The painting fit better with the café vibe than Kate had expected. It brought a new warmth to the space and seemed to bring the scents of fresh baking to life whenever someone made a cake or tart in the kitchen.
Cress took on the role of Santa Claus. He came into the café with new presents every hour, and Kate continued to find the cash in her wallet gone. He left his mark on everything: small presents under the tree, a handsome “selfie” he took on her phone and got Shayne to turn into her wallpaper, a failed cake baking experiment he turned into a trifle and put in the freezer “for later, when we all missed him.” Kate didn’t tell him that a whipped cream trifle wouldn’t freeze well, and it would likely end up in the garbage.
When the Bonswick guy first let Kate in on the bargain Cress had made, Kate thought Cress was trying to find a way out of it. But as she watched the Prince make up for the time he lost while locked away letting the enchantment wear off, she realized a shift had taken place at some point. It seemed like Cress had accepted he was leaving.
Mor bristled every time Cress mentioned “for when he was gone.” Dranian mumbled things under his breath like, “Foolish Prince,” and “…walking to your death,” and “Someone needs to get you a sweater that isn’t so faeborn tight.”
Snow speckled the evening before Christmas Eve. Everyone went to bed early so they wouldn’t be tired for the ugly sweaters party Lily had planned the next day, but Kate remained at a bistro table working on her novel. Cress carried over two teas and slid one over, warming the air with steam and the spicy scent of chai.
“You seem rather invested in that story,” he said. “But you know the ending is cursed.”
Kate slowed her typing. “I’m going to fill this bookshelf with copies of this book.” She nodded toward the ledge behind the counter. “We’re going to sell it here as a Read and Sip combo where people can buy a book, get a free coffee, and stay as long as they like to read by our fire. And everyone is going to get to learn what a fae is really like.”
“Aren’t you worried the humans will grow suspicious that the story is true?” Cress sipped his tea.
Kate laughed. “No one will think this is a true story. People don’t believe in fairies, Cress.”
Cress chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Let me finish it.” He took the computer and slid it to himself before Kate could say yes or no.
“What are you going to write?” she asked warily. She leaned to try and spy as he began pecking at the keys, but he tilted the screen down so she couldn’t watch. Kate slumped back into her seat.
“You can read it when I’m finished,” he said. But a second later, he glanced up and seemed to take in her unbrushed hair, the bags under her eyes, and her stretched collar. “Go to bed, Katherine. You’re tired.”
“I’m fine. It’s just stress.”
“Why are you stressed?”
“Because of you.”
Cress’s turquoise eyes turned doubtful. “Your feelings about me leaving are your own fault. I never successfully enchanted you.”
Kate snorted a laugh. “Right, it’s always my fault.”
Cress grinned. “Now you seem to be getting it, Human.”
He went back to reading the novel, and Kate’s smile faded. “You can’t go, Cress,” she rasped. “All I think about is running off and doing something crazy to make you stay.” Her phone felt heavy in her pocket.
Cress pursed his lips, his brows bunching together. “Yes, I know. It’s been written all over your faeborn-cursed face all week.” And then he added, “Do you know how difficult it is to have a girlfriend who speaks with a tone like that all the time?”
“What does my tone tell you?” she asked.
“It tells me you’ve more than thought about doing something crazy. It tells me you have plans to do something if I can’t figure out a way to change the bargain. It tells me you perhaps care more than I thought. And that’s dangerous.”
Kate became aware of the popping logs in the fireplace.
“We should enjoy our last day together. Your brother’s loud human friends tell me it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year.” Cress closed the computer. He inhaled like he was about to say something else but singing erupted outside, lifting through the café with muted harmonies.
A small crowd was gathered past the café door with open songbooks. Shayne came bounding down the apartment stairs and flung the front door open, letting the music of a dozen carollers fill the space. Kate jogged over to watch, too.
Shayne grinned as the carollers broke out into slightly pitchy harmonies. He tried to snap along, missing a few beats.
Cress didn’t hide his repulsed face as he joined them at the door. “Must we stand here and listen to this?” he whispered to Kate.
“It’s kind of a common courtesy to stay and listen until they’re finished,” she said back.
“How horrifying,” he mumbled, eyeing a man at the back singing louder than the rest. “That human should lose his tongue.”
“Shh.” Kate closed her eyes and leaned against his shoulder to listen. A moment later, his arm wrapped around her, blocking out the cold night air. “This brings back good memories,” she said. “I used to sing in a choir when I was young. I bet you didn’t know I can sing.”
