Page 99 of Fae Farewells

“Thatcher and Tilly will stay together. If she asks you to split up, for any reason, don’t go beyond the outside of the door until one of us is there. I’m not convinced she won’t try to use one of the Winters as leverage against the others.”

“All we’re doing is lying?” Thatcher asked, needing clarification.

“No. This plan revolves around you selling that lie, but we’ll also need you to fight and or keep Tilly safe.”

Ruby snorted. “Let her fight. She’s better than Robin Hood with a bow and arrows. I’ve seen her shoot a grain of rice out of the air.”

I quirked a brow at Tilly, liking her more the longer I was near her. All three of Vaughn’s sisters were great, but this one needed a backbone… And I had plenty to spare.

Her cheeks tinted a rosy pink. “I’m okay with a bow. I just need high ground or someone to cover me.”

“And that’s my part of this plan,” Thatcher told her teasingly. “I’ll cover you while you pick them off with your poisoned arrows.”

“They are not poisoned,” Tilly grumbled.

“I can put spells on them,” Palmer offered. “I don’t know how mage magic affects fae, but I know enough to slow them down.”

York nodded at my mage, then asked, “And what do we do once our part is done?”

“You come to the throne room to fight,” I replied. “That’s where we’ll be. The soldiers will come to aid the cunt queen.”

Novak snorted, causing me to suppress a giggle.

Vaughn cut his eyes at us before inquiring, “I’ll be with you? Or somewhere else?”

“Yes, but not seen at first.”

“You’re going to talk to her alone?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. I’m hoping she’ll send Thatcher out to find me. That will leave Tilly in there with us. And if that happens, then I’m thinking Tilly might be able to instigate Alania’s anger toward me.”

Tilly grinned. “I can do that.”

“Before she makes a move, you’ll step in,” I told Vaughn. “You’ll tell her about our deal, but don’t mention your sisters. She won’t care about it, this we know. But—”

“But you want to test her, too.” Mentally, he added, “For my mother or yours?”

“I don’t want to test her,” I said aloud. “She’s already proven how deceitful she is. I just want to piss her off.” Then I whispered to Vaughn, “For your mother and mine.”

“And then what?” Ruby asked.

I smiled sweetly at her. “And then we fight. Alania dies, the fae realm is free of her tyranny, our deal is finished, you have an alliance with the major supernatural factions... And we leave to hunt Alric down.”

“Will you kill Alania?” Tilly questioned her brother.

“I will,” Vaughn promised her. “Sloane will play with her, maybe get her angry enough to make a mistake or two... But I will hold the dagger that frees you and our people.”

His sisters watched him with varying expressions of pride and worry, then they each nodded, happy to be so close to their freedom.

“That just leaves one more issue…” I trailed off, my sweet smile turning mischievous.

“What’s that?” Ruby asked.

Vaughn chuckled, pinching the bridge of his nose as something scratched the outside of our suite door.

“What is that?” Rudy repeated, her peach eyes wide.

“Those are my hellhounds.”