The trickster laughed delightedly. “That is high praise coming from you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you loveAlice in Wonderland. It's your favorite story. So, it's an honor to be called the Mad Hatter by you.”
I went still. That was not something I talked about a lot. My husbands knew I liked the book, but they were it. There was no way for this man to know about it.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
Hatter's head jerked toward the door Katila left through. “I'm afraid our time is up, Vervain.” He looked back at me. “You are so very . . . Vervain. Very Vervain. You lived up to all my expectations. Thank you for that. And do try to remember as we proceed, that I have the best intentions toward you, VeryVervain. Don't worry about Katila. I'll take care of him.” He unlocked my manacles, then helped me up. “I believe you know the way out.”
I gaped at Hatter as he waved me toward the front door.
Then he winked at me.
You don't have to wink at me twice. I ran.
“Oh, dear, the Godhunter has escaped,” Hatter declared.
A crash came.
“What the fuck?!” Katila shouted.
But I had already reached the tracing point.
Chapter Forty-Four
Very little time had passed, so I traced back to the hotel instead of going home. The room wasn't as bad as I expected. There were some overturned furniture and broken vases, but nothing major. A handful of my friends were speaking with Austin and a group of real police officers. I didn't see the Intare impersonators, so I assumed Austin had sent them off before his coworkers could arrive. The hotel manager was there as well, but thankfully, none of the humans noticed my sudden arrival. They were a little busy dealing with the aftermath of a battle.
But my husbands noticed immediately.
“Vervain!” Viper had me in a hug seconds after I arrived.
The others quickly followed.
“Go home,now,” Odin growled after hugging me. “I need you to be safe.”
“I am safe. He let me go,” I said.
“Katila let you go?” Kirill asked.
“No. He's not the trickster. Another man is working with him. I don't know who he is. But he knows a lot about us. And he says he's doing this to help the human race.”
“What?” Odin scowled. “The human race?”
“I know. It's confusing. He's the one with the Confusion Magic, by the way.” I touched Kirill's fist, locked around the Pasha. “And well done with getting this. The trickster says you should be able to use it.”
“Use it?” Kirill growled, his deep blue eyes glinting with frost. “I don't vant to use it, Vervain. I vant to keep Katila from using it.”
“I know, babe. I didn't mean like that. I meant . . . I don't know what I meant. I'm just trying to get out everything I learned before I forget it.” I frowned. “Because I am! Fuck! I'm forgetting!”
“Is your wife all right, Faerie God?” the hotel manager asked.
Azrael, whose whole body was tense, likely from holding himself back from running to me, said, “She's had a shock. Obviously, she needs me. Are we through?”
“Yes, Sir,” Austin drawled. “I think this is clearly an attack on your person and you cannot be held accountable for it. You've given me enough of a description to start an investigation. Honestly, it sounds as if this is the work of one of those anti-Fey groups. Maybe even those morons who think that faerie was King Arthur.”
“But the hotel!” the manager exclaimed. “Who's going to pay for the damages?”
