“Well.” I exhaled, suddenly very glad that she was there. “You’ll have to help me out with this information broker, then. I’ve avoided making deals with the fey my entire life, so I’m a little rusty.” I glanced around the market, with all its crazy, surreal merchandise and vendors, and repressed a shiver. “I swore I’d never do this,” I groaned. “So, just poke me if I’m about to bargain away my voice or something.”
Annwyl nodded solemnly, and we continued deeper into the goblin market.
* * *
The market thinned out a couple blocks down. Booths and tables still lined the sidewalks, but not as many, though there were still crowds of fey milling between them. I kept my head down and my hood up as I skirted the edges of the booths, searching for anything that might be our mysterious information broker. Keep an eye out for the crows, the gnome vendor had said. What was that supposed to mean?
“Any idea what we’re looking for?” Annwyl murmured at my shoulder.
I was about to reply when I caught a split-second glance of a figure gliding through the crowds of fey. A girl...with long raven hair streaked with blue. My heart gave a violent lurch and I turned quickly, running into someone in my haste.
“Excuse me.”
The faery I’d bumped into turned, a tall Winter sidhe with a furry white cloak draped over her shoulders, the head of a fox peering sightlessly down at me. Her tone was as icy as her eyes and hair. “What’s this?” she said, glaring down her nose at me and Annwyl. “A dirty little human and a Summer harlot. Did you touch me, human?” Her blue lips curled with distaste. “I will never get the stench out of my cloak.”
“Sorry,” I said hastily, backing away. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh, but you did, all the same.” The Winter faery’s voice was cruel, and she snapped her fingers. Three trolls stepped out of the crowd, boxing us in. They were bigger than the normal variety, their skin pale blue instead of green, their lank hair white. They growled, baring curved tusks, flexing long black claws. The Winter faery’s lips curved in a slow smile. “I believe compensation is in order,” she purred as my hands twitched for my swords. “Or I will have my pets take it out of your hide.”
“Milady, please,” Annwyl began.
“Silence, Summer filth,” the Winter lady snapped, giving Annwyl a look of pure hatred. “You’re lucky the mortal was the one to transgress. I would have ripped out your weak Summer heart and fed it as a treat to my pets. Dare to speak to me again, and I will.”
“Don’t even think about it,” I snapped, pulling my weapons. “Unless you want to take home three less pets than you started out with.” The trolls surrounding us snarled, but the sidhe woman laughed. I bristled at that laugh but tried to keep my voice reasonable. I did not want to fight three scary-ass trolls in the middle of a goblin market. But I also did not want to bargain with a Winter gentry, not now. “I don’t want any trouble,” I told the faery, who offered a patronizing smile in return. “Just let us go, and we can get on with our lives.”
“I don’t think so, little human.” Her eyes narrowed to blue slits, though that sadistic smile didn’t waver. “And I don’t think you’re in any position to tell me what to do. So, what’s it to be, mortal?” She edged closer, looming over us. “What do you have to offer for your pathetic blunder?”
“Nothing,” I snarled, raising my swords. “I don’t have anything.”
“What he means to say,” interrupted a new voice, making my heart stop, “is that he has to wait for me to make any bargains on his behalf.”
The faery turned, the trolls grunted and I stared...as Kenzie pushed her way into the circle and stood in front of me, facing down the sidhe. Annwyl gasped, but I couldn’t move or even make a sound.
“Another human,” the gentry mused. “The market is practically infested with them tonight. Well, go on, then, mortal.” She waved an airy hand at the girl. “Tell me who you are, before I have my pets rip off the boy’s head and turn his skin into a new cloak for me.”
“You don’t need to know my name,” Kenzie said in a clear, unwavering voice. “All you need to know is that I can pay for whatever he—” she jerked her head back, though she didn’t look at me “—owes you.”
“No!” I started toward her, but one of the trolls moved. Lightning fast, it lashed out with a huge fist, slamming me in the stomach. Pain exploded through my gut, and all the air left my lungs. Gasping, I dropped to my knees on the pavement, feeling the world spin around me and trying not to hurl.
Annwyl sank down, trying to help me up as the trolls closed in, growling. Kenzie spared me a brief, frightened look, then turned back to the Winter faery, holding something out to her. From my angle on the ground, I couldn’t see what it was.
“Here!” Kenzie said as I struggled to get up, to stop her. “You can have this. Take it and leave us alone.”
The sidhe’s thin eyebrows rose. “A Token?” she mused, unable to mask her surprise. “Well, how very generous, little mortal.” She reached out, plucking something bright from Kenzie’s hand, and snapped her fingers. The trolls backed off, still growling, but retreated until they stood behind the Winter faery. “I suppose this will do,” she said, and her gaze strayed to me, still on the ground. “You’re very fortunate, boy. Next time, I will have your lovely eyes on a string. Run on home, before you get in real trouble, mortals. You don’t belong here.”