Acceptance

Chapter 55

I walked down the hall with Cindy's fingers laced with mine. She was pretty peeved and even cried a little when she confronted me about not telling her about my birthday the other day, but I made it up to her by taking her out to go get something sweet to eat. "Come on Alice, everyone is waiting for us," she giggled as she lead me down the hall. Today we were celebrating our birthdays and to say Cindy was excited, was an understatement.

When we went into the room where the party was being held I was happy to see it was just friends and family. Everyone laughed and talked, which gave the ballroom a much better atmosphere than it had during Qin's coronation. I noticed Qin was in Drake's arms, with Drake whispering something into his ear that had him blushing like crazy. Pyrus talked with his parents while Nathaniel had an arm around his waist. Shelton was off to the side on his phone looking annoyed at whoever was on the other end of the phone conversation. The human government officials are trying to declare a segregation war between humans and the Supernatural communities. In their statements, they had claimed that would move humans to an area that had no Supernatural ties to it, but unfortunately for them, that didn't exist. There was a group of protesters saying the Supernatural should be killed or relocated. There was another group though who simply wanted peace and equality.

As a council member, Shelton has been dealing with meetings and tons of paperwork because of it. Qin has had his fair share of work as well with the warlock protesters who hate that he has become king without a warlock for a mate. We also have the protesters who don't want a unified kingdom in general, which all of my mates are having to deal with along side their parents.

"Everything okay," Grams asked me. "There's just a lot going on," I sighed. She nodded, "Protesters popping up left and right can be quite the hassle." I sighed, "Yeah but I'm not doing anything to help them. They don't let me do anything. They simply tell me to focus on my lessons." "That is because you've done enough my child," she told me. I shook my head as we walked over to the windows. "There is never enough when helping my mates," I told her. She smiled as she tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, "Your mother would be so proud of you. She was a strong believer in living in a peaceful unified world where everyone lived in harmony. It's what made her so much stronger than the rest of her sister. She was fighting for a better world. When she met your father it pushed her to want to fight that much harder so you could live in a world where you weren't looked down upon for your mixed blood." She gave me a soft smile. "Now here you are continuing her fight for your own children. Pace yourself my child. If you rush, you may not see when that world becomes reality."

I knew what she meant. With so much going on, we have to be careful with each step we take or it could result in us not living to see tomorrow. "I can honestly say though, you've inherited your mother's lack of impulse," she told me with a soft smile. "I can't tell you the amount of head aches she gave your father with her doing before thinking approach towards many things in life. Your temper you got from your father however. Those don't make for the best of combinations." Drake wrapped an arm around my waist, "It's a good thing she has us to hold her back." Grams smiled, "That's a very good thing."

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help my smile. Cindy then came over and grabbed my hand, "Come on, it's time for you and Pyrus to open your presents." She pulled me with her to where Pyrus sat with a pile of presents at his feet. Another pile of gifts sat by the other chair. I sighed and sat down in the chair. Pyrus gave me a smile and I returned it.

We went through our gifts, each one of them precious and amazing. After everyone left I went to the courtyard where Adira was. She raised her head and looked down at me. She was wrapped around a sleeping Pantheom who was generating heat for her. I ran my hand over her body lovingly.

"I thought I would find you here," I heard a voice say. I turned and saw Pyrus. A pink gift bag hung from his wrist while while he held a bottle of wine in one hand and two wine glasses in another. We went over to the stone bench and sat down. "Here," he said while handing me the gift bag.

I removed the tissue paper and saw a stuffed pink and orange Phoenix. It was soft to the the touch. Also inside the bag  was a small box. I took it off and lifted the lid. It was a locket. Our Phoenix was engraved on the front. Inside were two photos. One side had Shelton, Pyrus, and Nathaniel. The other side Cindy, Qin, and Drake. I looked at Pyrus, "Thank you."

He kissed my softly as I made my gift appear for him. I handed it to him nervously. "I don't know if it'll work," I told him. "The first one I made to test it did, but I don't know if this one will because it's an item that can only be used once." As I was explaining he took a red leather book out of the box. "Its a book that allows you to think of one of the stories your brother told you, and then it will appear on the paper. I made it so it was the pages on the left the words appeared so you could draw pictures on the right to go with them." I then showed him how to do it.

The pages then glowed, and when he opened it, the words were there. Of course when his brother told him the stories, he spoke in the ancient Fae language so that's how they appeared, but from the smile on his face, I could tell he could read it just the same. Tears fell down his face as he looked at me, "Thank you for this my Phoenix." He kissed me again and then he opened the bottle of wine and poured us each a glass. He handed one to me and I took it.

"To those who are gone, but never forgotten," he said as he held up his glass. "And forever in our hearts," I said as I clinked mine against his. We then drank our wine before falling into a relaxing silence. He helped me put on my locket and I loved how it felt. "Happy birthday my Phoenix," he said while tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Happy birthday my Flame."