Page 2 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
Meera let out a battle cry that more closely resembled a wailing banshee before she launched herself at him.
That was when I decided to intervene.
“Come back here, you coward!” she called when he bolted away with surprising agility for his size.
Unfortunately for the leprechaun, he ran in my direction and realized his mistake too late. I lifted my forearm as he plowed into me, catching him on the throat. Before he could react, I pivoted, slamming him against the hallway wall.
“Logan?” I muttered under my breath. “Luke? No, that’s still not it.”
“Lucian, you pompous fuck.” He narrowed his eyes at me but valued his life enough to keep his hands up in surrender.
“Ah! That’s it. But she called you Lou.”
They both cast me confused glances before returning to their feud.
“Oh, thank the gods yer here!” another voice said. Farris came around the corner, relief etched on his face. “He showed up an’ she lost it!”
“I’ll handle it from here, friend. My apologies.” I tried to be as diplomatic as possible, and it seemed to give the innkeeper a measure of peace. He grabbed his broom, sweeping broken shards of plates and glass, glancing at us warily.
Meera didn’t spare the other man a glance, her gaze focused on the leprechaun I had pinned to the wall.
“How’d you even find me?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.
“I suggest answering her,” I said, using my forearm to hold him in place by the throat.
A guilty look flashed across his expression. “The necklace. I put a tracking spell on it. Then I paid a witch for a temporary portal to get here.”
“What the fuck?” we said in unison.
“In my defense, I was only looking out for you?—”
“Tell the truth,” Meera snapped. “Or I’ll have Vareck squeeze the life out of you.”
He tried to twist his neck a little to give him room to breathe, but I held firm, pressing my arm into his throat a fraction more. He exhaled in resignation. “I wanted to be able to find you if I ever needed to.”
Meera clicked her tongue. “How self-serving of you,” she said, acid filling her tone.
“You wouldn’t have known your sister was missing if I hadn’t.”
“You’re right,” she agreed, face still impassive. “And because she’s my sister, I don’t need you or your stupid contracts to find her. Since you didn’t get the hint before, consider this my resignation. I will never take a job from you again.”
“Meera, lass—” he began in a charming, honeyed voice that had no doubt worked on plenty of women before.
The details Meera had told me about her job as a bounty hunter returned to me.
“Contract?” I repeated.
Once I accept the contract, I’m bound to it.
I can’t talk about the job.
That includes who my broker is ...
Then there was the other conversation. The one in the library when Lou had brought the necklace. Her instant animosity toward him.
I had asked if they knew each other, and she’d only answered with, “You could say that.” But she never explained how. He was a criminal, and she’d even called him one, but Meera still knew him. While she was a bounty hunter, Meera never gave me the impression that she’d gotten mixed up with the wrong people apart from one person.
Her broker.
