Page 37 of Princess

Julia threw her hands up in the air.“What options?”She looked at me.“He doesn’t want this to be his fault if it goes bad.He won’t agree, but I will.”

Desmond pushed his chair back and stormed from the room.

“I’m sorry,” Julia said.“He’s not a bad person; we’ve just been through so much.”She turned her attention to Maria.“Cade needs someone to love him.He is the neediest child we have.”

“I have love for him now,” Maria replied in stilted English.

Julia smiled at her.“He needs you, and I feel that you will give him a good home.”She wiped tears from her eyes.“May I visit him occasionally?”

Maria wiped her own tears.“Mi casa su casa, my home is yours.Gracias, señorita, gracias.”

Julia focused on me again.“Would it be possible to interview those willing to take in the children?I would need an interpreter.”

“Yes, we have many bilingual islanders and even some Shadow Warriors.Whatever will make this easier for you.”

“Desmond needs something to do, or he’ll be a bigger problem.”

“What about working with one of our defense units?”I asked.“They are made up of islanders and Shadow Warriors.The southern part of the island has its own protection unit.He can choose where he goes.”

“That would be perfect for him, but convincing him to do it could take a bit.Are women trained too, because I would be interested?”

“Yes, but I know something you might enjoy more.One of our near-teens has teamed up with a Shadow Warrior.They want to train children to protect themselves.They could use help and having more than one training group would be a plus.A few of the new children will stay here but most will go to the southern part of the island where it’s safer.If Desmond chooses to go there, you could go with him and train kids who are interested.”

Julia smiled.“Desmond lives to fight.I want to be able to protect myself and others if needed, but I don’t have the killer instinct Desmond has.”

“Even without the killer instinct, you were very good at killing a hellhound,” I said.“Having you help train the younger generation would be a huge bonus.”

“Thank you, Mark and Suzie, the other teens with us would want to help too.”

“The four of you are old enough to live on your own.We have several homes available that would fit, but you could also choose families willing to take you in.”

Her relief was obvious.“Our own home would sweeten the deal for Desmond.”

“It’s a plan then,” I told her.

We set up a block of time for the parent interviews.

I walked Julia to the training gym so she could officially meet Togg.We found him talking to Desmond about killing hellhounds.

“We confuse them,” Desmond said.“We work strategically to take them down so we can stay away from their teeth and claws.”

“You do a damned good job of it too,” I said.

He went silent, and his shoulders stiffened.

“Julia will tell you what we discussed.Julia, this is Togg.Ruth’s mother is having a baby, and you’ll meet her later.”

With a silent sigh of relief, I left and headed to the med bay.

“You’re in big trouble,” Ruth said as soon as she saw me.

“What’s new?”I quipped.“I’m always in trouble.”

“Beck is unhappy with you for letting my mom ride on the airplane.He says she could have had the baby on the plane.”

Missy hadn’t asked my opinion, and she reminded me of that when I told her she couldn’t go.She stopped me and said she had several more weeks until she gave birth.When I tried to argue, she held up her hand.“I’m tired of being useless.I’ve put up with that bitch in the holding cell for weeks now, and you’re lucky I didn’t blow my brains out.If I need to climb into the wheel well, I will be on that plane.”

I looked at Ruth and tried to hold back some of my frustration.“Tell Beck I’ll meet him on the training field whenever he wants to take it up with me.”

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