Chapter 31 Aftermath for Non-Mathematicians
Aftermath for Non-Mathematicians
“Well, you did succeed in rescuing him from the Citrine Palace,” Dy consoled her. “Which was the point, after all.”
It wasn’t much consolation. Neither were the all-you-can-eat chips and salsa, although Cha was doing her best to eat all she could.
They’d stopped at a place in Santa’s Village, which wasn’t too far into Obsidian, thankfully.
Dy had resolutely thrown out all everything edible or drinkable they’d brought with them, saying it was too dangerous to consider consuming them after they’d been exposed to Citrine magic for so long and that Cha could wait another hour or two as she’d gone this long.
Cha would’ve argued except Dy had done it while she was in the hidey-hole with Azul.
Cha would have been upset at the further delay at filling her empty stomach except that she couldn’t be more crushed than she already was.
After hearing the brief version of what had happened with Azul, Dy let her stew in silence, sandwiched between Katu and Warg.
At least her physical misery matched her emotional state.
Dy guided Big Betty to the immense parking ley at Santa’s Village, finding a spot on the outer edge of the lot mostly designed for family vans and sedans.
Leaving Katu and Warg safely inside Big Betty, they trudged tiredly through the lot to the village along the human-safe pathways that were set up to be stupidly fanciful.
The paths curved through pretty statuary of the cutesy versions of monsters, like fauns and mermaids.
Probably people on vacation enjoyed the meandering maze of pathways, but for someone who wanted a big drink of water more than life itself—not saying much as Cha wasn’t exactly enjoying her life at the moment—it was all just more salt in the wound.
Finally, though, they got a table at The Faery Mound, a café designed to look like an underground warren of caves with fake jewels sticking out of the walls in some places and climbing walls with handholds shaped like fluorescent toadstools in others.
Children of all sizes swarmed up the latter like decorative lice, wearing pretend fake fairy wings, tails, and horns.
In the next cavern, a two-story waterfall plummeted into a lurid pool with sexy merfolk—have to give the parents at least one perk—and a “treasure cave” behind it.
Kids were lined up to go into the cave, emerging from the other side with various prizes that would likely dissolve as soon as they crossed the border.
The waitstaff were entirely composed of hip-high trolls.
Brown as mud, with gnobby protrusions, and dressed in elf costumes complete with jaunty caps tipped with bells, the servers were likely intended to be cute and comical.
Cha, however, was not in the mood for antics.
She’d much rather be at Big Jo’s, but that was even farther away on the human side of the border and would be under construction for quite some time after the Ruby demon demolished the joint.
Dy had given her a choice between this place and The Sweete Shoppe, all pink frosting and candy-coated nonsense, so she’d gone for dark tunnels to suit her mood. At least they had human food and water.
“Rescuing Prince Charming was the point of the whole mission from the beginning,” Dy pointed out unnecessarily and again. “You knew that you’d almost certainly be parting ways again after that. You even said you’d be okay with that eventuality.”
Nothing like having your best friend throwing your words back in your face. “Do you think he went back?” Cha asked, chugging water and refilling both of their glasses from the pitcher the server-troll had left for them.
“Do you?” Dy retorted, sounding tired. Of course she was tired. Dy had—once again—single-handedly driven them through Moonstone. Plus out of Citrine. Probably she was tired of Cha’s shit too. Stars knew, Cha was tired of it.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter.” Cha laid those words on the table and considered them. Dy met her gaze steadily, not commenting, dipping another chip into the bowl of salsa between them.
Why The Faery Mound had chips and salsa on the tables, Cha had no idea.
Santa’s Village was such a weird conglomeration of human ethnic styles and faux-fae offerings that none of it made sense.
At the table beside them, strung-out parents devoured chips and salsa while begging their children to choose something to eat from the menu.
They were also chugging ale from frosty mugs, which Cha rather envied, but she needed a clear head and drowning her sorrows had never worked. Too much like her wastrel father.
