Page 90 of Beneath the Cursed Veil

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Lou tilted his head, a slight smirk playing on his lips. “Hello lass, good morning to you too.” Rakish eyes moved from my face down the length of my body, not that he could see much given the cloak. “Rough night? I heard about the dust. Then again, you disappeared with the king and now you smell like winter.” He crinkled his nose in distaste.

“Cut the shit, Lou. There’s no way in the nine realms that you just happened to be in Warwick at the same inn that I’m staying in. So I’m only going to repeat it once. What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Want?”

The leprechaun sighed. “All business with you. Seems getting laid hasn’t changed that.”

My hands curled into fists. I eyed the counter looking for something to stab him with. Preferably something sharp, but I wasn’t choosy. “You sent me on a job that resulted in my being held captive, then worked with my captor to put a magic binding necklace on me—one that I fucking found for you.”

Lou chuckled, seemingly unfazed. “Now, now. You got the necklace off, and by the look of things you should be thanking me for?—”

“Get to the point,” I compelled without thinking.

Lou frowned, but didn’t obey. “That’s not very nice, Meera. It also won’t work. But alas, I’m a busy man so I’ll keep it short. I got a job for you.”

I stared at him. A solid ten seconds went by before I threw my head back and laughed so hard my eyes watered. “You”—I gasped, struggling to catch my breath—”You think I wouldevertake a job from you again?”

He cocked his head to the side, not smirking anymore. “You’ll wanna take this one.”

I snorted. “Yeah, no. Pass. You could offer me a million bucks and I wouldn’t take it.”

Farris appeared from the back room, carrying two steaming plates of food. He set them on the table, eyeing Lou curiously. His gaze dropped the medallion on Lou’s chest, his leprechaun relic. A slight edge entered the jovial man’s expression. “What can I get ya’?”

“Whiskey neat,” Lou said, nodding toward one of thebrown liquor bottles on the shelf behind Farris. “Two fingers. Actually, make it three.”

I shouldn’t judge. There had been a few days over the last few years that I’d partaken in bad choices like drinking at eight in the morning. Most of them had to do with the jobs he sent me on, but it wasn’t something I was proud of.

That said, Lou was a prick and deserved to be judged.

“What?” the leprechaun said, lifting a black brow to provoke me. “Got something to say Meera the Mighty?”

I rolled my eyes and then glanced at Farris with a polite smile. “What do I owe you?”

The innkeeper patted the counter gently. “Yer boyfriend paid me triple the room rate. We’re square.”

I nodded, thanking him for breakfast. Without looking at Lou, I got up and started to walk away.

“Take the case, Meera.” The way Lou’s voice changed stopped me cold. There was no charm to it. It lost its playful luster. Worse? He almost never called me by my name unless it was with the stupid add-on. I was usually ‘lass’ or some cute pet name.

“Why?” I bit out the question.

“Because your sister’s missing.”

Chapter 30

Sadie

FIVE DAYS EARLIER . . .

I sighed and ran a hand through my ponytail, my fingers snagging partway through. Days had passed since I found Meera’s crushed cellphone and her dagger lying on the floor of her apartment. I’d searched up and down the Arcane District. I even went so far as to cross over into Faerie and try to enter the palace. It was useless. The palace had been locked down after the disappearance of the crown prince.

My chest squeezed because I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. Meera went to Faerie the same night he was taken. She was more apprehensive about that job than any other she’d ever taken from that fucking leprechaun. If I could have, I would have stopped her, but the contract she’d willingly agreed to stayed my hand.

I should have put a stop to these jobs years ago.

Now she was gone, and I was no closer to finding her than when I started my search.

Which is why I stood in front of The Witching Hour. The most notorious supernatural hub on this side of the coast. If I couldn’t find Meera, maybe, just maybe, I couldfind her broker who sent her on the hunt that got her kidnapped to begin with.

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