Magnus shrugged. "Aleksandra is an amazing woman. Negotiations with her were delightful, unlike meetings with the Founding Families here. They make me want to stab myself in the eye with my stylus."
Meryn tapped her lips with her finger. "I haven't met her yet, but it's on my Things to Do list."
Etain shook his head. "Meryn, you can't just go visit my queen; it's extremely hard to get an invitation to Éire Danu."
Meryn grinned. "I've already been invited. Twice in fact."
Etain dropped his fork. "What?"
"She's cool peeps." She turned her attention back to Grant. "What about food? Is it all brought in via the city portal? What did they do before that?"
Etain looked at Aiden. "What?"
Aiden spread both hands in front of him. "Queen Aleksandra adores Meryn; she even paid for our city square to be rebuilt so Meryn wouldn't get in trouble for that tiny incident regarding her glue bomb."
Etain shook his head. "What?!" He turned back to Meryn, a new look of admiration and respect in his eyes. "I will be guided by my queen. On her behalf, I feel I must offer my assistance to you while you are here in the city. I will let my fellow fae warriors know that you are to be treated like royalty."
Magnus leaned forward, curiosity plain as day on his face. "That is a fairly dramatic reaction to such a small incident. I would love to know how you interpreted your queen's actions based on so few facts."
Etain took a deep breath. "My queen cares very little for the affairs of those outside of Éire Danu." He turned quickly to Meryn. "Not that she thinks little of humans or any other race. But only vampires come close to our longevity. The reason why the fae live on a different plane is because of the heartache and sorrow we were experiencing in losing our human friends. As a people, we were becoming withdrawn and depressed. By keeping us separate, my queen keeps us safe." He turned back to Magnus. "For her to reach out, by extending an invitation, and offering assistance, my queen is telling her people, all her people, that Meryn is a human who will be worth the great heartache my queen will experience when Meryn passes from this world. That alone tells me how my queen views Meryn. As a son of Éire Danu, I can do no less than offer my utmost respect, assistance, and protection." He placed a fist over his heart and bowed in his chair.
Adriel stared at Etain in shock. He had never seen Etain give that level of reverence to anyone, himself included. As his unit leader, Etain respected him and his orders. Magnus, as the prince of the vampires, was respected for his royal line. Adriel knew that Etain would listen and follow orders from either of them, but at that moment, he saw the difference. Etain would follow their orders, but he would die for Meryn McKenzie.
Magnus stared down the length of the table, his eyes locked on the tiny human who was oblivious to what Etain had revealed. She simply gave him a thumbs up and turned back to Grant for the rest of her story.
Grant gulped visibly. He picked up his water glass with a slightly trembling hand that confirmed to Adriel that Grant also realized the significance of Etain's declaration. He took a sip and shot Magnus a nervous look and continued. "To answer your question Meryn, most of the food for the city is raised and grown here on different levels. Each level being responsible for different types of foods. Level Five raises livestock, everything from cows and chickens to duck and quail. Level Four grows hay and grain. Level Three grows fruits in different climate controlled sections and Level Two grows almost every vegetable known to man. Spices and other major products like sugar, coffee, and tea are imported through the portal."
"But... but... how? Don't you need the sun?" Meryn stuttered.
The men laughed. Micah leaned in. "Remind me to show you Noctem Falls' gardens. It took the witches years to perfect the spells needed to create artificial sunlight. They used the earth witches to bring forth and arrange the needed stones and then stored the spells in the geodes and crystals in the walls and ceilings."
Magnus sat back. "We are looking to expand into medicinal plants. So many valuable resources are being lost to deforestation. I have been working with my counterparts overseas and in the Amazon to bring many of their endangered plants here. I want to donate space here on Level One for the endeavor."
"And for that, I will be eternally grateful." Broderick lifted his glass to his brother-in-law.
Meryn snapped her fingers. "That's right! You make the super vitamins."
Broderick nodded bashfully. "Something like that. Not many of the vampires are willing to take them, but all results show that when they feed from a shifter that has been taking the vitamins, the volume of blood required goes down." He looked at Gavriel. "My conversations with Dr. Adam McKenzie were most enlightening. We didn't have any results from a vampire going through transition, so your feedback helped enormously."
Adriel's eyes narrowed at Broderick's revelation. He looked at Bethy. "You were there for his transition?"
Bethy looked anywhere but at him as she nodded.
"It had to be his Fifth Millennial, I mean look at the size of him," Tarak whispered harshly.
Adriel felt his stomach clench and rubbed it absently. "Only you."
Broderick nodded in sympathy. "I said the same thing."
"Oh, really!" Bethy protested.
Caspian gave his daughter an exasperated look. "We know you do not cause these things, but darling, even you have to admit, only you would find your vampire mate during one of his major transitions."