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“I did something worse. Before I tell you what I did to her, let me go make our tea.”

“Of course, dear. Leave your ghost to keep me company. I’ll try to remove that horrible look from her face.”

“What look?” Jezel demanded.

I shrugged without trying to explain. I had enough shit to answer for.

Elsbeth pointed a shriveled finger. “You look like you need some prunes. I get that look every now and then if I don’t eat enough fiber. But then, I guess ghosts don’t need fiber.”

Elsbeth crone-cackled again, and Jezel looked ready to zap her.

“Do not hurt the fairy queen while I’m gone,” I told her before I raced upstairs to make tea.

Farley was in the kitchen when I came rushing in. Jezel had dressed me in my new innkeeper dress before I did the summoning. It was so much easier to wear that I nearly forgot it was on.

“I like that dress more every time I see it. I like how it shows off your curves.”

“I’m glad you like it, but please move. I summoned the wrong fairy queen, and now I have to serve her tea because she needs to take her meds. She’s a zillion years old.”

Farley chuckled. “You’re in luck. The teakettle is nearly done boiling.”

“No, not that one. I can’t use water from it because it’s iron. It might make her sick. Goddess, it might even kill her. No, no... I can’t kill the fairy queen. I need to use the stainless steel tea kettle Paul brought me.”

I grabbed the stainless version from the pantry, walked back to the sink, and held it in my hands. My mind was a jumble of concerns. What was I going to do now? I hadn’t made a Plan B and Plan A had gone crazy.

Outright laughing now, Farley gently freed the stainless teakettle from my fingers, filled it with water, and switched it with the iron one still on the stove. “It looks like I’m not the only one who needs a keeper.”

I bit my lip and nodded. “I had it all planned out. Now everything is shit and I’m making tea.”

His smile was brilliant when he turned back to me. “Was part of the plan turning Peace into a centaur? She and Robin were racing to town and back. I came to see what was going on. They look so good together.”

“Will you think poorly of me if I say yes?”

“No, I adore the way your mind works. I adore how much you care.” His words were nice, but Farley’s honest answer was to growl softly and push me against the counter. His mouth pressed against mine and wiped all my worries away.

Making me forget the crapfest of my life was a gift he had—a gift just for me.

Not being a total idiot, I kissed him back and moved my hands up to his face. “I can feel you through this dress, which already makes it ten times better than the old outfit. I couldn’t feel anything through those ginormous skirts and layers.”

Farley gave me a fanged smile and touched our foreheads together. “Can I stay and spend the night? I don’t care about anything except being with you. I’ll be the best distraction you could ever find.”

Yes, I already knew that just from the way he kissed me. If he were as naturally talented at everything else we might do in bed, I might never let him go.

“I’d love for you to stay—if I don’t end up in a fairy prison. I summoned Peace’s grandmother instead of her mother.”

His head dipped to my neck, and his body sagged against mine as he laughed. I knew it was so Farley could chuckle against my shoulder. “It’s not really that funny. Summoning her was Jezel’s fault. Jezel’s the one who gave me the fairy queen’s name. I expected to see Gertruda the Barracuda in the cage.”

“I have faith in you sorting this out. I promise this will be incredibly funny when you think back on it later. Is the fairy queen really, really old? Most people think she’s already dead,” Farley said, kissing his way up my face until he towered over me again.

“Let’s just say her picture should be under the word ‘ancient’ in the dictionary, but she’s much sharper than she appears. It sounds like she’s in some special home for elderly fairies. My summoning her seems to have made her day.”

Farley laughed again but also hugged me tightly in support. He might laugh at my actions, but I knew he’d be there for me, no matter how this worked out. It was nice to be liked so much. It was nice to be wanted by the best bear in the world.

The tea kettle whistled. “That’s my cue to serve my new guest. Wish me luck.”

“I’m wishing you luck and that it resolves quickly. I’m going to text Dad and tell him I won’t be back tonight. Then I’m going outside to judge the centaur races. Princess Peace keeps accusing Prince Robin of cheating. I explained how much shorter her strides were than his, but the facts seemed to upset her. Princess Robin laughed at her reaction. Then she screamed something about only wanting the bare necessities from me. I started to explain about homophones, but she whinnied too loudly to hear me.”

My face heated. I could well imagine Peace going blank from all those facts. I focused on Farley’s fangs when he went into lecture mode so I could pretend to pay attention.