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“Aran... your... uh... friend from Ireland is the liaison between our branch of the Shadow Breakers and the one you served.”

I grunted as I held back the wards until a grinning Ezra walked inside. “Is that a promotion or a demotion, Ezra?”

Ezra chuckled. “That answer depends on what day it is. Today is falling into the demotion column.”

The three of us stood in the tiny living room. Ben looked into the kitchen and waved at Conn.

“Is that the rest of yer family, Aran? Yer daughter is a delight.”

I glared at Ezra. “My magick skills have improved with my age, fairy. If ya touch my daughter, she’ll be the last female ya touch.”

“Are ya seriously envious of where my talented fingers roam?” Ezra asked.

Ben cleared his throat. “Ezra, you didn’t tell me you knew Aran so well.”

Ezra snickered as he looked guiltily away. “ I was afraid Aran might not help ya if I said too much about the matter. She doesn’t take kindly to lies, brags, or being kept in the dark.”

When both men went quiet, I looked for the reason. It turned out to be seven feet tall and looked confused by everything. I raised to my toes and snapped my fingers in front of Rasmus’s face. “I’m in the middle of a butt load of chaos. Deal with it or go back to where ya came from. We can talk about where ya ran off to later. I never fight in front of company.”

“No, she just fights in front of family,” Conn supplied, his voice wafting to us from the kitchen.

“Make yerself useful, Conn, and warm my tea. This won’t take long.”

Mulan’s soft giggle over my command made my mouth twitch again, but I couldn’t let it soften me. Whatever Ezra wanted, the answer would be no. He knew my story well but was letting Ben think he didn’t. Why had Ezra come to see me in person? He could have sent the assignment electronically. I was sure Ben had a fax. Or did people use email for such things these days?

The Shadow Breakers knew Jack put me in prison and that I had allowed the situation. I’d sent word through Fiona that I was staying. I had no doubts that Ma told them all the gory details because the Irish loved a good story. Whatever prompted the fairy to come to Salem, I couldn’t imagine working with Ezra again any more than I could imagine working alongside Jack. Infidelity was not something I could forgive, no matter the reason.

I kept my gaze on Ben. “I’m not yet recovered from the fight with Zara. Why did ya need to see me today?”

“Ezra says he followed one of your old enemies here. He said he feared for your life enough that he felt it necessary to come in person.”

Reluctantly, I moved my gaze to Ezra’s. Gone was the charming fairy and a grimmer one now stared at me. His expression revealed who it was, but I wanted confirmation. “Which enemy?” I asked.

“Hisser,” Ezra said.

I winced at the name. “Did yer people let him out of his nest?”

Ezra shook his head. “No, he broke out. Someone took yer daughter to visit the Shadow Breakers prison. Hisser smelled you in her blood and went after her. The ring yer daughter wore did something that forced him back into his nest. Two days later, though, guards found his nest empty. The guard on duty found a snake hole beneath it. Hisser broke through a crack in the cement floor until he reached the soil beneath.”

“I warded his cell against shifting magick. I sealed the wards from all sides. It would have taken a very talented mage to break what I put in place. I don’t understand how Hisser escaped.”

“Given the amount of dirt they found sprinkled in the nest, Hisser had been working on that crack in the floor for years and years. In the last month, he’d been complaining about it needing it fixed. Eventually, they let a human maintenance man in to fix it. We think the man became one of Hisser’s followers because he committed suicide the day of the escape.”

I reached up and rubbed my forehead. Two sips of Mulan’s tea had not been enough to keep a fierce headache from taking me over.

“What’s the bad guy’s backstory?” Ben asked.

I made myself look at Ben. “Hisser is a snake shifter. He pretends to be the serpent mentioned in the Garden of Eden story.”

“Are you saying he’s theactualserpent who deceived Eve?”

“No,” I said patiently. “Hisser is a con man who uses that story to collect followers. They’re typically people mad at their deities for a loved one dying. Hisser is quite charming when he wants to be. He’s also a giant Cobra with four-inch fangs. He hates me because I destroyed his ability to make poison.”

Ben’s mouth tightened. “I grew up on a farm with rattlers in residence. Next time, make sure you cut his head off. That’s the best way to stop a snake.”

Ezra shook his head. “Killing outright is not Aran’s style. She’s never met a bad guy she didn’t want to rehabilitate.”

I turned to glare at Ezra. “No, I just married one. But ya’ll find I’ve gotten over the worst of my save-the-world tendencies. Prison does that to a woman.”