Page 35

Lily Baker and Fae Café

The street smelled of freshly ground coffee beans, car exhaust, and new possibilities. The whole city blinked with red and green Christmas lights, and slush coated the sidewalks, bringing in a sweep of fresh winter weather. All the good things about Fae Café seeped out from the door whenever it was opened; the chatter, the smell, the warmth.

Lily stood on the opposite side of the street gripping a burgundy mug and watching customers filter in and out of the café she’d created with Kate; a business built on the desperation to pay bills, dreams of making it in the future, and the promise to look out for each other forever. A place that had become so much bigger and more meaningful than she’d expected the day she and Kate had sat cross-legged in her apartment and had decided to “do their future” together by starting a business.

She shivered as icy air trickled in through the cracks of the slouchy, cream-coloured sweater the Sisterhood of Assassins finally made for her after Shayne had harassed them about it for the last five days. Freida only agreed to give Lily a fairy-yarn sweater if Mycra knitted it, which was a task Mycra took pretty seriously since it was her first mission with the Sisterhood. Mycra’s handiwork was actually impressive though; the sleeves of the sweater were a little too long and hung over Lily’s knuckles, but otherwise, the oversized garment was exactly how Lily would have made it herself.

She wrapped her hands around her warm mug, letting the coffee’s heat sooth the biting chill of winter. If she knew Dranian was going to take this long to hang the Christmas lights, she would have worn her coat.

“How’s that?” Dranian’s mutter was way too quiet from where he was perched atop a ladder all the way on the other side of the street. If his mouth hadn’t moved, Lily wouldn’t have even known he’d spoken.

“What? I can’t hear you!” she called back.

She smirked when Dranian wrenched himself around to scowl at her. “I said…” She watched him take in a large chest-full of air. “HOW’S THAT?!”

The earth shook below Lily’s feet; a few people jumped out of their skin as the roar echoed across Toronto. Lily took a sip of coffee to hide her giggle. She raised her other hand toward Dranian with a thumbs up.

The door to Fae Café swung open and a handsome fairy with styled white hair and a fitted burgundy apron poked his head out. “Come inside before you get sick!” he shouted at her. Then he added, “Scarecrow!”

Lily’s body jerked into motion. She bit back a grimace as her legs brought her across the road, over the sidewalk, and right back into Fae Café. Instantly, the warmth of the space enveloped her, and although Shayne deserved a good swat upside the head for bossing her around like that with his ‘master’ powers, she was relieved to not be freezing out in the snow anymore.

Speaking of Shayne…

She looked around, but she didn’t see where he’d hidden after he’d hung out the door and yelled at her. Cress was charming some poor, innocent girl by the counter, trying to convince her to add six slices of pie to her coffee order. She could see Mor through the cracked-open kitchen door, whipping up a batch of gingerbread cookies like it was nobody’s business.

“Shayne?” she called. She turned all the way around once before she was grabbed and dragged into the narrow hallway by the door.

Shayne was biting his bottom lip over a smile as he nudged her against the wall and slinked his fingers into her hair without warning. “I have an idea!” he said in a loud whisper. He began twirling her hair around his fingers.

“Great.” Lily sighed. She took another sip of her coffee to hear him out, even though she knew in about two seconds she was probably going to have to try to talk him out of whatever his new idea was.

“Let’s host a pie eating contest at Cress’s wedding!” he said with so much excitement it almost rubbed off on her.

“That’s a terrible idea. He’ll kill you in front of everyone. Literally,” she said.

Shayne shook his head. “You’re wrong. I’m doing it.”

She wasn’t ready when he swooped in and pecked her on the mouth with a kiss. She stood there, frozen for a minute as he scurried off. Her hand rose and pressed against her thudding chest. Then she brushed her fingers along her lips where leftover traces of him warmed her skin. She snapped out of it a second later and wandered after him.

“Shayne! Let’s talk about the pie thing…” she called, but when she came out of the hall, she found him sitting at one of the bistro tables with Luc, Dranian, and Greyson.

“He’ll be in the kitchen for a while. Let’s hurry,” Mor said as he scooted into the chair beside Dranian. Cardstock paper covered the tabletop along with a handful of pens that looked like they either came from Mor’s cathedral or Shayne’s pockets.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked.

“We’re writing ‘best wishes’ letters to Cress for his wedding day,” Mor told her. “We read about it in one of the bridal magazines Cress has upstairs.”

“I don’t know what to write,” Greyson said. He tapped his pen on the table and turned to Luc who was already scribbling across his piece of paper. “What are you writing?”

“An ancient proverb,” Luc replied without missing a beat.

“Nice,” Greyson said with an odd face. “I don’t know any of those. Which one did you choose?”

Luc finished, picked up his tiny espresso mug and sipped it with his pinky in the air, then lifted his letter and read, “Cressica, you’re quite fast.”

Greyson waited, and when Luc didn’t explain, he nodded. “Cool—”

“Because intelligent thoughts have always chased you,” Luc went on. “But you were always faster.” Luc lowered his letter and sipped his drink again. His gaze shot right to Lily like he expected her to comment.

And she did. “Seriously?”

Luc set his espresso carefully on the table and said, “I’m not changing it.”

“Yes, you are. Write something else, Luc,” Mor said as he focused on his own letter.

Luc grumbled as Lily abandoned her coffee on the nearest table and folded her arms to watched them. She had to admit, it was pretty thoughtful that they came up with this on their own.

“What are you writing, Mor?” Greyson asked.

“It’s a secret. It’s only for Cress to know,” Mor returned. “It’s between brothers.”

Greyson tilted his head. “I’ll actually be Cress’s brother after the wedding,” he pointed out.

Luc yanked a newly scribbled letter into the air and began reading: “Cressica, it’s better to stay silent and have people wonder if you’re a fool than to open your mouth and have everyone know for sure.”

“Luc,” Mor warned dully. “That’s not true. Cress isn’t a fool when he speaks.”

“I’d agree with you, Trisencor, but then we’d both be wrong.” Luc folded his letter, stuck it in an envelope, and then sat back to sip on his coffee while the rest of them finished.

Shayne lifted his letter and read aloud, “To the Mighty Prince of the North: You are wise in everything regarding fairies. But when it comes to human-y things, unfortunately, it’s people like you that are the reason cleaning products have warning labels.”

Mor bit down on a smile.

“Are you saying that because he used bleach to clean Kate’s sofa that one time and left it all patchy?” Dranian asked in a monotone voice. Lily burst out laughing.

“Yes.” Shayne folded his letter.

“You can’t say that!” Mor wiped the smile from his face to scold Shayne, pointing his pen at him. “Say something nice!”

“Fine. If I have to be nice, I’ll write my letter to Kate instead.” Shayne grabbed his pen and spoke aloud as he scribbled, “Dear Kate. If you change your mind about Cress, come find me. I’ll be an excellent husband. I’m totally husband material. Feel free to tell Lily that.”

Lily shook her head as she brought her mug over to the sink to wash it. “Don’t be mad because I refused to get married before Kate. There are some friendship rules that shouldn’t be broken, you know.”

Shayne cast her a doubtful look.

Suddenly, Cress banged out of the kitchen doors, and very quickly, all the fairies and Greyson scrambled to hide their terrible letters of well wishes.