By Fairy Means or Foul: A Starfig Investigations Novel(23)

“What do you mean by punished?” I had a bad feeling about this.

Quinn shrugged. “He’ll beat me and probably lease me to Heloise the Hellhound’s Whore House for a week or two to remind me how good I have it. He’ll take away my voice, too, so the screams don’t bother the customers. Heloise lets her customers get a little rough. But I’ve survived it before, I can do so again.”



“Are we flying?” Quinn looked at my back for the telltale sign of wings.

“Yes.” I pointed at an old magic carpet I won in a game of cards against a minotaur. The carpet was moth eaten and reeked of manticore dung, but it still managed to get off the ground. Most of the time. The steering was a little wonky, though.

“You have to be kidding.”

“You can always stay here.”

“No, no, I’m going.” Quinn looked at the carpet, distrust written in every line of his handsome face. “You sure this thing can fly?”

“Of course.” Hopefully. I crossed my fingers behind my back, so he wouldn’t see.

I gave the carpet a couple good shakes to get out as much of the dirt and grime as possible before I placed my palm on the design in the middle of the weave.

The rug began to glow, lavender sparks shooting from it.

Quinn raised an eyebrow, yet managed to keep quiet.

Impressive.

He waited for my signal to mount the carpet. Once I situated myself with my knapsack in front, I indicated he should climb on and wrap his arms around me.

Quinn gingerly slid onto the rug, and clasped me lightly around the middle, touching me in as few places as possible.

“You’re going to fall off,” I chided, pulling his legs toward me until his groin was snug against my ass. A jolt of heat licked down my spine and I had the strangest urge to submit. Hadn’t expected that. My dragon never allowed anyone the upper hand. I cleared my throat. “Hold tight and whatever you do, don’t let go.”

His arms tightened and we were off. He squawked when the carpet shot into the air then proceeded to dive bomb the road below, only to pull out at the last second and soar back into the clouds.

“Dust and ashes! This thing is going to kill us!” Quinn shouted.

I chuckled.

“Nah, its spells are just old. It always does this. I haven’t crashed yet.”

“There’s always a first tiiiimmme!” he screeched as the carpet nose-dived once again.

Because of the rug’s up and down trajectory, we didn’t make fast headway, but we managed to clear Lighthelm before lunchtime. Once out of the city, the protective fields of colorful midsummer surprise surrounded us. Midsummer surprise sounded so harmless, but as in all things fairy, the lush blooms held a nasty shock for any army stupid enough to try to invade the capital. Fanged and clawed flowers were only the first line of defense Lighthelm sported, and definitely nowhere near the last.

I could already see the Expanse in the distance. The desert was made up of large, shifting sand dunes going for miles in all directions. Easy enough to get turned around in the Expanse, though being airborne made a big difference. I wouldn’t want to walk through it on foot, though.

We kept going until we neared the closest edge of the desert. We’d cross it after lunch. Angling us downward, we rocketed toward the ground before slamming hard and careening wildly sideways. We narrowly missed a tree and came to a skidding halt. Quinn stayed wrapped around my back tighter than my knapsack.

Once we finally landed, I waited for him to let go. His hands remained securely fastened around my middle.

“You can let go now,” I said.

He nodded, but stayed mashed up against me. It was kind of nice, but I didn’t want to get used to the idea. He’d made it pretty clear he didn’t want to be anyone’s sex toy and I would respect that, no matter how my dragon nature urged me to get to know him better. Preferably naked.

“That means you need to unlock your hands.”

“I can’t.”

I peered over my shoulder. His face had a distinctly greenish cast and his breath came in short gasps.

“Hey, hey, nothing to get too worked up about. We’re okay.”

“T-that had to be the scariest ride of my life,” he sputtered, finally releasing me and rolling quickly off the rug. “You’re crazy to ride that thing.”

“Meh. So far, so good. Besides, I rather like the feeling of flight.”

He walked in a circle shaking his arms and legs out, his face slowly returning to a normal shade. When he stopped he said, “Hey, can’t you fly? Both fairies and dragons have wings, right? Wouldn’t it be easier if you transformed and carried me?”

“I’m not a horse. I don’t carry people.” As if I could. Quinn seemed to have a knack for asking uncomfortable questions. Ignoring him, I dug around in my sack and pulled out some squished bread, three-horned jackalope jerky, and a large skin of water.

“So instead we risk our necks on a crazy-assed carpet? Well, I guess, just my neck since you would shift before you hit the ground.”

“Let’s eat.” I sat under the tree that had almost ended our existence and began to consume our meal. I held out his portion.

He narrowed his eyes and joined me. Before he could follow up on his question—because it was obvious he wanted to—I decided to change subjects. I said the first thing that came to mind.