By Fairy Means or Foul: A Starfig Investigations Novel(17)

I spun around. “You can’t. I own you. You don’t get to make decisions about your life.” The words were brutal, but I needed him to understand his place in this exchange. He really didn’t get Rainbowpebbles and his ilk.

Quinn sucked in a sharp breath. Anger and hurt mingled on his face.

Rainbowpebbles watched our exchange closely, his eyes darting between us. “Say, I’ll make you a deal, Starfig. You seem awfully fond of your pet. I know you wouldn’t want to trade him. I get it. He’s a prime piece. So you don’t have to.”

I squinted at him. “What’s the catch?”

“Catch? You wound me, my friend.”

“We’re not friends, you piece of—”

“Twig, maybe you should hear him out.” Quinn bumped his shoulder against me.

“Yes, maybe you should hear me out.” Rainbowpebbles, that bastard, was enjoying the fuck out of this. If I was into spanking, when we got home I’d tan Quinn’s perky ass until it was cherry red. Maybe I would anyway.

“So, you’re willing to play me for the stone only?”

“Ah, no, sorry, Starfig, I just couldn’t do it for that.” He didn’t need to say, not any more. The guy could scent blood in the air better than most.

“Uh huh.” I shook my head, determined to leave this time.

“I would accept a contract on you, though.”

Fangs shot through my gum line. I knew what he meant and it wasn’t to be a sex slave. He wanted to harness the power of my dragon, make me work for him. He’d be able to find anyone’s well-hidden treasures. He’d have one beast of a bodyguard. Oh, there were lots of uses for a half-dragon. He’d tried it by force before, but it hadn’t worked out. This was a clever way for him to get what he wanted.

“How long?” I managed to get out through my teeth.

“Why, only ninety days, of course. Standard contract.” He leaned back in his chair, took a few puffs of his cigarette, a smirk making him look even uglier if that was possible.

“He doesn’t accept,” Quinn said.

Really? Now he wants me to back out?

“I accept,” I said.

“Twig, no! You can’t.”

“Why not? You were willing to bet yourself. Why can’t I?”

“Well, because . . . because, you have a job to do.”

“And I’m doing it.” I dismissed Quinn and focused on Rainbowpebbles. “I’m in. But it has to be in the public room. I want to make sure it’s all on the up and up.” Yeah, as if. The fucker would cheat like crazy.

“Of course. Never let it be said that Lapus Rainbowpebbles wasn’t an honest fae.”

I snorted. I hoped I didn’t come to rue this day. Not only would I have to work for a scum like Rainbowpebbles, but it would put my fragile relationship with my father on even thinner ice.





6





Finding a neutral third party to act as the dealer was a joke. We settled on an ill-tempered rock gnome who didn’t seem to care for either of us. He probably wouldn’t have even done it if Rainbowpebbles hadn’t agreed to spot him a free round of frosted joker elixir. Popular guy, Rainbowpebbles.

Being a bit of a showboat, Rainbowpebbles arranged for a table to be moved into the middle of the taproom and made it clear to all that something was going down. We soon garnered a sizeable audience. He announced the stakes and we shook on it, the gnome placing his hands on top of ours and sealing the deal with his magic. No backing out now.

Once the cards were dealt, I blocked out everyone else. Quinn pleaded with me again not to play, but he’d put me in this position. I was tempted to send him back to my place, except a human walking around unchaperoned in the Elder was just asking for trouble. Invisibility didn’t always guarantee safety.

Qwikskor was a little bit like a game humans favored called ‘blackjack.’ Except instead of two cards, there were ten. The total needed to equal as close to 103 as possible. Also, two cards were dealt face up and couldn’t be exchanged, but once the first four cards were flipped—or exchanged for new ones before being flipped over—the remaining four cards were swapped with your opponent’s cards and became theirs. Additionally, a Qwikskor deck held negative numbers, not just positive ones, and no weird humans on them, just the numbers 1-12.

Rainbowpebbles winked at me over his cards. His first two cards were an 11 and an 8. I watched him replace two of his facedown cards through slight-of-hand. I suppose for a fae, he was a pretty good cheat.

Of course, it was obvious he’d never gone up against a dragon before. There was a reason we were so good at stockpiling treasures, and it wasn’t just our brawn.

Yeah, that surprised me, too.

I purposely kept my arms crossed over my chest, so everyone could see I was nowhere near my cards. Then I exhaled. To the naked eye, the cards looked the same, but they’d rearranged themselves in a more favorable order. Little known dragon talent. I’d stumbled across it by accident. Came in handy now, though.

Rainbowpebbles frowned, looked to the dealer. He’d obviously marked the cards and now his were completely messed up. If he said something, the dealer would want to know how he knew the cards had changed. He couldn’t admit to marking them. And even though the cards were charmed against magic use, they responded to my proximity and fell into place. I didn’t have to look at my hand to know I held 103 total.