Microburst (The Prospects #4)

1

Sagan

I tried not to gag when the Alpha of Emberward tried to force me to eat with him after the meetings ended, saying we should get to know each other.

I kept professional but made it clear I was annoyed that he had the audacity to say that publicly, so I added a comment that he was blowing the situation way out of proportion.

And shouldn’t again.

Fine, Iris liked his son Berlinger’s dragon. That was it.

So?

Seriously… So?

Our meal had been painfully awkward and it was clear neither of us wanted to be there. Glancing around, I saw Berlinger wasn’t at the dinner now. He wasn’t there a lot or came right away to most meals and left.

I excused myself so the Alphas who hung around for dinner could enjoy themselves without the boss there. But I didn’t want to be around people either, so I went to fix myself some food from the family dining room and told people I was taking it in my room.

“I’m fine,” I promised everyone when they shot me worried looks. “Just wiped. I just want to hear myself think a bit.” I focused on my friend and aide, Myriam. “I can tonight.”

Because there wasn’t a Friday night fight. There had been more drama with the clubs and the “owners” trying to grab me and more.

“Yeah, get some rest. I’m digging into the numbers with Darren’s accountant guy.

He’s good—really good,” she told me. “He knows Thovudin’s banking everything in a way I didn’t and is teaching me.

People were messing with us and holding things up.

He’s bulldozing that now. Like by Tuesday, I should have real numbers of what’s in the accounts and done. ”

Awesome. That was huge and I couldn’t hide my relief which I should have better.

I went over to her and kissed her hair, chuckling when she smacked me away. I shrugged when Aunt Maple and Uncle Fraser exchanged worried looks. “The longer people don’t pay us back or fines aren’t paid—you know they brush it off easier then and I will look petty for asking.”

“We have other siblings that can get involved and throw their weight around if you need it, Myriam,” Maple offered, obviously understanding it was worse than they realized.

“We might need it,” she sighed. “One of the banks is siding with the elders and keeps basically acting like the court documents are faked and not verified.” She nodded when people froze.

“The president of the bank basically tried to blame my being a foreigner and said I would steal it all for Protesia as the reason. Not even my family ties. Idiot.”

He was, because the fact she was a mob boss’s daughter was a viable argument or reason to hold things up. And he was so uneducated that he chose the bullshit one that she was a tiger?

But even stupid people were problems and got in the way.

Often.

As I was leaving, I glanced at the empty chair my uncle Darren normally sat. We didn’t have assigned places, but families and even friends fell into routines and their normal seats.

And it was kind of weird not having him there after dealing with the Alphas. It made me think again that I wanted to look into Mother’s history with her family.

Also, any information I could get on the drama with the Mohans—Berlinger’s mother specifically. There had to be a reason she was such a bitch to my mother. She took a risk alienating the queen.

I swallowed a snort. Or apparently not, because my mother never did anything to stand up for herself or had a backbone. I loved how often it was pointed out that she was a perfect, docile woman.

Chicken. She was chicken, and it was now making my life infinitely more difficult, so I didn’t think I was being harsh when I said that.

I took my tray up to my parents’ suite, nodding to the guard who was stationed there. It was only one guard now and I even agreed to give them a chair. It was sort of the “break” for the guards we trusted most that weren’t on my detail.

The private security now worked the easier job of watching all the cameras, and the Queen’s Guards were always on high alert walking the castle or stationed at the entrances. They deserved an hour here and there just sitting and guarding certain places.

My parents’ suite.

The ballroom where tons of the elders’ belongings had been brought from their residences in the capital.

More would start coming again. Raquel was less than thrilled about all the temporary garage-type shelves all over the fancy ballroom to hold it all, but it was honestly the best way to display it all for the appraisers.

Raquel was in charge of all of the castle staff and Keeper of Keys, an actual title bestowed on her by my parents… And she never let anyone forget it.

