Arlen's POV
"What are we going to do about Mindi?" I asked my mate, who sat to my side in our office with her hand joined in mine. The last couple of hours have been taxing on Brynn.
"We can't send her back to prison. We don't know what she will say to save herself." Brynn whispered.

"Should we kill her?"
"Mindi's my aunt, she's done horrible things, but I don't think I have it in me to kill her. Eva Deveaux deserves to rot in hell for what she put Mindi and my mother through!! And before you ask, Aiden was with me Arlen! He detected no deception in Mindi whatsoever during the questioning. Mindi was created into who she is. Which brings me to my next point..." Brynn was clearly bothered by something and took a deep breath.
"Arlen, Mindi told me that when Anthony impregnated her with Jade all those years ago, he didn't tell her what he had done until after." I raised my eyebrows, unsure what to make of this.
"Did she attempt to stop him?" I asked her.
"My understanding of it is that he did it during s*x and only told her after." Brynn watched me carefully.
"And Aiden, he didn't detect deception when Mindi disclosed all this?"

"No, in fact it upset the hell out of him when she told us about it." I said a prayer to Aine to help me choose my next words wisely.
"We don't know what happened back then. What we do know is that Mindi had a traumatic upbringing. We know that she did not disclose any of that to Anthony, and he wasn't even aware of her issues until just the past year or so. We know that Mindi is a pathological liar and lied right to my face twenty years ago. And now, I think I know why!" Brynn stared at me, an unusual coldness in her pretty blue eyes.
"Do tell, Arlen!! Just why do you think that a woman alleged to your Queen that one of your high-ranking Faes impregnated her without her knowledge or consent lied to you??"
"You just answered your own question! Revenge!! You weren't there all those years ago, Brynn! Mindi was out of her mind with grief that her lover was killed and now, I have just learned she was already angry with Anthony over the pregnancy! She saw her chance to get back at Anthony and took it. Now what does that make her!!" I countered back.

