[Trent]I’d been talking with Rhett, Spencer, Maeve, and Victor about what we might need to do in order to deal with the demon. Spencer said, at this point, it might be best for him to call in the Templars. Victor handed him his cell phone to make the call when one of the dark elves came running out of the cave and made a beeline for Rhett.We turned our attention to her when she came to a stop where we were standing. I knew she was with Rock and Ivy earlier, and worried about what that could mean. Did they need our help for whatever they were fighting?“Rhett, you need to come inside,” she said when she arrived, only slightly out of breath.“Oh really? And why is that?”“Someone called Dolly is in there. They sent me to get you for her?”Rhett’s eyes widened. “Where is your wife, Nightshade? She was supposed to watch my daughter.”Daughter? I looked at Queen Maeve and she shrugged. Victor didn’t even flinch. He took his phone back from Spencer and dialed it.He knew about this and didn’t tell us. The lack of communication in this ‘alliance’ was pissing me off. Though it wasn’t as if I hadn’t withheld things from them, so I knew I didn’t have room to get angry.Echo appeared a moment later. She looked distraught.“I’m sorry, Rhett. She was only alone for a few minutes while I took Carmen’s brother to the hospital. I thought she was sleeping when I got back, so I didn’t go check on her. How did she even get here so fast?” Echo babbled.I shouldn’t have been irritated, but she should have told me about Rhett having a kid. I didn’t know much about him, but....Suddenly, I connected the dots. The ‘woman’ he saved. She was a little girl, not an adult. Rhett had adopted her.Before anyone could question him further, he turned with a flip of his coat and started running into the cave with Viola hot on his heels. I focused my attention on the silent vampire master who hadn’t told us about this.“Well? Do you have something you need to tell us?” I asked Victor.He raised an eyebrow. “Do I? You knew what was important. Rhett saved her from the revenant beetle, and she had been a slave to the cult for a few years. You knew she was female, and that Rhett wasn’t treating her the same way he treated other women. He asked that I not share that she was a child.”“You should have shared it with me. You only told me she was part goblin. This entire time, a goblin child has been living with a warlock? Of course, he wouldn’t flirt with her. Goblins have such high sex drives they find flirting to be pointless,” Queen Maeve snapped at Victor.“And what would you have done? Rhett says he has no intimate intentions with her. He only wants to take care of her. There has been nothing to show he’s taken liberties with her,” he replied coolly.“I would have made sure she had a safe place to live with other people like her. A warlock can’t possibly give a fae child what she needs. Especially not a goblin child,” Maeve argued.“She looks almost entirely human. Her teeth are sharper than a human’s and she has pointed ears, but otherwise, she looks just like anyone else,” Echo told Maeve. “Rhett said goblins would hurt her. They would... make her do things and they would eat her. I read about goblins and I believe him. You can’t give her to the goblins.”They continued to argue. Queen Maeve had different ideas for raising the girl, but Victor and Echo disagreed due to prejudice and other factors. Rosario and Sean came over with Gray, Cam, and Harmony.“Wait, so Rhett’s been taking care of a little kid who would’ve been in danger if she went with the fae people who’re like her? Maeve, why are you being a bitch about this? Is it because you let your husband beat the shit out of your own kid so much you learned not to care about the welfare of children?” Harmony asked.Everyone froze and stared at her. Maeve looked shocked, but then clenched her fists and looked over at Rosario. He didn’t seem to be upset on his mother’s behalf. In fact, he was paying more attention to Sean than he was to his mother, who had just been insulted.“Rio....” Maeve whispered tearfully.Rosario turned to his mother, and she took a step back when she saw his expression. It had been almost a year since we found out about what Rosario’s father used to do to him and it looked like he never addressed the fact that his mother just let it happen. I knew this was a step to his healing, but it really could have waited until later.“Once I’m ready to take over, even if I’m not one hundred, I’m removing you as queen of our people. We were cursed because of your mate. Nothing he did to your child, one of the most valuable things to a fae because of our low birth rates, seemed to be enough for you to ban him from the human neighborhood or refuse his requests for me to go to him.“I am stepping in. This goblin girl isn’t ours and we will not interfere with Rhett. I will talk to him about having someone from the fae village help him and be available to answer questions when needed. Even the half goblins won’t take care of her the way she needs if she looks more human than goblin,” Rosario told his mother.Maeve looked like someone had slapped her in the face. For a moment, no one said anything, and then she turned on her heel and stormed off. Rosario watched her go and then turned back to us.“I apologize for that,” he said. “I didn’t mean to bring up my personal issues in the middle of this.”“It’s okay,” I replied, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Some things need to be said and they won’t always wait for the right time. Should we go after her?”“Thank you, no. She needs time to think about what I said and I know she’ll see that I’m right. My father's mistreatment of me caused the fae community to view my mother unfavorably,” Rosario explained. “Part of what Sean and I have been doing is showing the community that I am capable and more mature than a fae of my age should be. We talked about what we wanted to do and our plans for the future. I hope you will remain allied with the fae community.”