Page 87 of A Lady’s Guide to Fae Kings

She blinked. “Is that even possible?”

“Not the wish itself, but the magic behind it, unfortunately, yes. It has not been attempted in at least a hundred years. There are bindings, and the Wild Hunt. The Treaty. But it was possible once, and every so often the whispers start again. Magic that powerful should not be wasted, or given away, and so on.”

“Given away,” Pippa muttered. “I’ll remember that the next time a Red Lady comes for me. Or Jenny Greenteeth.”

He nearly smiled at that, and marveled that such a thing was even conceivable. But such was the power of her quiet steadfastness. More magical than any wish. “We have been hunting him for some time. And the Red Grimoire… It’s rumored to be the last record of a spell capable of stealing the wish.”

“He has it. Whoever’s trying to steal the wish.”

“By all accounts, yes. The only edition, as the others were all destroyed. We’ve only managed to summon a few pages from it, and they were at random. We have half a Fae spell meant to enchant a midwife, one on protecting a changeling, and one on the use of mushrooms picked from a ring. Nothing about the wish.”

“Why are you hunting it? Shouldn’t the Wild Hunt?”

“The Hunt punishes oathbreakers; they don’t prevent them from breaking oaths in the first place. If there even was an oath broken. It’s tricky. If the culprit was not part of the Treaty signing, it could be argued it was not their oath.”

“Fae tricks,” she muttered. “Almost as bad as riddles.”

“Aye. But those of us who don’t want to break the Treaty are doing what we can. Without much success,” he added acidly. “Civil war is not good for anyone. And it would interfere with my work at the University.”

“There’s Professor Thorn,” Pippa said. “And you did not know about the curse?”

“No.”

“So if he has the Red Grimoire, as you say, then he must have cursed it himself,” she said. “It would explain the mists coming for you specifically, and the way the magic reacted. It’s not an old curse just woken, it’s recent, that much I can tell you. And the tracking spell I cast for it after you disappeared was activated during the masquerade. Maybe he was there as well?”

“Most of the Fae courts were there, so it’s not unlikely. Still, it’s a place to start.”

“Criminal,” she muttered. “The lot of you.” She poked him in the center of his chest. Hard. “You should have told me all of this earlier.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

She rolled her eyes. Hard. “Lachlan, I’m already Tithed.”

“I’m not safe,” he insisted.

“I can’t roll my eyes at you again, I’ll give myself a headache. So just stop being daft. It’s not helpful. Why hasn’t he come for you directly?” She asked. “He must know it’s you, if he sent the mists?”

“He can’t harm me directly, not during the Revels.”

“Because you claimed a Tithe?”

“Aye.”

“Interesting.” She looked thoughtful. “Can I return to Hallow? If I’m with you, that is? Not through a fairy ring, and without calling the Hunt?”

“It can be arranged.”

She stood up. “Then what are we waiting for?”