Freed (Imprisoned by the Fae 3)

Welp. Here goes nothing.

I repeat what Nine told me to say:

“I call on Grimly. Grimly the gnome.” And then, just in case it makes a difference, “Ol’ Grimly.”

That

last one was my idea. Despite Nine—being the elitist fae he is—believing that the lower races weren’t as smart, I know Grimly. He’s way trickier than that. If he gave me his name, no way do I think it’s just Grimly. But ‘ol’ Grimly’... he seemed to call himself that a lot.

And, holy freaking shit, it works! Like magic—and, okay, I guess it is magic—within seconds of my call, the air splits and, suddenly, there he is.

He even has his stupid pipe.

“Ah, girly. And here ol’ Grimly thought that you’d given up on retrieving my hair.”

“I did.” I can’t even try to be pleasant. After all the shit he put me through, if it wasn’t for this stupid mission, I would’ve been happy never seeing him again. “But that’s why I called you here. I want to know why you wanted all that stuff you had me get. The plum… the feather… and Morgan’s hair.”

“But it wasn’t me. It was my buyer.” He puffs on his pipe once, then slips it under his cloak, orange smoke and all. When it’s gone, he shows his empty hands in a mockery of a “who, me?” gesture. “I’m a collector. For the right price, I’ll try to collect anything for anyone. And, if I can’t...”

He doesn’t even have to finish that thought. If he can’t, he’ll trick unsuspecting humans to do it for him.

Of course.

“Then who’s your buyer?”

“You don’t think I’ll just tell you that, do you? Without any kind of deal or trade?”

I have his name. “I can compel you. Ol’ Grimly—”

His laugh is like nails on a chalkboard to me. “That ain’t gonna work.”

Damn it. “Okay. Then what will?

“A memory for a memory, girly. Since you welshed on your debt, that’s the only bargain I’ll be making today.”

“I didn’t—”

The gnome holds up his finger. “Ah, but you agreed to my three tasks. You only finished two. Unless you want to complete the third…”

I don’t. “Okay. What memory do you want?”

“Elle.” Rys’s lyrical voice drops so low, I barely recognize that he’s the one who called my name. “I can’t let you do that. He says a memory for a memory, but it’ll be in his favor. We might find out who is starting trouble on this side of the Court’s divide, but what will it cost you?”

I look at Grimly. The shark-like grin on his weathered face doesn’t even try to deny Rys’s statement.

Both frustrated and annoyed, I throw my hands up in the air. “So what am I supposed to do?”

“Your ring.”

That’s Jim.

I turn to look at him. What about my ring? I don’t have it anymore.

“What, Jim?”

He points at my hand. “It took me a few days before I noticed it was gone. I tried to tell myself it didn’t mean anything. Maybe you lost it. Hell, maybe you took it off. But you never took it off.”

My mouth drops. For a second, I was so caught up in everything that’s happened to me in Faerie that I… I forgot all about Jim. Maybe I got used to him being quiet. Maybe I was kind of ignoring him because I’ve been terrified that he would bring up the fight we were having the other night.