“You’re going to be a great king one day, Rosario.”“I hope so. I’d hate to take this away from my mother and end up doing a worse job of it.” He chuckled.“The vampires will stand behind you, Rosario. Talia told me you were meant to be an amazing leader. She has seen enough of them to know. In the short time you lived in my home, I saw how you cared for and supported people of all different species,” Victor told him.“I’m not done learning yet. I intend to be more than a figurehead prince in the meantime. Other elves my age might want time to goof around and be spoiled little boys, but none of them had the life I did and none of them found their true mate as young as I did. I want to make sure Sean always has a safe place to live.”The way he looked at his mate made me think of my own. Lily and her safety were important to me. When I found her, I suddenly became more interested in being a good Alpha. As our family grew, it was even stronger. I loved my pack, but my family matured me more than that.While we were dealing with all of this, Spencer got Victor’s phone back and finished his call. Spencer and Victor shared everything about Dolly and Rhett that hadn't been disclosed to the rest of us. I could understand why Victor was fine with keeping it from us. Not a lot of it mattered in the scheme of things.After a while, Queen Ivy appeared trailed by the fae who’d gone with her and Rhett carrying a little girl. She was small, but when he set her down, I realized she wasn’t as young as her height might indicate.We watched as she put her hands on the ground and the hill the cave opened up in seemed to melt into a sea of stars. It was amazing. I’d never seen anything like that before.The girl offered her hand to Rhett, and he took it, then walked her over to us. Queen Ivy walked with them, eyeing the little girl speculatively. Rosario smiled at his sister as she started searching the crowd.“Ewan is back in the fae lands. I had someone drive him back and contact the healers. Don’t worry, Ivy,” he said.Dolly ducked behind Rhett when Rosario spoke. She hadn’t seemed afraid before, but now I could smell the scent of fear. Rosario noticed and got down on his knees, so as not to tower over the girl.“Hi. I’m Rosario. Would you like a candy?” Rosario asked gently.He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little wrapped hard candy. I’d learned that fae were suckers for sweets. A lot of them carried candies in their pockets and we could even bribe some of them with promises of harder to get treats.Rosario held the candy out to her without moving any closer. She looked up at Rhett, and he turned to look at her.“He won’t harm you. I’m here and no one is going to hurt you,” Rhett whispered.Dolly inched forward and took the candy quickly from Rosario. She unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth before clinging to Rhett again.“I’d say you’re about twelve. You’re a little taller than another goblin your age might be, but your ears don’t have the fringe that females get when they turn thirteen. I’m the prince of the fae in the human lands. If your dad needs any help or information, I want him to reach out to me. I want you to be happy and healthy.”She nodded briefly at him, and I saw Rhett relax a little. According to Victor, he’d been worried about the fae taking Dolly away from him. Rosario calling him her dad and talking about giving him support definitely helped with his fears.“We’ll make an exception for you in the fae lands,” Rosario said to Rhett as he stood. “I want you to contact the healers in the forest village. Arrange to meet with one of them. I will let the goblins know there is a part goblin living with you and you are her family. I will also let them know they aren’t to touch her. But we need to make a plan for when she turns thirteen.”“That can wait, right? I want Dolly to feel a little safer before we introduce strange fae,” Rhett replied.“We don’t know how old she is. I’m probably pretty close in guessing that she’s twelve, but the healers would know better and could even get you her birthday. You don’t want her to turn thirteen by surprise. It’s when goblins start puberty. They live about a hundred and fifty years and are the most prolific of the fae because the only thing that rivals their libido is their hunger. They have very few inhibitions when their ‘cravings’ hit.”Rhett nodded. I could see a bit of concern flash in his eyes. He didn’t seem to reconsider keeping her. I didn’t know what his options were. Maybe something like the charms that the healers were selling to the pack. The ones that made it so females could skip their heats....A sudden jolt in the earth made everyone in the clearing quiet. When another one hit, there was a minor panic. Spencer looked tense.“Do you think the demon is coming? Like he’ll be here soon?” Gray asked Spencer.“It seems he is not patient. It is uncommon for a demon, but the man he possessed could influence him. The Templars are on their way. They had already been in the area. Apparently, the curse had hidden Drakaris from everyone on all sides and something else was hiding all other traces once the curse was lifted. They have been here for a month. It was when the demon’s power started leaking through the fae magic.”“What can we expect?” I asked.“As soon as he’s close to the surface, he’s going to close off the area. Demons gain power through the deaths they cause. That is why the cult dabbled in sacrifices. We need to prepare and pray to our deities that the Templars get here before the demon seals the area.”We got to work immediately. We moved the injured people a safe distance from the area. A count was done after we organized everyone else. I didn’t like our odds, but this was all we could do. Leaving a demon to wreak havoc on the world wasn’t something we could do in good conscious.