"May I have everyone's attention please?" Rex asked standing. He raised his glass. "I would like to propose a toast to..." He paused dramatically. "To Fate. Not only has she provided our warriors with mates who will be the salvation of us all, she has also introduced us to new friends who have become family and has blessed us with the start of the next generation. Though our fight isn't over to drive back the sickness amongst us, I have no doubt that this family will overcome."
Declan stood his eyes bright. "To family!" He raised his glass. Around the table everyone stood and raised their glass high.
"To family!" everyone cheered before draining their glasses.
After everyone sat down Pip turned to Meryn. "Me too?" he asked.
Meryn nodded. "Absolutely."
"Pip," Magnus said softly getting the young man's attention.
Pip turned to the prince his eyes wide. "I am sorry my f
ather made you sick. That was bad of him. And I am sorry he called you a weak fool, that was mean."
Magnus looked a bit surprised at Pip's apology then chuckled. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He glanced down at his iPad. "After hearing your story, I feel like I have to apologize to you Pip. I never really looked into why you acted the way you did. You and others like you suffered because politics got in the way of me doing the right thing." He looked from Adriel to Gavriel then back to Pip. "Luckily I have very good friends who are helping to straighten things out. Can you forgive me for not seeing how you were being treated?"
By the end of the apology Pip was trembling so badly he looked like he was about to fly apart. Meryn looked around the table. "What do I do?" she asked.
"Hug him Meryn. It will make him feel better," Serenity advised.
Meryn scrunched her nose at the word hug, but she nevertheless wrapped an arm around her distraught friend.
Magnus looked hurt. "I did not mean to upset him."
Pip buried his face in Meryn's shoulder and shook his head back and forth. "No. This is wrong, I am nothing, I am bad. The prince should not say such things to me," he whispered.
Magnus' face became unreadable. He turned to Warrick. "You have my permission to restructure Level Five however you see fit. If you need to establish new Noble houses let me know. I never, ever want another citizen of mine to believe they are nothing," Magnus bit off the final word.
Warrick nodded. "It will be done."
Pip looked up his face drenched with tears. "New Noble families?" he asked.
Warrick nodded. "I am trying to get rid of all the bad men." The giant man said softly trying not to upset Pip anymore. "But the people are afraid of me, so I am having a hard time figuring out who the bad men are."
Pip sat up straighter. "I can help. I know all the bad men, even the scary ones who used to live in the Pits."
Around the table everyone quieted. Meryn turned to Pip. "Say what?"
Pip looked around. "That is where the scary bad men used to live, who ate people."
Aiden leaned in. "What else Pip? We don't know anything about those men, so whatever you tell us could help everyone." Like Warrick, Aiden made sure to keep his tone even.
Pip ducked his head. "Sometimes I was bad and listened when father had his meetings, it was the best way to know how to make him happy so I could have food."
At the end of the table they heard wood crack as Magnus snapped off the arm to his chair. He gave Pip a smile. "Do not mind me. This chair is old. Please continue." He let the wood fall to the floor.
Pip nodded. "After the wolfies got here father was furious when the bad men ate some people on Level Six. He said they were going to ruin everything. I heard him tell the nasty tunnel escort to kidnap someone from Level Six so that the wolfies would think he killed the refugees. After that he started sending bad people from our level to the Pits for the scary bad men to eat." He looked at Meryn. "That is why you have to be careful not to say bad things on Level Five or you get sent down to the Pits."
"My gods!" Adriel choked out the words. He turned to his mate. "It was not Augustus Pettier who attacked you in the Pits, it was one of those monsters."
Gavriel's eyes burned scarlet. "How many scary bad men were there Pip?"
Pip shrugged. "I do not know. But there were enough that when they left the city the tunnel escort had to use a platform to get them to the Grand Hall."
Aiden sat back. "The door alarm, when Marek was knocked unconscious during the attack on Vivi."
Colton nodded then looked over at Vivi. "Looks like killing you was meant to be a distraction."