Taliyah’s P.O.V. I open the door, finding my Mates sitting on the bed and they are dressed. “Looks like the joke is on us, Ivory.” I say and without a word, I make my way over to the bed. I grab the book I was reading of the bedstand and walk towards the armchair near the window. I sit down, staring out the window at a loss for words and I wonder if I should make the first move. “Sorry, just know that we love you.” Malachay whispers, before they walk out of the room. For a moment I am stunned and then I roar, throwing my book through the window. I grab the armchair and as I want to toss it over my shoulder out of the window, I feel someone pulling it from my hands. A vicious roar escapes my lips, mad at however took the chair away from me. Before I can turn around, I get pulled in to a pair of arms and soon I am squashed between my Mates. We stand there for a long time, just holding on to each other and breathing the others scent. “What the hell were you thinking?” I ask. Malachay is the one to answer and his words leave me feeling guilty. “We understand that you need to study, but you lock yourself away for hours. Out of the seven days Armas has been here, you spend five days in your study and you didn’t even come out for lunch.” I know that he is right and now I understand what has been bothering him. Tears start rolling down my face as I understand that I hurt my Mates without realizing it. I was to engrossed in my studies to see what was happening to my Mates. “I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you or shut you out. I was never able to do what I wanted, I was never allowed to read what I wanted. For the first time in my life, I get to do, I get to read and learn what I want. Elder Matthew was given little time to teach me, he was permitted to see me one day a week. He was given strict instructions on what he could and couldn’t teach me.The only reason he taught me about Laws and the Pack-rules is because he couldn’t dismiss the arguments I had.” My head is down and I feel like hiding again, but Malachay is not done with me yet. “Princess, you stop this right now. Stop hiding, stop looking down and for Goddess sake, stop apologizing. Your studies are important, just don’t lock us out. You can read a book while one of us is holding you, you can write while you sit on our lap. We just need to be able to be with you, when we want to.” His hands are cupping my face and as he speaks I can see that he was the one suffering the most. “Malachay, we all will screw up from time to time. Just promise me that you will never give up on me.” I can barely get the words out as I feel guilt crashing down on me for hurting him. He devours my lips and I open up for his tongue, leaning towards him. I feel hands traveling down my back and I moan in anticipation, only to get my breasts pinched by Eamon. I push my breasts in to his hands, hoping he will do it again and as he pinches my breasts the other hands reach my ass. Both hands clench down on my ass as someone knocks on the door. The four of us grumble at the intrusion, slowly the door opens and I smell that it is my Grandfather on the other side. “What is it, Grandfather?” I call out and he opens the door more, holding my book in his hand. “Armand was able to catch this, before it could land on Alaric’s head.” And I can’t help it, I burst out laughing as I imagine the book hitting him on his head. My Mates and Grandfather are laughing with me and I feel so much better. As I walk towards Grandfather, I tell my Mates through our mind-link that we will finish our conversation after we get back from the Courthouse. Malachay’s P.O.V. Hearing her roar is a sound I hope I never hear again, there was so much rage and anger in it and then the sound of shattering glass. We ran back in to the room to see her lifting up the chair and Ward tried to grab it from her hands, but I had help him to take it away from her.I feel the guilt inside her as she listens to me and as she explains herself I can feel her hiding again. I tell her what I want, that we want to hold her and slowly she comes out of hiding. Grandfather interrupting is something we could have done without, but knowing where her book almost ended up breaks the tension in the room. We head down to Alaric’s office and in the meantime we hold on to our Princess, because she is reading the book that flew out the window. Without us, she would have tumbled down the stairs or walked in something. Grandfather looks over his shoulder from time to time with a huge grin on his face and I can see the love he has for her reflecting in his eyes. I pull her in to my side and kiss the top of her head, just relieved that we resolved a few things. The rest of our issues will be dealt with later on and I hope that we are able to say the words we need to say, that we are able to say them in the right way. The four of us have to find a way to make this work, My Brothers and I have to get used to a fourth person to think of and Taliyah has to get to used to the fact that we do care about her and her feelings. We will falter in our efforts every now and then, but as long as the other is there to catch us we will be fine. “You!” We hear Alaric growl as we walk in to his office and his eyes are glued to the book in Taliyah’s hand. She looks at him before she turns to Armand and says “Next time, just let it fall.” We all stare at her and then Armand does something none of us ever expected from him. He turns to Taliyah and says “As you wish, Your Highness.” I don’t think I have heard Anayah laugh this loud before and I have to say that I have noticed a chance in her. She is more relaxed and she is more the girl I knew a long time ago. It started after Taliyah showed up and I think having her around has been for the better for all of us. Alaric starts walking towards Taliyah, she hands me the book and asks Alaric if he is sure about what he is planning. He stops walking, a strange look on his face and then he starts looking between Taliyah and his Grandmother.Anayah is hiccupping, she has tears rolling down her face and apparently we missed something. Camden, Amand and Kaelan must be in on it, because they turn around to hide their laughing. Even Grandmother is doing her best not to laugh, but she fails miserably. “Aaagh.” Is all that comes out of Alaric before he slumps down in an armchair. Quickly Taliyah fills us all in on what happened in the Council’s Chamber and now we understand that Alaric fears both women, equally.