Page 12 of The White Stag
“That’s my girl,” Finnan said. “I also made a smoothie with Unseelie fruits.”
“You didn’t make me a smoothie,” Oisin said.
“Go chug yourself. You know where the blender is.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“Where in the fucking hobgoblin manual does it say I’m supposed to be nice?”
“Shut up. There’s no such thing.”
“Sure is. They teach it to us in little hobgoblin primary school, and then they give out pamphlets when you move in with one of us. Didn’t you get yourHow to love and care for your hobgoblinpamphlet? Someone was slacking when they paired us up.”
“You can be a total knob sometimes.”
“Hobgoblin. Hello? I cooked enough for everyone. I just didn’t make you a fucking smoothie. Dinnae get your knickers in a twist. When have I ever let your arse starve?”
“If you want a smoothie, get your ass in the kitchen and make one,” Cyrus said. “Finnan is wired only to be helpful to a point. Honestly, you got lucky he just didn’t make us smoothies instead of serving us something he fucked with.”
“Excuseme, but I’m a Bauchan, not a Boggart. I don’t mess with people’s food.”
I smiled to myself. They weren’t fighting; this was how they were when I was younger, and I missed this. I also had fond memories of joining in on the ribbing.
“You messed with Alastair’s food,” I pointed out.
Finnan stuck his tongue out at me.
“Traitor. Alastair doesn’t count. I’ve wiped dangleberries off my arse with better personalities than he has.”
“Gross, Finnan. But you aren’t wrong. I’m going to take my meal in my bedroom. I have to check in with Estrella,” Cyrus said.
“Well, get on with it, since I’m not getting a smoothie.”
“This is amazing food, Finnan. I love it.”
“Eat up, and we’ll take you on a property tour. You can go outside here whenever you fucking want to. We can also swim in the pretty waterfall at the back of the property.”
My face lit up. I adored swimming and didn’t get to do it very often growing up. Alastair didn’t have a pool, and the gynecologist he took me fed me this line that soaking in the bathtub would give me some kind of internal infection that would require surgery. But, of course, Alastair didn’t like it when I did that, and I was pretty sure it was all horseshit.
“It’s a date.”
Cyrus
Estrella was fiercely protective of Reagan even before she knew Alastair was making plans to steal her and try to groom her into some obedient wife. We were supposed to give her daily updates while Reagan was in the mortal realm. That increased once she was taken. Now that we had her, Estrella would want to hear Reagan speak for herself.
She was expecting to see Reagan over webcam sometime today, but she would have to deal with me first. I’d never lie to Reagan again after us letting her think she was mortal fantastically blew up in our face, but I needed to play intermediary here. When Reagan was young, she wasn’t afraid of anything, but she seemed intimidated by the idea of meeting her mother.
I got it. We were honest about how fierce Estrella was, but we perhaps spent too much time talking about how the Seelie feared her and what she would do to Alastair. All of that was true, but what weshouldhave been telling her was what an amazing, kind, and caring queen she was. She took care of her citizens.
After speaking with us intensively, Estrella handpicked all three of us for this job. She didn’t give a shit that Oisin was Seelie either. No one would have questioned it if she had picked three Unseelie for this job. She spoke thoroughly with Oisin and decided he was the best for protecting her daughter. After I met him, I got it. Even Finnan and all the drama that came with him was perfect for this team.
Estrella looked nervous but tried to hide when she came on the screen. She was just as intimidated by this meeting as Reagan was for different reasons. First, finding out you aren’t human and your mother is a queen had to be a mind fuck, even if she was hiding it. Second, I knew precisely why Estrella was nervous. She blamed herself for everything Reagan went through, and she would have to look her daughter in the eye and tell her that.
“Where’s Reagan?” she demanded.
“Finnan is cooking obscene amounts of food for her. He made her an Unseelie breakfast, and the idea of centaur cheese weirded her out at first, but she tried it and loved it. She’s finishing up breakfast, and then they are going to show her the grounds. You know Alastair was only letting her outside for an hour a day. I think she’s terrified of you.”
“What the fuck did you tell her about me, Cyrus?”
