“That’s awesome. I’ve never been kidnapped by a fairy before.”
“I could sense you when I got close. I don’t knowwhoyou are, but you’re associated with the Fae. I can feel it. Our kingsand queens don’t get reincarnated and there are versions of us all over the world, but we can feel our kind.
“Take this. Headmaster Mykene would have given it to you if she’d known. We all have different dietary needs. Shifters eat more meat, vampires need blood, sirens and merfolk need food from the waters, witches need food from nature, and the Fae need food made from seedlings we took from Fairy before we left.”
“Is that why I have diabetes?”
“No, but diabetes became common in Fae when we left Fairy. A lot of the humans that have it have Fae ancestors. You’ll still need insulin and to monitor your blood sugar, but it’s a lot easier to manage if you eat things that originally came from Fairy. We’resupposedto be throwing things in your way, but we can also help if we sense something.
“Honestly, most of you are going to be famous to us, so every year, you’re always more in danger of your competition than us. We’re blowing off steam andmostof us aren’t cruel.”
“Um, you shotarrowsat us. I’m Sage, by the way.”
“Saffron. If Fairies or Elves miss when they shoot at you, it’s because they meant to.”
“Noted. I’m not sure if it’s allowed, but all I know are boys here. They are cute, but that’s probably going to get annoying, eventually. Maybe we can hang out? Also, Liam is unhinged when it comes to me and he can talk to the wildlife here. I haven’tseena weapon and I’m sure Headmaster Mykene had him frisked, but he might still have one. You don’t want to be found with me.”
Saffron just smirked and saluted.
“The ones with that kind of connection to nature are generally unhinged,” she said, zipping off in a blur.
Saffron had helped me a lot. She gave me a big hint about myself and I was pretty sure she’d given me one about Liam, too.I looked into the bag she’d given me. Whatever it was, it was several squares wrapped in leaves.
I hoped we could be friends, but I was glad she was completely out of the picture when Liam came crashing through the clearing.
Ileft Khalid to patch up Lucian, even though the family had me trained on wound care because sometimes you just didn’t want to go to the hospital. I needed to find Sage, and I honestly didn’t give a shit if he got gangrene and lost his dick.
She was unharmed when I found her, but I checked her for wounds, anyway. She was telling me what happened after she got kidnapped as we were making our way back and I stopped her.
“First of all, younevereat food from the fair folk. Nothing is free with them. She’s going to come back and want something because that’s how it works with them. People make deals withthem all the time because they can’t lie, but they can twist it up so their deals always work in their favor.”
“Um, that’s kind of racist. That could all be human propaganda and she said she helped me because she could feel I’m connected to the Fae somehow.”
Well, wasn’t that me putting my foot in my mouth? And that wasn’t human propaganda. That was my Nana’s propaganda. My Da prepared me to take over a criminal empire and my Nana wanted to make damned sure I didn’t trade my first born to the Fae.
“Sorry, my Nana is very superstitious and Irish,” I said, rubbing my forehead.
If I was growing horns, I wish they’d just get here already. It hurt and itched like a motherfucker. Then again, my babysitter when I was a wee lad put on that alien movie when I was a kid and I was into it when it was just a beautiful woman in her knickers on a spaceship, but didn’t like it when things started bursting out of people’s stomachs.
I probably shouldn’t be thinking about that when things were growing out of my forehead.
“You know how everyone met you and was sure you were a trickster, but you kept saying that didn’t feel right?” she said.
“Yeah. And I was right.”
“Saffron said a lot of the things they were picking up as trickster are also common in gods who can communicate with wildlife.”
Wicked.
When we got back, the plonker who ate all our food wasn’t rolling about in pain like he just took an arrow to the leg. I didn’t have Doris, my switch blade, but maybe I could pluck one of the arrows from a tree and stab him with it since the first one didn’t hurt enough.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Khalid said. “I managed to get the arrow out and he justhealed.I used one of the arrows to prick my arm. It’s starting to heal. We have speed healing, but nothing as fast as Lucian.”
Well, that tookallthe fun out of maiming Lucian if he was just going to heal instantly.
“Let’s walk and talk since Lucian isn’t injured,” Khalid said. “We still need to find the first crystal. I don’t know why Lucian scared off the people with arrows, but his eyes glowed red.”
Another reason I didn’t trust him.
