I don’t believe this.“Youhaveto?You fucking have to?Well, I have to too.Corvin is my friend, and I’m not letting a friend be taken to some mythical place.”
“Theodore—”
Theo pulled free of Peter’s hold and moved to stand next to Carl, who paled.Cloudtree raised one glittery eyebrow at them.
“Don’t you even fucking try, Peter.Me staying behind when you do fuck knows what in Faerieland is not in the contract, so there.Carl, back me up here.”
Carl visibly shivered and ducked his head.“I…I…Platonically.”
“This is very much adorable, but we don’t have time to waste here,” Laurette said.“Peter, back to your car, please.We’re going to my place to grab a few things.Those swords, for a start.Then we’ll hop over from there.I have a fairy ring in my garden.”
“We’ll need hammers,” Gertrude said.
“Madam!”Cloudtree sounded shocked.
Laurette nodded.“Hammers’re good.Come on, chop-chop, no time like the present.”He sighed.“Iloathehaving to go on rescue missions on a Tuesday.”
They all started walking, fast, and Peter—typical Peter—fell into step next to Theo, so Theo turned to the Elven lord.
“Which day of the week is your rescue mission day, then?”
Laurette grinned at him.“Wouldn’t you like to know?But I can’t tell you in case you decide to get yourself kidnapped by accident just to get my attention.”
Theo frowned at him.If anyone’s coming to save me, it better be Peter.“Wasn’t planning on that.”
Laurette laughed, the sound more like music than anything else.“That’s what I like to hear, Theo.”
Chapter 17
TheElvenlord’shousewas in the Upper City, and to Theo’s surprise, it wasn’t bile-inducingly ginormous.It was big, sure, but no castle, despite the lord’s title.Instead, the Victorian-style house with cream walls and lavender accents on the rafters sat on the elevated part of a colorful, wild meadow starting about two feet from the winding garden path.
Fruit trees sprouted in the meadow, and the tall grasses and flowers had been mowed only to create paths to those flowers, as well as to a thorny encampment of gooseberries, raspberries, and blackberries.The other houses on this street were neat and manicured, and this wild thing—though it was a curated, calculated wildness—was a breath of fresh air that made a part of Theo feel incredibly gleeful.
“Your abode is small,” Cloudtree commented as Laurette led them up the garden path in long, quick strides.
Theo looked the still-sparkly Fae over.The end of the silver chain around his neck dangled over his shimmery chest, almost reaching to his navel.He didn’t seem to realize he was tempting Laurette to yank on it.“You don’t know when to shut it, do you?”
Cloudtree looked past Peter, who’d made sure to put himself between him and Theo.
“Shut what?”
Theo gave him a look.“Your mouth.”
“Oh.”Cloudtree looked as if that had led to an actual realization.“Is it not customary to comment on a noble’s home here?”
Laurette turned.“Don’t bother, Theo.Slighting Elves is as natural as breathing to a Fae.”
Cloudtree looked shocked.“Lord, I never intended to slight you!I simply meant that your home is small and in keeping with the houses around it.You have matched yourself to the human homes.You adapted.It is… I admire it.”He put a hand to his chest again.“I tried myself with the clothing I chose before coming, but I am not sure that I succeeded.”
Theo snorted.Peter raised a sharp brow.
Laurette walked backward, twirling a strand of his hair around a finger.“This is new.Oh, my.Whatever am I going to do with a Fae like you?One who is sort of trying to be nice but so very bad at it?”
“I…would like to be neighborly.”Theo wasn’t sure, but it almost looked as if Cloudtree was blushing through the glitter.“I will lead all of us to Faerie and to where my stepbrothers reside.”
Theo tightened his hold on his bag and set his jaw.He was ready for that.
“Theodore.”Peter put an arm around him.
