“Amara says we will have dinner for you when you get back with Tristan.”
“She’s doing the cooking, right?” she asked and went up on her toes to kiss her brother.
“You know it. You’re bringing a bag with all your work?”
She nodded. “Yep, and it’s waterproof. And I also have a pair of pants so I don’t have to stay in my mermaid form the whole time.
“You just hate the way they stare.”
“True. I love both forms, I don’t like others.”
“The family motto,” Seth said, rolling his eyes.
She punched him in the arm and kissed where she’d hit him, and then went to the portal that Seth had opened for her. She hadn’t changed out of her towel yet, so she sat down at the edge of the portal that she would dive into, changed back into her mer-form, and then undid the towel.
“Good luck,” Seth said.
“I guess I’ll need it.”
And then she dove. Magic swirled all around her, and she shimmered, her body shaking. She hated traveling by portal. She would’ve preferred to go to one of the other sanctioned areas where she didn’t have to touch so much magic and have to travel in her mer-form, but she was late because she had forgotten the darn meeting. All for a Conclave she’d once loved being a part of.
The Conclave was older than most of the realms themselves. Each of the realms had their own governing body, their own knights and kings and queens or Pack leaders and Alphas. It depended on the realm and the type of shifter or magical being they were and how they lived. After centuries and millennia of wars and strife and loss, a Conclave had been created.
It was her job to fine-tune the history and the lineage of those within the Conclave, and those of importance to the governing body. So, she knew more history about it than most. However, she wasn’t allowed to speak about the majority of it.
Two members of each of the realms met for the Conclave so they could discuss any important business. Namely if there was a war going on or like, at one point, if the seven lightning-struck women—one of which her brother had married—needed to be wiped from the face of the Earth or not.
She had been against that, and had, in fact, wanted to ensure that they stayed safe. Not just because of Seth, because at first, she hadn’t even known her brother would be mated to one. No, because it hadn’t been their fault that the gods had decided that they needed to change the way the face of the Earth lay.
Since her tenure as a Conclave member, she had dealt with countless wars, ridiculous infighting, and even the sanctions of a new realm. It was a realm of shaded magic that wasn’t actually as dark and evil as their name might suggest. She didn’t know much about them, but she was learning. Just like she was learning about all the realms. Including the brownies, dragons, bears, and all the others.
It was an exhausting job, but she loved it. Most days.
She found herself in her glass bowl on her pedestal after she slid through the end of the portal. She sucked in some air, trying to be as discreet as possible, but a low chuckle sounded from beside her.
She narrowed her eyes at Reynard, her second, who just shook his head. “Knew you’d forget,” he muttered.
She flipped him off. She wasn’t a huge fan. She used to have another merman next to her, but he had retired a few years ago. Now, she was stuck with Reynard. The merman who liked her boobs, and that was about it.
However, he did get shit done when it came to the Conclave, so he wasn’t all bad.
“What did I miss?” she asked, leaning against the edge of her bowl. He leaned against his, and she did her best not to let anybody’s stares bother her. No one else was truly in their shifter forms except for them, and she hated it. Loathed being on display. But she couldn’t fix it, not until after the minutes of the last Conclave were read, and she could change into her human form and sit on the edge of the bowl if she felt like it. She had done that more often than not recently, and she planned on doing it tonight, too.
“They’re about to start the minutes. It seems that a few of the elders were late, as well.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“Probably because they like to keep us waiting.”
“You know, I wouldn’t put that past them.”
There were murmurs, and then the minutes were read. As soon as they were, she quickly shifted back to her human form and dressed. Reynard stayed in his mer-form, but he didn’t have to deal with the stares as much as she did. Usually anyway. Some of them liked to look at his tail just as much as hers.
They went over the agenda, and she was kind of grateful that nothing seemed too important. It was mostly just rehashing what had gone on at the last meeting. That meant that, at the moment, there weren’t too many wars and battles happening.
“I take it you took care of the rogue situation,” one of the elders said to one of the wolf Conclave members.
The Alpha of the Nocturne Pack nodded. “My men took care of it. You won’t have to deal with it.”
“And you took in that fox kit?” another elder asked.
“Yes.” The Alpha of the Pack glared over at the fox Conclave members, but the foxes didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Wonder what that was about,” Reynard whispered as the talks moved to something else.
“Don’t worry about it,” she whispered. “Seriously.”
He just looked at her. She knew exactly what that was about, and what the gorgons had been doing as they were questioned, as well. Not because it had made Conclave news before this, but because it all had to do with friends of friends and the fact that her circle was growing as Seth’s circle seemed to. She didn’t mind knowing as much as she did, and she liked having people in her life because, sometimes, it got a little lonely with what she was doing.
“If that’s all, we can end our Conclave,” the elder said, his voice low.
There was a commotion from the front, and the large—at least four-stories-high—gold, gilded doors slid open, smashing into the walls as a man with dark hair, a smirk, and a long, leather trench stormed in. He strode confidently forward, his head held high. Everyone started to shout, glaring at him.
“Unauthorized entry. Who let him in? Where are our guards?”
People started to move, ready to fight, but the elders held up their hands.
“Stay in your seats. What is the meaning of this?”
“You’re having a Conclave meeting. Shouldn’t you have all species represented?” the mysterious stranger asked.
Caly moved forward, trying to sense what he was, but she felt like she hit a brick wall when she tried. She had no idea what type of supernatural he was. And she was usually pretty good at sensing those things.
“I don’t understand,” the elder growled out.
“No, you don’t seem to understand much. But I just need to make sure you understand this. You have left out a prominent species based on your hatred. Let me join as a Conclave member, along with one other as per your rules, or suffer the consequences.”
There was an uproar, and she moved forward, trying to understand what was happening.
A new species? That hadn’t happened before. At least to her knowledge. The shades weren’t a new species, they had once been on the Conclave long ago, but everyone had thought they’d died out. When they showed up again, they had been allowed on the Conclave.