“No, I won’t give your son another extension, Mrs. Cullen.” Orson was on my phone when I walked into the office. “Yes, I understand you put your house up for that bond. Don’t you think maybe that’s a conversation you should be having with Perchik right now?” He rubbed the bridge of his nose and blinked at me, the only outward sign that I’d surprised him. He held up a finger for me to wait. “Mrs. Cullen. Nobody else was willing to hold a bond for a criminal with actual goddamned wings. You get your son to come talk to me personally, and I will discuss it. But he doesn’t make it in here, I have to take action.”

He hung up without saying goodbye, one reason we never had him talk to the elderly ladies who so often put their lives on the line for their miscreant children.

"Hey, Boss."

“You’re back.” He glanced around, no one was waiting on him, and none of the hunters were visible. “Great. You’ve got phones, and since it’s already eleven, you work until seven, okay?”

I opened my mouth to argue but shut it with a snap and nodded. I still had a job. Gray would understand. Hell, he’d probably be overjoyed that I wasn’t the boss of anything anymore. Orson would never let paperwork go unfinished because we were out on a hunt, but the stack he dropped in front of me shook the whole desk.

“So, you missed me.”

“One more day, I would’ve replaced you.” His tone was gruff, but that just meant he’d been worried. If he wanted to get rid of me, he’d have shown no emotion at all.

I leaned back and let the corners of my mouth turn up a little. “I emptied the Fae prison, Orson. I don’t know what will become of the nobles, but not a single lesser Fae was left in that place.”

"I heard you loosed witchcraft on the Fae." I nodded, the half-smile fading from my face. "Good. I hope they tell their children stories of the witch who bested them for years to come."

I cleared my throat. “I, uh, I ended up with a relic, too. A sword. Some said it was Dyrnwyn, some called it Glamdrung…It wants to be called Lann Fala, but I refused.”

“It wants to be called?” he sounded incredulous. “Christ, Mo. What the hell have you been up to?”

“Even better, it was Tryst’s sword, I just accidentally ended up with it. Did you know he was the hero of Galaborn?”

Orson gaped, then shook his head, exhaling slowly. “Nothing should surprise me anymore. He mad about the sword choosing you?”

“I don’t know. He disappeared with a…well, she was nuts. But I think she’d been waiting for him to rescue her. They knew each other, and he took her with him and took off before the big fight.”

“Sure doesn’t sound like the hero of Galaborn.”

“Maybe not, but he called the sword and saved my life before he left, so I’m not going to bitch about the disappearing act. He’ll be around eventually.”

Orson nodded but rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You best be careful of that relic, Mo. It the stories I've heard… those heroes didn't end well."

“Yeah. I plan on binding it and getting rid of it after Gray and I talk. Stuff got a little weird out there, with the other pack. Stupid alpha protocols. I can’t keep everyone else’s rules straight. Not the shifters, or the Fae.”

He patted my shoulder and stepped back as the phone thrilled at me. "Then don't. You are who you are for a reason, Mo. You can't be worried about other people's power plays. That's why you do so much good."

I picked up the phone. “Tell’s Bonds, how may I direct your call?”

“Morgan, it’s Gray. Something’s come up. Can you meet me at the circle at eight o’clock?”

Convenient. “Sure, Honey.” It gave me time to get home and at least start to figure out what to do with Glamdrung/Dyrnwyn/Lann Fala.

The day was so quiet, it was anticlimactic after my month of insanity in Montana. If I didn’t have that Goddess-forsaken sword swaddled and hidden in my baggage, I might’ve been tempted to write the whole thing off as a nightmare. But I’d made my mark of Fairy, for better or worse, and on my father. Now I just needed to apologize for whatever non-shifter thing I’d done to offend him.

“Well, look who finally decided to rejoin the land of the plebian,” A familiar scornful voice chuckled. I banged my head on my desk as I jumped up from shutting the latest payments in the safe.

“Tryst. Good to see you so well.”

His smirk softened. “Yes, thanks to you.”

“Um, I’m sorry about the sword.”

He fidgeted, rubbing his fingers against the opposite palm as he paced near my desk. “It claimed you, then? You are bound to it?”

I shrugged. “Not for long, I’m hoping. If I can unbind myself, I’m sure you can have it back.”

“No. My time with that thing is done. I cannot say I don’t want it, I do. But I have been free of its compulsions for a long time. Break with it as quickly as you can, Princess. The consequences of wielding that kind of power have a long reach.”

My heart thudded in my throat. “Of course. And the lady Geallta?”

“She rests, finally.” You have done me a great service, and I would free you from your obligation to me.”

“What, no kiss?” I teased. “You and your lady must be getting on, then.”

"I would have my kiss, either way, Princess. I am still not permitted in Fairy, after all, and that was the deal. But you saved my sister, and that is worth a broken contract."

“Your sister? I thought she was your lover… the one who got you banished.”

He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “No. My younger half-sister was punished because I escaped, and banishment was the only sentence that could be given to me. They threw her in the pit like an animal to bring me back for my execution, and like a coward, I let her suffer, unable to give up my life for her.”

“Without you, she’d still be there,” I reminded him. “I think that’s worth something.” I paused before continuing, choosing my words carefully. “I am sorry that I could not save everyone.”

“Who, Fendis? Och, she was a good witch, once. Trusted by the king for that very reason. I’m sorry I did not see her desperation and protect you.”

It was his own desperation to save Geallta that had blinded him. I couldn’t hate him for that. “Then I will honor my end of the bargain. You took me to the back door, and saved my life, and Niall’s.” I stood. “Are you sure you don’t just want a bit of flesh? I feel like everyone else has gotten some.”

“All the more reason to ask a different price. But I meant what I said. I forego my kiss, and someday, I will ask a favor.”

The clock in Orson's office chimed the hour. It was seven, time to go and try to rid myself of my new roommate before getting back in Gray's good graces. "Fine. I owe you. But tomorrow, you will meet me for beers, and we will discuss the exact nature of the favor. I won't end up with my magic in a bottle on your shelf, Broker."

He turned his hand palm up and conjured a flame in the center. “I do not think that will be a problem, Princess.”

I led him out, and he escorted me to my car, wishing me luck with my own lover. As disappointed as I was that the woman I'd saved wasn't his soulmate, somehow it seemed even sweeter that he had been so desperate to save his little sister from torment. Every time I turned around, the Trickster proved himself closer to the stories of the hero he might have been, than the image of a reprobate he'd worked to cultivate.

At the car, he hesitated, looking around like we’d been followed back from Fairy by the beast we’d left behind. But before I could ask what was bothering him, he strode off, leaving me to wonder if I had managed to do more harm than good, after all.