Page 45 of Faerie Fate
I hated the awareness of his grin because it felt so achingly familiar. I hated the way the blonde beauty stared at Mike, practically forgetting that Bronwen and I were there at all.
“You’re welcome. I say what I mean. Mean what I say, most times. Even when I lie.”
Poppy’s smile stiffened my shoulders.
“It’s always good to find a woman with a healthy appetite. And one who knows how to defend it, too,” Mike joked.
Poppy laughed again, her hand moving automatically to her knife. “Defense is my middle name. I’m better with a blade than a fork, let me tell you. I’m a magician with a knife.”
Bronwen interrupted. “What is it that you do, exactly?” She’d found the perfect time to butt in. “You said you’re a bounty hunter. Do you hunt traitors to the crown, or is it more a matter of hire? Of whoever has the heaviest purse?”
Poppy took a sip from her tankard. Her expression, her haunted smile, made both me and Bronwen flinch. Mike appeared to have gotten over his hesitation pretty damn quickly.
“I bring in the people no one else can,” she replied. “And on occasion, I’ve been known to spin a tale or two. The rest of my high points are not appropriate for polite company.”
Mike watched Poppy closely, but not, I suspected, for the same reasons we did. He scrutinized her minuscule movements, all of them graceful and honed. She didn’t so much as blink without a reason for it.
Sylvester returned promptly, carrying a wide tray with four bowls of mouth-watering beef and fat yellow potatoes floating in a sea of reddish-brown broth. Bits of green produce poked up from the bottom of the bowl, something I couldn’t identify.
“Here.” Sylvester set her bowl reverently in front of Poppy and practically tossed the rest on the table. Like he was eager for us to eat and go about our business, our asses only temporarily saved by her interference.
He didn’t want us here. The feeling was mutual.
Poppy drew another handful of small wooden rounds from the pocket of her cloak and handed it off to Sylvester with a slight rattle of chain mail. Her loaded expression told him to keep his mouth shut about whatever he clearly wanted to say regarding our presence.
“It’s on me this time,” she told us. “My pleasure. It’s not every day you meet three fae from the future. Although…” She drew ina breath and plunged her fork into the beef, splitting the meaty piece. “Two of you aren’t pure fae, are you?”
I lifted a hand to stop her from saying anything else. Unfortunately, my fork went with the gesture and splattered broth across the table top.
“Damn, Tavi, watch out.” Mike jerked back in time to avoid one of the spatters, which Noren was only too happy to lick up. “We’re trying to be inconspicuous.”
I might as well not say anything at all. What did it matter?
My chest constricted and I scrubbed at the last bits of broth with the back of my sleeve. “Sorry,” I muttered.
He shook his head. The way he was acting, Mike had already fallen out of love with me. That much was clear. It shouldn’t bother me the way it did. From the moment I met him I’d halfway suspected he’d move on to greener pastures.
Who would want to be with me? Especially now.
There was just something about Poppy designed to draw attention, an inherent sort of magnetism. Even Bronwen was glancing between the two of us like she wanted me to apologize or something.
“I won’t say a word, trust me. Not with the upheaval going on right now.” Poppy shivered, lifting a steaming potato to her lips. “The king is going to war with the pixies. You mark my words.”
She clamped down on the potato and steam belched from her mouth like a dragon.
“Why?” Bronwen asked, scrubbing Noren’s head with her free hand while she ate with the other. “I don’t understand why the pixies would be under attack.”
“Isn’t it obvious? The kingdom wants what they have. Secrets beyond the Seelie and Unseelie courts. A different type of magic fae can’t tap into without their help. But the king doesn’t quite like relying on anyone else for assistance.”
“The monarchy is like that,” Mike said, stirring the contents of his bowl in aimless circles.
Poppy agreed. “They can’t stand to see anyone outside of themselves doing better than they are.”
Mike grinned. “Sounds like you’ve been on the wrong end of a few royals.”
“You could say that.”
The two shared a fond smile again and I wanted to die. Appetite gone, I pushed my bowl away with only a few pieces of meat missing. They turned to sawdust in my gut and my scar gave another ominous throb.
