by Quinn Loftis
“Sometimes the more outlandish the tale, the more believable,” Lilly said. “At least it was for the girls.”
Peri snorted. “I can only imagine what Jacque, Jen, and Sally got into when they were younger.”
“My life was never boring, that’s for sure,” Lilly said, remembering all the escapades her daughter and her two tag-alongs got caught up in.
“As much as I’d love to go down memory lane with you—”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Lilly laughed.
“You’re right. The past is boring. How about you tell me who has been in here?”
Lilly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Only if you promise not to move from that spot on the couch. You cannot freak out. You cannot do anything but sit there.”
“I don’t freak out,” Peri said, indignant. “I’ve never freaked out.”
“Sometimes you do. And, as you so helpfully pointed out, my bedroom has no property damage. I’d like to keep it that way. Promise me, Peri.”
After a full minute, Lilly knew because she counted, Peri finally nodded.
Here we go. “So, yesterday, I had a djinn and a fae, as you already ascertained, request a parlay.”
“Stop,” Peri said, holding up her hand. “Don’t bullshit me. They didn’t request anything. And don’t say words like ‘parlay.’ It’s the twenty-first century. They flashed their magical asses in here. I know the signature of magic, Lilly. If they had requested a ‘parlay’”—she made air quotes around the word—“then they would have knocked on your front door.”
“We don’t really have a front door,” Lilly pointed out. “It’s a mountain.”
Peri narrowed her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Okay, fine. They flashed in.”
“Aaaand…”
“They tossed a lame shot of power at me, which I totally was ready for. So I ‘zapped’ them, as you like to put it”—now it was Lilly who made air quotes—"which they totally blocked, and then we were like ‘hey, let’s be besties.’ And there was cotton candy and girl talk. We made a pinky promise, and then they left.” Lilly spoke so fast that some of her words simply ran together. She sounded ridiculous. She knew it. And she had no idea why she just compared her meeting with Myanin and Tenia to a thirteen-year-old girl’s birthday sleepover. She claimed insanity. That was going to be her go-to card from now until hell froze over.
Peri sat there, still as a statue, staring at Lilly as if she’d lost her damn mind, which, to be fair, she kind of had. Also, she had gone over and over in her head how she was going to tell Peri what had happened, what she’d done, with the whole blood oath thing, and she couldn’t envision a scenario where the high fae didn’t flip out.
Peri examined her nails, as if they weren’t perfect like the rest of her. Lilly wondered if she was counting backward from one hundred to calm down so she wouldn’t zap Lilly’s ass. Probably. Peri’s eyes rose to look at Lilly. Okay, she was definitely counting and trying not to zap. That was good, right? Peri actually showing some restraint.
“I’m going to speak very slowly.” Peri leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. She was wearing a pair of black cargo pants, a dark tank top, and a black jacket. The ensemble didn’t fit the high fae’s personality, or at least Lilly didn’t think so, but lately she saw Peri in nothing but black. Like she wanted to make sure she was ready for a fight at any moment. “Lilly!”
Peri’s sharp tone snapped Lilly from thoughts about the fae’s clothing. She looked back at Peri’s face. It was not a happy face. “I’m listening,” Lilly assured her.
“I’m going to speak very slowly,” Peri said again. “I can only assume, based upon what you’ve just told me, that you’ve lost your ever-loving mind. That’s understandable, considering the events of the past month. Generally, when I need crazy people to cooperate with me, I threaten them with bodily harm. If that doesn’t work, I follow through with the threat. Are you with me so far?”
Lilly nodded. What else could she do? She did not want to be turned into a rug. “Bloody fae balls!” Lilly yelped and jumped from her seat. She turned around to look where she’d just been sitting and rubbed her backside. She gaped at the offending couch cushion that had somehow just tased her ass, literally, the impact concentrated somewhere on her left cheek.
“That was not as satisfying as I had hoped it would be,” Peri said dryly.
Lilly turned around to glare at the woman sitting across from her. The fae looked bored to tears. “Did you just zap me?” Lilly growled.
