“Please.” He waved a hand as if it wasn’t his first rodeo. I showed him my teeth.
He snarled back at me. “This isn’t your business, demon.”
“It is now.”
“So, you’ve brought up Mere’s past, made her relive it?”
“I need to know all threats. You know that.”
He merely shook his head. “That threat is taken care of. You want to do something about threats? Handle the loan shark.”
“Oh, I will.”
Orin nodded as if I’d finally done something useful. I had the weirdest urge to grin. No, we’d never be friends, but at least we were on the same page when it came to Meredith’s safety.
But I had more questions.
“What are you doing here? Working for Mere? Don’t tell me you enjoy pouring drinks.”
He raised one eyebrow. “I do. And even if I didn’t, I owe Mere.”
I gave him a look. “You took care of a body for her. I’m relatively sure that makes you even.”
“What would you know, demon?”
Curiosity burned in my gut. Ineededto know exactly what Mere had done for this fae male and why he was still working for her.
He shook his head at my stubborn silence as I waited him out. “I don’t know if I should take pity on you or leave you hanging.”
“Take pity on me. Please.”
“A demon who says please? And I thought I’d seen everything working here.”
I stared at him. He laughed.
“Fine. My father is kind of a big deal in our realm. One of the king’s cousins. As such, there are expectations for all of us. Expectations to make the most politically advantageous match.”
“You came here to escape a mating?” That was much less interesting than I’d imagined.
“I came here to escape a mating to a woman.”
He waited for me to get it. I raised one eyebrow. “You prefer men.”
He nodded. “My father didn’t care. He told me to mate with the princess, sire a few heirs, and take lovers on the side. I told him that wasn’t the future I envisioned for myself.” Orin shrugged. “When he realized I wasn’t going to fall in line, he kicked me out. And he had our king ban me from our realm.”
I gaped at that. “He had you banned from yourrealm?”
“Oh yeah. The female he wanted me to mate with is young, kind, and beautiful, and she deserves to be with someone who will only wanther. So, I left, spent some time traveling this realm and made some investments that did well.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you work here.”
“I met Meredith before her father returned.” His mouth tightened. “I stopped in here because I’d heard rumors about a witch who was trying something new. She was allowing everyone and anyone to drink at this place, calling it ‘neutral territory.’ I wanted to get a look at it. Figured it was destined to fail.”
“I’m sure a lot of people figured the same.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I’d had a bad day. I’d just learned my younger brother had agreed to mate with the female my father had wanted for me. They’d never met, and I figured it was my fault for leaving him and not looking back. I was guilt-stricken at the thought of him living in the loveless mating I’d escaped.” He shrugged. “I was drowning my sorrows when I looked up, and there was Mere. Hands on hips, ordering a redcap to get the fuck out of her bar.”
I winced. Redcaps were vicious, homicidal little maniacs. And where there was one, there were usually another ten.
