They stood and bowed—Hansel with a flourish and Gretel with the barest show of respect—and then resumed their seats as Thad left the room.
Ari tapped her fork against the tablecloth. She needed information about Llorenyae, about the fae, that only someone with an intimate knowledge of the place would have. If she could build the beginnings of an alliance on the ballroom floor in the space of time it took to dance a contradanse, she could do the same over a plate of breakfast food.
“These muffins are delicious,” Hansel said.
Ari nodded and glanced at the open door. Staff bustled by on errands and chores, but for the moment, she was alone with the bounty hunters. It was an opportunity she couldn’t pass by.
She looked up and found Gretel watching her with her eerily pale blue eyes. “I’ve always wondered about the fae.”
Gretel’s gaze didn’t waver, but Hansel shifted in his chair. “They’re best left alone, Princess,” he said.
“Yes,” Gretel said softly. “Stay in your safe little palace and leave them alone. You don’t want anything to do with the fae.”
“How did you two end up on Llorenyae? Isn’t it mostly fae?”
“There are human cities scattered throughout, each with its own leader, but all humans acknowledge the royalty of their respective fae court as the ultimate ruler of their half of the isle,” Hansel said.
Ari frowned. “You mean the Summer and Winter courts?”
Hansel nodded. “Half the isle belongs to the Summer Queen and half to the Winter King.”
“How did you become bounty hunters?” Ari asked.
Hansel’s eyes darkened, and Gretel went still.
“It’s a long story,” Hansel said, his tone implying that he wasn’t inclined to share any of it with her.
“Why do you want to know?” Gretel asked.
Ari tapped her finger against her plate for a moment, and then said, “I’d like to understand how one gets the courage to fight monsters and terrible fae creatures who have magic.”
“Do you need that kind of courage?” Gretel asked.
Ari held her gaze. “Yes.”
The girl nodded at Hansel, who sighed and said, “I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a long story, so here are the highlights. We were abandoned in the woods far from our home when we were little, a fae enchantress bespelled her home to look like it was made out of candy, and she kept a veritable flock of orphans locked away for things I’m not going to discuss. Gretel and I were there for years until one day she got careless. And then we killed her.”
“And once she was dead, we hunted down the other fae who’d bought orphans from her, and we killed them too,” Gretel said quietly.
“Turns out, we had a knack for it.” Hansel smiled grimly. “Before long, the Summer and Winter courts were hiring us to catch rogue fae, and the humans were hiring us to keep beasties out of their cities.”
“Rogue fae.” Ari considered her words for a moment, and then said, “We have a legend here. A bit of folklore about a creature called the Wish Granter. He’s supposed to be fae.”
Gretel cocked her head. “If I were you, I wouldn’t make a wish.”
Ari’s heart pounded hard against her chest. Was Gretel simply warning her to stay away from all fae? Or from Teague in particular? Time was running out. Soon the hunters would leave, Teague would feel threatened by the beasts or by Ajax, and Ari would lose her brother. She leaned toward Gretel and took a gamble. “There’s a man in Kosim Thalas who is rumored to be the Wish Granter. He does terrible things.”
Hansel put the rest of his muffin back on his plate. “We should go.”
Gretel remained unmoving, her eyes locked on Ari.
Ari had one more question that had to be answered. She drew in a deep breath as Hansel got to his feet and put his hand on his sister’s arm.
“Regular iron weapons don’t work against him. We need to know how to stop him. Would you have any ideas about that?” she asked, and then waited, stomach in knots, palms sweaty as she prayed that Gretel would give her something—one tiny scrap of a clue that could send Ari in the right direction.
“No, we haven’t. Gretel, let’s go.”
Gretel stood, and Ari sank against the back of her chair. She’d gambled, and she’d lost. Either they didn’t know of Teague, or they were too scared of him to tell her.
Or they knew him all too well, and Ari had just condemned both Cleo and her brother to a visit from Teague.
Hansel nodded briskly to Ari and then walked toward the door. Gretel met her eyes again, hesitated, and then said softly, “I’ve always enjoyed reading Magic in the Moonlight: A Nursery Primer.”
Ari sat up straight, question spilling across her tongue, but Gretel left the dining room.
It didn’t matter. Ari had information she could use now. A glow of triumph spread through her as she hurried to the library, slid the book off the shelf, and grabbed a sheaf of parchments. Sharpening a quill with shaking fingers (which, in retrospect, turned out to be unwise as she cut herself twice), she dipped the nib into a pot of ink and went through the primer, taking notes on anything interesting.
Nothing stood out to her. There were rhymes about tree nymphs and water sprites with pictures of ethereal fae with branches or waterweed for hair. Warnings about dancing with faeries beneath a full moon. A brief poem about a tall woman with a wolf’s head, bird’s talons for hands, and goat hooves for feet who left the secret of her power behind at birth and another about a witch who made pies out of children. Both were accompanied by illustrations that had made Ari shudder as a child. There were catchy poems about changelings and salt lines and iron hanging from one’s windows. Ballads about the Summer and Winter courts. Even a ballad about wish granters, because apparently on Llorenyae there was more than one. Ari studied the wish granter ballad for nearly an hour, but if it contained a secret she hadn’t yet learned, she couldn’t find it.
Turning to a fresh sheet of parchment, she began listing everything she’d learned about Teague.
The bulk of Teague’s business and employees operated out of east Kosim Thalas.
No one seemed to know exactly where Teague lived. Some said to the east of the city. Some said to the south, just above the sea. Nobody seemed to know any useful details about his house, which in and of itself was a useful detail. Maybe Teague kept his home a secret because he’d made so many enemies on the streets of Kosim Thalas. Maybe he was vulnerable there, though Ari had no idea where to even begin looking for his home, much less how to exploit it for weaknesses.
She went back to listing the things she’d learned.
He manufactured a powerfully addictive drug called apodrasi.
He sold pipe weed, apodrasi, stolen valuables, forged artwork, and people he either bought from other places or tricked into slavery. Many of these sales happened through the brokers in Balavata.
He was the Wish Granter.
He was fae.
He’d left Llorenyae and never returned.