Peri shrugged. “I did warn you I was in a zappy mood.”
Lilly was still frowning as she sat back down. “I didn’t expect you to actually do it.”
“You should know me better than that by now. That’s on you.”
The smugness in Peri’s voice grated on Lilly’s nerves like nails on a chalkboard. Before she realized what she was doing, little bolts of electricity flowed between her fingertips. She flicked her hand toward Peri, who was once again looking at her damn nails. Apparently, the fae had not expected the queen to retaliate. The bolt hit Peri on the back of the hand she was admiring. Peri squawked. The sound caused Lilly to smile—a genuine smile—for the first time in three weeks.
“Did you just zap me?” Peri looked from the back of her hand to Lilly.
Lilly shrugged. “Maybe.”
The gleam in Peri’s eyes was, well, creepy. Lilly knew another bolt was coming. She turned and climbed up and over the couch just as a sharp pain smacked the back of her thigh. “Dammit,” she snarled as she landed on the other side and stayed crouched, using the sofa as cover. Both her hands danced with her magic as she lifted her head just enough to see over the couch. Peri was still sitting there, glaring. Lilly decided to try something new. Instead of a direct attack, she simply pictured where she wanted to hit Peri with her magic and then let it fly.
“Lilly Pierce!” Peri bellowed.
Lilly couldn’t help but snicker. “What?” she asked innocently. “Did the seat cushion bite you as well?”
“If you left a mark on my perfect ass, my mate is going to be thoroughly put out.”
“Then I guess his mate needs to learn who she can and cannot zap.” A second later, Lilly felt a bolt of power hit her own butt again. “Mother trucker,” Lilly said through gritted teeth.
“If you want to play, queenie, then let’s play,” Peri purred. “I’ve been zapping asses a lot longer than you have.”
Lilly pictured Peri’s thighs as she held up her hand and pushed out her magic. Peri cursed. At the same time, Lilly felt the bite of whiplike pain against both of her thighs. Why the hell was she crouching behind the couch? Just like her, the fae could obviously hit Lilly, even when out of sight. Lilly snapped to her feet and backed up, holding both hands in front of herself.
Peri’s eyes glowed faintly. She tossed a ball of light back and forth between her hands, a wicked smile on her face. “Let’s play.” She threw the ball at the queen.
Lilly held her hands up, the bolts of electricity catching the ball like an insect being caught in a spider’s web. She stared at the ball hovering in her lightning web and grinned. She shouldn’t have taken time to revel in her minor victory. A second later, something cold and wet hit her in the forehead. Lilly was so surprised that her hands dropped. She looked down at whatever had splattered her. Snow? She raised her head and found a smiling fae, holding two more snowballs in each hand. “Snowballs?”
“I could have conjured some other type of balls to throw at you,” Peri taunted. “Be happy I just went with snow.” Then she launched the other two faster than the human eye could track.
Lilly threw her hands up, but she wasn’t fast enough. One hit her in the stomach, and the other smacked one of her legs. She was pretty sure snowball production wasn’t one of her newfound powers. And before she could even think to try, a barrage of them hit her, one after the other. Within seconds, she was drenched and cold. “Okay, okay! Dammit, stop with the damn snow already
.”
“Are you going to tell me the truth?” Peri’s tone held a clear warning. Lilly had no doubt she’d be buried in an avalanche if she didn’t.
“Yes, fine. I’ll tell you the truth.” Lilly knew she probably sounded like a pissed-off teenager who’d just been caught sneaking in after curfew. She kind of felt like one, too. Peri snapped her fingers. Immediately, Lilly was dry. And instead of the jeans and T-shirt she’d been wearing, she was now adorned in an outfit almost identical to Peri’s, except she wore a puffy vest instead of a jacket. “Why, thank you, Mom, for dressing me.”
“You’re welcome, child. Now sit your adolescent ass down and spill your guts.”
Lilly sulked back over to the couch and sat. She took a deep breath and blew it out, causing her cheeks to puff out. “So, I had just gotten off the phone with Jacque—”
“Thank the goddess you finally called her,” Peri mumbled.