"A traumatized, fractured woman who still should have been given a choice!" Brynn jumped up and tried to storm out, but I stopped her and used my power to keep the door locked.
"SHE HAD CHOICES! Mindi could have chosen not to have the baby. She could have chosen to give the child either up for adoption, or leave it to Anthony to raise!! Instead, she lied through her teeth, got him banished, and raised Jade with lies and emotional abuse. Has Jade told you about her stepbrother yet?"
"I gathered from the meeting that the stepbrother attacked her." Brynn muttered softly.
"It was more than that. He got Jade pregnant with her oldest child, and she ran away from Mindi and ended up at Fire Moon. And the stepbrother wasn't just a pervert, he was a psychopath and Jade wasn't his only victim!" The fight finally left Brynn when she heard that.
"I'm sorry Arlen. I..." I took my mate in my arms and held her tight to me.
"Brynn, there is much more that should come from Jade if she chooses to tell you. But you see why I'm hesitant to trust anything that Mindi says."
"I let my own trauma cloud my judgment. I need to learn not to do that." Brynn whispered as I wiped a stray tear off her cheek.
"It gives you empathy, which I love, but you have to be careful. Especially with a person like Mindi. No matter what, I am going to look into this matter. I'm sure there has to be a logical explanation. What did Anthony have to say about it?" I asked her.
"He didn't deny it, just confirmed that he told her after it was already done. When Mindi told him that it wasn't what she wanted because she had been traumatized from her childhood, Anthony only said Mindi never told him anything about her life before they got together, so how could he have known?" Brynn reiterated to me.
"For now, I'll put this on the back burner because we have much bigger issues going on. For one, we need to find out from the Starr's what your grandfather had to say and if the Gypsy part of you can help you against Lombardo. We also need to go to Baton Rouge to talk to your grandmother. The wizards have helped you develop your time-freezing gift, but we know from Aine that it came from your mother. We need to figure out who Mindi and Beth's father really is and Eva is the only one who can tell us that." I kissed Brynn's forehead. We stayed like that a moment until I heard a knock on my office door.
"King Arlen, it's Aiden Starr. I need to speak to you!" I opened the door and Aiden came in, looking nervous as hell.
"Aiden, tell me what happened in Boston." I commanded.
"The Lombardos and Desdemona had already got to the Hunters. I don't know what happened to Ezra Hunter, but we do know a supernatural witch fight went on in that house. Jenkins and Desdemona ran out into the street, and we stopped them and tried to get Jenkins first. But Desdemona attacked us with red smoke and I had to vanquish her." I groaned and buried my face in my hands. My cell phone rang seconds later.
"King Arlen, we had a witch attack just about thirty minutes ago. No casualties here at Fire Moon, but the witches we captured and killed told us that war was declared by the new Witch Ruler! Guess who it is??" Amos Rainwater informed me.
"It would have to be Sophia Lombardo, as she is Desdemona's only living sibling. Unless..." Dread hit me like a ton of bricks.
"One of the captives told us Sophia deferred Luca! And that makes him even worse than before." I hung up with Amos quickly and roared in anger, scaring both Brynn and Aiden.
"I take it Sophia Lombardo is the new Witch Ruler?" Aiden said.
"If only. But she elevated Luca. We need to tell Anthony. He has to keep Tessa and the babies wherever he has them!" Aiden ran out of the office to get Anthony. When he brought him back, Anthony looked like he was going to lose it.
"King Arlen, what is this about Luca being the new Witch Ruler!!"
"We just confirmed it with Amos. I am sending the Quads to Fire Moon. Eve is going stir-crazy and wants to get back to work, and we know Fire Moon and the Faewolf babies are Luca's end goal. However, he appears to have dropped his obsession with Tessa and is now enamored with Brynn. The four of us need to get to Baton Rouge, talk to Grandmother Eva, and figure out who Mindi and Beth's biological father is and fast!"
"Why my grandfather?" Brynn wanted to know.
"Because Mindi doesn't have a supernatural bone in her body. And if she doesn't, and Eva didn't, that power you and your mother have could only have come from your maternal grandpa." Anthony answered her.
We spent the rest of the day making plans and a list of questions we wanted to ask Eva. The following morning, me, Brynn, the Starr Brothers, Jade and Ryan were on a private plane heading to Baton Rouge. I did not miss the tension between Jade and Anthony.
"Anthony, Jade, I think we can take the next few hours and try to work out what Mindi told my Queen yesterday."
"King Arlen, I swear this on my life. During our brief time together, Mindi never once said she was unhappy that I had impregnated her! We talked about children beforehand, and she was agreeable to them!" Anthony countered, which I wholeheartedly believed.
"Dad, you don't have to explain. My mother confirmed what I have always known, and I'm fine now." Jade assured him.
"Women like Mindi see things a certain way. I see it all the time in the women I rescue from bad situations. It's almost like Stockholm Syndrome. They think if they don't do what their captors or forced lovers want, they will be back out in sometimes worse situations than they were in. I know there was never any maleficence, deartháir daor." Aiden assured him.
"Christ, how do you think Tessa and I conceived our twins? Sure, I didn't tell her until after it was said and done, but she was always agreeable to children. We talked about them! And Tessa damn sure isn't going around accusing me of getting her pregnant without consent!!" Anthony sputtered out.
"Mindi knows how babies are made and if she really didn't want to have a child, she should have taken steps herself to avoid a pregnancy." Aiden scoffed. I looked at my mate expecting her to get hostile but surprisingly, she looked at Aiden with sadness.
Brynn had told me that due to the damage from Patrick beating her all those years ago, conceiving children may not happen. I put my arm around her and comforted her for the rest of the flight.
Two hours later, we landed in sunny Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As soon as we obtained the rental car, we made our way to the convalescence home Eva Deveaux resided in. We found the place without much difficulty and immediately were shocked at how serene and beautiful it was. A row of Cypress trees with Spanish Moss lined our drive to the columned home.
"A place like this costs a lot of money. Mindi told me she grew up poor." Anthony whispered, looking around.
Ryan stayed in the parked car to be a lookout. The rest of us walked inside, where the receptionist pleasantly confirmed Eva's room number. I found it without difficulty and knocked on the door.
"Come on in!" A gravelly Southern voice invited us. I opened the door and may as well have been staring at my mate as an old woman. Even in old age, Eva Deveaux was stunning. Her hair was white as snow and she had the same blue-green eyes as Brynn.
"Just who are you people?" Eva asked, lighting a cigarette.
"Forgive us for not calling, but my name is Arlen Miller. These men are Anthony and Aiden Starr, and these beautiful young ladies are Jade and Brynn." Eva stared hard at Jade and Brynn.
"You have my Beth's eyes and hair." Eva teared up slightly as she stared at Brynn. She studied Jade, who smiled at her. "I can only assume you are another of Beth's children?"
"Close. I'm Mindi's daughter. Anthony here is my father." I did not miss the tense look in Eva's eyes upon the mention of Mindi's name.
"Where did you two grow up?" Eva drew on her cigarette.
"I grew up in Portland, Maine." Brynn answered politely.
"I'm from Louisville, Kentucky." Jade said. Eva relaxed and motioned the girls to sit next to her on the couch.
"I guess you girls have a lot of questions. But I have some questions myself. First, who are you men again?" Eva sized the three of us up.
"I'm Brynn's boyfriend, and these two men are Jade's father and uncle." Eva stared hard at us.
"The three of you aren't human, are you?"
"So you do know about supernaturals." Jade and Brynn scooted closer to Eva.
"Young ladies, I've been waiting for this. Let me tell you about me and your granddaddy."