Page 83 of How To Tame A Trickster Fae

Outside, one of the dwarves lets out a ululating cry, brandishing an axe at another.

“I don’t have time for their nonsense,” I mutter, pushing past Caelan to the window. “Piper, come here, I’m no good at this kind of magic. I need your help.”

“I knew I should have woken up Velvet,” she says miserably.

“Stop, we have Fenn. And Caelan.” I tilt my head at him. “You smell like magic,” I say.

“Well, that’s part of what I was going to tell you?—”

“Later,” I interrupt, pointing at the dwarves, who are now chasing each other around with various frightening-looking weapons. “I cannot deal with a massacre outside my store before it’s even open.”

“Oh yes, it would be terrible were that to happen outside of business hours,” Caelan snarks.

I take his hand firmly and reach out to Piper, already gathering the spell, the one my mother taught me when I was a little girl and I haven’t had use for in many, many years.

Fenn bounds towards me, stretching up on his hind legs, his paws at my hip.

Piper takes my hand, the magic from the three beings I love most in the world funneling into me in a maelstrom.

Caelan’s power is wondrous, and I marvel at it before the sound of shattering glass pulls my attention back to the pesky dwarves outside.

“Aquavitae, aquamarine,” I pause, forgetting the spell. “Shit. Do the thing we did with the cats when I was a little bean.” I close one eye, hoping that’s close enough, feeling the magic surge out of me.

As one, the dwarves outside scream, stricken.

Instead of the water I tried to summon, a pile of what appears to be horse manure has plopped down in front of my store.

Caelan raises an elegant eyebrow at me, grinning fiercely. “Shit, eh?”

“It wasn’t supposed to do that,” I say glumly.

“I’m going to go get Nerissa.” Piper sprints out of the apartment, Ga’Rek hot on her heels.

“Well, it did stop them from bludgeoning each other,” Caelan drawls, scratching his jawline.

“I covered the street in shit,” I say, gesturing wildly. “I’m not a nature witch, I enchant jewelry. What was I thinking?!”

Caelan purses his lips and one of the dwarves begins cursing wildly, loud enough to wake up the whole town.

I clap a hand over my mouth, but this time, it’s not enough to stop the hysterical laughter from streaming out of it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CAELAN

Nerissa, the spellsmith witch, arrives on the scene and, to my discontent, does not laugh out loud at the sight of all the shit in the street. She reeks of dark magic, and the sensation of it prickles against my skin like needles.

“What do you mean, the inn is magic?” Wren asks for the tenth time.

I press the cup of tea I’ve brought her from her small apartment into her hands. “Drink.”

She does as I say, guzzling the hot beverage like her life depends on it.

Good.

“The inn is old fae magic. I don’t know how, I don’t know what court…” I spread my hands wide. “Hash Beauchamp is a being that… defies everything I know about the Seelie Court.”

Boner, who I brought with me and left sleeping in a basket downstairs, hobbles out of his makeshift carrier and lifts a back leg on the nearest potted plant.

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