Page 42 of The Fae’s Treasure

“Hell Bitch!” I shout, sliding over the counter and taking out the sterilizer and a rack of clean bottles on the way, legs ready to land, a prayer still buzzing in my head.

The biggest knife in the knife block now in my hand.

Saz turns, mildly surprised.

I guess that’s better than focused and enraged.

She doesn’t even react when I pile into her, eight-inch blade going into her neck with all of my motherly rage and fear behind it.

For the longest second of my life (so far), she looks at me, eyes wide.

Do succubi not die from a whole-ass chef’s knife in the throat? Did I just piss her off and give her an immortal version of a papercut?

And then—she falters. Her lips open, and black blood flows out in thick gurgles. Her body falls, slowly, horribly.

Bonwit and Dairmuid are reacting. I’m not. I’m numb, breathing so hard I can hear my own panting and only that. There are words in the beautiful, melodic language being spoken. I can tell. Feel it. Rushes of wind that smell like fresh, clean pine woods fill the house, and blow Saz out of it. Outside, I see plumes of yellowish smoke forming from the spot where her body lands, and Dairmuid staggers back towards the house at once while Bonwit and Sprite keep watch outside.

“Rory!” A single word finally forms on my lips, and I drop, shaking, to the ground. I open the cabinet, pull him into my lap, and hold him with my back against the counter, afraid to move lest I drop him.

“Deanna! My lady?” Dairmuid rips into the house, shouting himself hoarse.

“Here!”

Dairmuid slides to me, one arm bloody and still dangling, skin paler than moonlight. “Are you hurt?”

“No. We’re fine. You’re bleeding.”

“It’ll stop soon. She just dug her claws in but good. Oh, Deanna! You... you are a hero. You have slain her. You have saved a fae lord and his son and heir. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“That we’re alive and the sprinkler system stayed off?” I manage to say through trembling lips.

Dairmuid rises and pulls me up. He bows low, tousled, sweating, and somehow more handsome than I’ve ever seen him. More real than I’ve ever seen him.

“From this day forward, you are considered a friend of the fairfolk. No harm will ever come to thee by our hands, and heapings of bounty and protection will be cast upon you every season. My parents will treat you as an honored guest and hero. You are Lady Deanna, Demonslayer.”

“That’s a really cool nickname. Plus, in good with the in-laws. Awesome,” I smile at Dairmuid, pass the baby into his good arm—and then I sit back down on the counter. “We need a new sterilizer,” I say, looking at the broken one on the floor.

“And you need a new blade, my lady. My hero.” Dairmuid bows again and kisses my hand, his injured arm lifting with an effort. “My love.”

“My love,” I whisper. “I love you. Both of you. Do you think... Is it possible that we could avoid any other excitement and/or terror for a few years?”

Dairmuid nods heartily. “On the other hand, meeting my parents doesn’t seem so terrifying now, does it?”

I have to smile at that. “Well, I handled the ex-girlfriend pretty well. Bring on the in-laws.”

Chapter Thirteen: Treasure

“It’s a motley crew,” Bonwit says.

“I’ve seen far stranger,” Pastor Fortnum reassures.

“He ought to be the best man, and you ought to do the readings,” I huff, but I’m only messing about. I don’t care if the church is packed with the denizens of every questionable realm. I only care that Deanna is here, waiting at the end of the aisle, ready to walk to me on my father’s arm.

Our mothers sit in the front row. They may not thoroughly approve of our hasty courtship, but they both think Rory is the prize jewel of all the ages, and he sits in his carrier between them, just a fortnight old, and already displaying uncanny powers of mesmerization—at least over his grandmothers.

“Are you sure that dog doesn’t need to go out before we start things up?” Pastor Fortnum hisses to Bonwit, who simply tucks Sprite into the pocket of his dark emerald cloak.

Deanna’s mother didn’t like that we were getting married in ‘Renaissance Faire Get-Ups,” but I had to make some concessions to my parents. After all, I was getting married in the human realm, and raising their grandson in the mortal world—mostly.