Page 119 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

On the third morning, a sliver of light broke into the dark basement as though a door had opened at the end of the hall. A fairy added more logs to the fire. Cress paced back and forth seventeen times, inhaling the heat.

Ice cold water splashed over him.

He gasped and whirled, choking for breath as his gaze settled on a female with long, white hair and deadly eyes. He nearly cursed the name of Levress before he realized it wasn’t the High Queene. He blinked and brushed the water away, getting a good look at Haven for the first time in a while.

“That was refreshing,” he growled through his teeth.

“You needed a bath.” Haven’s song-like voice filled the cell, and Cress braced himself against her lure. The air in the prison turned heavy.

A servant stood on either side of the Princess. One stepped forward and carefully passed something through the gilded bars.

“A wedding gift?” Cress guessed with potent sarcasm. “Did you forget we’re not getting married anymore, you foolish female?”

“It’s your garments for this evening,” the Princess said.

Cress reluctantly took the bundle from the servant and unrolled it to find his leather Brotherhood of Assassins uniform, complete with black garments, navy shell plates, and lightweight pauldrons.

Of course Levress would want him to die in this.

“Leave so I can change,” Cress said, coming right to the bars and standing over Haven. She was a twig-tree in comparison to his size. Perhaps he wanted her to notice.

“I’m currently negotiating a bargain that I thought you might be interested in, Cressica,” she said.

“I don’t care,” Cress promised, and when it seemed Haven would not leave, he decided to change in front of her. She closed her mouth when he slid off his pants. She even glanced away, and Cress smiled cruelly. “I gave you a chance to leave,” he said, pulling on his assassins’ uniform. “And don’t act all innocent. We both know you hand out curses like childling sweets.”

Haven’s eyes rolled ever so slightly. “I’m relieved we’re not getting married, you fool,” she said.

“That makes two of us.” Cress flashed another smile.

“But not for the reasons you think.”

“Enlighten me, then. Allow me to die of boredom before I meet my real fate.”

Haven’s soft mouth twisted to the side; her pale lashes fluttered. “I’ve always seen you as a brother, even though we’re not related by blood,” she said. “I did not agree to our marriage, either. It’s our mother who—”

“Yourmother,” he cut in. “Mymother is dead.”

Haven sighed. “It’smymother who wanted to force this upon me. I despise you, you faeborn monster. It’s true that I’ve never liked you, but that’s only because my mother was more impressed by every faeborn thing you did than anything I ever did. If I had wedded you, Prince, you would have tried to rule over me like she does.”

“Yes. That is what I would have done,” Cress agreed, dragging on his shoulder plates.

“So, I understand the tortures of being raised by Levress,” she articulated, and Cress slowed the clasping of his shoulder buckle. “We have that in common,” she added.

Cress’s gaze flicked up to her sharp, malicious one. “Are you trying to tell me you’ll miss me?” he asked doubtfully.

“I wouldn’t miss you if you were gone, Cressica. But that doesn’t mean I want to watch you die after I watched you suffer alongside me all these years,” she said. “That’s why I’ve invited someone else to this discussion.”

Cress folded his arms. He yanked them free again when Bonswick sauntered down the aisle.

“I will never make a faeborn-cursed bargain with him again!” Cress swore. “Get him away from me before I break these cell bars and destroy you both,” he threatened Haven.

“You’re not making any bargains, Prince.” Bonswick’s silvery eyes darted to Haven. “She is.”

“I’ll marry Bonswick once you’re gone,” Haven told Cress. “I’ll announce the betrothal at dawn. But in return, I’ve asked him to go back to the human realm—” Cress flinched at her words, “—and convince his Shadow Fairy allies that there’s no more reason for them to be there. Perhaps he will steal their memories, or worse.” She glanced over at the silver-eyed fairy. “And then, when he comes back, he will tell our High Court he killed you. We’ve meddled in human affairs long enough. There must be hundreds of broken fairy laws in the air by now. It’s going to start bringing curses upon the Ever Corners if we don’t stop.”

Cress grabbed a gilded bar. He growled and tore back when the disguised cold iron burned his palm. He shook his hand out as he glared at Bonswick. “How can he claim to have killed me himself if I’ll already be dead by tonight? And he’ll do no such thing in the human realm, Haven. You cannot trust him! He wants revenge on me, that is all.”

“He will do what I ask if he wants to be Low King of the North,” Haven said. She turned to Bonswick. “Shall we make a bargain, Lord Bonswick?”

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