Cress released a soft grunt. “Your singing has haunted me since I came here, pesky Human. I bet you didn’t know that.”
The carollers finished their song, and Kate felt Cress breathe a sigh of relief. He barely turned away before one of the carollers started a new song and the rest burst into harmony again.
Cress’s jaw tightened, and he glanced at the sky like he was trying to keep from rolling his eyes. “What in the faeborn-cursed human world is wrong with these people?” he said loudly.
“I like it,” Shayne said with a shrug.
Cress grunted. “Of course you would, you tone-deaf fool.”
Christmas Eve morning came too fast, chasing away a humid mist that rolled in through the night. The temperature dropped with the sunrise, and everything froze to ice, blanketing Kate’s bedroom window in frost. Fresh white flurries skated past.
Cress was standing by Kate’s bed when she awoke. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, realizing she was in her own apartment. She’d planned to spend the night at Lily’s.
“Did I fall asleep downstairs?” she guessed.
“You’ve been sleeping terribly,” he said, “so I ensured you’d have a restful slumber. Lily Baker unleashed dull human insults when I told her I was sneaking sleep remedies into your tea and keeping you here with me through the night. She called me a ‘creep’ and warned me to ‘keep my hands to myself’ before she left.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, waking up to find you watching me isn’t creepy at all.” She wasn’t sure if he picked up on her sarcasm. She hid a smirk and rolled back over.
“My presence helps you sleep. It’s a forever mate thing.” He mumbled the last part.
Cress walked around the bed and crouched to put his face before hers. “This is our last day together, Katherine,” he said. “I plan to make today the most fun of your boring human life.”
Kate’s fingers tightened around her bedsheets.
The last day.
“Cress—”
“Don’t do anything foolish,” he added, and Kate’s eyes widened when he pulled her phone out of his pocket. The photo of the fae names from the Fairy Book of Rules and Masteries filled the screen. “I’m holding onto your magic mirror so you don’t use it. Human fool,” he said with a slight growl. “Don’t you know that the Dark don’t have the same real names as those from the North? These won’t work.”
Kate watched the phone until he slid it away.
Cress glided his arms beneath her and lifted her out of bed. “Coffee first,” he said, carrying her from the bedroom to the kitchenette. None of the other assassins were around, but Kate’s laptop sat open on the counter with her novel filling the screen. Cress plunked her onto one of the barstools.
As he puttered around to brew the coffee, Kate pulled her computer over to read.
“How late were you up working on this?” she asked, scrolling to the bottom of the file.
“I finished it,” he said. The coffee maker began to chug.
New paragraphs filled the novel’s final pages. A small smile formed as Kate scanned them. She was still reading when Cress carried a piping hot mug of coffee to the counter. The more she read, the harder it was to keep reading.
Finally, Kate pulled her eyes away and took a sip of her coffee. He put in way too much sugar, and she fought a gag.
“This ends with me belonging to you, Cress,” she said, meeting his gaze. “The fae Prince and the human end up together.”
“You wanted it to end darkly?” he asked, drinking his own coffee. “You want it to end with me being tortured to death?”
Heat struck her at the thought. She’d imagined him being killed, but never being… tortured. A tremor started in her hands, and she sat on them. “I was waiting to see how things play out and end it with how it all really happens,” she said.
“Hmm.” Cress’s mouth twisted to the side. He set his mug down, walked around the counter, and turned her seat to face him. “I want you to be mine. That’s how I want the story to end,” he said. “With us living a simple life, and you being happy.” He glanced at her neck tattoo when she swallowed.
“Don’t give me false hope,” she warned, pushing the laptop away. “Is there any chance you think things could end differently in real life?”
“No.” He leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her mouth. “But if I can’t be happy in this faeborn life, then I want it to at least end this way in the story humans will read.”
Her vision glossed over. “Are you trying to enchant me again?” she tried to joke, but a hot tear rolled off the ledge of her eye and painted a clear streak down her face.
Cress cast her a smile and swiped the tear away with his thumb. “I know by now, Human, that enchanting you is not possible.” He tugged her to her feet. “Forget the novel. Let’s get ready for the ugly human Christmas sweaters party. Lily insisted we have a full day of festivities in our hideous garments. I think she believes that throwing a celebration will make it easier to let me leave at dawn. But I’ve made sure you’ll all suffer in my absence by finding little traces of me in every corner and cranny. I expect you all to miss me terribly.”
