The Eiffel Tower caught my eye as I gazed out of the window. We were staying in a lovely suite in the most luxurious hotel, and after three days, I still wasn’t bored with the view.
My phone pinged, and I glanced at the screen, wondering if Glynda had replied to my last message, but no, it was a news alert. Someone had carried out an audacious robbery at the Louvre, the city’s most famous gallery.
My jaw dropped in shock. Millions of dollars of priceless jewelry stolen in under four minutes. That was…impressive. Then a shiver ran down my spine. Kenji had popped out an hour ago. He claimed he wanted to check out the Mona Lisa, which sounded unlike him.Oh my goddess!
“Kenji? Where are you?!”
“I’m busy right now. Please leave a message after the tone…beep…”
What if the human authorities caughtmy kitsune?
A portal appeared at the far end of our hotel room, causing me to drop my phone in surprise.
“Miss Blackstone, I’m calling in my first deal.”
Dragging my attention from the doom spiral I’d fallen into, I focused on the fae. The late evening sunlight hit his pretty hair just so.
If I were a weak-willed female with low self-esteem, I’d be swooning about now. But since I knew what a scumbag the fae was, I ignored his questionable surface charms and reminded myself the male was an ass of the highest order.
Farris refused to meet my eyes as a gulf of silence stretched between us. Stars above. Was he about to ask me to do something illegal? I regretted not reading the small print of the fae bargain he’d scammed me into signing. Was there a fae equivalent of the Better Business Bureau I could file a complaint with? If not, there needed to be.
Stress was bad for witches, so I took a deep, calming breath and faked a serene smile.
“What do you need from me? Got a friend you’d like to resurrect? Or an enemy to melt? As you know, both are within my wheelhouse these days.” I let a small smirk escape, gratified at the way he tensed. Farris might think he was a big cheese, but if he pissed me off, I’d fry his skeevy fae ass.
To my surprise, instead of a snarky riposte, he sank into a chair and sighed as if the weight of the realm pressed down on his broad shoulders.
“I have a delicate, um, problem…”
“Oh my goddess, have you caught mage lice?” I gave the fae what I hoped was a sympathetic look because, mage lice…eww…those little critters were relentless. Or so Zane had informed me one time, apropos of nothing.
Farris stared at me in horror.
“No! Why would you think that for fuck’s sake?”
“Um, because you’re a fae slut with exceptionally low standards?”
He glared at me with the heat of a thousand suns. Hmm, perhaps I ought to recalibrate the filter between my brain and mouth before the fae compelled me to do something morally questionable in order to complete my end of his scam bargain.
“Let me clarify what I meant,” I continued with a bright smile. “We all make mistakes when choosing romantic partners, and that’s okay. Mistakes teach us what not to look for, such as mentally unwell incubi or overly possessive bear shifters with OCD tendencies.”
Two males growled and grumbled in my head, but I ignored them.
“I totally get why you might have fucked half the realm in your pursuit of true love. Nothing says mommy issues like seeking love in the wrong places, a.k.a., spending too much time with sirens.”
Farris uttered a few creative fae curses under his breath. Curses I couldn’t understand because I didn’t speak fae.
“He says you’re the most irritating witch in the realm and if he didn’t need your help, he would hire a fae assassin to blast your ass into the afterlife,”Kenji helpfully translated.
“Wow, that’s a bit harsh. Fae assassin? Really?”Not that I was worried. Hell no. Dad would send hellhounds after the fucking fae if he tried to put a hit on me. And hellhounds trumped fae assassins any day of the week. Those beasts never quit once they locked on a target.
I reached out and gave Daisy a head scratch. Her leathery skin creaked and cracked as she puffed happy smoke rings into the air, making me cough a lung up like I had a serious witch weed habit.
Farris shuffled back in his chair. He wasn’t a fan of my precious hellhound baby. Few people were, which made me sad. Daisy might look scary, but she had a heart of pure marshmallow.
“Raven, I’ll get straight to the point before I lose my ever-loving mind from listening to your inane nonsense. I need your help with Glyn.”
My mouth fell open in surprise. He needed my help with…Glynda? As far as I knew, my bestie was on vacation, living her best life. She’d not messaged for a few days, but we’d both been busy lately, so the radio silence from her end hadn’t concerned me.
