Three Slices Read Free Page B

threaten me. He straight-up laid down a glamour and I spilled.”
    It was facepalm time for me, because I remembered Leif spinning a tale about meeting Flidais in the eighteenth century and waiting for me to arrive “in the desert” based on her advice. I swallowed it at the time because I was so intent on keeping a promise to him that I couldn’t accept that he was playing me. Now, though, I can see it for the bullshit that it was. Flidais wouldn’t have told him a thing—she’d have unbound him on general principle if she ever met him. But with Mekera’s information, he could go to Tempe, ingratiate himself with the werewolf pack there, and wait for me to show up and make courtesy contact with them.
    This meant that Drasche and Leif were still on speaking terms. Conspiring terms, even. I thought that I had managed to set Drasche against Leif back in France, but apparently I hadn’t sown enough doubt. Or, more likely, Leif was simply better than I was at manipulating people. I wondered now if his ignorance of language was all feigned, a device he used to humanize himself. He would have taken issue with Mekera’s use of “straight-up laid down,” for example, and I would have felt superior in explaining it to him, when it was all part of his long con.
    “Why did he leave you alive?” I asked. “You could have warned me. You should have warned me when I came to fix up your place and you told me where to find Oberon.”
    “Told him the same thing I told you: I don’t owe you anything. I look out for myself. And he said he could appreciate that.”
    “I bet he did.”
    “And he also said he’d find me again if you didn’t show up by the millennium.”
    “Ah, there was the threat.”
    “But it just so happens,” she continued, her hand spreading out like a stop sign, “that my ass needs saving again and I probably can’t talk my way out of it this time. So, whatever you’re wanting me to divine for you, I’ll do it if you protect me from Werner Drasche and the vampires until you’ve killed them all. Because that’s what you’re aiming to do, right?”
    I stared at her in shocked disbelief. “I can’t believe you’re asking for a favor now when you’ve just admitted to selling me out twice .”
    “I’m not asking for a favor. I’m naming the price for my services, and my services are worth it. I helped you find your dog there and kept you away from that god you were running from, didn’t I?”
    “Aenghus Óg found me in Tempe,” I pointed out.
    “Only because you stayed too long.” She closed one eye and cocked a finger at me. “I told you ten years and you pushed it, didn’t you?” I sighed in defeat because I did stay there longer than I should have. “All right, then. I’ll tell you the future and you be my shield.”
    “I can agree with that in the abstract,” I said, “but I honestly can’t protect you here. Best I can do is take you somewhere they won’t be able to reach you until it’s all over, then bring you back.”
    She narrowed her eyes, wary of a trick. “This is someplace nice you’re talking about? Not a hole in a city somewhere?”
    “Oh, yes. It can be very nice. I can take you to a different plane if you want.”
    “Which plane?”
    I paused to consider where she’d be both safe and free from harassment. “How about Emhain Ablach, one of the Irish planes? It means the Isle of Apples. No vampires there. No lifeleeches, either. Not even junk mail.” And almost no faeries except for the seagoing kind. It was Manannan Mac Lir’s bailiwick and very few Fae visited it unless they had his permission. He wouldn’t mind having a special guest there for a while.
    “What about people? Or your Irish gods?”
    “No people. The god doesn’t visit often and I’ll make sure he’s okay with you staying there. You might see some selkies, but they won’t mess with you.”
    “That does sounds pleasant. All right, it’s a deal, if we live long enough to get the