“Just a wee,” he muttered ungraciously, sucking down the ale.Then spewed it out.He examined the bottle with incredulity.“What in demon’s spawn is this stuff?”
“Peasant fare, no doubt.”
“Clearly.”Apparently willing to lower his standards in this extreme circumstance, he drank again.
“And there she is,” Cha declared with satisfaction.
“Who?”
“Big Betty.”She tapped the marcasite channel live.“Heya Goldilocks, Bandit here sliding up on your delightful derriere.How’d I do?”
“Twenty-three minutes,” came the grudging reply.“But I’m deducting five for every person you killed to do it.”
“Then I’m golden because there were zero casualties.”She might have emerged from the womb a criminal, but her disdain for rules didn’t extend to taking lives, not if she could help it.
“Except for my stomach,” the prince said sourly, “which seems to have flung itself into a pit, never to return.”
Dy laughed, a sultry chuckle that Warg echoed in a far less appealing octave.“Been there.What’s your name, pretty one?”
The man glared mutinously at the path-box, clamping his lips shut.Cha sighed, shaking her head.“He isn’t saying,” she answered Dy for him.“I’m calling him Prince Charming.Take a gander.”
Deftly maneuvering Katu into the lane beside Big Betty, Cha positioned her pretty prince into Dy’s line of sight.The sorceress didn’t need to watch the road with her eyes any more than Cha did, but no sense taking chances.Dy leaned out the open window of Big Betty, a few long golden curls whipping out.“Yummy,” she said through the path-box.“But what’s he wearing?”
“Is that acargo transport?”the prince asked, sounding as if he’d identified a rare species of demon spoor, after stepping in it.
Cha ignored him.“You should’ve seen him before he stripped down.”
“Less clothes is definitely better,” Dy agreed.“But you can’t keep him.”
“Aww, moooommmm…” Cha whined dramatically, doing a passable imitation of Phin Jr.
“The answer is no,” Dy replied firmly.
“But—”
“No.Remember what happened the last time you tried to take a puppy on a trip.Giant Jo’s Pit Stop is up ahead and you need juice after that burn anyway.Leave Prince Charming there.Put a sign around his neck if you have to.Surely someone will adopt him.”
The prince tipped his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose between a thumb and forefinger.“What are the odds?”he mused aloud.“Twocrazy women, in short succession.”
“Really the odds enter a much more rational range when you consider we work together,” Cha commented.“What?”she asked when he gave her an incredulous look.“I’m more than a pretty face.”
“She’s got a banging body, too,” Dy commented.“Too bad she plays for the other team.Get that juice, Bandit, and ditch the puppy.I mean it.Beresponsible.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.Will circle back when I’m fed and rid of the excess baggage.”
“Hey!”the prince exclaimed.
“Got that.Be sure to circle up before the BX.Goldilocks out.”Big Betty trumpeted as Katu sped up, leaving their partners behind in a cloud of sifting gray pixie dust.
“I resent being referred to as luggage.Or a sweet dessert.Or a juvenile dog,” the prince informed her.
“Relax,” Cha told him, giving him a last lustful and rueful look.Dy was right, curse her.Prince Charming was tempting, but she had no time to indulge.Nor could she afford any distractions.Chasing the sparkle with pretty men was her great weakness—and tended to interfere with the responsibility thing.“No harm meant.We just keep up the chatter for the ears.”
“Ears?”
She pointed to the path-box.“Anyone can listen.”
He stilled, face going hard in his concern, all vestige of foppish behavior gone.“Anyone?”
