"So glad you're out of prison," Callum said flatly. "You have a small problem."
"I'm not the guy you call to fix your problems."
"I said you have a small problem. She's currently sitting at my kitchen table, eating my pancakes, and asking me for money."
There was a pause.
I glared heatedly at the fae king.
He lifted an eyebrow at me.
Kat quietly slid me a glass mug, giving me an apologetic look before sitting next to her mate and taking that fucker's hand.
Traitor.
"Give her the phone," Dante finally said.
Callum handed it over.
I stabbed the button to take it off speaker and lifted it to my ear.
"What do you want?" I grumbled.
"Why are you asking Callum for money?" He went right to the point.
"I told you, it took me an entire year to get the pottery ready to break you and Jazz out of prison." I glanced up at the fae king and his mate.
Then turned around in my chair so they couldn't read the irritation on my face as I continued.
"I'm not loaded like you guys. I make pottery, and basically own a prison that pays me literally nothing.
It's not like I had free time to make extra dishes to sell at the farmer's markets.
I was channeling every thread of my magic and energy into breaking you out. "
I went on, "So yeah, I ran out of money. Callum runs the Cabinet, so I expect him to pull a couple hundred bucks out of the tax funds for the sake of me eating while I deal with the prison. He's the most likely to get thrown in there next anyway."
"She has a point," Kat whispered. "And the Cabinet should be paying her."
Dante breathed in and out slowly. Loudly.
"Are you going to say something, or am I going to hang up?" I asked. "I get that you need time to think, but—"
"I'm trying to process the fact that you couldn't afford food and went to Callum, Ophelia. We're mates. I'm always going to fucking feed you. Even if you thought I was broke for some reason—and I made it clear that I wasn't—you know Grayson has money."
"I've only met him once, and he was pointing out the flaws in my prison when I did."
"It's a flawed prison."
"I am well aware." I hung up the phone and dropped it on the table before turning back to the fae king. "Thanks for that."
Callum's phone was already ringing again. His gaze flicked to it. I refused to look.
Dante's rage rolled over the thin barrier between our minds, making my spine straighten a little.
Yeah. He was definitely pissed.
Maybe he shouldn't have been such a dick to me.
Callum cleared his throat when the phone kept ringing. "You should probably answer that."
"Fuck off." I took an aggressive drink of my incredibly delicious latte, and went back to my pancakes.
Callum started to reach for the phone, but grunted. I was pretty sure his mate had just elbowed him in the side.
He withdrew his hand.
The phone kept buzzing.
Callum cleared his throat. "The Cabinet will provide money for food and your time as soon as we've seen a detailed write-up of the prison's problems. We'll also need a copy of your plan on how to address them, and the amount of time it will take you to do so."
"I can't write out details about how angelic magic works. The real angels already want me dead just for existing; they'd definitely find a way to kill me for that. They only tolerate my existence because I keep my head down."
And because they thought my prison worked somewhat well.
Which was apparently not true.
Callum said bluntly, "We're going to need some kind of explanation and timeline if you want Cabinet money, Ophelia.
Your mate is not going to tolerate me personally funding your expenses, particularly considering that he's a powerful demon.
They have an obnoxious amount of culture around providing for their loved ones. "
"Not obnoxious," Kat corrected. "Understandable, considering they literally sustain each other with their bodies."
Callum waved it off. "Either way, I'm not looking to start a war with our closest allies. Jump through the Cabinet's hoops, or talk to your mate. I assure you, he can afford noodle cups."
I stabbed another bite of pancakes as a familiar male voice shoved its way into my mind.
"Answer the fucking phone, or I will not stay out of your head, Angel."
I tried to shove him out as I picked up the phone and answered it. "What do you want?"
"I got your address from Grayson, and I'm heading to your house right now. With food. Are you going to be there, or am I going to pick you up from the Frost's place?"
The growl in his voice, paired with the bossiness, really did something for me. It took a lot not to let myself want him for it.
"How far are you?" I asked.
There was a pause. He was probably checking the navigation system in his undoubtedly fancy car. "About an hour."
"Then I'll be home," I said reluctantly.
"Great. Thanks. Tell Callum I said congratulations on the mate bond."
"Fine." I hung up and handed the phone over. This time, Callum took it. "Dante sends his congratulations on your mate bond."
"You can send him our congratulations on yours," Callum drawled.
I glared at him.
Someone knocked on the front door, then opened it.
"Hey!" A feminine voice called from the foyer.
"Hey! We're in the kitchen!" Kat called back, shooting me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, that's Rae and Darius. We have plans."
"It's fine. I need to go deal with my mate, anyway." I stood up, draining the rest of my latte but taking the pancakes with me as I looked at Kat. "Thanks for the coffee and food."
"Any time."
"Not any time. Schedule a fucking meeting next time," Callum corrected.
I pointed at him with my fork. "If Dante is in a bad mood, I'm finding a way to pin this whole thing on you."
"You're feeding him," Callum pointed out. "You have an easy way to fix his mood."
"Who's feeding who?" the newcomer guy asked. I vaguely recognized the enormous male fae with the colorful aura, but didn't know the small demon woman with the silvery one. Like the other fae royals, they glowed with a soulmate bond.
"Ophelia is feeding Dante." Callum gestured toward me. "As you know."
"Ah, right. Congrats." The new fae guy looked at me.
"Don't bother." I strode back down the hallway and out of the house, extremely unenthusiastic about the fact that I was about to see my mate again.
But also, simultaneously, slightly horny.
Not a good combo.