Page 23 of Just Crumbs

Damn, a girl could get used to this.

His hand slips between my legs, no doubt to return the favor, and I bat it away.

“My clit got bruised enough last night. I am quite good for now.”

A deep chuckle sounds behind me, and I turn to see Gerrit leaning in the door frame, boxers slung low on his hips and thick arms crossed on his sculpted chest. “I’m not apologizing for that, witchy.”

Extracting myself from Hans and trotting over to give Gerrit a quick kiss, I laugh. “Wouldn’t expect nor want you to.”

When I get back from cleaning myself up (again!) and I get my pants slid on, the three of us sit side by side on the couch with Flint in front of us.

“Who’s going to tell me what he says?” Gerrit asks. If I’m not mistaken, I hear a smidge of jealousy in his voice that makes me feel so protective of him.

After Hans promises to tell Gerrit everything Flint says, I lean forward on my elbows to look the familiar in the eye. “Alright, Flint, what do you have for me?”

“Well, first, I apologize for interrupting the coitus between you and Master earlier.”

I laugh, and Gerrit looks at me expectantly, but Hans leans behind me to whisper to the familiar. “Already forgiven, Flint.”

“Next, the forest creatures are talking. They say the Banisher is on his way.”

“How would they know? He just appears in the circle. It’s not like he travels here.” The idea of the Banisher just walking up to the fairy circle is laughable. He’s a horrendously powerful mage. He would not need for a prolonged journey through the woods.

“Whatever he has done in the past, this time, the forest has been made aware of his intentions. He will be here by moonrise tomorrow.”

When Hans relays this message to Gerrit, I feel his large hand tighten on my waist protectively. I do not have time to process what that could mean between us because Flint speaks again.

“They say he is angry and coming to ensure you stay put.”

Wincing, I look between the boys. “He knows you’re here. That’s the only explanation.” Flint nods his large, furry head.

“Yes, I believe the Banisher has been made aware of the presence of Master and Big Boy. There must be a rat telling him things.”

“Did you just use a metaphor?” Hans asks, incredulous. The wolf cocks his head to the side, looking surprisingly confused for a creature that can’t make facial expressions.

“I did no such thing. The home has rats and they are notorious gossips. It’s an easy deduction to make.”

The ridiculousness of the situation takes over, and laughter bubbles up in my throat and spills from my mouth and my eyes. The tears streak down my face, and I fight to get words out through laughter.

“You mean to tell me that a rodent has been feeding information to my Banisher all this time? That’s why he always seems to know what I’ve been doing since his last visit?” I don’t wait for an answer from Flint. I fall into Gerrit’s lap, hysterical laughter and tears pouring from me simultaneously.

He pats my head awkwardly, and I hear him whisper to Hans, “What do I do here?” Hans grabs me around the waist and pulls me back up to a sitting position, holding my hand tightly before nodding at Flint to continue.

“Finally, your plan to escape the fairy circle will not work.”

Flint’s words knock the laughter out of me, and Hans’s face collapses. “How do you know?” he asks, defeat lacing his words.

“I have been speaking to the fairies.”

“Fairies! They’re real?” I interrupt. I swear the wolf rolls his eyes at me.

“Yes, of course they’re real. Who do you think built yourfairycircle? The Banisher tricked them into doing it.”

I sit back, a little sliver of pleasure that the Banisher is not as all-powerful as I thought he was coursing through me. “So what did the fairies say about getting her out?” Hans asks the critical question I neglected to ask myself.

“The fairies say to leave you cannot touch the ground near the circle. So your burying idea is good, but using the ladder to escape is too close to the ground that will hold you in.”

“We need a tree,” Gerrit says once Hans relays the message.

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