Page 95 of Welcome to Fae Cafe
“Cress!” Kate stood so fast, her chair tipped backward and clamoured over the floor. Her knuckles banged over the table as she tried to feel her way around. He caught her arm when she reached him, and she realized he was standing.
“You leaving is a bad idea,” she said.
“Me staying is a worse idea.”
“Stay until Christmas,” she tried again. “Just until then,please. You can leave on Christmas day, and I won’t argue after that.”
Cress’s grip loosened, and eventually, he dropped her arm.
“Fine. I’ll stay for the human Yule celebrations, Katherine Lewis. But I’ll be gone before Christmas morning, and you must prepare yourself to move far away from this city after I leave,” he said. “That’s the only trade I’ll make with you.”
32
Kate Kole and the Fae on the Naughty List
The snowstorm finally ceased at noon, paving the way for sunlight to make the sidewalks glow. Kate found herself searching the alleys and rooftops for stalking fae with silvery brown eyes. Nothing showed itself during their walk back to the café, and she assumed Cress was the reason. His command for her to not go outside alone didn’t seem so crazy now.
A new garland wreath hung on the café door, and a string of golden Christmas lights surrounded the wooden Fae Café sign. There was even new, decorative writing on the window about the butter tarts. But the one thing the café was missing was customers.
“Wait…” Cress took Kate’s arm before she opened the door. “Something is happening inside. I can hear human fury.”
Kate leaned to squint through the sun’s reflection on the window. She shrieked when she saw Ben—the loan shark—tied to a chair with a pastry clogging his mouth.
She flung the door open. The bell rang as she raced in.
“We’re closed!” Dranian growled, but he shut his mouth when he saw Kate and Cress.
Ben glared at Kate from his chair. He couldn’t move his mouth to shout at her, at least. It didn’t make his facial expression any less quiet.
Mor rested in one of the chairs by the fireplace, reading a newspaper with his feet up and stuffed into Kate’s favourite pair of slippers. Kate yelled at him, “You let them do this?”
Mor flipped down the page corner to peer over it. “He came in demanding money, and those faeborn fools didn’t like it. This has nothing to do with me.” He nodded toward Shayne and Dranian and went back to his paper. “What isDesmount Tech Industries? Every scroll column is babbling on about them,” he added, and then with a mutter, “This text is simple, yet astoundingly informative. I could create a news scroll like this. I’m a faeborn vessel of information.”
Shayne had one hand in his pocket and the other around a coffee-filled mug. He leaned with his shoulder against the wall. “Perhaps you should. You could call it the Fairy Post and warn the humans of all the fairy action among them,” he said as though they were just having a normal conversation on a normal day and there wasn’t a living person tied to a chair five feet away.
Mor snorted. “Then I should warn them of the enchantments you put in the baking,” he said.
Kate looked from Mor to the glass display of tarts and cakes, then back to Mor. “Did you just say there are enchantments in the baking?”
“Yes. Those two mixed the batter with magic to ensure that every human who tries it is compelled to come back. The coffee is enchanted, too,” he said. “The bad news is that no one really came back here because they liked your coffee, Human. The good news is you have hundreds of lifetime customers,” Mor said, and Kate’s jaw dropped. Her gaze darted to Shayne’s writing in the window that said, COME TRY THE BUTTER TARTS. WE GUARANTEE YOU’LL COME BACK FOR MORE IF YOU DO.
“Are you kidding me?!” she shrieked.
“You’re always such a tattletale, Mor,” Shayne said as he rolled his eyes.
“We all have roles here. That’s mine.” Mor shook his newspaper to straighten it again.
Kate slapped a hand over her forehead. “I can’tbelieve…” She shook her head and jutted a thumb toward Ben in the hostage chair. “Can we deal with this first, please?”
On cue, Cress sauntered over to Ben. “Are you the fool who’s forcing our human to pay so many taxes?” he asked him.
“He’s not a tax collector, I just owe him money,” Kate said. “Seriously, you guys can’t freak out like this every time someone you don’t like comes in here.”
Shayne sipped a coffee. “This human insect called you names,” he said, kicking a leg of Ben’s chair. “So Dranian picked him up by his ugly human throat and tied him to that seat.”
Kate almost objected, but she looked at Dranian in surprise. “Really? I could have sworn you didn’t like me.”
Dranian lifted one shoulder into a shrug. Kate bit back a small, flattered smile.
