“Mama tends to do that to you,” I said. “Strangely upset or uncomfortably aroused. It’s almost the same thing.”
“Are you going to put Moishe out of his misery?” she asked me.
“If by out of his misery you mean killing him, then maybe,” I said. “I’ve honestly thought about it for years.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Then no. That would not put anyone out of their misery. In fact, there might be more misery. Like, tons of misery.”
“Moishe wants to have sex with him,” Mama told Ryan.
“He has a wizard kink,” I muttered.
“No,” Mama said. “He has a you kink.”
I grimaced. “That’s not helping.”
“He’s not having sex with Moishe,” Ryan growled.
Mama’s eyes gleamed. “And just why is that, Knight Commander?”
“Because.”
“Great answer,” Mama said. “I believed it. Right down to my toes.”
“You don’t own me,” I reminded him. “Do we need to go through this again?”
“Again?” Mama asked.
“Fairies,” I said, trying to remember what it was I needed to ask Mama. She tended to suck me into her circular conversations and I always left without remembering why I came to begin with.
“Dimitri?”
I nodded. “A few days ago.” I started to tune them out so I could think. I needed something from Mama.
“Everything wants to have sex with him,” Ryan said.
“Really?” Mama asked. “Everything. Imagine that.”
“Dark wizards,” Ryan said. “Tiny men with wings. Fan clubs. Dragons. Guys with weird ears because apparently that’s sooooo cool and whatever, you know? We all have ears. Gods.”
“Huh,” Mama said. “And just how much do you want to fu—”
“I remembered!” I said quite loudly. I wasn’t even sure what they were talking about, but I was sure it could wait. “Old Clearing.”
Mama’s eyes hardened and the room felt colder than it’d been before. “Old Clearing, you say?”
“There’ve been reports. People missing. Livestock taken. Scorch marks upon the earth.”
She sat back in her chair. When she spoke next, I could hear the great care with which she chose her words. “And so, naturally, you thought of the dragon and the Prince.”
“Naturally. Well. Morgan thought of it. We know where the Prince is now. We think. Dimitri told us of a keep in the north near the mountains.”
“Where?”
“Tarker Mills.”
She arched an eyebrow. “And you trust the fairy?”