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Ezra gave me a dirty look for joking about his shock. I pressed my lips together to keep from saying something rude.

Inviting Ezra here was my idea because I needed to ask for his help. But he and Ben both needed to get used to the fact that I would do the Shadow Breakers jobs as I saw fit. Which was why Dylan was part of this meeting. After warning him of the dangers, I’d told Dylan he could tag along while we looked for Hisser. The far darrig didn’t want to tell his family what happened without having a full explanation.

I’d returned the relic to his care because it was no longer a magickal item that could harm anyone. The poor guy had held the stone relic in his hands and stared at it in shock. He hadn’t cried over it being drained, but he’d looked close to weeping before confirming the inert stone was once the relic. Afterward, all Dylan had said about its condition was that he’d let his family down by failing to protect it.

I was mad at Ezra because of his nosy questions. If I wanted Henry’s whole caste to join me, it was no one’s business but mine. At the moment, I wanted to yell the same thing at him that Mulan had yelled at Conn.

I had enough problems and no patience for the fairy trying to push his agenda onto me. Not that I knew what that was, because I didn’t. For some reason, the fairy couldn’t seem to reconcile the version of me he once knew with the person I’d become.

What was his deal?

Sure, I knew I had changed over the years, but it wasn’t like I’d switched personalities. All magickals had some eccentricities. I realized our property seemed a tad excessive when ya first saw it. I’d thought the same. But my living arrangements and what I did with my money were none of Ezra’s or Ben’s business. I doubted Ben would react the same, though. Ben might simply laugh at the oddity of this place.

Forced into defending myself to keep the peace during this meeting, I hardened my tone to get the rest of my point across to my “temporary” boss as quickly as I could.

“Henryis notmy butler nor my servant. He’s half of a caretaking couple the three of us hired to help us while we’re working. Conn and Mulan live in this house. Fiona claimed the yellow one. And as ya heard me say to Conn earlier, I’m hoping to convert the little blue cottage into a temporary workspace so we don’t bring work energy into our homes. We needed more space and this suited our needs.”

Ezra spread his hands. “I thought ya wanted to return to Ireland, Aran. Ben said ya put him on notice that ya intended to leave one day. Why would ya buy a house if ya intended to move home?”

I winced a bit. “Ben wasn’t wrong—he just took me too literally. I say a lot of things to Ben when he annoys me. He persuaded me to sign a five-year contract, which means I’m here in the States until that’s done. Conn, Mulan, and I bought this property as an investment. Does this satisfy enough of yer curiosity for us to talk about work now? I didn’t call ya out here to hear ya criticize my personal decisions.”

Ezra looked like he wanted to say something more but he didn’t. Conn and Mulan had gone quiet too, probably because they knew I was not happy with the direction Ezra’s questions had taken. Jack’s manipulation had made me forever wary of people digging too deeply into my life.

I hurried to fill the silence with what I’d called him here to discuss. “I appreciate ya coming here on short notice. We had too much going on to come by the office. I wouldn’t have intruded on yer time if it wasn’t something critical. And call me old-fashioned if ya want, but I still like to look people in the eyes when I’m asking them for a favor.”

Ezra blew out a breath. “A favor? Okay. What do ya need from me?”

I stared at him and wondered how he hadn’t already guessed. “I need yer help to capture Hisser. He may have gained more power. I’m not saying he’s become god-like for real but I don’t want to be in the middle of a fight with him and realize I need an army to take him down.”

Ezra smirked as he shook his head. “Trust me, he’s only delusional about his power. Why would ya conclude such a thing about him?”

I spread my hands. “Because all the jobs we’ve done lately are connected. Well, all the ones except for Bo.”

My temporary boss spread his hands too. “Yeah, ya turned that troll into a real asset, didn’t ya? Given our shared past, I wasn’t truly surprised by that. Yer soft heart always worked in mysterious ways that caused trouble for everyone involved.”

“Bo’s not causing trouble nor am I. Ya better have been kind to him, Ezra, or I’m going to be unhappy with ya.”

Ezra grunted. “Yes. Goddess forbid we don’t be nice to yer troll. I wouldn’t want Aran of The Dagda to be hunting me.”

I snorted at his mocking praise. “I’m not missing yer tone, fairy. Ya’re being sarcastic but ya know Bo is an asset. And I heard about the beehive. That honey is rare and expensive. Be grateful for his friendship.”

“Don’t ya meanfreenship?”

“Laugh all ya want about his speech but ya know I was right about his usefulness. And I’m right about the rest of our cases being related as well.”

“Fine,” Ezra said, crossing his arms. “Explain yer theory to me.”

I glared at his demand but did as he asked. “The troll thief stole an ancient relic that gave its user the power to control animals. Dylan’s family has been taking care of the relic for several generations. By the time we found the relic, its magick was gone. Someone had drained it.”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “Nice summary, but how does this one thing add up to all yer cases being related?”

Wasn’t it obvious? I glared at him before answering. “The person who drained the relic’s power likely helped the shamanistic animal breeder create that snake hydra. Everything leads to Hisser being the person behind this. No, I have no hard proof, but I don’t want to find out the hard way that I was right. This is a situation where I’d rather be over-prepared.”

Ezra blinked several times and then rubbed his jaw. “I can’t believe ya found the relic. Where in bloody hell was it?”

“The troll thief had tossed it into a scrap pile that was half-covered with dirt. It was lucky I happened to look down as I was walking out of the room.”

“What did ya do with it?”