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I stopped walking to look down at the rabbit. “Didn’t Farley tell you about my standoff with him? Once things got worked out, I offered to let him stay, but he said he had to report back to his mother about Robin being okay.”

Alfred rubbed his furry chest with his tiny furry paws. If I had a strawberry on me, I would have given it to him for being so damn cute.

“I wasn’t awake when Farley came to tell us the story. I was napping after a late night. The second-hand version was not as alarming.”

I giggled. “Have you been keeping company with a local pub bunny, Alfred? I hope you’re practicing safe relations with her.”

He drew himself up. “I’ll have you know that I only look like a rabbit. I am not one.”

“Oh, well, sorry if I offended you. Why were you having a rough night? Was your hay burrow not comfy?”

He rubbed his tiny paws together. “Can we get into all this later? What I do in my off hours is of no concern to anyone but me.”

I shrugged and started walking again. “You don’t have to tell me at all. I’m actually too busy to talk anyway. I have to move a queen-sized cage into one of the basement bedrooms.”

“Why?” Alfred asked cautiously while hopping madly to keep up with my long-legged strides.

I looked sideways but kept walking. “I’m going to summon the fairy queen and talk to her. I seem to be the only person not afraid to do so. Someone needs to convince her to let Peace choose the love of her life for herself.”

“You can’t abduct the fairy queen,” Alfred said, stopping to stare up at me.

“I’m not abducting her. I’m merely summoning her. As soon as we have our little chat, she’ll be free to go.”

“You can’t do this,” Alfred exclaimed, stomping one bunny foot.

“Well, yes, I can.” I pulled the wand from the back pocket of my jeans. “Just like I can do this...” I touched the wand between Lord Alfred’s ears and chanted. The bunny grew into a well-dressed man. “It should last longer this time.”

“Selene, wait!” Alfred called, running after me. In his human form, he was taller than me. “You can’t summon the queen. It won’t work.”

I lifted one eyebrow and held my wand in my hand. “Why would you say that, Alfred? What secrets have you been keeping? Be careful how you answer. The inn doesn’t like deceivers.”

Alfred held up both hands. “Be careful where you point that thing. There’s a good reason why you can’t bring the fairy queen to this place.”

I crossed my arms and glared. “Explain,” I ordered.

Alfred ran both hands through his hair and made it stick out all around his head. “Because she’s already here. I’ve been reporting to her this whole time.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “It wasn’t personal, Selene. I was doing my job,” he exclaimed.

“Remember that because I’m about to do mine. Deceiving an innkeeper is a magical offense.”

Alfred stared at me with wide eyes as I stomped my way back to the house.

Jezel stared at the cage. “It’s too nice for her. She was blackmailing a bunny.”

“He wasn’t being blackmailed. Alfred was just doing his job. Robin is the one who deserves our pity. His every move was being watched, catalogued, and reported back to the fairy queen. Now, tell me her name so I can proceed. They live for ages. I’m sure it’s the same one you knew when you were alive.”

Jezel snorted. “Address your summons for Fairy Queen Elsbeth.”

“Thank you.” I lifted the wand and cleared my throat.

“Bippidity, dippity, flippity, flue.

You must come to the inn when I summon you.

Today, I summon Fairy Queen Elsbeth.”

An ancient fairy instantly appeared in the cage. She was bent over with age and shrunken to the size of a hobbit. The woman looked at her hands and then through the bars of the cage at us. I hadn’t provided a chair, so she couldn’t even sit.