Honestly, I wanted her gone, and not only because she’d always favored Elira, the snake who had made my life more difficult for almost two decades. The ward of the royal family who had done her best to take my place and tried to force herself into the royal family.

Which should have made anyone with a brain stop and reassess the situation. Who just announces she was “adopted” into the royal family, none of the royal family saying that, and people just accepting it and calling her my sister?

No, it was so much more than that with Raquel. Her family had served mine for generations. She was an assumed part of the castle, more her home than mine and felt ownership over it instead of just dedication or loyalty.

Which meant I couldn’t fire her without people hating me again. I had to constantly tiptoe around her, accept unacceptable behavior, and basically nod when she said things would get better but really didn’t.

So I generally didn’t give a shit what Raquel wanted and this project was more important than her dislike of the shelves.

And we needed to make progress on that fast. There was no way to guard those residences. The Alphas wanted to have some of their people vacation to guard them, but I didn’t trust them not to steal anything.

Same with private security that I didn’t know.

So there was no good answer. Ever.

The guard nodded and warned me that there was going to be a shift change in about ten minutes so I wasn’t startled if he wasn’t there.

I thanked him as he let me in and told him that I just had to look up a few things while I ate but yes, it might take a while, so to please warn the next guard to keep it quiet unless there was an emergency.

“It’s not a bad hiding spot,” he joked, but then cleared his throat awkwardly. “No one would think to look for you here. I’ll make sure we keep it quiet.” He cleared his throat again. “My thanks for the treats. I really loved those chocolate-covered dates. That shop is great.”

“They are.” I went inside, grateful that the people who worked at the castle were trying harder to show they liked me, but it was awkward sometimes.

Most times.

I ignored Father’s study this time and went into what was obviously Mother’s turf in the living area. I snorted that she didn’t even get her own room, just a section off of the main living space. Fine, it was how the suite was set up, but they were king and queen—they could have renovated.

Except they were broke and left me in huge debt so probably not. How pathetic.

Clearly, my anger issues towards them were something I would have to work on someday.

Someday when I wasn’t drowning in the mess they left me… Which would probably be never.

I set my tray down on the coffee table and sat on the sofa.

I had several bites as I just stared over her area trying to understand her a bit, mostly to try and figure out where to like start.

I really wanted to talk to her aides and staff, but the ones who weren’t thieves or complete monsters like Elira had been were fiercely loyal to Mother and wouldn’t tell me anything.

Even if it would help me now and that was what they should do to help Amelia’s daughter. They would put her and her memory first.

Fools.

I was glad when both my dragons snorted in agreement. I was still pissed that one of my mother’s friends had deleted her emails, texts—everything I should have had and needed as her daughter. I was validly furious she’d erased a part of my fucking mother from me.

It wasn’t like the joke of clearing your browser or porn history from your family. She deleted everything and acted like I was petty when I told her she was way out of line and refused to let her walk with me at the funeral. No, that was over the line.

And I was furious it had worked. We couldn’t recover the texts since Mother didn’t back them up which was ridiculous in itself.

But we were working on her emails. It probably wasn’t that big of a thing, but it was a matter of prioritizing when there was a huge, important list of so much like all of the elders’ corruption. They were still going through security footage and more.

So unfortunately, reviewing the castle’s backup servers to find the deceased queen’s emails really didn’t take priority.

Right then they would have been so useful.

I wanted to bring that friend up on charges.

She had no right to do that and—there had to be a law against that, but even Darren had said it would have played wrong to the media.

That I didn’t know my parents well enough to know their wishes if they died and—I had enough against me.

But I thought it was important enough to fight back against, and some people would have supported a daughter upset that someone took away a part of her mother from her. No matter our relationship.

Then again… No one in Thovudin seemed to support me on anything and constantly reminded me that my parents didn’t want me around.

Darren and the others were probably right, but I would never forgive that woman.

I made it clear she was blacklisted from everything and had better never be near me again.

She didn’t even apologize or give me any real excuse besides it was what my mother would have wanted and she didn’t need to explain herself to me.