I raised my hand.
“Yes, Delaney, they are a thing, put your hand down. And if we receive hate tourists, it is very possible we will lose tourists.”
“Too many of the wrong tourists and we’ll lose tourists? Am I following your logic?”
She flattened her palms on the desk and glared at me like I was just too annoying for words.
“I have a…wager. With Robyn.”
I waited because this was why she had asked me here.
“By the end of the year, we will tally the attendance of our events. Whoever falls short will move.”
“Move?”
“Yes. Move to the other’s town. And work for her.”
The way she said the last part, it sounded like a fate worse than, well, worse than whatever a Valkyrie hated most.
“If Robyn loses she comes here and works for you?”
“Yes.” The glint in her eyes was a sword’s edge.
“If you lose, you go work for her?”
“Yes.” The sword edge dulled.
“For how long?”
“A year.”
“Okay. So we really want to win this.”
She hesitated, and that surprised me.
“We want to win this don’t we, Bertie?”
“I’d rather not work for my sister. I’d rather not live in Boring.”
“But?” I asked.
“But there is some risk of winning bringing too much attention to Ordinary. As you pointed out, the gods do vacation here.”
“Sure, and there are plenty of supernaturals, some more discreet than others. But we’ve always made it work. We’ll make it work this time too, win or lose.”
“Hogan told me what Patrick Baum is,” she said.
“Yeah, he told me too. A leprechaun.”
She studied me. “That doesn’t worry you?”
I shrugged. “I’d rather deal with a leprechaun than the king of hell. Patrick might have some magic and some charm. Some influence on luck—good and bad—but we’ve had our share of all of that and still managed to keep this place on its feet.”
Bertie glanced at Than, and he made a low humming sound.
“You’ve never met a leprechaun, have you?” Bertie asked. “I forget sometimes how young you are.” Then, to Than, “She’s very young.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Very.”
