Page 75 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

He glanced across the chessboard at the half dozen pixies who, together, made up his opponent that afternoon. They provided a modicum of challenge for him, but damn it took them a long time to agree on the next move.

He blinked slowly, a dozen times, to keep his eyes from becoming as dry as the candy.

Bridie wandered through with a damp cloth in her hand, waiting for a speck of dust to fall. She stopped and glanced at the board, then scowled at Archer’s shoulder. “I’d be all too happy to launder somethin’ for ye, love.”

There was nothing wrong with his shoulder but a slight wrinkle in his shirt. But knowing how desperate the woman was to keep herself busy, he stripped off the offending garment and handed it over.

She rewarded him with a bright smile, so he volunteered to run upstairs and get more.

“Aye, son! Bring it all!”

He was about to step away, but his opponents failed to hide their glee at being left alone with the board. So he waved Bridie closer. “Sit here, mother. Watch the board. No matter what, don’t look away. Don’t let anything distract you. Pretend it’s a cake that will fall if you turn your head or blink too long. If they so much as wiggle a piece, they forfeit the win.”

Six small faces fell as if he’d stolen their supper. Satisfied, he made his way up the stairs and made a mental note to don another shirt. Someone might mistake him for his brother, running about half naked—

“Professor!”

Archer whipped around, looking for Griffon but instead, he found four small faces emerging from the trees beside Daphne’s door.The Queevnawere hiding in his mother’s house after all.

He inclined his head.

“Ye’re not Griffon Carew.”

“I am not. But I would help if I can.”

“He must be warned. Ye all must be warned.”

“What is it?”

The one in white stepped forward. “Ye promise to warn yer brother? Ye vow it?”

He inclined his head again. “I vow it.”

The four began talking over themselves, trying to decide how to word the warning. It was very much like playing chess with the pixies, and now, reminded of Bridie guarding the board, he suggested the four follow him and explain while he gathered his laundry.

They were too busy debating to listen, so he continued to his room. After pulling a shirt over his head, he removed half the clothes from his closet and drawers, wadded them into wrinkled lumps, and carried a full hamper into the hallway. The four fairies were waiting, but when he invited them to follow him to the parlor, they were aghast.

“We’ll not expose ourselves to those pixie pests!”

“There’s no end to the mischief they’ll cause us.”

“Just need to entrust our warning to the right High Fae and go.”

“Yes, we must go!”

He couldn’t torture his mother any longer and called down the stairs to her. “Mother?”

“Aye?”

“This will take longer than I expected! Go ahead and finish the game for me! It’s their move! And if they win…give ‘em the sea foam!”

Four small heads nodded in approval, then they led Archer back toward the trees, but he wasn’t fool enough to step into them. He set his burden down and stood his ground.

“I need to warn Griffon of what?”

“Of what Moire saw…”

“Ye want me to tell him what Moire saw?” He nearly laughed. It was a phrase used a dozen ways by Fae parents trying to get their children to behave. She was like a gentle boogie man who didn’t take kindly to bad behavior, though no one knew what she might do to a guilty child, just like no one knew what this prophetess of myths, the stuff of legends, actually saw.

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