Page 111 of A Fae in Finance
Not for the first time, I wondered how much stress I had avoided in life simply by failing to grasp the consequences of anything happening around me.
After another bow, Sahir spoke. “Builder, I am sent by my good-brother Aram. I bring with me my lady, the Lady of the True Dreams, and two companions, who have gone to ensure our safety while we speak with you.”
Roman squinted at him. “Aram,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Aram…” He frowned, thinking. “You’re Rijska’s brother?”
Sahir inclined his head in acknowledgment.
“Fantastic woman, that sister of yours,” Roman said. I was flabbergasted and bamboozled; he spoke more like a human than anyone I’d met at the Court, barring Chad and Milo.
He waved his hand in a curling gesture; at the apex of each curl, a sheet of blue light sprang from his palm and floated above him. He flicked his index finger, and the blue lights began to spin around us in rapid rectangles. “And now we can speak freely.”
I raised an eyebrow at Sahir, to ask him why he never used a ward against eavesdropping. The face he made back told me that he wasn’t able to create wards against eavesdropping, but thanks for making him feel inadequate.
“Why’d you bring a human to the Queen’s Court? To be killed?” Roman asked, still staring at Sahir and not at me.
“I brought her here to beg a boon of you,” Sahir said.
Roman crossed his arms and sat on a stray hunk of stone. “A boon,” he repeated. “That’s an odd word, for the Fae.”
“Aram grants me leave to call in his favor,” Sahir said, changing tack.
“Feels likeIshould be allowed to call in the favor,” I muttered; they both ignored me.
“What, then, do you owe him?” Roman asked, smirking. It seemed like he didn’t get out much, like maybe this was his socializing for the month.
“He has been in my debt for many years,” Sahir said. “It was my blessing that ensured his happiness.”
“Oho.” Roman glanced at me. “Interesting.”
Tired and frustrated, I sat on another hunk of stone, staring at Roman. If he wanted me to move, he could just say so.
Roman said nothing. Instead, he gestured at Sahir to continue.
Sahir sat as well, his eyes still on Roman. He shrugged out of his pack, two thin lines of sweat down each side of his chest. I kept my own pack on in case someone tried to stab me from behind.
“Your father built the passageways between the worlds,” Sahir said.
Roman’s attitude changed slightly; he straightened on the stone and squared his shoulders. When he spoke again, he sounded more like the Builder I’d met previously. “Your blessing meant more to Aram than it does to me. For this favor, I grant you questions three,” Roman replied.
“Then let me be brief.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. We didn’t even need three questions, did we?
No questions were asked. I opened my eyes. Sahir was staring at me.
“Miriam may have my questions,” Sahir said. “As she will bear the consequences of your answers.”
I inhaled. “Thank you,” I said.
Roman’s eyebrows had disappeared into another pocket dimension. His smirk was wider than the English Channel.
“How does faerie food prevent humans from leaving this realm?” I asked.
Roman sounded amused. “The same way as faerie gold and faerie fools,” he replied.
This did not illuminate anything for me. I hoped desperately that Sahir understood more than I did. I could hardly look at either of them. I stared instead at the rapid whirling of the magic Roman had erected around us, so different from the silver-rain umbrella of the Gray Knight’s ward or the green brambles of the Princeling’s.
“Why will I die if I step through a portal?” I asked.
