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Rosalinda laughed. “I doubt Daisy has ever tried her original homeland wine. She can handle it. Don’t underestimate her. She’s returned, and my money is on that she’ll take back what’s hers.”
There was a pun intended.
“If you have any information that can help us,” Iokul said coolly, “we’d appreciate it if you share with us. We’ll also purchase any useful intel. However, we dragons are straight shooters. We don’t fancy playing any games.”
“You’re having too much fun, Rosa,” Elvey said. “Daisy had a rough day. And now all of us are poor refugees.”
“Sorry, I’m beside myself,” Rosalinda said fiercely. “For the first time in centuries, I see hope. I see that I’ll go home one day. As for you, Elvey, my dear old friend, there’s more hope for you.” She glanced between the three of us, squeezed Elvey’s shoulder, bowed at me, and exited.
When she returned shortly after, she carried a large tray of honeyed wings, onion rings, scrambled eggs with bread, cheese, fruits, and three mugs of beers. She was Fae, so we didn’t thank her. We wouldn’t want to be indebted to her. But we all nodded our appreciation.
The only Fae I would ever thank was Elvey.
I pushed the basket of wings in front of Iokul. While my mate dug in eagerly, I took a swig of the beer.
It cooled my parched throat.
Elvey waited until Iokul was halfway through his food and said, “You should have known better than parade her around, Iokul.”
“We might not have thought it through,” Iokul said. “But what Daisy wants Daisy gets. You know that as well as I do.”
“We can’t just let her get what she wants. We’ll let her have what’s best for her,” Elvey said.
“Like you know what’s best for me?” I snorted. “Stop treating me like a little girl. I’m not that careless and spoiled brat I was before I got whisked away to the jungle. I know exactly what’s at stake, and I’ll do what I must do. I have duties and responsibilities, not just to my mates, but to the realm and my people.”
Elvey raised an eyebrow. “Feisty much?”
“Try not to get on her nerves, if you can help it,” Iokul suggested.
I glared at Iokul before turning to Elvey. I had so many questions for him that I didn’t even know where to begin. “When we invited you to come home with us, you turned the offer down. How did you get here sooner than us?”
“I wasn’t free, as I told you,” he said, sending a glance at Iokul and deciding to be more transparent. “I was bound to the dark Fae Queen—let’s not say her name to bring her attention to us. If I’d come aboardMistressand returned with it, she would have received my magical signature tied to that ship. She would have demanded I return and bring her your heads. She’d have found you before you’re ready.”
Iokul stopped eating, looking a bit shocked at knowing the depth of the relationship between Elvey and his queen. Then cold rage emitted from him like an icy stream.
“The dark Fae Queen sent the demons to come after my mate? I thought it was the consort witch who wanted Daisy’s throne and sent a smoke-possessed dragon to waylay her.”
“That too,” Elvey said, leaning back, not bothering to conceal his exhaustion. “Lysandra is the Fae Queen’s tool.” He picked up his beer and took a swig to compose himself. When he put the mug down, his gaze landed on me. “I wanted you to have a few good weeks when you returned home. You parted with it for centuries.” Cold rage and fear clouded his star-blue eyes. “I didn’t expect her to deploy a dangerous, manic puppet. Arianrhod, your ancestors’ goddess, banned the Fae from entering the Dragon Realm, ever since your father was killed. So, the Fae Queen used a black witch to take the realm from you, after she learned you broke the curse.”
“You said you were bound. Are you no longer bound to the dark Fae Queen?” I asked hopefully.
He smiled ruefully. “For now. I did something to my blood to block her. That’s why I decided it was safe to return.”
“How?” I asked. “Why don’t you duplicate what you did and cleave your bond to her permanently?”
“There’s no duplication of what I did,” he said. “I injected vampire venom into my bloodstream.”
I blinked. “What? Are you insane? Vampire venom is pure poison!”
“He’s always the wild, fearless one,” Rosalinda said with affection as she brought us another round of drinks.
“Join us, Rosa,” Elvey said.
Rosalinda looked at me.
“Please,” I said. If Elvey could trust her, then I would, too.
She perched beside Elvey, and I didn’t like that she squeezed too close to him.
