Casually Cursed Read Online Free

poured the items into a bowl and could tell by the color and texture as I stirred when the batter was right.
    “I’ll have another blended,” Crux the Seelie knight said, his breath against the back of my neck.
    I jumped, gooseflesh rising. I pointed a butter knife in his direction. “Don’t sneak up on me.”
    He smirked. “It’s impossible not to. You are completely unaware of your surroundings.”
    “I’m making strawberry compote and whipped cream for my sister’s biscuits.”
    “That sounds good. I’ll have biscuits, too.”
    “You had cake, pie, and an entire blender full of brandy Alexander ice-cream drinks. Now you want biscuits?” I asked skeptically.
    “Don’t forget the chocolate. I had six of those,” he said.
    Right, he’d eaten an entire tin of liquor-infused dark-chocolate truffles of the bourbon, coconut rum, and Frangelico varieties. I looked him over. He was tall, lean, and golden hued. There was no excess fat, only taut muscle and high cheekbones. He could have been a model in a fashion magazine. But I knew better than to let his nice looks distract me. He could be cunning and violent. He and I had had a couple of fights already, but since he wasn’t holding that against me I was trying not to hold it against him either.
    Kismet’s reaction to Crux made me extra leery of him, though. She eyed him like he was a raptor who might move in a blur of speed at any moment to attack us. It had me on edge. But so far I couldn’t think of a way to get rid of him. Also, if I did go to the land of the faeries I would need every ally I could get. So I hoped to win him over, which is why I said, “But if you’re still hungry, you can have biscuits, too.”
    “And another blended?”
    I had to smile at his calling the drinks “blendeds” instead of by their name, which I’d told him several times.
    “Yes, sure,” I said, dragging the blender to me.
    He smiled. “Offer to bake for her first thing. She’ll be intrigued, and when she tastes your sweets, you’ll have value.”
    I peered closely at his face, which glowed more than usual. From the alcohol? I wondered. Were the fae susceptible to drunkenness? That would be useful to know.
    “You mean the queen? I should offer to make pastries and candy for the Seelie queen?”
    “Yes. The more value you bring underhill, the less likely she’ll be to punish you if you make a mistake while there.”
    He talked like it was a sure thing that I’d be going to meet his queen, even though I’d told him that, being American, I don’t recognize the authority of kings and queens, especially ones who aren’t even part of my normal world.
    I chewed the corner of my mouth. The trouble was that the queen had special leverage. Unfortunately, when Crux had announced that the fae monarch would execute momma if we didn’t go underhill, my new sister had shrugged it off. She had escaped the Never and didn’t intend to go back. That was one of the reasons I wasn’t trying to kick Crux out of my house. I might need him to lead me into the Never. Of course if given a choice, I would much rather have had my sister’s help.
    I went out to the backyard. The bespelled bluebells that sounded an alarm when the fae were nearby rang, but not loudly. I looked around, then up. The light through the kitchen windows shone on the branches of the ash tree. My sister reclined on a tree limb with her back against the trunk.
    “Hello. Are the biscuits ready then?” she asked in her lilting Irish accent.
    “Just about,” I said.
    “You’re an apple darling for making them,” she said with a musical little laugh, and then rolled off the branch, flipping in the air to land on her feet in a crouch . . . like an acrobat. Or an ocelot. My feline companion and friend Mercutio made those kinds of moves.
    I had a flash of memory . . . me as a little girl flipping from the tree in exactly the same way. Aunt Mel’s surprised face.
Kissit
, I’d said.
Kismet
, I’d meant.