Page 76 of Kingdoms of Night

Something here wasn’t adding up. He’d given them the location far too easily. “Why did you steal Lalko?”

“I didn’t steal her.” He tossed the thorn aside and then smiled without showing any teeth. The spark was starting to return to his eyes.

She frowned. Whatever veru venom did to different species, it wasn’t a truth serum. It hadn’t impaired his balance either. So why hadn’t he run? Why was he cooperating? Was he waiting for something? Maybe it would be easiest to start with something basic and see what she could learn. “What should I call you?”

“Not what I thought you’d ask me next, but you may call me Puck.” He sketched a bow, then straightened, dusting off his silvery-turquoise jacket. “And I already know your name, so no need to give me yours. You’re Idalno.”

“Puck? What does that name mean?”

He held up a slender finger. “Again, not what I thought you would ask. Don’t you want to know where you are?”

“If you’ll tell me the truth?”

“Why would I lie?”

“Why wouldn’t you lie?” This felt like a game. Not one she was enjoying, but a game, nonetheless. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Your goal is your own amusement, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” It certainly sounded like he was beginning to enjoy this again. “You aren’t really taking the path like I thought, so I’ll just tell you to make it easier. You’re in Faerie. And this is what remains of Lambton. Former home of the Lambton Wyrm. Or near to it. I can’t actually remember where it lived before it departed. I may be a faerie or a fae, if you rather, but I really can’t be bothered to keep track of all these creatures’ whereabouts. There are far too many dreadful ones roaming about these days.”

That meant absolutely nothing to her. She nodded, still keeping her gaze fixed on him. “Were you the one who brought us here? Or was it the Tue-Rah? Or both?”

He squinted at her. “I can’t say I entirely understand everything you just said.”

Heavy footsteps sounded on the brick path to her left. She glanced over, then raised an eyebrow. Kopo was coming back. The deep scowl on his face suggested he didn’t want to be back.

Mouthing some probably unpleasant words, he hurried on, his pace quickening as he passed them. Weird. Why had he returned when he’d set out for the castle?

Puck chuckled. “The copper rises,” he said under his breath. “You don’t trust me, Ida, do you?”

“Don’t call me Ida. You’re no friend of mine.” She snapped her gaze back to him, glaring. Only the people she trusted—her closest friends and not even all of her family—called her that.

He placed a hand over his heart. “Iamwounded. But perhaps when all this is finished, we both shall be friends.”

She glanced back in the direction Kopo had run. It didn’t seem that his strategy was working. As for her own, Puck was the first and only resident of this place they had met. Even if he couldn’t be trusted, the opportunity to glean useful information couldn’t be wasted. She could sort out the maize from the husks later. “Fair enough. Let’s assume I can trust you a little. What can you tell me about this place? The dangers? The average amount of time to make it to the castle?”

“So you’ll trust me, hmm?” He waggled his eyebrows, then tossed his long hair. “No such thing as an average time to reach the castle. Many have gone before you. Everyone takes different amounts of time. No one has done it in under two days. Some take four days and four nights. Assume most everything here can kill you. Little is as it seems. The usual. And if you hear hounds or hunting horns, run. You probably won’t be able to outrun the Wild Hunt forever, but you can at least give it a good try. No need to meet them until you must. And they might lose interest.”

“The Wild Hunt?” She’d never heard of such a thing, but it was peculiar Puck seemed to fear it. “What is that?”

“I wouldn’t dare ruin the surprise.” His hand tattoos shuddered as he heaved an over-dramatic sigh. “But enough about that. How about some tea? You found a special item, you know.” He nodded toward her bag.

She placed a hand over it protectively. “How do you know about that?”

As an Acolyte of Venom, she knew better than to have tea with a stranger.

“If you put the lid on after you put the tea leaves inside, it will fill with hot water, the perfect temperature for whatever tea you intend to make. It will also have a lovely pattern as long as it is hot and has tea. Remove the lid, and it goes back to being plain and drab with no tea or hot water.” He clapped his hands together excitedly. “So you see, we simply must have tea. The teapot chose you, so you must be a tea maker, and a marvelous one at that.” He gazed at her expectantly, his tattoos curling like cats’ tails.

“I’m not just a tea maker,” she said sharply. “Tea making is only part of being an Acolyte of Venom.” And it seemed Puck was done providing any useful information. Either that, or very, very thirsty.

He rubbed his throat again. “Fitting, I suppose.”

Kopo charged by a second time, faster this time. Two wolves trailed behind him now, running at his heels as if they were dogs out on a jog with their master. Why in all that was good and growing was he running laps around the village like this? Was his sense of direction so poor?

“Kopo, what are you doing?”

He kept running, followed closely by the two wolves, who seemed to skip along happily.

“I love that you call him that,” Puck said, his silver-blue eyes gleaming. “But you know that’s not his name.”

---