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“Killing them isn’t my first choice, Murray, but I can’t let Ezra’s kill-for-power contract continue to send assassins my way. I’m tired of fighting without getting paid for doing so. The bills don’t pay themselves. And Goddess knows, it’s no fun dying all the time just because some entitled fairy is a sore loser. I don’t even know what Ezra told his sister to send her after me.”

Murray stared at me and still managed to glare at Ezra. “My royal cousin is an arse all around, but Princess Lulutha is a good fairy. She’s just.”

I looked around. “Hart, will ya bring me the dagger she used?”

Hart brought it to me, and I passed it to Murray. “The female fairy stabbed me with it, and then she stabbed Rasmus. Like a cat, I used one of my nine lives to come back and chase her down.”

“That dagger is mine, Aran. It’s a royal relic. Give it to me,” Ezra demanded.

“What was yer assassin sister doing with a dagger of yers?”

Murray turned and glared at Ezra. “The Colwich Dagger is not yers. It belongs to yer father, and I know he’d never give it to ya. The only person worthy to wield it is the next in line to rule, and Lulutha is that fairy.”

I looked at Ezra and blinked. “That was brilliant of ya. Did ya send yer sister after me so I’d kill her for ya? Ya’d be next in line for the throne for sure then, wouldn’t ya?”

“That has nothing to do with any of this,” Ezra said. “Unfreeze my sibling and give the dagger to her. Let’s see how well ya handle being stabbed with it this time. There are too many witnesses for the ancient one to use his tricks to save ya.”

“What did ya tell yer royal sister, Ezra? She’s the executor of the contract between fairies and humans. Ya had to tell her something awful to make her willing to sneak into my home and kill me in cold blood.”

Ezra’s smile was awful. “Lulutha and I compete for the throne because that’s what royal siblings do. But my sister is loyal to me—not my father, butme. And we’ve both been stuck in this realm for six hundred years, witch. We want to go home.”

“But ya can’t,” I said to him. “Yer family won’t take ya back. Why do ya think no one’s tossed ya through the portal yet?”

I turned to Murray. “I understood yer people volunteered to come here. I thought fairy visits were to be mutual exchanges with us lowly humans. Was Ezra forced to spend time in this realm? Was he forced to be kind to me? To sleep with me? Because he talks like that was the case.”

“No,” Murray said, glaring at his cousin. “He was courting ya for yer magick. He was yer partner because they assigned the most powerful magickals to you to track down. And my wicked cousin knew The Dagda had incarnated again specifically to train ya. He planned to steal yer power all along. Ya just kept outmaneuvering him.”

Ezra yelled through the bars. “Do ya think I enjoyed the fact that I couldn’t go home? When I was nearly done and ready to return, ya robbed me of six hundred years of saving every scrap of power I could collect. Ya owe me for that, Aran O’Malley. Ya know ya owe me.”

“We were partners, Ezra. We guarded each other’s backs. I nearly died from shock when ya tried to get a criminal we captured to kill me so ya could carve the Dagda stone from my chest. I had every right to defend myself from a killer. I owe ya nothing.”

“Ya stole the power I collected. I want it back,” Ezra said.

“No. Ya didn’t deserve the mercy Fiona’s angel showed ya. And just so ya know, he was the one who took back the energy ya stole from the artifact the far darrigs had guarded for centuries. Ya could have gone home after that with plenty of power to spare. And, foolish me, I would have let ya because of our past. But ya didn’t leave. Ya came after meagainbecause ya just can’t accept that ya’re not entitled to any of The Dagda’s power. It was gifted to me, and ya’ll never have one bit of it.”

“Ya’re as big a fool as my cousin, Aran. No one is entitled to power. Ya earn it by taking it from those who can’t protect what they create. That’s how life works. Humans are weak. All of ya should be the servants of the fairies, and yer kind knows it.”

I lifted my energy sword. “Ya’re not making me any less inclined to settle this peacefully.”

“Thaw out my sister, and let’s see what she says about ya. Give her back her dagger, and I promise ya, she’ll succeed inkilling ya next time. Die with honor and rest knowing yer power will sustain my people for a millennia or two.”

I lowered my sword and let it fade away. “I’ll take that woman’s head before she has a chance to hurt me.”

I looked over at Murray’s friend, who shifted from male to female in a blink. Ezra’s shock told me Murray’s story about siblings battling for the fairy throne had been truer than I knew.

Princess Lulutha—the real one—held her head high as she approached her brother’s cage. She turned to the statue of herself and glared at it. “Do Ireallylook like that?”

“Yes, but ya don’t look as mean,” I said. “Did ya hear enough? I told ya yer brother was behind the contract on me.”

“Yes, but who took on my likeness and tried to kill you? Who slept with a centaur to carry the ruse? If I had stabbed you, Aran of The Dagda, you would be dead instead of talking to me.”

“I might die in a fight between us, Princess, but then I’d come right back. Beings in high places keep saving me.”

Ezra looked at his older sister. “Are ya going to take her word over mine?”

“Yes,” Lulutha said and then turned to look at me. “Can we thaw the fairy statue and see who the impostor is?”

Now that I saw the real Arbitrator, I didn’t need magick to figure out who my assassin was. It was sort of obvious now.