“Wait, wait, no!”the fae salesperson burst out.“I’ll give you a deal on Dottie.Deep discount.”
“You mean the actual price for a beast so old you used cheap glamour to try to trick us?”Cha sneered.
The fae spread its hands and smiled weakly.Right.Standard fae trickery.
“We’re done here,” Cha announced.Behind her, the jaguar kitten sent up a cry of desolation.
The fae salesperson looked from the kitten to Cha.“A deal on the jaguar,” the fae suggested.“Turns into a very sleek sports carriage for your luvly laydee.You have to train him, but I’ll give you the same price I quoted for Dottie.”
Which was about what little Katakume was worth.Cha made a show of reluctance.“We weren’t in the market for anything that pricey.”
“But you can afford it,” Dy inserted, lifting her beautiful tear-stained face to Cha beseechingly.Oh, she was good.Even though Cha knew it was all an act—on her behalf—her heart twisted with the need to put a smile back on that face.Possibly Dy was using a bit of sorcery, Cha considered with narrowed eyes.Dy batted her tear-soaked lashes, eyes a dazzling blue.“Pleeeese, Bandit,” she wheedled.“You inherited that coin and you promised me a gift.I’ll make it worth your while,” she added in a seductive murmur.Had Cha been the least into women, that sensual purr would have undone her.
“All right, babydoll,” she agreed, rewarded with her bestie’s brilliant smile.
Making a show of reluctance, Cha dug the coin out of her pockets.A lot of coins, as she didn’t have any in the larger denominations, partly because, well, that kind of coin didn’t come her way and partly to dissuade greed on the part of the fae.As much as one could affect that.
She counted out the coin and sealed the bargain, accepting the wriggling, delighted ball of fur, fangs, and claws that was her new carriage and friend.
“You’ll have a lot of time and effort training that one,” Dy advised as they left the lot, her tone once again wry, all hint of distress vanished.“I thought you wanted one good to go now.”
“Katu will grow up quickly,” Cha replied.“And he’s got that fierce spirit we need.”She didn’t say anything about the way her heart warmed when Katu put his softly furred head under her chin, snuggling there.
Dy gave her a knowing look anyway.“You mean that you’re a softy for big eyes and a sweet face.”
“Just like my men,” Cha agreed, and Dy laughed.
“Katu, huh.”Dy said.“What about when he grows up?”
“Always my kitten,” Cha answered, for once not caring if she sounded like a soft-hearted lunatic.She freed an arm and looped it around Dy’s shoulders.“Just like you’ll always be my babydoll.”
“Yeah, right,” Dy retorted, jerking away and out of reach.But she was smiling.
“Besties forever, then,” Cha amended.
Dy bumped her fist.“Besties forever.Nothing will ever change that.”
~1~
Stupid Is as Stupid Does
Ten Years Later
“Ihate you,”Dy told Cha, tunneling her hands into her tumbling golden hair and then fisting them to pull it at her temples.“I really, really do.”
“I know,” Cha answered.She felt bad.She really, really did.These things always seemed to happen.Her famous luck abandoned her when it came to personal relationships.She seemed to screw up every one of them, except with Katu.“I’m sorry.I don’t mean to…”
Dy released her hair with a sigh and scrubbed her hands over her face.“No, you nevermeanto, do you?You’re like a one-woman cataclysmic event, tearing everything apart.”
They sat in silence a moment.A really long, awkward moment.They’d closed themselves in the barn following Dy’s huge fight with her wife, Phinny.The summer sunlight filtered warm and golden through the cracks in the old wood, dust motes circling idly, weightless as pixie dust.Nearby, Big Betty the elephant quietly munched on some fresh grass the kids had carried in for her while their mothers were fighting, Auntie Cha supervising, minding the toddler, and keeping them all happily out of earshot.
No one had been able to save Dy from Phin’s righteous fury.Not even Cha, whose fault it was.
Cha had only recently regained Dy’s friendship and trust.She didn’t know if she could bear losing that again, even for Azul.
Azul, the impossibly beautiful and seductive fae prince she’d had briefly and lost again—and who’d now sent a message asking her to rescue him.She couldn’t say no, but she could protect Dy and their precious friendship.
“You should not come with me,” she said, meaning it.