Lilly narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to let me tell you this without a running commentary?”
“Maybe, but I can’t promise. Sometimes the crap you say requires commentary. Carry on.” Peri made a motion with her hand.
Lilly ignored her irritation and continued. “I felt them the minute they flashed into the room. It was a female fae and djinn.”
Peri sat up straight and leaned forward. “A female fae and djinn, as in, the djinn was female as well?”
Lilly nodded. She knew Peri would immediately know it was Myanin. There was only one female djinn, that they were aware of, that was currently wandering unsupervised in the human realm.
Peri didn’t relax back into her seat. She pierced Lilly with her sharp gaze and waited for her to continue.
Lilly recounted the entire visit. “And then they left,” she said as she ended what had turned into an hour-long explanation because Peri kept interrupting her every ten seconds to ask questions. Lilly felt like she was being interrogated, which in all actuality, she was, because… Peri. Explanation enough.
Peri rose up and paced the room. Her body glowed faintly as she muttered under her breath. It was refreshing to Lilly to see someone else look as crazy as she’d been feeling. She felt her lips turn up in a smile. When Peri’s head whipped around to look at her, Lilly’s smile slowly dropped.
“Why the hell are you smiling?” Peri asked. “What could you possibly have to smile about? You made a bloody blood oath with a murdering djinn. A djinn who is currently being hunted for said murder by her people to be tried and sentenced. Where in any of that is there a reason to smile?”
“To be clear,” Lilly cleared her throat, “the bloody blood oath wasn’t really bloody. As soon as the Great Luna was gone, the wounds healed immediately. The whole thing was quite nice and neat.”
“I don’t give a flying pixie baby how bloody the freaking oath was,” Peri growled. “I care about the fact that you made the damn oath in the first place. What in seven hells were you thinking? I mean, I realize you’ve lost your damn mind. That’s been established. Everyone who loses their soul mate loses their mind. It’s a thing. But I wasn’t about to let you go completely off the deep end. Let you dangle, sure. But I was sure I could pull you back before it was too late. But nooooo, what do you go and do? You get a running start and then leap, arms spread as if you think you’re about to sprout wings and fly. But you’re plummeting to your very painful and messy demise.”
“It’s not that bad, Peri,” Lilly said, although she was second guessing herself now that Peri, the very powerful high fae, was acting as if Lilly had just made a deal with the devil.
“Really,” Peri said slowly, crossing her arms in front of her. “Pray tell, queenie, what exactly about this very serious, very permanent oath you took isn’t that bad?”
Lilly opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Finally she blurted, “Cypher said to trust my gut. I’m trusting my gut.”
Peri lifted a brow at her. “You’re trusting the intestines inside of you that process your food, drain it of nutrients, and then push it out as fecal matter?”
“Okay, that’s disgusting and completely not necessary. You know what I mean.” Lilly exhaled. “Did you miss the part where I said the Great Luna herself blessed the oath?” Lilly held up her hand and showed Peri the half-moon that had appeared on her palm. “Oh!” She jumped up and ran over to the vanity. Lilly was sure she looked like an absolute idiot, but she didn’t care. She had another ace up her sleeve. “I also have these,” Lilly pointed at the vanity, then froze. “What the hell?”
Peri walked over and stared down at the spot Lilly indicated. “Perfume bottles in various assorted sizes and colors that mask the odor of your desperation?”
“Dammit, they were just here,” Lilly snapped.
“What was just here?” Peri sounded as interested as a dying walrus. Because Lilly knew what dying walruses sounded like, and she was sure it was Peri’s voice right now.
“The fae stones.”
Peri was quiet. When Lilly looked at her, she saw the fae’s eyes were momentarily filled with surprise, but it disappeared a second later. “Uh-huh, right.” The high fae started pacing again. A minute later, she disappeared.
