He shook his head. “I can assure you, fairy, that we most certainly are not. Demone do not mingle outside of their species. Nor do shifters.” He thought of Lilith’s parents. “Usually.”
Her laughter sounded like the tinkling of church bells. “Oh, dear me, are you still stuck in that antiquated mindset? Darling, it’s the twenty-first century, there is mingling aplenty. And the children are quite lovely. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I wouldn’t know. But that is hardly relevant to our case now. Lilith and I are journeying to—”
She waved his words off. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Already been established, dear. So here is the skinny and why I am here talking to you while she is away.” She opened her mouth, snapped it shut, and then laughed. “Well, I suppose I should do this the proper way.”
Clearing her throat, she held her spine straight and gazed at him almost regally. Her dragonfly wings moved gracefully behind her back, and taking a deep breath, she began, “I am Danika, godmother of wishes and fishes…though don’t ask about the fishes, I lost a card game and I aim to get rid of that preposterous title forthwith.” She squeaked out the last as she’d said all that with one breath, and taking another large breath she proceeded where she’d left off. “And you, my dear, have been chosen as lifemate to Lilith Wolf. She doesn’t know it.” She shrugged. “Well, she kind of does, actually, it’s why she licked your finger—again, disgusting, but who am I to argue with the mating conventions of wolves, aye?” She laughed again.
Trying to make sense of these rambles was beginning to lead to a pounding headache. Clenching his molars, Giles counted slowly to ten, wondering where Lilith was at now and when she might return. Perhaps then this yammering fairy would shut her trap.
“Anywho, Lilith is under a curse.”
Those were the first words that actually caused Giles’s ears to perk up. “Curse? She seems perfectly fine to me—why wouldn’t she have mentioned that?”
“Well, dear,” she snorted, “if every time you ate an apple it caused you to have a case of explosive gas, would you tell? Or would you just avoid the apple? Hmm?”
“I don’t understand? Stop speaking gibberish, fairy, and just out with it.” He rubbed his temple.
“Youth these days. There used to be a time when a godmother was honored and cherished, treated with the respect she deserved.”
He twitched a brow, reaching the very end of his frayed nerves. “I am older than you.”
She chuckled. “That’s funny, truly. I’m ancient.”
“I’m over a millennia old.”
“Well, if we’re taking out the measuring stick.” She thinned her lips. “Kingdom years, very different than any other place in the galaxy. I am beyond years. My mind is full of so much and at times it gets a little trying to keep the infinite balanced. At times I may come off as mad, but really I am just a riddler. See through my nonsense, boy, as I had to with the Hatter. Sometimes you’ll find inspiration within the madness. Now, on to important matters. And I promise to try and keep my gibberish in line. Lilith’s deal.”
Her face became suddenly very serious.
“With Rumpel?” Finally they were getting to something Giles had keen interest in learning.
Danika nodded. “Aye. She made a horrid pact with the devil.”
“And if Rumpel allowed it, then what is your hope for sharing it with me?”
“Ohhh, she would not be pleased with me for revealing this. But the chit has proven she has no intentions of telling you until the very end of this quest, at which point it will be too late, for you are far too honorable to do anything about it at that point. You’ll feel duty-bound to return to your master and my poor Lilith will suffer alone.”
He cocked his head. Giles never asked, never wondered about the pledges, never asked Rumpel to reveal why the pledges did what they did. He was a servant only; if his prince wished to share the details, he would have.
But it would be a bald-faced lie to deny he was not intensely curious about Lilith’s case.
Still…
“I will return to my prince’s keep once I retrieve the chalice.”
“Yes, I know. And while I admire you greatly for your constancy, I only wish to impart a little truth in the matter. In the hopes of broadening your horizons.”
“Does Rumpel know you’re here. Did he really send you?” Giles had the strangest sense that the fairy was lying, at least in part.
Rumpel may share these truths with his wife now, but he doubted his prince would send a fairy to come and find him just to tell him what was pledged. It made no sense, especially with his son’s well-being on the line, Giles would think romance to be the least of his prince’s concerns at the moment.