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The merman regroups. Suspicion cramps his face as he takes The Parliaments’ measure, then considers the setting with renewed scrutiny. “This location seems a reckless choice for a meeting.” He glances my way. “Or a shrewd one.”

Good.He’s remembering not to underestimate me.

That will make Scorpio overextend himself and sift through every word I speak, searching for a riddle. And when my targets try that hard, they stop paying attention to their own secrets, stop monitoring their own demons.

I won’t need to toy with my words. None of us will.

We just need to rile him up enough, so that he fucks up without realizing it.

“What’s the point of this meeting, I wonder?” Scorpio prompts. “To threaten, bargain, or declare war?”

“We’re here to get answers,” Juniper lists. “Then to make demands.”

“Then to threaten your ass, if you refuse,” Lark says.

“And then get you drunk,” Puck adds. “That’ll be my job.”

“After that, we’ll talk about bargains,” I finish.

“And besides that, what’s my incentive for being here?” Scorpio questions.

“To leave with your cock still attached to your body,” Elixir says through gritted teeth.

“You’ll answer us,” I say. “Then you’ll agree or disagree, and then you’ll make your own shoddy demands, then you’ll receive our rebuttal, and then you’ll leave.”

“I didn’t hear you acknowledge the ‘declare war’ part. Where’s that on the schedule?”

“Meh.” Puck shrugs. “We don’t need to serve you expensive wine to do that.”

At the mention of alcohol, Juniper looks queasy. She ignores the nectar Puck had claimed she loves so much, opts for a flagon of herbal water instead, pours a generous helping, and tips back the contents.

I recline in my seat and circle my finger around the chalice in front of me. “You declared war two nights ago when you compelled a member of the fauna.”

“Good point,” Scorpio concedes. “Though usually once war is declared, meetings are forfeit.”

“Forfeit-schmorfeit,” Puck says. “Isn’t it funny how Faeries like to break their own rules?”

Which brings me back to my original statement. “How did you do it?”

As if flummoxed, Scorpio bunches his mouth and lifts his arms. “Magic?”

The Parliament bristles. A smile cuts through my face. “I won’t ask twice.”

“And I won’t answer at all.”

“We can do this the easy way or the Cerulean way.”

Juniper stamps her chalice onto the table. “This doesn’t make sense. Steering the fauna into combat is the same as sacrificing them. It goes against your nature, not to mention it does the opposite of preserving the lifecycle. It’s no better than what humans did in The Trapping.”

The merman’s features contort, turning the black smears under his eyelids into slashes. “Those animals were murdered by inferior lowlifes of a different race.” His elbow hits the table as he points at her. “By enemies outside of their world.”

“We are not an inferior race.”

“The fauna of The Trapping were caged and maimed with human iron. They weren’t killed by natural causes, nor in their own realm. That’s why your uprising has endangered our world—because your desecration went against the cycle.”

He directs his attention to The Parliament, though he avoids Tímien’s gaze. “The raven, on the other hand, was different. It was acting within in its territory and with Faeries. That’s a natural combination for this world. Besides, it was running on its base instincts. I merely enhanced them.”

The Parliament lances him with formidable stares.