The hubris in her voice made me shudder. “I’m glad I have you on my team, then.”
“You’d better be,” Dum said. “Because here comes a spriggan.” Her eyes darted up to meet mine. “Remember, you’re not you-know-who. Play it cool like you’re a traveler.”
“Afternoon.” One of the three ugly creatures I’d seen before pulled up a chair before I could agree to Dum’s plan.
I leaned back, slightly repulsed. Not only was the guy hard to look at, but his sour smell, strong enough to cut through the scents of fish and beer, made me want to puke.
“You must be new around here,” the spriggan said.
“What makes you think that?”
He gestured down to my feet.
I glanced down at my Converse sneakers.Well, damn.
It wasn’t like I’d planned to tumble into Faerie when I got dressed that morning.
“Just coming back after a long stint of visiting family in the human world.”
“Your demi-fae family doesn’t come here?” His voice was tight, like he couldn’t believe such an insult.
“Nope. This place makes them sick.”
The spriggan leaned back and tented his fingers on the table.
It was a power move I’d seen Xavier use many times. The spriggan was trying to figure me out, while giving the impression that he had everything under control.
I mirrored his actions, which prompted him to arch a bushy blond eyebrow.
“That’s interesting. Most demi-fae jump at the chance to visit the world of their ancestors.” He twisted toward his friends and waved them over.
My stomach sank as they rose from their seats. The spriggan wasn’t buying my story, and wanted to investigate further.
Time to go on the offense.
“I’m sorry, but my friends and I are trying to get a bite to eat.” I gave him a don’t-fuck-with-me smile. “And if you don’t mind, we’d like privacy.”
The spriggan leveled me with his gaze as his youthful lips curled up. “Them’s regal world words for a girl from the human world.”
The pixies gasped at his use of the word “regal”.
Regal?I knitted my eyebrows. How could anything I’d said be construed as such?
“In fact,” the spriggan continued as his friends joined him, “almost seems to me like you’re someone our master would want to meet.”
There was no way in hell I’d go anywhere with this creep.
I reached for my dagger before I remembered I hadn’t worn it this morning when I drove to Xavier’s place.
I refrained from sighing. That was unfortunate, although in no way a deal-breaker. My dagger made things easier, but truth be told, all I needed was my hands and my magic to kill a man.
Although the advantage of surprise never hurt, either—particularly when I was outnumbered.
A little test . . .
I leaned closer to the spriggan, thankful that I’d worn a low-cut shirt and a good bra that day. “It seems like you’re threatening me.”
As I’d hoped, the spriggan’s eyes flitted to my chest for a second. There was interest in his gaze, and considering that his face looked so young, it was pretty disgusting. But I couldn’t let this fae’s appearance hinder me. He might have the face of a child, but in body, he was grown.
