“That’s right,” I said. We were both smiling at each other with shit-eating grins. He crossed his arms the same way I had mine, as if he was purposely mimicking me.

“Okay, sure thing,” Viktor said as if I’d asked for a piece of gum and not his kingdom. My smile dropped and I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m serious. I want you to sign the deed over to me.” His eyes bore into mine and I turned my gaze away from the gold that pulled me in.

“Whatever you want, Lacey. You can have it all,” he said. I looked at Viktor in confusion. Something wasn’t right about this. He was agreeing too easily. Didn’t he care about his kingdom? If it were mine they’d have to pry it from my dead hands.

I should get out of here, I thought. This was too easy.

Suddenly, the lights went out. A blackout.

Dullahan stomped to the door and pulled it open, rushing out quickly.

I darted towards him, slipping through the door and running.

15

The electricity to the building went off. There was dead silence. The hum of air conditioners and refrigerators was gone. All those annoying little electronics that blinked all night were absent.

This shouldn’t happen. There were generators that were supposed to kick on the exact moment the power went out. Something was going sideways, big fucking surprise.

The room was abnormally dark. The wall of windows wasn’t offering much light from the nighttime city because a storm had rolled in on the island about the same time I locked Lacey in the room.

That coincidence left a bad taste in my mouth. Dealing with luck like hers was dangerous. I could sense power levels in the sidhe—an ability nobody was aware I had.

Lacey was no normal leprechaun. Her power levels were off the charts, meaning her luck was dialed up to a scale I couldn’t even begin to anticipate. Messing with her could cause a bad chain of events to happen.

Such as the island now being drenched in a downpour that looked to have no end. Last I heard, they were saying a typhoon was starting to develop out of nowhere. The island used to deal with them a lot, according to the news. But about ten years ago, they stopped getting them entirely. Wonder when Lacey showed up.

The longer we kept her locked up and angry, the more likely all hell was to break loose. At every turn, this job had new complications. If Lorcan’s life wasn’t on the line, I’d just quit and accept my fate. I probably cared far too much about Puca’s life as well.

I felt someone push past me and staggered on my feet, feeling tipsy from the entire bottle of scotch I’d downed after fucking up with Lorcan.

A half-second later, I realized it was her—Lacey—who had just bum-rushed me. The fucking leprechaun was out. I could hear her attempting to muffle her snickering as she darted away, all too pleased with herself. I groaned and rubbed my forehead. Why was every Irish creature a pain in the ass? Me not included. I wasn’t like the rest of them tricky little shits.