Page 102 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“He hasn’t come back yet. I thought you were with him.” Kate picked up the chalk at his feet and stood.

A body materialized beside her.

Her throat was grabbed, and everything after that happened too fast.

Kate gasped as she was rushed backward across the room and slammed against the kitchen wall, rattling the artwork above. A dark-haired fae stood over her with glossy, silvery eyes. His pale fingers tightened around her neck.

“Human,” he whispered in a soft voice. “You will be the price he pays.”

“Bonswick!” Cress shouted by the door.

The fae vanished. He reappeared behind Kate with his fingers still holding her throat, bringing Cress to a halt. A sharp pain touched Kate’s side, and her wide eyes fell to a blade pointed at her waist.

“I think we need to lay down some rules in regard to our bargain,” the dark-haired fae said.

Cress’s turquoise eyes were pinned on the spot where the fae’s blade was ready to drive through Kate’s side. “I did not send Mor to you,” Cress swore. “Let her go.”

“Yet, he came.” The fae tilted his head so it brushed against Kate’s hair. “You for them, Prince. That was the bargain. But they cannotattackme, orapproachme, or evenspeakto me anymore. Or she will be the price.”

Cress swallowed. His hand wrapped his sword handle, but the blade didn’t form. “I agree to your terms. Just let her—”

“What bargain?” Kate asked from a dry throat.

Cress looked at her face for the first time.

The fae chuckled in her ear. “You’ll be left without a mate soon, Human. How agonizing that will be for you, now that you’ve bonded,” he said, and Cress paled. “He’s always been a cruel, heartless prince in the North, but I never expected him to hurt a weak human like this. To leave you in eternal pain. That is possibly the most heartless thing he’s ever done in his cursed life.”

“That willnothappen. Her feelings aren’t fierce enough for that.” Cress’s sword appeared from its handle. “You should have sensed as much with yourastuteintuition.”

From the corner of her eye, Kate saw a body drift from the kitchen.

“Wait, Dranian!” Cress held up a hand, and the fae behind Kate flinched.

She dared a glance over at Dranian. He held a silver blade against the fae’s jaw.

“Careful, Prince,” the fae said with a diabolical smile. “You can’t protect her, remember? And what’s worse? To watch your forever mate die, or to walk to your own dreadful death? Or both?”

“Leave before I drown our bargain in your fairy blood.” Cress sounded like he was half threatening, half begging.

A deep laugh boomed in Kate’s ears. The fae released her neck, and suddenly the warm body disappeared from her back.

Cress strode over and took Kate’s chin. He tilted her head, looking over her neck everywhere the fae’s hand had been. “There’s no death touch anywhere,” he seemed to be telling Dranian. “She’ll live for now.”

Dranian marched to the windows and peered both ways down the street. Neither of them explained what had just happened—whyit had happened.

“Cress,” Kate pulled his hand off her face, “what bargain?”

Cress avoided her gaze. She waited for an answer, but all he said was, “This isn’t something that concerns humans.”

Kate drew back. She was about to point out how wrong he was—that she’d just had a knife aimed at her side—when two bodies materialized in the middle of the café, knocking over a chair, and Kate’s stomach dropped.

The dark-haired fae was back. He tossed Mor forward. Mor’s hands were bound, his face was bruised, and a muzzle of fabric was tight in his mouth.

The dark-haired fae said, “I will walk out of this realm unscathed, with you, or they’realldead. This is your only warning.”

Kate bit back a whimper as Mor looked up through a swollen eye.

The dark-haired fae vanished again.

---