~~

Reece

~~

Trinity had done it. She had saved everyone. She had managed to find and capture the culprit. And if we would have all just listened to her from the beginning, then all of this would probably have been over a lot sooner. I felt like an idiot for not believing her and trusting Queen Gloriana's years worth of friendship with that psycho bitch.

I guess it didn't matter that much anymore now. It was all done and over with and the lands of Fae were safe. No one else died, though there were some that nearly died. And now that Trinity had solved the issue, it was time to go back home. Or so I thought.

The day after the execution of Hibiscus, we had been preparing for our return. We still needed to say our goodbyes so we probably wouldn't have even left until tomorrow at the earliest, but that was put on hold when someone came to knock on our door a little bit before lunch time.

Normally, Roisin would have been cooking at the time, but she was helping us to pack up our things instead. When Gabriel opened the door there were about six different Fae standing at the door. Only two of whom we knew.

"Lotus? Briallu? What are you doing here? I am sorry, I don't know who the rest of you are." Gabriel was a little taken aback as he looked at the people through the door. Trinity and I were already on our way over.

"Lotus, Briallu, to what do we owe this surprise?" Trinity asked when she was next to the door.

"Trinity, we are here to invite you to a banquet." Lotus was smiling happily as she looked at my wife.

"A banquet? What for?" Trinity didn't see the reason why these people were asking for her to attend a banquet, but I already knew the reason.

"I believe that they want to thank you, Trinity. Despite what you said yesterday, the people of Faerie are going to thank you for the help you provided." I answered her before either of the others could.

"Indeed. That is exactly it, King Reece." One of the people from the back that I didn't know responded to my words. "We are grateful for the assistance and dedication that you have lent to our city. Without you, Queen Trinity, the nightmare might never have ended."

"I didn't do anything that was special. Anyone would have done the same thing." My beautiful wife and mate was still trying to say that she had done nothing special. She was likely to think that for a while. Now that the threat was gone, she wasn't walking about like a permanent badass all the time. That was a little sad, but I understood the reason why as well. Trinity didn't want to be seen as a bitch by most people. Even though she totally could be one.

Please, no one ever tell her that I said that.

"Don't worry about it, Trinity. Let us just attend and let them do as they want to. Clearly, you will never see things the way they do." I encouraged her to participate and received a smile for my efforts.

"Fine. If you insist, then I will come." She was back to her 'regal' queenly attitude now and I could tell that she didn't want to cause a scene. "When is the banquet then?"

"It's now." Lotus said as she reached through the door and grabbed Trinity's hand.

"Yes, yes, come now. We didn't want you getting away from us." Briallu grabbed her other hand. "Reece, be a dear and tell everyone else that they are welcome to come as well. The more the merrier. All the knights, guards, council members and family; just every single person you have with you. Come now. All of you. We want to celebrate everything that has to do with the marvelous Queen Trinity."

"This is too much." Trinity tried to protest Briallu's words, but the Fae woman just smiled at her and spoke in a soft voice.

"Nonsense, Trinity, mind your elders now."

"Reece?" She called out to me for help.

"Come on everyone, you heard the ladies. It's time for a banquet and we all must attend." I roused everyone and grabbed Reagan and Rika before following after my wife.

"Traitor." She snapped at me when she saw me.

"Love you too." I laughed in response. I wasn't stupid, I wasn't about to challenge women. They were way too sneaky and fierce. I was learning that more and more as time went on.

I followed the three women ahead of me, my wife and the two that were practically carrying my wife, until we made it to the same outdoor location for the banquets that were held for the Yule celebrations. Almost every seat was already filled, just those that were among our group were the only ones absent. Aside from us, every single resident of the city was there, as well as those that had been stuck here since the city had gone into a partial lock down during the investigation. And everyone was looking at us as we walked up.

"There she is, Queen Trinity." Lotus's husband, Ash, was speaking to the crowd loudly. "This here, ladies and gentlemen, is my niece Trinity. She is one of the most amazing women I have ever met in my entire life."

The praise was being poured onto Trinity and I could tell that she was embarrassed by it, but it wasn't about to stop anytime soon. Ash continued talking about how proud he was of Trinity and then the next speaker, Valerian, did the same thing. Gloriana had a turn of telling Trinity that she was happy to have met her and to be able to call her family.

"Trinity, my dear sweet Trinity, thank you for saving me. Thank you for saving my people. Thank you for everything. I will never be able to thank you enough."

"I am glad that you are thankful, Aunt Glory, but you didn't need to do this." There was an embarrassed smile on Trinity's face.

"I didn't, Trinity. This was all put together by the people of the city. They wanted to thank you and all of your people that helped us out. Your mate, your guards, your knights, everyone. All of you have done so much for us and you didn't even have to."

"I wouldn't have had it any other way." I smiled and answered for my mate.

The praise was all true, and I was proud of my Little Bunny for all that she had done. She deserved everything that they were saying to her and more.

After we sat down and was eating the food that had been prepared for all of us, there were a couple of visitors that came up to see us.

"Queen Trinity."

"Trinity." Sterling and Alloy were smiling and looking to be in better spirits than when we had seen them the day before. Honestly, yesterday lasted so long that it felt like we knew them for a lot longer than just a day.

"You two are looking well." Trinity smiled and rose to hug them. She was apparently harboring some sort of protector's instinct for them now since she had saved their lives.

"We are doing much better, honestly." Alloy grinned, no trace of his attitude from yesterday in his voice or face.

"Glory has convinced us to move back to the city. I think it is time for us to be around more people. I think it was you that made it possible for us." Sterling added as he held Alloy's hand.

"How is that even possible?" Trinity asked, still confused.

"You showed everyone that we are innocent. Not just of the recent crimes but in general. Most people feared us because of the magic we have, but now that we can tell them the Mother Goddess blessed us with marks of innocence, they no longer fear us. It's all thanks to you." The two of them hugged her again, happiness and eagerness warring on their faces.

"I am happy for you two." I smiled and stood to shake their hands. "The next time we come back to the city, we hope to spend some time with you as well."

"Thank you, King Reece. We can't thank you enough either."

After a little more talking, and a lot more eating, it was time for the banquet to end.. Now we were free to say our goodbyes to Gloriana and Valerian so that we could take our children back home.