Page 97 of Fae Farewells

“Okay,” he drawled curiously. “Odd time to make a bet—”

“A fae deal.”

He snorted. “A fae deal with the Devil? Really?”

I gave him a bored look.

“Okay,” he agreed. “But none of that weird word-smithing shit you did with Lucifer. Get straight to the point.”

“I need you and your sisters to make it with me.”

“What do you want?” Ruby asked me. “It’s not standard to make such a large request. What can the four of us do together that Vaughn can’t on his own?”

“Free my mates, and we’ll free the kingdom.”

Tilly looked left, staring at my mates before turning to face me. “They’re free.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“Explain to them what you’re thinking, Kitten,” Stone suggested.

That request was easier said than done. I didn’t know enough about Alania to comprehend all the possibilities in front of us. The outcomes and scenarios changed with every new piece of information I learned.

This would be a perfect opportunity to tap into my sight abilities, but Rig mentioned I shouldn’t trust it with Alric still on the loose.

I was flying blind, with only a ghost of an idea and some creative thinking.

Again.

The wingin’ it method was the best option here.

I held my arms out, palms up, as I tilted my head. “We’re going to lie.”

“But why the deal?” Freya inquired.

“Because we’re going to let the guards catch my guys. And then you and Ruby will stop them before they make it to the dungeon,” I said to Freya. “And while that’s happening, Thatcher and Tilly will go to Alania so he can tell her that the guys were captured, but I couldn’t be found.”

“And where will you be?” Tilly asked.

“What significance does the deal have in that part of the plan?” Ruby called me out, but I hadn’t gotten that far yet.

I sighed, needing an uninterrupted minute to think through this spur-of-the-moment plan. I was still trying to answer all these questions myself, before I explained shit to everyone else.

“Alania will send Thatcher and the guards to find me, and Tilly will say she saw me walking toward her chambers. She already thinks I’ve stolen her crown.”

“So she’d be furious if she thought you were returning to steal more,” Freya summarized.

“That’s my thinking.”

I paced around the room as I tried to fit these pieces into my mosaic of bullshit. It was turning out to be a grand masterpiece that I wanted to call Not My Problems. Maybe in the future, I’d replicate all the tiles, and put them on the ceiling of my library to remind myself to stay in my own fucking lane.

Also, to remind myself that should I ever decide to procreate, I had a list of people to kill so they didn’t become my child’s problem.

I glanced between the Winter siblings and Thatcher. “I need to know if she would stay where she’s at or come to her room to find me.”

“She would ask Thatcher to bring you to her in the throne room,” Tilly answered with absolute certainty. “She would want to make an example of you, not only for this theft, but also for running from her.”

“What does the deal have to do with this, Lo?” Vaughn asked me, growing impatient.