Sunshine narrowed her eyes.“So you did come here for a reason.You lied to me.”She sounded so aghast and astonished that Cha had to laugh.
“Well, I do like speed,” she explained, taking the moment to fill in Dy on the cover story she’d offered.“And I think the palace is pretty and I want to see more.But my partner and I also have a little bit of a trade to offer.”
Sunshine sat up, all vestige of weakness and injury gone.The glamour even filled in the missing leg between one blink and the next.Yeah, anything less than chopping into tiny pieces left the fae just fine and dandy.
“A trade?”she asked, a crafty gleam to her lovely eyes.Sunshine batted her lashes at Cha.“I want a cut, in exchange for introductions.”
The fae looked so lovely, a flower spun of golden sunshine amidst a sea of complimentary shades.Cha smiled at her.Took a step to take her still-outstretched hand and—
“Stop that,” Dy said sharply to the fae.
The fae pouted, but suddenly Cha came to her senses.She shook her head.“I am a fucking idiot,” she complained.
“Well, yes,” Dy answered.“But you’re my fucking idiot, so I’ll protect you.”
“Where is my cat?”Cha demanded of the fae.
She thrust out her bottom lip further, but waved a hand.Katu jumped down from an overhanging tree limb, blinking sleepily.“He’s unhurt,” the fae said sullenly.“I only sent him for a nap.Now, about my cut.”
Cha reassured herself of Katu’s wellbeing, checking him over thoroughly, while Dy negotiated with the fae.Normally Cha handled the deals, having a better head for numbers and coin, but not so much at the moment.Not with her skull throbbing with headache and her embarrassment so fresh and keen.She really hated that she’d lost her senses to such an extent.
“I’m sorry, baby cat.”
Katu purred and Cha blessed the infinite forgiveness of animals.And, hopefully, of sorceress-partners.
~17~
Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
Dy struck abargain that Cha didn’t pay much attention to—it hardly mattered as they weren’t after coin this time and as long as they made good with Nerd Girl and got Azul out, the rest was gravy—and they followed the fae’s perfectly rounded, deliciously twitching naked ass as she walked ahead of them.
“You have to admit it’s a really nice ass,” Cha commented.
“It would be a waste to glamour up a less than perfect one,” Dy replied blandly.
“Yeah, yeah…” Cha sighed in response to everything Dy wasn’t saying.“I fucked up royally.Whatever gene I inherited from my fae-loving ancestors, it’s clearly messing with my judgement.I can’t seem to resist a pretty fae anymore and when did that happen?I’m a liability.”
“If there is such a gene, I’d have inherited it too,” Dy pointed out.“Every human with magic had to get it from someone in their bloodline conceiving a child with the fae.”
“I know that,” Cha bit out.
“Just saying.”
“Probablyyourancestor was forced,” Cha said.“Nobly resisting to the end.”
Dy slid her a look.“You think claiming my ancestor was raped is better?”
“No, no.No.That’s not what I meant.”Cha rubbed the top of her head.“Forgive me.I’m wonky and out of sorts.”
“Forgiven.”Dy brushed Cha’s arm with the back of her hand, offering a sympathetic smile.“We’ll find a healer for your bruised noggin.Howdoyou feel?”
Nauseated.Dizzy.Aching from toes to cracked skull.“Like crap,” she allowed.“And like a fucking idiot.”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much.There’s a reason human history is full of stories of mortals being seduced by the fae, even before the veils were shattered.You’re no better nor worse than the rest of our race.”
“I seem to be more susceptible than most,” Cha muttered.
“You are…” Dy began, clearly choosing her words, “a very sexual person.There’s nothing wrong with that.”