“Well, okay then.” Lilly sighed and went back to the couch. She sat there wondering what the heck she was supposed to do now. Where the hell had the stones gone? And where the hell had Peri gone? She didn’t have to wonder long about the latter. Peri flashed back into the room, but she wasn’t alone. Lucian, her mate, was with her, along with Gerick, Lilly’s general. “Hello, gentlemen,” Lilly said as she stood. Gerick looked confused, while Lucian just looked ticked off.
Peri started speaking rapidly, recounting to the two men what Lilly had done. In less than five minutes, both men were cursing and glaring at Lilly as if she’d tossed a bag full of puppies into a raging river.
“You just had to throw me under the bus,” Lilly said, mimicking Peri’s glare.
“Your general needs to know these things,” Peri replied.
“And your mate?” Lilly pointed at Lucian.
“He’s here to keep me from strangling you.”
“Good to know,” Lilly said. “I swear to you, Peri, the stones were here.”
“I actually believe you about that,” Peri admitted. “The stones tend to show up when they feel like it. But if they left, that might not be a great sign.”
“Fabulous,” Lilly muttered.
They stared at each other, neither willing to back down. After at least two minutes, Lucian stepped in between them. “It’s done,” he said in his deep voice, his thick accent giving the words an ominous ring. “There’s nothing to do about it now except prepare for the possibility that Myanin is actually willing to die for the Order’s cause.”
Lilly shook her head. “She’s not. I’m telling you. She doesn’t want to work with the Order. They were a means to an end, but something has changed her. She’s not the same person she was when she killed her elder.”
“Really?” Peri said. “Because I’ve always found once a murderer, always a murderer.”
“You’ve been around long enough to know that isn’t a fair statement, Peri,” Lilly challenged. “People can change. Especially those who’ve been visited by the Great Luna.”
“Tenia, I can understand,” Peri continued, as if Lilly hadn’t said anything. “I mean, they have her kid. Of course, she’s going to cooperate with them, but Myanin went to the Order of her own free will. She not only killed the elder but took her power and fled to the human realm. Now, suddenly, she’s had a change of heart? I’m not buying it.”
“So you’re telling me you don’t trust the Great Luna, the goddess who created all of us and cares for every single one of us and has our best interests at heart? That’s what you’re telling me? Not to mention, the stones that go where they’re needed were here. And who knows? Maybe they’re just hiding because they don’t want to see your grouchy ass.”
“Don’t get preachy with me, queenie,” Peri said through gritted
teeth. Her hands were fisted at her side as if she were desperately trying to keep herself from zapping Lilly again or throwing more snowballs.
“I’m just trying to get you to stop for a second and examine all the facts. You’re thinking with your emotions. Stop. Consider everything I’ve told you. Everything, Peri. Then tell me what you think.”
Peri stared at her mate. No doubt they were speaking to one another through their bond. Lilly turned to look at Gerick. His large form leaned against the wall, arms crossed and brow drawn low as if he were thinking hard. “Gerick,” Lilly said as she stepped closer to him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away. I honestly believe we are in no danger of betrayal from Tenia and Myanin.”
Gerick raised his yellow eyes to hers. “You said the Great Luna blessed the oath.”
Lilly nodded.
“Then that is enough. We may not understand it, but that’s not for us to worry about. For whatever reason, these two females have been sent to us. We can remain vigilant, but we must trust that the goddess is in control.”
“You don’t mind a female djinn working with you in training our warriors?” Lilly asked.
“A smart general knows when to take instruction. A foolish one lets his pride get in the way, which could get those under his command killed. I’d prefer not to be the latter.” Gerick’s lips turned up in a small smile.
“Thank you.”
“Of course, your highness,” he said, bowing his head.
Lilly turned back to look at Peri who was no longer staring at her mate. Instead, she’d once again resumed her pacing. Lucian glanced at Lilly, and his eyes seemed to say, “Give her a minute.” Lilly nodded and then waited. What else could she do? Peri was a force to be reckoned with. She was not someone you wanted to back into a corner, unless you were feeling suicidal. Then, by all means, shove that fae back and let her slit your throat. She’d do it with a smile on her beautiful face.