“It does not matter what Prince Charming does or doesn’t do now,” Cha reiterated, this time with more confidence.
A troll-server went by with a vast dessert of chocolate and marshmallow cream made to look like a dirt mound, studded with spun-sugar pixies.
Maybe drowning her sorrows in sugar would work.
A sugar-high could substitute for getting drunk, too.
She was hungry enough that she could eat a horse, so maybe she’d talk Dy into sharing that after they finished the enormous meals they’d ordered.
If the glacially slow trolls ever brought them.
She devoured another several chips before continuing. “His life is his own,” she added, nodding at Dy since her friend wasn’t doing it.
Dy sighed and stuffed another chip in her mouth, glancing around. “I wonder if they’ll bring our food in this century?”
They were about out of chips and Cha considered simply drinking the salsa. She looked around for a troll to flag down for more chips, but they’d all vanished with that uncanny instinct of servers when you wanted them. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” Cha demanded.
Dy gave her a long-suffering look. “Because it doesn’t matter what I say; this is your quandary to reconcile.”
“I want your opinion.”
“No, you don’t. You want—finally!” Dy lit up like Christmas as their troll server shoved big platters before them. They’d gotten the same thing: prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and hot rolls with honey butter.
They were both too busy shoveling food into their mouths for the next several minutes—the harried parents beside them looking on enviously while their children screamed to go on the Whirly Fairy Tea Cups again—to say anything more.
The real food hitting her stomach helped clear Cha’s mind.
Slathering more butter on another roll, she gestured with it to Dy.
“You’re right. I don’t need your opinion because I’m resolved in my heart.
The tango ends here. It should have ended before, but I fell for Lenorae’s tricks and she used me to force Prince Charming’s hand.
” That still galled her. Nothing like everyone warning you something was a trap and blundering into it anyway.
“I won’t be used against him again. He separated from me in order to protect me.
It was noble of him and I won’t sabotage that again. ”
“Uh huh,” Dy grunted around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
“He’s a grown fae and he doesn’t need me interfering in his life,” Cha continued, warming to the topic.
This was all true stuff. She forked up some juicy prime rib and pointed it at Dy.
“No more connection between us. I’m going to stop moping after him and get on with my life.
This was a wake-up call for me. I need to figure out a plan for me. ”
Dy raised her brows. “No more tournaments?”
“Like I could with Otto blackballing us from every cursed thing,” Cha bitched. That had been a particularly low blow. Not to mention that outstanding arrest warrant that would put a serious damper on public appearances. “Katu and I are going legit. Just like you.”
Dy did a slow head tilt. “You’re going to… race on ley lines for a living, but not in tournaments?”
“Yes,” Cha answered decisively. Maybe a little defensively. She waved a hand in the air while she chewed. “I haven’t worked out the details yet, but surely there are legit jobs for talented ley riders. And I’m the best there is.”
“True, you are. But most pro ley riders are hired for their consistency and safety records, not their ability to find the fastest sweet spot. Plus, you’re a wanted criminal now.”
“I know that. Like I said, I haven’t worked out the details.” She refused to let Dy get her down. More down. “I have to make some changes. Get a good job. No more illegal shit. Settle down. Like you and Phin.”
Dy’s brows climbed even higher. “You want to have babies?”
“Gods no.” That burst out of her before she caught herself and Dy nearly choked on her laughter. “Not babies, but… a solid relationship. With a human man.”
“And nice little cottage with a white picket fence around the slow black ley?” Dy asked widening her eyes innocently.
Yeah, that sounded boring as the seven hells.
But she wasn’t going to admit that now. A fish can love a bird, but where will they live?
Cha was doomed to be a fish, stuck in a pond and forever swimming in circles.
Fuck her life. “Well, Prince Charming is out of the picture forever,” she said instead.
“That’s the important point. He made his choice.
I did what I could for him and now we’re even. ”
“Uh huh,” Dy said again. “What about you being marked as his human pet?”
Oh, right. “Maybe it will wear off.”
