Tall, Dark and Troll by Alyn Troy

Author:Alyn Troy [Troy, Alyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

14

“Where’s Rachel?” Nia seemed surprised by the pixie arrival.

“She had shift lead at the castle last night,” one of the other pixies said. “Lady Edeirnion had us pixies cleaning the glasses and bars, then helping the pwcas scrub the ballroom. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Dewi kept going on and on about how much wealth he was going to get in the near future. None of us believe him. Still, it was nice to get out of Castle Raven at a decent hour for once.”

“It wasn’t that late,” I volunteered from where I watched Nia pull espresso shots for the caramel tornados. Urgh! Even I was thinking the wrong name for the drinks now. Silly pixies!

“Even the pwcas weren’t there that long,” Punkin said from his normal chair in the cafe. The pixies all sat at the table near him. They couldn’t resist his feline charms, often letting him lick whipped cream from the top of their paper cup lids while they sipped the hot caramel macchiatos.

“It wasn’t late at all,” I said. “Elain did a spell sweep through the ballroom after the cleansing. She was back in our flat by eleven.”

Elain wandered into the cafe right then.

“Why does it matter where I was?” She slid into her usual seat near my espresso station.

“Rachel didn’t show this morning,” Nia said. She slid the last of the macchiatos across the counter to the waiting pixie girl.

“Diolch, Nia,” the girl said. She took a sip and sighed. “This is as good as Ebrel’s!”

“Oooo! Thanks, Mari!”

“You’re learning well,” I told her. She beamed and wiped down her side of the espresso machine.

I pulled a double shot but let it trickle into two cups. Mia set a scone in front of Elain. The clotted cream drizzled down the pastry and around the plate.

“Ugh,” Elain said but picked up her fork. “I need to run an extra five miles a day to keep my figure in check. I didn’t think about my dress size when I invited you to live in my flat. Being roomies with the cafe co-owner is expanding my hips.”

“It’s not my fault Aunt Rose is the best baker in Britain.” I took a second fork and started to nibble on her scone.

“You’re going to have to run with me if you keep eating my scones.”

“I’ll climb and hike. I only run if a bear is chasing me.”

“I know a few werebears I might convince to chase you,” Elain said.

“Wish I could smell those,” Jake said from the chair on the other side of Elain. He stuck his finger into the cream, then to his tongue. “Nope, not even a taste.”

I slapped at the empty air where his spirit sat.

“Keep your fingers to yourself.”

“Good thing I know about your talent.” Elain snickered. “You look crazy talking to empty air.”

“Don’t listen to her. I like to talk with you,” Jake said and stuck his tongue out at her. He poked his finger into the scone.

“Stop it, Jake. You never know when a feather will fall off.

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