warned.
I swallowed hard.
“And don’t under any circumstance eat or drink anything while we are there. Don’t use his bathroom or take your hair down.” He pointed to my top knot.
I gulped. “Anything else?”
He nodded. “Don’t tell him more than you need to. I like this guy, but he’s powerful and I don’t trust him.”
Okay, this was getting scary.
“Last thing…” Liam reached for my messenger bag. “We need something to barter. Gold, cash, magical potions, he’ll take anything, but it’s gotta be good.”
I yanked my bag back. “Let me look.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
I rummaged through, pulling out a handful of small items.
“What’s this?” Liam plucked a folded map from my hand.
I yanked it back out of his grasp and placed it back in the bag. “Nothing.”
Mara had given me a map of all the blue doors in America. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the greatest idea if Liam had it. I pulled out my last two vials of pricklewart juice. “Here. Pricklewart juice makes you invisible for a few minutes.”
Liam’s eyes bulged. “Is that how you got in the houses?”
I nodded.
He snatched the two vials. “This is good. He’ll take it.” Then he stepped out, letting Bashur follow.
I slipped my dagger into my waistband and Liam shook his head. “No weapons. Are you kidding me?” He face-palmed and I wanted to throat punch him.
How had we just had the best floating ceiling sex of my life last night? And now this?
I threw my dagger onto the floor of the car and stepped out, slamming the car door in anger.
Liam frowned. “Are you pissed at me or something?”
I crossed my arms. “I’m fine.”
Liam chuckled. “I don’t know about Fae chicks, but when a human woman says she’s fine—”
“Should I transform and bring the car?” I cut him off, trying to keep it business as usual.
Fae chick? This guy was infuriating. Call me a Fae chick one more time, bud. Was he seriously clueless about last night and why I was mad?
He looked around at the fancy neighborhood and waved his hand. “Nah. Leave it here.”
With that, I spun on my heel and started up the steps. Liam sidled right up next to me, taking them two at a time. We were halfway up the steep row of steps when the door opened.
I jumped a little, not expecting that.
My gaze fell on the man who was at least seven feet tall standing in the doorway. He pointed at Bashur with a long, crooked finger. “The Urisk must stay in the car.”
Urisk? My eyes widened as I looked at the giant dog. Bashur froze and growled low in his throat but I clapped my hands to stop him and pointed to the car. “Go Bash.”
A Urisk? Surely Mara wouldn’t be sharing her home with that kind of demonic Fae creature…
She was a master at illusion though, I watched Bashur walk away and wondered if that was his true form. A Urisk?
“Well, well, if it isn’t the prince of darkness,” the man called, his sharp nose hanging far off his face. I could tell from his long pointy ears that he was Fae, full-blooded, and utterly hideous. There was a sect of Fae that hailed from the Dark Forest that we called warlocks, but what they really were was dark magic users. Rumored all dead … except for this dude apparently.
“Jasper, buddy, I just love when you call me that,” Liam growled as he reached the top step.
Prince of darkness. Very cute. Not.
I slowed my pace, growing nervous about this warlock.
“And what do we have here?” He turned to fully face me and I almost gasped at his completely bald head. There was a tattoo of a green snake going in a spiral around the entire thing and ending at his forehead. Remembering Liam’s advice not to stare, I looked at the ground.
“This is my new seeker friend,” Liam stated. “We have a common goal and need your advice.”
Seeker friend? Common goal? I could strangle him. More like seeker friend with benefits.
“Hey.” I waved stupidly, not offering my name because Liam didn’t.
The man, Jasper, raised one eyebrow. “Getting desperate, boy? Aligning with them is a bold move.”
The way he said “them,” you’d have thought he’d just smelled crap. His lip curled and he looked disgusted.
Liam shrugged. “Like I said, common goals.”
Yeah, that’s all we had … common goals. I was going to plot Liam’s murder in my sleep tonight.
“What do you have to trade me for such help?” the