"Now that we are all here. I will introduce you to all." Bree said.
"This Princess Aishwarya." Bree said and added for her, "preferably Ash, who will be joining the student council starting today. She will be in charge of promotions in the club. Promoting relationships, promoting the club and its work and so on. That being said, like all of us, it is only a designation for her, she will help out where she can and you all will help her out where you can."
As soon as Bree stopped talking, Drew said, "everyone on campus is against their preferential treatment. If we let her join the council, we have an even lesser chance of surviving this year. You cannot dump all responsibility of running the council one me after you are gone."
Ash heard a little insecurity there. Before she could speak, unexpectedly, suddenly, Vance's gravel tone took over the conversation, "who said you will be running the council? Me and Karn will be handling things here after B graduates."
Ash's heart stirred. There was something more than gratitude, something sweet and sour. Though she liked that he came to her defense, she didn't like how he swept the matter about her under the rug. Vance added, "you still need to learn a lot before you are anywhere close to shouldering any responsibilities."
"I told you he was kind." Bree said. Ash couldn't agree more. Not only did he settle Drew's complains, he also diverted her attention away from Ash. There was an older brother vibe, a familiarity between Drew and Vance. Maybe it was more and her heart was resisting a deeper look into their relationship.
Instead she focused on Drew's query.
"Preferential treatment to humans might not be in the rules but it serves the entire supernatural community well for the future heir of all the kingdoms to learn about our community, our lifestyle and norms before they get ready to into their responsibilities. A knowledgeable generation is better than an ignorant one. It is also part of the treaty that Sanguine Knights hold. All universities and colleges across the entire planet have to admit at least one human each year to learn about our."
"You are not one of us." Drew almost spat. Bree stepped past here, "Drew…" but Ash cleared her throat, politely interrupting but loudly. "I am not but nor am I entirely part of the human race. The royal family from the island of Kalai are the moderators of the treaty. My ancestors were the one who drafted it and we are the ones who moderate it to this day. It is a special position that does not let us favor one side or the other."
Drew's eyes went wide. Bree sighed and shook her head, "It is not common knowledge but it is plainly written on the first page of the pact. How many times have you read it by now?"
Drew was still, in shock, unable to process the information at all. Ash took a moment to meet all their eyes. To hold a person's eye when talking to them was a basic lesson. Karlene and Karn seem unfazed as did Vance and Akiye but Sven looked as shocked as Drew, only more dramatic. Arebella's surprise was present to watch. As she met Dwera Rockwish's eyes, towering not far from her, he said, "two things. I have never heard of one of the moderator families travelling off the island, lest go into our community to mingle. They meant to be neutral for a reason. Second, this is my first time hearing that the moderator had a daughter. Aren't they almost always blessed with a son?"
Ash felt like Dwera Rockwish had shot one of his arrows straight into her chest. Her training kicked in, reigning over the desire to shrink back, "It must be true, Centaurs do prefer to isolate themselves from the worldly affairs. Yes, my family has always had sons. But this time around there was a daughter. It is pretty common knowledge actually."
She looked around the room and everyone nodded. In her own right, Ash was famous. She had never left the island but the world outside knew that a daughter was born and there was going to be a female moderator in the next generation. Their parents had long discussed how to come to a solution when it came to her marriage but never reached a conclusion. For generations, people have married into her family. Her mother, too, was a witch, a healer, a daughter of the prominent coven in the east. As a future queen, she had to get someone to agree to leave their family and settle with her on the island. But if they did, would they not try to reap benefits? She had considered remaining unmarried or finding a commoner human to marry, for this very reason, narrowing down her type to a very specific detail so that no one could ever find him.
Standing here now, Ash found her own naivety laughable. She looked at Vance who was talking to Karn, their heads together, voiced inaudible. Mayra was so taken with the idea of Vance because he looked exactly like how she described him down to the very specific detail. Maybe except one thing. He didn't have blue eyes.
"Any more questions?" Bree broke through the somber atmosphere.
It was Karlene, "don't the moderators always have some abilities. What do you have?"
Akiye stepped in for her. "We are keeping that hush for now. High priestess' orders."
Ash looked at Akiye who stepped forward and patted her arm, "that's why I came today. High priestess says you will be coming with me after this. She says you have to be part of the blessing ceremony."
Bree looked at her with surprise but it went as quickly as it came. "Makes sense though. Your mother was a witch, so you must have some of her blood too."
Just the mention of her mother in passing made her ache. Her passing was far to recent to be mentioned casually. But to know she carried a part of her mother soothed her soul. "That's quite comforting. Thank you."
"We still have some time left before the ceremony begins. What's on our agenda this year?" Vance spoke. Ash had a feeling he was leading the conversations away from her, as much as possible. This one was timely and she was grateful.
As the group began to disperse, everyone took a seat. Lady Bree was at the head of the table while the clothes scattered around. Drew and Akiye were on either side of her. Vance and Karn sat consecutively beside Drew while Karlene and Sven took a seat close to Akiye with plenty of chairs in between. Ash took the one beside Akiye while Dwera Rockwish sat further away, in an inconspicuous spot.
"The biggest item on the list is roping in as many representatives this year as possible, from each year." Bree said and Sven continued, "the chancellor has agreed to make it mandatory for representatives to join the council on an elective basis if we can turn the tide of opinion."
