Page 78 of Crown of Tides and Fury

"England. Oxford."

"I thought Scotland. Not far off, then.”

"You don't seem surprised by much."

"I'm rarely surprised. Teleportation, though? That surprised me. I didn't know that was possible, even for powerful witches."

"I think you can count on the fact that Wickham is one of a kind."

"I don't know that the world could handle two men that gorgeous."

"Right?" We laughed, but I could tell by the look in her eye she was building me up for something.

"So...why me? Does he have some patch of land he can't get to produce or something? It's not like I have anything close to teleportation in my bag of tricks. Igrowthings. I talk to the ground. It's all I've got. A little mind reading now and then. Just enough to warn me when a guard has plans for me. Not enough to warn me when I’m about to be arrested..." She shook herself as if shaking off a really bad memory. "So...I'll ask again. Why me?"

"Oh, no. I'm just a flunky. If I try to explain what's going on around here... It's a long story that has to be started at the beginning. So you shower, eat your dinner, and my friends are going to tell you a nice bedtime story...which might just keep you up for the rest of your life."

"Oh, good. I hate boring bedtime stories."

* * *

Rinky meant good luck.She made sure to tell each person to whom she was introduced, but I could tell by the way her voice shook it was just her nerves pushing her to keep up the conversation.

Lucky for her, I had a pair of sweats with elastic at the ankles. It was lucky for her I had a pair of underwear and a bra close to her size that still had tags on them. And lucky for us all that she had an unfeigned positive attitude that was surprisingly infectious.

Her gratitude was also genuine. If she were only given that one pair of sweats and underwear for the rest of her stay, I doubted she’d complain. And as the evening wore on, I began to feel sorry for everyone at that Texas prison who would be missing Rinky’s particular brand of cheer in their lives.

She took immediate interest in Alwyn, even before she knew he was responsible for her dinner. I was surprised, considering there were three other, younger, rather handsome men in the house, and she had yet to learn they were spoken for.

On closer look, she had a few more wrinkles than I expected. So I guessed she was in her mid-forties. Alwyn was sixty, maybe. Just a little younger than Brian and Flann. But he’d definitely caught her eye.

Maybe it was a case of “opposites attract.” Alwyn was the most sober among us--that was, when he wasn't drinking—and Rinky was downright vivacious.

The boys loved her immediately, mostly because they overheard she'd been in prison. With Ivy's permission, our new guest told them all about the injustices she'd fought throughout her adult life and the prices she'd had to pay for them, along with some of the causes she’d fought for.

She’d fought against climate change, deforestation, and plastic pollution. She’d fought for clean water, clean air, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture.

“Fertile land isn’t always the problem. Usually, it’s the corrupt government. And I can’t stomach the fact that people will starve because I was unable to fix the actual supply chains. I had to leave Sudan or resort to violence.”

J.W. perked right up. “What kind of violence?”

When she realized the boys were just interested in fighting and not in her causes, she laughed and gave up, then told them a wild story about narrowly escaping death by hippo. I really hoped she was making it up.

Sounded like hippos were as dangerous as Fae monsters.

Rinky pulled me aside at one point and asked again what she would be expected to give up in order to stay out of prison.

I was resolved not to be the one to explain Wickham’s motives. He might not intend to take Persi’s power from her, but he definitely wanted Rinky’s under his thumb.

"Listen,” I told her, “you can stop worrying about jail. If Wickham was reluctant to return the guard, there's no way he'd let you go back, even if the Governor of Texas showed up at the front door to drag you away. Besides, you heard him. Sounds like we’ve joined your team instead of the other way around.”

* * *

It was elevenat night when Rinky came into the study leaning on Alwyn's arm. We had just gotten familiar with the city of Detroit, Michigan and the three points where Felicity Orley spent most of her time.

Her home, a warehouse, and the offices of Orley Group.

Wickham had stuffed his face with cold pasties, claiming he needed extra energy to pop through so many time zones in a handful of hours, and when he was finished, we left Rinky in Brian and Flann's capable hands so they could begin to explain our little project while we went to collect another...guest.

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