“It won’t.” Dy shook her head, wiping up the last of her gravy with the roll.
“I did a bit of research during the Moonstone crossing and that kind of mark is permanent. That’s part of the point.
If anyone could remove it from you, then it wouldn’t serve its purpose to keep other fae or mages from stealing you.
It’s tied to your life force. He might have taken the collar off of you, but his mark is still visible to anyone with the ability to see.
Which is pretty much anyone with magic.”
A chilling thought. The huge slab of meat weighed in her stomach now. “Then how come you didn’t see it before?”
Dy met her gaze steadily. “I saw it. I just didn’t tell you.”
“What the fuck?” Cha screeched loud enough to startle the squabbling children beside them. The kids, giggling, started chanting waddafuck waddafuck waddafuck. The parents glared at her.
“That will keep them going a while,” Dy observed wryly.
“Oh, like those kids have never heard the word before,” Cha muttered. “Sorry,” she said to the parents anyway.
“Besides,” Dy said, “it was clear he did it to protect you from other fae after the Moonstone fiasco. That’s the only reason the Obsidian border guard didn’t use lethal force on you when you ran the gates.”
“And here I thought it was because I was so fast and clever.” Wasn’t this a fine kettle of fish? Azul had robbed her of even her confidence in her own Bandit ways.
“It will come in handy,” Dy soothed. “No fae will harm you.”
“Sunshine sure tried.”
“No.” Dy wagged a finger at her. “Sunshine used enchantment to seduce you, but even in the hand-to-hand fight, she didn’t hurt you when she could have.”
“That was due to my brilliant sword work.”
“And now that Prince Charming dressed her down—”
“Hard to do when she’s always naked,” Cha couldn’t help inserting.
“Ha ha. Now that he disciplined her in front of the Citrine Court, all of fae will know that he’s willing to defend his claim. He’ll destroy any fae who dares harm you. Think of him as having given you a free pass, along with a powerful fae sword and wand.”
“Technically Big Jo gave me the wand.”
Dy rolled her eyes. “How are you doing on the guidebook Nerd Girl gave you on the wand, by the way? I’m glad you could use it to move the cart, but that seemed like a pretty elementary usage.”
“I’ve been busy,” Cha muttered, wishing she’d ordered that frosty ale after all.
“True,” Dy agreed easily. Too easily.
“Just say it.”
Dy held up her hands in a peaceful gesture. “I’d like to gently point out that studying has never been your strong suit.”
“You don’t have to kick a girl while she’s down.”
“No shade intended. I’m just saying that Nerd Girl has good intentions, but she’s trying to get you to use the wand the way she would. Whereas wands are personal.”
“I don’t get you.”
Dy reached across the table and squeezed her hand with a smile. “You should speak to it in your own language. Channel your feelings and intentions.”
“Right now, all of my feelings are shitty and my intentions are to get drunk for a week. Or more.”
“Did you want to order the Chocolate Mountain? I saw you looking at it. That might make you feel better.” Like Cha was one of her kids needing to be comforted with dessert.
“No, I’m stuffed.” Which she was. “Unless you want it?”
“No, I’d rather hit the leys and get home. Where I plan to sleep for a week. Unless Baby Six comes, in which case I won’t sleep for another year.”
“Good luck there.” Cha stood. “Let’s walk through the stalls. I need a birthday present for Phin Jr. that isn’t a complete scam.”
“Good luck with that.”
Cha chuckled. “I’m thinking about one of those wizard hats that make you look like a fae monster. Think that would scare the littles?”
“Yes,” Dy answered fervently, “but he’ll love it.”
“Damn straight.” Cha felt a bit more like herself.
She’d get over this episode and on with her life.
She might not want the cottage and babies, or even the same human man night after night, but she’d been happy before and she could be happy again.
This had been a good adventure, but it was over now.
Happy-ever-afters came in all shapes and sizes. She’d get her life sorted out and move forward.
She linked arms with Dy and headed out of the restaurant and into the rest of her life.