Karlene turned to her, "this is where you come in."
Attitude dripped from her words but Ash wasn't worried. Drew seem to find a kindred spirit in Karlene and added, "queen B has much faith in you. Don't let her down."
Ash was amused at the girl's scolding tone. For the first time Karn spoke up, "unofficially, we also need to improve B's image before she leaves."
Ash looked at Karn, white hair much like his twin, cut in a bod, wavy and messy. But unlike Karlene, Karn had a quietness about him. Lady Bree countered him, "not important. The mantle will pass on to Drew next year. Until then we just need to put our heads down."
Ash interjected, "excuse me. I do not know the situation but if we want to bring the representatives into the club, we might need to work on fixing the image first. We want them to want to associate with the club. That's half the convincing already done."
"What's the other half?" Akiye asked. Ash smiled slightly, "giving them an offer they cannot refuse."
"But the council doesn't make money or offer goods unlike other clubs."
"Then we can join hands with clubs that do but underperform. We offer them exposure and they offer us goods. Fair trade."
"What exposure, people don't want to associate with us."
"They will. Once they see that we have goods to offer that others don't."
"Won't they skip us entirely and make trade themselves."
Ash smiled. "They won't for two reasons. One, to skip us, they need to join hands with a race they do not like," she paused for any refutes. When none came, she continued, "and two, none of the clubs offer as many credits as the work of the student council does. With the council credits, I could drop two courses entirely and still have room to breathe next year."
Akiye nodded. "The counsellor raised the credits offered by student council work upto 5 last year to make others join. That's the reason Dwera joined us."
"It is a smart move and anyone who doesn't see that is too blinded by false pride." Dwera declared. "I am in my last year and taking one subject. I have credits that carried over and credits from this year and last. Which only lets me have one subject. That leaves me a lot more room to work with my father and handle tribe duties."
Ash nodded, "a very smart move."
Sven spoke up then, "your superpower must be your brain. How long have you been preparing for that?"
Ash frowned and Bree laughed, her movements fluid and languid. She looked tired. Do vampires look tired?
"That might as well be her best abilities. I just told her what I wanted her to do for the council."
Ash smiled lightly, "it sounds plausible but it won't be easy. We will have to start by talking to clubs that are low on members and desperate to survive."
"To take advantage of the desperate is not noble." Dwera said and Ash smiled at him, "so is calling other's pride false. We each take what we need and we leave the judgement out of the room. What do you say?"
Dwera Rockwish looked stricken for a moment. Her smile did not falter.
"I will do what my principle allow."
"Thank you." She gave him a general bow and he returned it graciously.
"So, what's next on the agenda?" The meeting moved on. Ash looked away and suddenly met the bright red of Vance's eyes. While everyone was looking into their files, Vance looked at her.
She gave him a small smile. He ignored it and turned back to his file too. Beside him, Karn looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She smiled at him too and he turned away as well. Finally, every pore in her body relaxed and relief snaked down her spine. She leaned back in her chair. at some point, Akiye wrote something and slipped under the table. The paper flew across to Karn who nodded at her.
Unknown to her, the boy across from her blinked rapidly, head buried in his file. There was an ache in his chest where the heart should beat. He wasn't human, he didn't have a beating heart but he had emotions in his frozen one. Emotions of calm, surprise and relief, utter and total relaxation. They were not his own. They were that of his mate, a mate, who had no idea he felt every single thing she did.
Besides him, Karn elbowed him and he leaned sideways, "what?"
"Are you going to get blessings?"
"I have to. Everyone of the knights in training will be there. Why?"
"Some of us are heading to the forest after. You and knights should come too."
"I am in no mood for fighting tonight."
"As you see fit. Some of the young ones are etching to let loose, the moon is making them uneasy. If the knights want to come, send me a message."
One cue, a paper flutter over Karn's leg. Akiye's small writing said, "some of the witches will drop by."
Karn gave her a nod and went back to his file.
The discussion on the table proceeded from stolen goods to expansion smoothly without his input. The uninterrupted calm in his heart had returned with a tinge of curiosity. Was it his or his mate's was hard to tell. Ever since she had stepped foot into the campus, his quite life had been turned upside down. One and a half night and he had been counting every moment of it.
When anger, frustration and a tooth aching desire for revenge washed over him yesterday, there was little he could do to restrain himself. He didn't know who she was, or where she was or what she was doing, or what happened to her. Looking at her first thing in the morning, it all made sense. She was human and he was doomed.
And now, it only got worse. She was no human. She was a moderator, a family untouchable and above his kind. Then there was the obstacle of Karn, one of his closest friends.
When he looked at her, across from him, he wondered if she felt what he felt too and if she realized what they were. Because if she did, she did an excellent job of hiding it.
Moderators were human and humans did not feel the same connections they did but moderators were also blessed by the moon goddess which made them closer to their kind, so they should be able to feel something when a fated bond was close to one another. He felt it far too clearly. He could tell her smile was supposed to be inviting, a smile that said, ask away or stop looking and he was forced to stop looking. Even an alpha like Karn was forced to stop looking.
In the end, he was left looking away from her fake smile and feeling her subtle relief. He couldn't help but smile a little. She was slightly proud of a job well done but not satisfied with herself, denying herself of that pride.