Page 125 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

Kate headed out of the kitchen with a laugh.

When she emerged, camera flashes filled the café along with an eruption of cheers. Journalists, booktokers, and other book-loving social media gurus who’d received advanced copies of Kate’s book filled the bistro tables, sipping on items from the new spring coffee drink collection and becoming unsuspectingly enchanted by fairy spells. At the back window, a firefly-like being fluttered up the glass and sat on a high sill to watch, telling Kate that Freida was still spying on her via Gretchen. Or maybe her fairy godmother just wanted to know if Kate was doing well.

Kate placed the cake on the counter and turned to face the small crowd filling the café to the back corners. Cress slid into a bistro seat off to the side, sipping a mug of warm milk even though the rest of the staff—Lily, Greyson, Shayne, and Dranian—stood along the wall fashioning their new burgundy spring aprons with the Fae Café logo. Mor handed out the Fairy Post papers to the crowd and soon dozens of book lovers were flattening out their newspapers on the tables and learning about fae things.

“The Fairy Post is a newspaper we give out with every purchase at the café. You can also subscribe to get it in digital form, or for a low monthly fee, we’ll mail you a newspaper every season,” Kate explained. Someone at the front clicked a pen to begin working on the crossword puzzle. “It gets delivered by owl carrier magic,” she added with a wink, drawing a few chuckles from the crowd.

“Tell us how you wrote such a fantastic book!” one of the journalists called out, and Kate fought a blush as she pushed her hair behind her ear.

“Well, it’s a long story. No pun intended,” she said, and the journalists cackled.

“The greatness of the story is in the blossoming, delicious,irresistiblewords. And the Prince, naturally,” Cress mumbled from his table, not quietly enough.

One of the girls turned in her seat, seeming to melt at the sight of the dazzling guy giving insight into a book he didn’t even write. Kate hid her smirk behind her hand and pretended to brush her nose.

“You must read a lot of books,” the girl said, smoothing down her summer dress and looking him up and down. Several journalists leaned to try and see him around the people in their way.

“Well, I do consider myself something of a literary genius in comparison to humans,” Cress admitted and flashed his beautiful smile at the room.

Everyone laughed like they thought he was making a fae joke as one of the café’s hired actors. But Kate’s smile dropped. She knew he wasn’t joking at all.

“Who is this other author you have listed at the bottom where it says,‘Written with help from C. Prince?’” a journalist stood to ask Kate.

Kate yanked her gaze from Cress. “I made that up,” she decided, and Cress spat his milk. “I wrote the book by myself.”

Accusing turquoise irises turned Kate’s skin warm as the social media gurus asked more questions and snapped photos. Kate gave them the smile she’d practiced in the mirror before coming.

Cress stood and wandered over until he was beside where she posed. After a few photobombed pictures, he leaned over and whispered, “Human.” Kate felt her body go rigid as she waited for her orders. “Dig your hands into that faeborn cake and eat it. Make it nice and messy.”

Kate’s smile faded. Her big eyes took in all the cameras, notepads, and cell phones with videos rolling. Only Cress was smiling now.

“Un-real,Cress!” Kate mumbled through tight lips as her body turned and her hand went for the red velvet cake. “I’m going to ruin your life!” she promised. The eating part happened as terribly as she’d feared.

A moment later, she stared at an ogling crowd with icing and red velvet cake crumbs covering the bottom half of her face and stuck in all the cracks of her teeth.

Cress watched from the back with his arms folded and a satisfied smile on his face. Lily and Greyson suffocated through fits of giggles by the wall.

“I mean, I should intervene, right?” Greyson didn’t even whisper it, and Kate glared over at her brother. His cheeks were red. “I should stop Cress… but this so funny!” he said.

Lily was no help, either. She put a hand over her mouth and turned her head away, but it didn’t hide her giggle-snorts at all.

“Lily,” Kate tried, but opening her mouth only made the journalists snap more pictures with her horrid, cake-filled teeth showing.

“I’m worried that once people read her book, they’re going to remember how she attacked that cake and realize that everything in the book is true,” Greyson whispered to Lily, avoiding Kate’s pointed gaze.

Lily sighed when she got a hold of herself, and she shot Kate a smile. Kate didnotsmile back.

“No, they won’t,” Lily said. “No one would ever believe any of this was real.”

Shayne bit his lip over a ridiculously wide grin. He was the only one who cast Kate a somewhat sympathetic look. Moody Dranian sneered like this moment was the revenge he’d been waiting for his whole life.

Kate’s hands were clasped tightly when Cress sauntered through the journalists and joined her at the front again as if he just couldn’t stay away from the spotlight.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why this scribe made such a mess.” He addressed the crowd like he was the natural born ruler of Toronto. “Well, I asked her to, and she can’t resist me.” He turned to Kate with a wicked smile and flicked a spongy lump of cake off her chin before leaning to plant a light kiss on her sugary mouth.

Kate grabbed his collar before he could pull away, holding him there, and Cress’s eyes flashed open as their lips fought for a split second.

The Prince tore back, staring at Kate with round, turquoise eyes. His hands were balled into white fists at his sides.

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