Page 23 of Faking with the Fae King

A scowl tugs at my lips. I despise not knowing things. “What is pizza?”

“The best food ever!” a tiny voice cries as a diminutive woman darts over to flutter in front of my face. “It’s round and flat and delicious!”

“That description could refer to almost anything. What makes pizza so special?”

“Pizza is the best!” the pixie leader says.

“Pizza!” the rest of them scream.

“There’s even sweet pizza!”

As the others repeat their now-familiar cheer, Shadow says, “The humans call those waffles. They’re pretty good for breakfast. Regular pizza is savory and good for lunch or dinner.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘regular’ pizza!” the pixie cries. “All pizza is special! There’s pizza and potato pizza and sweet pizza and egg pi—”

“Youcannotbe serious.” I glare at the werepanther. “Ferndale Falls needs a bakery, not a pizza eatery.”

“The rumors are true! You really are a meanie!” The pixie shakes her finger at me, her scowl as fierce as any of mine but so tiny it softens the menace. “No one should live without pizza! That’s evil!”

“Humans love pizza.” Shadow shrugs, setting his long, silver-tipped hair swirling. “They’re the ones who invented it. It’ll be a good eatery for the town.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. Goddess, this isn’t what I want. Who does a man have to maim to get a decent roll of bread?

“Look at it this way.” Shadow grins. “Your people were historically horrible to pixies. You owe them one.”

“We employed them,” I snarl.

“You trapped us in lanterns,” the little leader shrieks, her wings moving so quickly in agitation they blur. “All the stories say so!”

“You make excellent lights.”

“You take that back!” A tiny sword appears in her hand, the silver blade glinting in the sunlight. Her flock bristles behind her, sparkling as they brandish their weapons.

My shadows writhe under my skin, and I grimace as I fight to contain them.

“My, my, you certainly do have a way with people.” The werepanther steps between us, his too-wide grin flashing an impressive set of teeth—and fangs. “Look. You both have something the other wants. The pixies want to open a pizza place, and King Severin can make that happen. Severin needs businesses for Ferndale Falls, and letting the pixies successfully set up shop will show other fae that he can be trusted.”

My teeth grind together as I turn over his words again and again. Yet no matter how hard I search, I can’t find a flaw in his logic. It’s damned annoying.

“Fine. You can open a pizza eatery, though I don’t see how you’re going to do it. Pixies don’t have food magic.” Not like brownies do.

“We’ll hire humans.” Her sword disappears as she dartsacross the clearing, heading for town. “We already know the ones. We’ve been scouting fordays!”

Shadow starts after them, shamelessly naked.

“You can’t go into town like that,” I snap.

“I thought you had protective magic up to hide anything fae from the humans.”

“We have protective magic to hide anythingmagical.” I snort. “Trust me, your cock doesn’t qualify.”

“Please. I have a magnificent cock.” He throws his arms wide. “If any humans see me, it’ll be the highlight of their day.”

Instead of answering, I shoot a bolt of magic at him, clothing him in a cotton shirt and leather pants and boots.

“I can work with this.” He glances down at himself. “I make anything look good.”

I roll my eyes and leap into the air, following the glow of the pixie flock into town.

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