Page 82 of The Deer and the Dragon
Fauna twisted her mouth, but at the King’s forlorn look, she seemed to decide she would spare him the pain of speaking. “You know Azrames’s work? How it isn’t for money, the way mortals work?”
I nodded slowly.
“Marks are for favors. Azrames had answered a mark for Ianna, which is why she had to help us when he called in the favor. And if an angel responded immediately, I assume he’dvalued the favor really, really highly.”
I swallowed, meeting the worry in her eyes. “If he owes the angels a huge favor, why would Silas still want to bond with me?”
After a long silence, the King said, “The war, Maribelle. Because you may be the pawn they’ve needed to turn the tide.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
It took mere moments for Fauna to inform the King that no, I hadn’t had protective wards around my house until she’d arrived, and anyone could walk in or out. He had me describe everything about the angel down to the minutia, as well as the parasitic entity that I’d met on my second encounter with the heavenly host.
“I struggle to believe that the Prince would have left you vulnerable. I suspect Caliban removed your wards when he marked your attacker so that someone else could respond,” Fauna mused. “Then after you banished him, he couldn’t put them back up.”
The King was quick to action. The next moment, he had his back to us, looking out the window as he made a number of calls. I didn’t dare open my mouth while he spoke to person after person. When he returned, it was with a serious face.
“He’s not with Heaven.”
I looked between Fauna and the King. “That’s good, right?”
The King met my eyes. “Another pantheon is rumored to be involved.”
“But the Nordes—” Fauna began.
“It isn’t Nordic. Reports are unclear. But it isn’t Heaven.”
I felt ready to crawl out of my skin. Nothing made sense, and I said as much.
“A parasite like that should have been a tier-one favor,” he explained.
Fauna rose from where she’d been seated and slid into the space beside me.
“They’re easy to kill. They require almost no skill. Hell, even a nymph—” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Fauna, I don’t mean to be diminutive. That word isn’t even of your realm.”
She offered a polite scoff, “I am many things, Your Majesty, but skilled in combat is not one of them. Nothing you could say regarding my inability to fight would insult me.”
I hadn’t even realized that I’d been bouncing my legs anxiously, twisting my fingers between my knees while they spoke. Fauna slipped her fingers into mine, resting her forearm on my knee to still my restlessness.
“A tier-one?” I asked her quietly, not wanting to interrupt the King. He was so lost in his distress that he appeared to have forgotten we were there all together.
Her face was not one of impatience but of concern.
“You know how Azrames works, right?”
I nodded.
“His work is in energy between man and fae, and he has a pretty sweet deal. He rarely works with other immortals. But for many of us… Well, many put out contracts that can be claimed across realms—contracts in favors. It’s risky to enter into deals, even small ones, with someone…even someone from your own realm. A first-tier favor could be something like trading jobs or doing remedial tasks. It’s busywork. A tier-one favor that’s sent out for any realm to grab could be more dangerous. If a mermaid calls in a level-one favor to a fire sprite and asks her to help her brush her hair…”
I didn’t want to touch the introduction of new fae with a ten-foot pole, so I just said, “Even though it’s a small task, the sprite would die.”
“Open-realm favors are unwise. They’re reserved for therarest of circumstances.” Fauna looked from me to the King. “And from your tone, Your Majesty, I assume the bounty on this entity and its host was not marked as tier one.”
He sank into the leather chair and slipped his hands into his hair. His ageless face suddenly bore the weight of thousands of years as he said, “No. No it was not.”
“I don’t understand what happened in there,” I whispered, eyes panicked as Fauna dragged me from the building. Azrames hadn’t spoken since she yanked him from the waiting room. His face remained tight with concern as he got us to the car. “Fauna, what happened!”
“Az,” she said, ignoring me, “how fast can you get us back to your place?”
