Page 59 of Sincerely, Secretary of Doom

Cress’s gaze flared when Mor said nothing. “Ask. Me. For. Help.Mor.”

“We have customers,” Kate’s small voice said from where she stood by the wall. Mor hadn’t seen her sneak up.

“Some things are more important than customers, Kate.” Mor articulated it cruelly, like she was daft. It was mean—and he wanted it to be. He wanted every fairy and human in earshot to hate his words. To hate him.

Cress’s eyes narrowed. “Nothing is more important than our customers. That’s the first rule of business,” he bit out.

Mor took a threatening step toward his dearest friend. He rarely used his power of the Dark Shadows, but he did it now, letting the coolness slip over the floor and meet the frost crawling from Cress’s own feet. And Mor said the thing that would seal the deal.

“Stay away from me, Cressica Alabastian. Or I’ll destroy this place with fire magic and shadows.” He flicked a nod at the café. “This is your last warning.”

He took to the air, the colours bleeding around him, the wind scarcely cooling his fire-hot heart.

26

Violet Miller and the Presumptuous Assassin

Loud knocking startled Violet awake. Early afternoon light sifted through the office curtain cracks, patching over the desk where she’d stacked piles of Mor’s research. His written notes covered everything, and Violet had read enough of them that she was sure she could identify his handwriting anywhere. They mixed in with her own notes from the research she’d stayed up late doing online on memory-loss-related fairy folklore.

She peeled her cheek off the desktop. She couldn’t recall exactly when she’d fallen asleep at Mor’s desk—it must have been after midnight. Apart from the knocking, all was quiet. Mor must not have been back from whatever business he’d said he needed to take care of.

The knocking sounded again, and Violet stumbled from her chair as the noise echoed through the cathedral. She rubbed her face, mumbling, “It’s too early for visitors.”

“Don’t open the door for anyone while I’m gone.”Mor’s final words from last night shook her awake as she realized no one should be knocking on the door at all, regardless of the time. Violet blinked the sleep away as she scooted out into the hall, tapped her way down the stairs, and crept toward the large entryway doors as quietly as possible.

“Mor!” someone shouted from the other side. He sounded bored and on the verge of getting annoyed. “Moooorrrrrrrr!” And then, “Mor, I missed all the drama this morning! Don’t you feel even a smidgen bad for me?”

Violet slinked to the nearest window to peer out.

Shayne—the white-haired fairy—stood on the front stairs. He wasn’t in an apron anymore. In fact, he was decked out in glistening black and navy leathers, and acrossbowwas strapped to his back. He was probably sweating buckets in the summer heat, although he didn’t have boots on, at least. He stood on the stairs in bare feet.

Violet sighed. Mor had told her not to open the door for anyone, so Shayne would have to melt out there. She turned to head back upstairs when a wall-rattling knock boomed through the lobby this time.

“I’m not leaving!” Shayne shouted. He began drumming his knuckles against the door to the rhythm of a song Violet didn’t know. A second later, he started singing—loud and painfully off key.

Violet huffed and went back. “I can’t open this door. It’s locked from both sides!” she called to him.

“Ah, hello, pretty Human. Then how didyouget in?” he asked right back, seeming unfazed by the fact that they were yelling through a door.

Violet thought about it. Would Mor really be angry if his friend came in? Shayne was the one Mor had trusted Violet’s life with, so it wasn’t like Shayne was one of the bad guys. “There’s a ladder out back that takes you up to the second-floor balcony. I scaled the eavestrough to the roof after that. Once you’re on the roof you have to be careful because it’s a steep slope, but if you can get to the bell, there’s a staircase below it that leads inside.”

“You did all that?” Shayne’s response was immediate.

“Yes. And in heels, I might add,” Violet bragged. She smothered her smile.

There was a long silence on the other side of the door. Violet thought maybe he’d left to go try out the obstacle course, but he piped up again, “Queensbane. You’re the craziest human I’ve ever met. I think I’m in love with you. Might we share a kiss when I get inside?”

“No!” she stated, though her cheeks warmed a little. Three different fairies had thought about kissing her in the past two weeks. She flung her hair over her shoulder and smirked. Mor could call herPaint Faceall he wanted, but she clearly wasn’t repelling anyone with her looks.

Since Shayne didn’t specifically say if he was going to brave the climb and come in, Violet wasn’t sure if she should wait. She didn’t hear anything clanging around on the cathedral’s roof, so she ventured back to the office. She sat down in the desk chair and dragged her newest version of the upcoming Fairy Post to herself to look it over, worried it would be garbage since she wrote it while she was so tired last night. She had a gift for spewing embellished nonsense when she did midnight writing sprints.

“Human women like me.” Shayne’s voice broke the silence and Violet glanced up from her articles. “But not you. I wonder why.” He was lounged against the doorframe. He’d come in as silent as a mouse.

Violet cast him a look and went back to her paper. Shayne sauntered in and sat on the chair across from her desk, dragging his crossbow off his back and resting it along his lap. Violet tried not to stare at the shining weapon that looked unsettlingly stabby.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“I’m watching you, Human. I’ll just sit here and watch you all day.” Shayne batted his eyelashes.

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