“Take down the spell,” he said softly, hardly moving his lips.
I nodded when it was done, very little changing, because the room had gone silent.
“You have a lot to learn, Jacinta Ironheart,” Kingsley said, loud and clear. “But you’ll make an incredible alpha shifter.”
He shook my hand before dropping it again and stepping back. “Bruce…” He stopped when he realized the shifter was still out cold. “Is he dead?”
“No.” James knelt next to him. “He’s breathing. Knocked out.”
“I agree with Ironheart. Get him out of here. He’s relieved of duty. Let this be a lesson to everyone here. We stand a lot to gain from having Austin Steele and Jessie Ironheart’s help. Without them, it’s beginning to look like we wouldn’t have had a chance. We weren’t equipped to handle higher-powered mages. They are our visitors, our allies, and my family. I expect you to treat them as such.”
James stood slowly, disbelief and anger kindling in his eyes. He didn’t dare push back on his alpha, though. He must have recognized it was a battle he would easily lose.
“Yes, alpha,” he said crisply, then motioned for someone else to deal with Bruce.
Austin hadn’t moved from the position he’d been in when the spell went down. His gaze was rooted to me, his emotions still turbulent and aggressive. He hadn’t recovered yet.
“Shall we take a minute?” I asked him softly.
He shook his head, glancing at Kingsley. “No. Continue the meeting. I’ll be back shortly.”
With a stiff back, he about-faced and walked out of the room.
“He’s not mad, he’s just—”
Kingsley held up his hand. “It’s not easy seeing a mate in danger and not being able to help. I get it.”
I quirked an eyebrow at the “in danger” part, but let it go. Let him nurse his ego.
“Okay, what’s next?” I looked at Sebastian, but it was Edgar who spoke up.
“Jessie, I do believe we haven’t talked about the flowers yet.”
A crooked smile worked at the glamour on Sebastian’s face. “We’re done for the moment anyway,” he told me. “I’d like some more information on Momar’s mage configurations, if I can find
it, and we need a better plan for using our potions. We can meet with Austin and Ki—the alpha when we have more information. Please, see to your flowers.”
He offered a little bow, and the image of his face wobbled again, probably because he kept laughing.
“Okay.” I clasped my hands in my lap, facing Kingsley with a grimace. “So. You know how we just had that thing, and everything worked out swimmingly?” I winced. “This is going to undo all of that. This time I’ll probably just jump out the window so you don’t have to go through the effort of throwing me out.”
“Proceed,” Kingsley said.
“I’d really rather not,” I murmured, motioning for Edgar and Indigo to step forward. “Firstly…let me walk you through what we’re talking about here—”
“Jessie, maybe I’d better?” Edgar offered, slinking much too close to Kingsley.
“Edgar, back away from him, and no, I’ll do it.”
He was much too honest.
I described what Edgar had done and the two types of flowers he’d created. I also told him about the flower show, quickly interrupted by Ulric, who took over the storytelling. Thank God, because that had been a royal mess, and Ulric was really good at making terrible things not sound so bad.
When we were finished, having eaten up Kingsley’s goodwill and his patience, I gave him the really bad news.
“You know how I don’t have complete control over my people?” I started.
“Any control, you mean?” he replied.
“Basically, yes. Well…” I cleared my throat. “Edgar was worried that the aggressive flowers—”
“Annihilators,” Edgar said.
“That’s what he calls…one group of them. Anyway, he worried they were going to…dig themselves a spot into the ground where they were being kept.” Partly true. “He wanted to place them out of harm’s way. And then, having lost his brain about one hundred years ago or so—”
“I might’ve,” Edgar mused. “It’s really hard to notice the smaller details.”
“—decided he should plant them.”
“All mostly outside the perimeter, though, alpha,” Edgar said. “And don’t you worry, they are ready for friendship. All it’ll—”