He nods. “Too bitter.”
Leolikes coffee.
“They don’t have it in...where you come from?” I hope he’ll say the name again, so I don’t have to admit I’ve forgotten it.
He shakes his head. Oh well.
“How about tea?” I suggest. “They have that here.”
“Tea. Now there’s an idea. I’ll be right back.”
“Do you need some cash?”
He smiles and shakes his head. “I have that taken care of.”
How? It’s not like they take Northern Isles money at the currency exchange. So what do he and the other fae do for cash? How do they pay rent? Buy food and clothes? I’m mulling this over when Rime returns with a cup and saucer and a steaming pot of tea.
He asks, “Can you pass me a napkin, please?”
I bend back to grab a few from the empty table behind me and hand them to him, wondering if he’s spilled his tea somewhere I can’t see. But instead of using them to wipe, he takes one off the stack, and hovering a hand over it, says “watch.” Before my very eyes, it transforms into a five-dollar bill.
I cover my gaping mouth and stare at the bill, waitingfor it to—I don’t know? Jump up and bite me? Rime gestures with his hand again and it turns into a credit card.
“A glamour?” I whisper. Ethically, it’s questionable, but what else are the fae supposed to do? It’s not like they have work visas or IDs. Unless they charm themselves some, of course.
Rime nods and turns the card back into the bill. “This can be used forever, by anyone, as long as no one looks up the serial number.”
Well, damn, if I were him, I’d buy myself a chateau in the French Alps. Or diamond earrings.
“Can you take things back with you?”
“To Nàdar? Yes. But only what we can carry with us.”
Nàdar.That’s the name. “So you can’t drive back in a Lamborghini?”
He blinks and tilts his head.
“Lamborghini? It’s a very expensive, very, very fast car.” Just for grins and giggles, I pull up a video of one on my phone.
As he watches, his eyes grow wide and his mouth spreads into a grin. “Where can I find one of those?”
“Nowhere around here,” I laugh. “Asheville maybe. But you’d need a hell of a lot of napkins.” Too bad, because I’ve gotta admit, Rime would look hot in a sports car.
“Your technology is truly incredible.”
“You don’t have cars or computers in Nàdar?”
“No, we live simply. Off the land, as you call it.”
Oh, sounds primitive. And impossible if they live underground like the internet claims faeries do. “You don’t have the courts and all that? Seelie and Unseelie?”
“No, those are a colorful human invention. Nàdar isn’t an aristocracy, it’s an egalitarian society.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re clan-based. No royalty or central government, no social classes.”
“What about the Tuatha Dé Danann?”
