Page 103 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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A week and a half after the events of the auction night, Meredith’s house had turned into a full-on Shifter hotel. In addition to housing those rescued from the auction, the protectors from the other five Shifter enclaves—Vayne, Archer, Silver, Temple, and River—had arrived six days ago with entourages in tow. Meredith, being a gracious sort setting the example for Shifter/Aspect relations, had offered them all the hospitality of her home.

If said home was now a hotel, its guests seemed to view Meredith as the manager with whom all complaints were to be filed. So far, she had rearranged no less than five room assignments, arbitrated a dispute between members of the Vayne and Archer enclaves involving who should be allowed first right to the shared shower in the morning, tracked down a hard-to-find brand of licorice tea for a Silver enclaver who frequently got an upset stomach, and purchased an alarming number of refrigerators to ensure that each enclave didn’t have to share food space with another. She now had an entire room dedicated to refrigerators.

It was six-thirty in the morning, half an hour before she was expected in the formal dining room for day five of the peace talks. She’d hoped to steal that half an hour to drink her coffee on the porch and think fondly of the depressed silence the house used to exude.

Instead, Lacey from the River enclave had pinned her down at the kitchen island and launched into a detailed rant about how her mother wanted Lacey to follow in her footsteps and become the enclave archivist when she graduated high school in the spring, but Lacey didn’t think it was for her. She wanted to go to college for marine biology, and her mother sending her on this trip to chronicle Aspect/Shifter relations wasn’t changing her mind on her life’s aspirations, and did Meredith think it was selfish of Lacey to tell her mother no?

Meredith wasn’t an idiot. She understood she was being tested. She even understood why. She was the surprise wife of the next King enclave protector, and none of the Shifters save Rebekah and Serenity knew that marriage wasn’t a permanent situation.

The other Shifters wanted to know if they could respect her. If people came to her with what seemed like trivial problems, would she blow them off or do something about it anyway? Was she easily frustrated? When she did get frustrated, did she take it out on other people?

That, or they were just trying to drive her to the brink of insanity to figure out when she would break. Meredith was determined not to, if for no other reason than that Serenity always managed to be nearby whenever one of these interactions occurred. Currently, she sat at the end of the kitchen island filing her nails and looking bored.

Meredith still wasn’t sure where the two of them stood. The hostility between them had lessened, and they’d even had a few interactions that might be termed marginally cordial, but Meredith didn’t think they would ever like each other.

Lacey wrapped up her long list of reasons why being a marine biologist was preferable to being an archivist, and stared at Meredith with overly-earnest eyes waiting for her response.

Right. “Is the archivist position important within your enclave?”

“Yes, which Mom is keen to go on and on and on about every time she wants to badger me into training for it.”

“Is the position typically inherited?”

“Also yes, but it’s not unheard of for it to pass to someone new. She just won’t consider it because she doesn’t think I’m taking the responsibility seriously. She thinks my head is full of ‘college ideas’ and I just need to ‘grow up and stop being rebellious.’ So what should I do?”

Meredith couldn’t figure out what Lacey—and the Shifters diligently eavesdropping on the conversation while pretending not to—could be getting out of her advice on this matter. This was the kind of discussion you had with your friends, not with a stranger you’d just met. Even if you thought said stranger was your next leader’s main squeeze. But there were all of those listening Shifter ears, one pair of which belonged to Serenity, so she sucked it up and gave it her best go.

“Have you sat down and really tried to explain to her why you don’t want to do it, or have you just said that you don’t want to?”

Lacey ducked her head. “What’s the point in explaining? She won’t listen to me.”

“I don’t know your mom. Maybe she won’t listen to you, but maybe she will. Sit down, use your college ideas and write out a coherent argument for why you aren’t the right person for the job. If it’s an important position that should be treated with respect, and you believe you won’t ever be able to do the job justice because it’s not where your heart is, lay it all out there for her.

“Show her that you’re not just blowing her off and that you’ve actually given it thought. If you do all that and she ignores you? Maybe you need some space from her until she recognizes you’re an adult and not a child. But maybe she’ll understand that you feel strongly about it. She might not give up on the idea immediately, but it should open the door to actual discussion instead of the two of you simply butting heads.”

Lacey brightened. “That’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll write her an essay.” She turned, looking like she was off to find a laptop right then to begin composing her magnum opus. Halfway to the stairs, where she was in prime hearing range of every Shifter who’d pretended not to be paying attention, she stopped and said, “Meredith? Your hair looks really pretty today.”

Serenity got a pinched expression on her face. The compliment was another part of this bizarre testing ritual. Every time Meredith was asked to give advice, arbitrate a dispute, or otherwise express her opinion on a matter, afterwards someone would inevitably complement her or otherwise try to be pleasant or helpful.

You look so nice today, Meredith. Where did you find that stunning blouse, Meredith? Delicious coffee, Meredith, what blend is it? I picked these flowers for you, Meredith, I hope you like them. Can I carry that for you, Meredith?

These displays were always done very publicly and the speaker always made a point to use her name, as if there might be some confusion about who was being complemented or catered to. All of it made her feel like a fraud, because once a Shifter made a decision about her, they were so damned genuine about it. They made her feel like she was being accepted into a family, and they had no idea she was planning on abandoning them.

Jensen should be the one explaining all of this to her but he hadn’t been around for more than five seconds to ask. Which hurt her more than she cared to admit.

Now that the Lacey crowd had dispersed, Meredith refilled her coffee and made her escape to the porch. She had a whole fifteen minutes left before she had to be in the dining room. If only she could bang her head against the outdoor coffee table and moan, Why me?, maybe she would feel better.

Or maybe yell it at the top of her lungs. She could put a silencing spell on the porch so no one could hear her scream, but anyone watching would still see her screaming, and then she would just look crazy.

Twelve minutes of blissful pretend-solitude left.

The sliding glass doors opened and Serenity came out, taking the seat across from her. Meredith restrained a groan. What now?

“Could I speak with you for a moment in private?”

Why me?