Page 47 of Truthfinder’s Promise

“Even though the damage is likely irreversible at this point, putting the existence of Shifters on a signed legal document is not a decision they can afford to make.”

An idea popped into Meredith’s head. “What about a peace agreement?”

“What?” Serenity asked it, but all of the Shifters might as well have echoed it, what with the way they were looking at Meredith like she’d just suggested the Earth was actually made of marshmallow fluff or something.

“You know, a mutual agreement between two groups of people not to kill each other? If I’m not wrong, the entire point of the secrecy of Shifter existence is to keep you from being subjugated by other magic users. Clearly, that isn’t working out for you. And whether you intended to or not, you just outed your entire people to the head of Aspect society.

“It can’t be undone. So why don’t we stop trying to go back and try to move forward? Would your—” she glanced at Jensen. “What is your grandmother’s title?”

“She’s the enclave protector.”

“Would your protector let you sign the refugee agreement if a larger agreement between Aspecters and Shifters was on the table?”

“I…don’t know.” Jensen looked to Siren. “Would you be willing to make an agreement?”

“Yes, but—” Siren cut off, one hand going to her stomach like she was nauseous. She swallowed and shook her head. “Yes, but I may need the night—and my favorite lawyer—to make sure I have the authority to do that. Aspect Society has never had an interim leader. I’m ninety-percent certain this is a decision I can make, but I won’t make you promises I can’t keep.”

Jensen ran his hand over his face. “Please find out and let me know. If a peace agreement is something you have the authority to do, we will contact Grams. Until then, provided we see no issues upon review of the Aspect Charter, I’ll grant the authority to sign it.”

He would grant authority? As in, he had some sort of authority to grant?

“You can’t,” Dom said.

“In an emergency, yes, I can.”

“In an emergency where you can’t contact the protector. All you have to do to contact her is pick up the phone. I’m sure she’d be overjoyed to hear from you.”

Jensen gave Dom a flat stare. “If the enclave’s secondary finds themselves in a situation where contacting the protector might put the lives of anyone in the enclave at risk, they may delay doing so. I feel Natalie and my wife’s life would be endangered by contacting the protector at this time.”

There went that wife word again. Ugh, she was going to murder him. If Dom didn’t do it first, by the way the guy was looking at Jensen. After they did the manly staring thing for half a minute, it was Dom who looked away and said, “Fine.”

Jensen turned to Meredith. “Are you sure you don’t mind if they stay here?”

She shrugged. “It’s an ugly, gigantic house full of terrible memories. What else am I going to do with it?” Besides, she could imagine few things that would have made Savannah Townsend less happy than her home being used to offer sanctuary to a group of Shifters. “The second floor has an abundance of bedrooms. You’re welcome to any you want. I’d appreciate it if you stayed off the third floor, and kept the first floor wanderings to the kitchen and living room. Go wherever you want to outside.”

“Right. Thanks.” Hel tapped her fingers on the counter. Silence fell. If they weren’t talking peace or legally binding agreements, no one seemed to have any idea what to say.

Meredith was going through her options—did she need to formally disperse them all or something?—when Siren, who’d been looking progressively worse as the minutes ticked by, clapped a hand over her mouth, jumped up, and ran for the first floor guest bathroom.

“Okay,” Valkyrie rounded on Jace, “what is going on with her? She shouldn’t be sick. She’s incapable of being sick.”

“Do you think I haven’t asked her a hundred times?” Jace said tightly. “She isn’t talking to me.”

“Could it be some delayed side-effect of what Elijah did to her?” Random asked quietly.

Meredith shook her head. “I don’t think any side-effects would be that delayed. And he didn’t alter her Aspect just…bottled it up. Maybe—”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Serenity burst out, looking at the Aspect half of the room like they were all absurd. “Have none of you been around a pregnant woman before?”

The room went completely still. Jace looked like he’d been hit by a semi and then shoved off the side of a cliff. He lost all color and, with a stiff, “Excuse me,” went after Siren.

Meredith settled a cool gaze on Serenity, her voice tight. “Tell me, do you lack tact as a general rule, or do you simply enjoy being cruel?”

“How is it my problem his wife didn’t tell him she was knocked up?”

“It isn’t your problem. That’s my point. Considering she chose not to tell anyone, it wasn’t your place to do it.”

Serenity opened her mouth but Hel cut her off, linking her arm through the other woman’s. “Why don’t we go pick out rooms. Maybe later you can apologize to the leader of Aspect Society for outing her secret pregnancy to all of her friends and, if you do it nicely enough, maybe she’ll still want to sign a peace treaty with us.” Hel steered Serenity toward the stairs, pausing long enough to look back at Dom. “You coming?”