Page 96 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“Let’s throw him to the road in front of a speeding human chariot,” Cress suggested.

“No way!” Kate yanked the ropes holding Ben, but she stopped when she realized they were torn strips of pink fabric. A big, loud moan lifted through the café. “Please tell me these aren’t my bed sheets?” she asked the assassins.

“You keep no ropes here, Human,” Dranian grumbled.

Kate removed the pastry from Ben’s mouth, and he spat a wad of it to the floor. “You—” he started, so Kate stuck the pastry back in. Her cheeks warmed as she wondered how much Ben had already told these fae about how she’d grovelled to get him to lend her money in the first place.

“You can keep this, on the house.” She flicked the pastry in Ben’s mouth, then swallowed and shifted her footing when his eyes sharpened. “Let me go get you your money. I don’t have all of it yet but—”

“That ispreposterous! She’ll be giving you no money,” Cress announced.

Ben released a guttural noise of objection.

Shayne peeled himself off the wall. The assassin drank the last drops of his coffee then turned the precious Fae Café mug over in his fingers. “Shall I go fetch my crossbow to finish this human off?” he asked then held the mug before Ben’s face. “Or should I just beat the human snot out of him with this?”

Kate’s jaw dropped, and Ben’s face paled. Ben shook his head quickly.

“Do we have an understanding then, Human?” Shayne asked, wiggling the mug a little.

White-faced Ben nodded, but Shayne pressed on, “Do you understand what kinds of terrible, tricky, mind-bending, body harming things will happen if you ever come back here?”

“Nothing,” Kate objected. “Nothingwill happen—” Cress wrapped an arm around Kate with his hand smothering her mouth.

“Excellent.” Shayne took a hold of the bedsheet ropes and ripped them all off at once. “See you never, then.” He yanked Ben to his feet by his shirt and half-carried him to the door.

The bell jingled.

Ben was tossed out.

Kate was sure she would faint. Ben wasn’t the sort to let things go, and apparently Lily hadn’t been around to inform the fae of that important little fact. “Where’s Lily?” she asked.

“She read her letter from Thelma Lewis, then she said she had to work. She told us all to leave her alone for a while,” Mor said from behind the newspaper.

“Oh.”

Kate imagined Lily reading the letter from their grandmother in front of the fae, without Kate there. Lily must have felt the same heavy dread Kate had, the same surprise, the same numbness. Kate felt a pinch ofguilt for not being here when the letter was delivered. She thought about calling Lily at work, to tell her to come home, but she wasn’t sure if Lily’s request to be left alone included her.

She spotted her phone resting on a bistro table. The Fae Café social media pages were open. Twelve new posts had been published since yesterday—posts Kate hadn’t done herself. She picked up her phone and scrolled through the photos. One was of Mor staring at the camera with a death glare like he didn’t want his photo taken. The caption below said:

AN INTRODUCTION TO

THE HIGH COURT OF THE COFFEE BEAN

MEET MOR: A HANDSOME, COLD-BLOODED FAE ASSASSIN IN A CUTE BURGUNDY APRON, READY TO STAB YOUR ENEMIES AND POUR YOU A TASTY LATTE AT YOUR BECKONING.

Kate squeaked a laugh and scrolled to the next photo of Shayne modelling beside a whipped drink. She read the caption aloud, “Come to Fae Café where the coffee is hot, and the fairies are even hotter.”

Mor grunted from the corner, and Shayne bit his lip over a grin.

Kate kept reading, “This official announcement has been approved by High King Shayne, ruler of the Coffee Bean High Court.” She sighed through a smile and shook her phone in the air. “I’m totally not over that act you just pulled with Ben, but thank you for this. I needed a laugh today.” Her thumb hovered over the call button as she thought about Lily again.

A police car rolled up outside. Kate lunged to pick up the pink ropes off the floor and stuff them into the garbage can. “Everyone act normal!” she shouted as Lily climbed out of the passenger side. Connor got out, too. “Lily cannotfind out what happened here this morning or she’ll flip.”

“What ishedoing here?” Cress pointed at Connor through the window as the officers walked up.

The café door swung open, and Lily halted. She looked around at the abandoned tables, the empty counter, and the four fae looking off at the walls avoiding eye contact.

“Where is everyone?” she asked. “I was just telling Connor that this place was buzzing with customers.”

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