Page 48 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“It is cruel of you to ask,” Dranian said. “We do not speak of where we come from once we join the Brotherhood and serve the Queene—”

“I grew up rich,” Shayne cut in. “I’m a Lord by birthright. But my brother took the family title after I kept getting into trouble. Dranian was hired by my parents as my fairyguard when I was twelve faeborn years old, but he couldn’t keep me out of messes, hard as he tried.” Shayne dragged a huge crossbow from beneath the counter, and Kate’s eyes widened. “So, my parents disowned me and sent me off to the High Court who hired me to kill Cress. The Prince.”

Kate raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Looks like you never managed to do that,” she remarked. “Too bad for me.”

Mor released a quiet grunt from the window.

“Oh, I tried. I hid behind one of the seven thrones and attacked the reveredPrinceCressicaduring a High Court meeting. We fought until we bled, right before the High Court of the North. The Prince put me at sword point, and the Court instructed him to kill me for failing my task. But Cress refused and scolded them for wasting my talents.” Shayne rubbed his thumb over the loaded arrow in the crossbow as he smiled to himself. “I’ve been supplied with the most excellent weapons and training since I was a childling. It’s why I’m the best assassin in this room.” He glanced at Dranian like he dared him to challenge it, and Dranian snorted.

“Right. Well, I guess that tells me Dranian’s story too then,” Kate said.

Shayne and Dranian exchanged a look, but neither of them objected.

“I only have one more question.” Kate clutched her sweater tighter, picking at a loose piece of yarn. “What happens if youdon’tkill me?”

Shayne laughed like that wasn’t a plausible outcome. He set his crossbow on the counter with a loud thud.

“We can’t return home with an incomplete task. If we fail, we’ll be executed,” Mor said from the window with a low voice.

The sweater slid from Kate’s fingers and fell to the floor. “E… executed?” All the hope drained from her body. Her knees weakened and she grabbed the edge of the counter so she wouldn’t crumple.

“We won’t fail,” Shayne promised, his grin turning wicked. “There’s no assassin in any Corner more deadly than Cress. And there’s no creature more cunning than a fairy. We love to manipulate and crush small human minds.”

Kate glanced over at the mess of coffee filters doubtfully. She cleared her throat. “Anyway”—she picked up the trash can and swiped everything off the counter into it—“there are some human rules of common courtesy when you’re in someone else’s home. For example: if you make a mess,” she turned to face the fae, “then clean it up—”

Before the last word left her mouth, three muscular assassins were moving through her kitchen, grabbing cloths and brooms, and scrubbing the floor and countertops. Kate watched in amazement, even when Dranian snarled at her for getting in his way. She shouldn’t have let it go on as long as she did, but she was too surprised to intervene as the apartment began to shine in a matter of minutes.

Kate’s phone rang, cutting off her fascination. She answered it without taking her eyes off Mor picking grinds of coffee off the counter with his bare fingers. Shayne soaked a cloth at the sink and began scrubbing the window where Kate hadn’t even noticed coffee had splashed.

“Yeah?”

“Where’d you go? I thought we were going to talk about where to list our barista job posting this morning.” The urgency in Lily’s tone told Kate that the reason she called had nothing to do with the job posting.

“Right…” Kate watched Mor give up and use his jean jacket sleeve to wipe up the coffee grinds.

“Come back to my placerightnow, Kate.” Lily’s voice sounded dry.

Dranian began washing the mugs, drizzling dish soap over them like honey on bread. The suds overwhelmed the cups.

Kate watched, mind spinning.

“You know what, Lil,” Kate said. “I have a really bad idea.”

The air smelled of flaky pastries and freshly crushed coffee beans. Mor got the fireplace going in the corner and singlehandedly unpacked and put together all the bistro tables that were left. He scowled about it at first, but after a while, he got into a routine and had the place set up in less than an hour. Shayne arranged stir spoons into spare mugs along the counter, and Dranian practiced brewing on the coffee machine in the corner.

Mist hovered in the streets outside, making the café feel warmer and the hot coffee scent more alluring. But a beam of light broke through the clouds, glowing against the sparkling café windows and showcasing Lily’s tight expression as she marched to the front door. It swung open with a clang and her hair fluttered in the wild wind.

“Un-real, Kate!” she shouted. “Are you out of your mind?!”

Dranian stopped scooping ground coffee from the tins. Shayne continued smoothing down his barista apron as he studied his reflection in a spoon.

Kate rushed to Lily. “I can’t decide if this is brilliant or terrifying,” she admitted with an unusual, horrified grin as she jutted her thumb toward the fae.

“It’s terrifying!” Lily assured, folding her tattooed arms. “Can I have a word in private?” Her gaze darted back to Mor lifting a heavy box to the counter. He glared right back.

“We’ll probably be able to hear you even if you go outside,” Shayne said as he rubbed a smudge off the spoon. “We have very sharp hearing—”

Dranian smacked Shayne. “Why would you tell them that?” he whispered. Mor seemed to fight an unusual smile. He turned his back to them and began unloading mugs from the box.

---