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Jessing giggled. “And to sleeping in until your handsome guardian wakes you up wake properly, I imagine.”

Yes, I wanted to get back to that too.

When the guardian in question returned to the dining room completely dressed and once more composed, I sipped my coffee, looked at Jessing, and winked.

I decideda tour of the property would provide the perfect cover for a private chat with the enforcers. The two demon wolves trotted beside the three of us. I didn’t call them away from anywhere they roamed.

As Dylan suggested, I let them do as they pleased. They stayed close without me saying a word.

Hart and Jessing exclaimed over their cute little horns and asked where I’d found such creatures. I’d begged off telling that story because I wanted to focus on dealing with Ezra.

“Okay, let’s hear it, Hart. What’s your risky idea?”

“Bribery,” Hart said. “Ezra is greedy. We could probably bribe him into removing the contract seeking your death.”

“Have ya ever fought Ezra?” I asked.

The enforcers looked at each other. I took their blank stares as a no and went on to make my point.

“I have fought by the fairy’s side as his work partner. To my eternal shame, I also took him to my bed. Now I can add fighting the fairy to the death twice. All this has painfully taughtme that I never knew him at all. Ezra feels no remorse for his wicked actions. He feels entitled to kill me like I’m his primary enemy. He also feels entitled to gain back his power in any way he sees fit. But one thing he doesn’t care about is human money.”

Hart hummed low in disappointment. “How unfortunate he cannot be bribed into doing the right thing. It would be the easiest path for us,” he said.

“I understand now that Ezra of Airing Dale feels no shame because of his important sister. Princess Lulutha makes him a special snowflake even though he is not one without her.”

I stopped. “Good Goddess, that’s it. Ezra has been competing with his older sister for the throne. And I messed up his chance to prove to his parents that his power is greater than his sibling’s. No wonder he hates me. The only way he can redeem himself is to kill me and take the Dagda stone. The Dagda put the fairies where they are. Some have never forgiven him. What a boon it would be for Ezra to bring any source of The Dagda’s power back home to his parents. It all makes sense now.”

Hart nodded at my conclusions. “I think you are right, Aran. Possessing The Dagda’s power might convince his royal parents that he belongs on the throne instead of Lulutha who is first in the line of succession. He’s always been power-hungry. Perhaps taking his father’s throne has been his life’s goal all along.”

“Ezra has been on earth for nearly six hundred years and told me that he would never tie himself to anything or anyone in our realm. He said staying here was not in his plans—just as caring about me was not in them, either.”

“Yet he told others he loved you and seemed to be heartbroken when you married your ex-husband and got pregnant right away. The wicked fairy certainly seemed to be grieving for you the first few years you were gone. He was never linked intimately to other women.”

Ezra wasn’t linked to them because he got better at hiding his affairs after I nagged him about his infidelity. Pretending to love and miss me would have improved his image.

“I liked Ezra, but I didn’t love him. After we broke up, I didn’t care whose bed he visited so long as it wasn’t mine. I was faithful to Ezra while we were together, and later all I wanted was Jack. Neither of them was faithful to me. Being a realist, I accept their unfaithfulness as my lack of good judgment about men back then. I pretended to be a doormat female to hold their attention.”

Jessing’s wide eyes blinked at me. “Was that the only reason you broke up with the fairy? I heard Ezra was bad in bed. I heard he was a selfish, self-absorbed lover. Many females talked about him. All would have taken him back if they thought he could have been trained. He was very handsome.”

I laughed. “He wasn’t terrible in bed. He just wasn’t good. His heart wasn’t into it.”

“No magick sharing, eh?” Jessing asked with a sneer. “Hart was my first and my only. He has made himself into a superb lover for me. My eagle sisters wish they’d found him first. I would bite their fingers off if they touched him.”

Hart covered his now red face with both hands. “Why do you insist on telling Aran so many personal details about us?”

I chuckled and patted Hart’s arm. “She’s proud of ya, Hart. Let her brag. Most men never get to hear what their wives think of them.”

Hart blew out an embarrassed breath and nodded. “What if we used his competition with sister to prove to Lulutha that her brother isn’t the scion of worthiness he pretends to be?”

I smiled at the witch. “Now that is a plan I like. Can ya bring him and his cage through a portal?”

“It can be done. It would take the whole day to prepare and we’d have to bring several guards along with it. He’s under constant supervision,” Hart said.

“How did he put a contract on me then?”

Jessing looked at Hart and then at me. “We think some guards are more loyal to the fairy than to the Shadow Breakers organization. Ezra often bribed people when he controlled the organization’s purse things.”

Goddess, Ezra could have emptied the coffers of the group on both sides of the ocean. I guess that would have cut off his primary source of finding beings of power he could rob. Working his way up in the Shadow Breakers had been a brilliant strategy.