Page 4 of Twist of Fate

“Yeah, the King’s attaché called me quaint last week,” Connal explained. “Of course, Tyson intended it as an insult, but it is a good word.”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t have to look up the meaning. Speaking of good words, though, I like moist,” Asterius said. Then he laughed again as a few of the minions managed to gain control of the tentacle. “In more ways than one. But mainly because humans apparently dislike the word. Why is that, I wonder?”

“Who knows?” Connal shouted, then laughed at the jovial expression on Asterius’s face. Oh, his brother did enjoy a good fight, and it looked like they were about to have one. Nothing improved Connal’s spirits as much as a good, hard fight.

“Are you two done with your court jester routine?” Zer snapped.

“Unlikely.” Avaneel returned to her position on Zer’s shoulder, drawing gasps from the minions.

Odd. It was almost as if they’d never seen a pixie before.

Asterius reached the same conclusion as Connal and was unable to resist another jab at the minions. “Has your mistress kept you so under her thumb that you’ve never seen a pixie in the flesh?”

Avaneel scoffed. “I would never show myself to humans, Asterius. I only appear to them now as my place is by Zer’s side. Do not insult me.”

It took Connal a beat too long to process Avaneel’s words.

Humans.

But wait…

These creatures looked nothing like…

The red-skulled minion whipped off his…skull?

No, not a skull.

A helmet of some kind. Hiding the very human-shaped head of a very human man.

On the bright side, at least they weren’t fighting a band of one-eyed minions bound to a water demon.

“This is not good,” Keir groaned.

On the bad side, they’d broken the King’s very explicit command and revealed themselves to humans.

“Nope,” Avaneel squawked before wrapping herself in Zer’s hair and laughing maniacally.

Damned pixies.

Connal groaned into his goblet of ale, wishing the King permitted the Queen’s Court enchantment that refilled a container with a simple tap against its rim. “I don’t understand humans. Why did they intentionally design their...what were they called again?”

His brothers were equally into their cups as all of their egos were bruised after the tongue-lashing they'd received from the King.

“Firefighters,” Asterius replied. “An apt name for a human who provides such a service to their realm.”

Connal grunted. “One of the few such names we’ve encountered so far in this blasted confusing realm.”

“We must do better.” Zer slammed his goblet onto the table, sloshing ale all over the polished wood.

Connal quickly searched the public area for one of the brownies that always seemed to appear the moment any of them made a hint of a mess. The King had an affinity for cleanliness, particularly in the common rooms of the castle.

Sure enough, a brownie popped into existence and wiped up Zer’s mess. His brother ignored her censuring glare, then growled and lifted his goblet to his lips once more.

“How do you propose we do better?” Connal asked. “We’ve taken lessons with the Consort. We wear their clothes and learn their ways.”

How were they supposed to obey King Silenus without abandoning their reason for being trapped in the human realm? Connal couldn’t see a way to be loyal to both arms of the fae royals.

“We must find a way,” Asterius said before emptying his goblet and releasing a belch worthy of the Lady.