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"I left because my miracle was trying to escape, you oaf. The ambrosia messed with it, and I had to spend hours in a freezing park, trying to get it to go back down. Now give me back my grandfather."
"Only if you come with me so I can prove I'm not lying about the woman. Do you really think so little of me that I could kiss anyone after you?" Augustus asked, genuinely hurt for the first time in decades.
Mara looked uncertain. "She opened your door in your night robe. What was I supposed to think?"
"Anything but the worst!" Augustus replied, his patience gone. He put the cat down, and it scampered inside. "I'm not leaving until I prove that I'm not lying. So you can come with me willingly, or we can do it the other way."
Mara's chin rose. "What does that mean?"
Augustus bent down until their noses almost touched. "If I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to Fitzroy Gardens, kicking and screaming, I fucking will, little saint. The choice is yours."
Mara crossed her arms. "You wouldn't dare."
"Don't count on it. I'll give you to three," Augustus warned.
"You really aren't going to go away, are you?"
"No. One."
"I don't think—"
"Two!"
Mara threw up her hands. "Fine! I'll go. Anything to get you off my doorstep." She locked the door. "You have one hour."
"That's all I need."
Augustus hated fighting with her, which surprised him because he generally enjoyed a good spat. It wasn't her anger that vexed him so much as his desire to kiss her pout until it went away. He knew what she tasted like, and now he wanted her on his lips always.
They walked in silence all the way to the tram stop. Augustus wanted to take her hand, his palm burning insistently. He ignored it the best he could.
"Are you okay from pushing the miracle back down?" he asked, unable to hold back anymore.
"It seems to have gone back under my ribs. Remind me never to drink ambrosia again," Mara replied, her hand rubbing at her chest.
"Maybe not until you release the miracle anyway. I rather liked everything that happened beforehand." Augustus smiled, and Mara's cheeks flushed with color.
"Don't try and flirt with me when I'm angry at you."
"Don't tell me what to do. I happen to like flirting with you, and I'm going to keep doing it. Just so you know, I am already thinking of how you can make this whole incident up to me."
Mara's eyes flared in anger. "How about I don't knock you on your ass for being an arrogant dick face."
A bark of laughter escaped Augustus and made the people on the tram stare at him funny.
"If I deserved it, I'd probably let you." Augustus didn't provoke her for the rest of the trip, even if he sorely wanted to.
They got off the tram at Fitzroy Gardens, and Augustus led her through the winding paths.
"A few times a year, and most often on a blood moon, there is a weak spot here that becomes a gateway to Faerie," Augustus explained. "In 1930, the attacks became so frequent that I decided to have a warning made to mark the weak spot."
Mara stopped walking. "You are taking me to theFairy Tree? You've got to be kidding."
"Not even a little. Ola Cohn was a friend, and I commissioned her to make it. Everything built up around it was to disguise what it really was," Augustus continued. "And then there is the matter of the knight."
"The what?" Mara whirled as the sound of a horse echoed on the path behind them.
The knight sat on top of a black stallion, a long black braid flying behind her and silver armor gleaming.
