Page 82 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“When I thought you were guilty.”

“I am guilty. Ikilled a fae.”

Cress looked back and forth between her eyes. “You’re innocent, Katherine. You wouldn’t hurt a moonbug if it landed on your food.”

Kate chewed on her lip. “Don’t call me that. My name is Kate Kole.”

He almost smiled again. “I’m quite positive by now that it’s not.”

She dropped her eyes. After a second, she broke a piece off the end of her cookie. “You’re not a monster at all, are you?” She stared at the cookie chunk for a moment before eating it. “I think I finally understand why your assassins’ life stories all include you.”

“Not all of them,” Cress said. “Mor’s, maybe.”

“I don’t know much of Dranian’s story, but it seems like you saved Mor and Shayne from bad lives. I’m starting to get the feeling you may have saved more than just them, too.”

Cress pulled his hands below the table. He still hadn’t taken a bite of his cookie. “Don’t mistake me for a hero like the fairy folk in one of your books, Katherine. I’m the devil in most people’s stories. The last, terrible monster they see.”

“Kate,” she corrected. “And no one wants to tell me Dranian’s story. Even you changed the subject when I just brought it up.”

Cress tilted his head, seeming to think about that. “Dranian has an illness,” he explained. “He seizes up unexpectedly, trembles, and can’t breathe properly or think straight. His blood relatives meant to toss him away for it, but instead they tricked a noble family of the North into purchasing him as a childling guard to keep their son out of trouble,” he said.

Kate’s shoulders dropped. “Do you mean Shayne’s family?”

Cress nodded. “Shayne’s father should have cast Dranian out the moment he realized Dranian’s illness. But Dranian was determined to prove he could do what other fairy guards did so he wouldn’t get thrown to the wicked faeborn forests.” Cress flicked a crumb off the table. “Shayne gave him a hard time in the beginning. He stole things, started fights, flirted with the wrong High Lords’ daughters… Dranian couldn’t keep up. But one day Dranian followed Shayne to the childling academy, and the other noble faeborn fools there began beating Dranian when he seized up, forcing his face to the dirt and demanding he kiss their filthy shoes before they would allow him to stand again.”

Kate’s fingers pressed lightly over her mouth, thinking of the look on Mor’s face at the fundraiser when she made Dranian kiss Lily’s shoe…

“So, Shayne went back and broke each of those noble fools’ ribs,” Cress said.

Kate’s jaw dropped. “Shaynebroketheir bones…?”

Cress lifted his shoulder into a shrug. “The healers snapped everything back and the bones melded. But Shayne’s father was so angry, he put cold iron in the bottom of Shayne’s boots and strapped them on with locks so Shayne couldn’t get them off. His feet were bound in them for three days. It’s why Shayne hates shoes now.” His eyes darted back up. “So, you see, Dranian’s story has nothing to do with me.”

Kate wasn’t sure she was still breathing. She’d made the fae assassins wash mugs and mix fall drinks in the café. Suddenly she was sure the only monster here was her. She rubbed her eyes, promising herself she’d never tell the fae to do anything again. “How did Dranian end up with you then?” Her voice was dry.

“He followed Shayne when Shayne’s father sent him off to serve the High Court. Dranian didn’t know I recruited Shayne to the Brotherhood of Assassins. All he knew was that the male he spent his whole faeborn life protecting was on his way to challenge the dreaded Prince of the North to a deathmatch. That moody fool sprang out of hiding and nearly stabbed me through the neck, thinking I’d slaughtered Shayne.” A smile broke across Cress’s face. “Fool.”

“Unreal,” Kate whispered, trying to imagine that. She tapped the table with her fingers. “I think what Dranian has is called panic attacks to us humans. But I haven’t seen him have one yet.”

Cress adjusted himself in his seat. “He hasn’t had one since he’s been here.”

Two men drifted into view across the mall aisle, lingering by the entrance of a clothing store. Their hair was thick enough to cover their ears. There was something slightly off about them; a strange, silent power Kate had seen in only a few guys this last month, including the one sitting across from her.

“Can I confess something super foremost?” she said to Cress in a quiet voice.

“If you want to.”

Kate wrung her fingers as the men’s unusual silver and brown eyes took her in. They looked away like they were pretending to not be watching.

“I totally thought you were making the whole ‘We’re being followed’thing up,” she said.

A funny smile touched Cress’s mouth. “I try not to utter falsehoods. Also, your use of the termforemostis improper and unusual. I know because I write a lot of excellent letters.” Cress glanced at her shaking hands. He reached over, lifted one off the table, and swept to stand in the same motion.

“Let’s keep walking,” he said, grabbing the hunting coat and cookies. “You haven’t shown me how to use those mysterious moving stairs yet.”

Kate followed numbly as Cress headed toward the escalator. “Who are those guys?” she whispered. “The ones following us.”

Cress’s grip tightened. “You would needlessly worry if I told you,” he said.

---