“Oh, please.” The trickster rolled his eyes. “I said I'd let you try to woo her. If you recall, I also said I didn't believe you'd succeed.”
Woo. That's the word Katila had used.
“You're supposed to be helping me! I let you unite our magic in exchange—”
“Now, who's the fool!” The trickster shot to his feet, cutting off Katila. “Cease spewing our secrets.”
Unite their magic? How could the trickster do that?
Katila grimaced. “She will not escape me again. I will make her mine.”
“She has like five billion husbands, you idiot!” The trickster waved toward me. “Your obsession, though understandable, is silly. Give it up already.”
Holy shit, what the hell is happening? Is the trickster a hero or a villain? Maybe he's a villain who thinks he's a hero. I mean, no judgment, I've been there.
“How did you learn the spell to bring a soul from the Void?” I asked.
“Shall we dance?” The trickster pulled me to my feet. “A void dance!” He spun me around as he hummed a tune. “Shall we dance? Da-da-da. Shall we dance? Da-da-da.”
I pushed on his chest and stopped him. “Are you avoiding my question?”
He beamed at me. “Exactly!” Then he spun me so that I fell back onto my seat. “I know a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot!”
“Okay, Mad Hatter. Is it time for tea yet?”
“It's always tea time!” The trickster threw his hands up in the air. “Fetch us some tea, Katila.”
“I am not your servant.”
The humor vanished from the trickster's face as he turned to look at Katila. A chill went down my spine. Had I thought Katila was powerful? This guy was the bigger baddie. It suddenly oozed off him. Then I caught a glint at his throat. Something glowed there. A crystal. It looked familiar. Everything about this guy was familiar and yet, I had no idea who he was.
“Fine,” Katila muttered and trudged off.
“I know you,” I whispered.
The trickster spun my way, pasting on a grin as he did. “You do?!” He clapped his hands. “Who am I?”
“I don't know,” I huffed. “But you're familiar. You keep doing familiar things.”
“Maybe it's because I knowyouso well,”—he tapped my nose—“that it seems as if you knowme.”
“You seem like a nice person,” I said. “So, I'm going to ask you nicely. Please, stop doing this.”
The trickster sighed and resumed his seat. “It's hard to focus on the result in the middle of change. I understand. But trust me, you will thank me when it's over. No more of those human groups bothering you and your family. You'll be strongbut not a threat. And the humans will advance as they are meant to. I have it on good authority.”
“On good authority,” I murmured. In my head, I heard Alaric and Faerie telling me there was another force in my life. “Who? Did someone tell you to mess with me?”
The trickster grinned. “Have faith, Godhunter.”
“Faith. In what?”
“In who.”
“Who?”
“Exactly.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yup, your name is now Hatter.”
