My head moved back and forth. “He’s Al’s familiar. He can’t be on this side of the lines.”

“It’s his handwriting.” Trent tossed the invitation. With a soft hush, it landed on the rich leather where I would have been sitting.

Things started to click, and I stiffened. Okay, now I knew why Trent wanted me not only at the wedding but working up front, standing next to him every single stinking moment. “Oh, hell no,” I said loudly. “I’m not standing up at your wedding if there’s the chance that Al is going to show up as Lee’s guest. I do not deal with demons, I do not like demons, and I won’t put myself in a position where I have to defend myself or anyone else against one. No. Absolutely not.”

“The wedding and rehearsal dinner are after sunset,” Trent was saying, his voice far too calm. “That’s where the most risk is. But I’d like you to come to the rehearsal as well, seeing that you’re posing as a bridesmaid. The rehearsal and dinner are on Friday.”

“This Friday?” I said, scrambling for an excuse. “That’s my birthday. No way.”

Trent’s expression shifted. “You are responsible for Lee’s being abducted, Ms. Morgan,” he said coldly. “I’m sure the demon has an ulterior motive for allowing Lee to cross the lines for something as frivolous as a wedding. The least you can do is try to get him back.”

“A rescue!” I yelped, spinning to see him face-on. “Do you know how hard it is to survive a demon, much less trick one’s familiar from him?”

“No,” Trent said, his dislike for me coming through very clearly. “Do you?”

Well, I did, but I wasn’t going to tell Trent that there was another elf of pure descent living across the street from me. He’d use her badly in his biolabs.

Pulse fast, I braced myself when Quen stopped short at a light. We were almost to my neighborhood. Thank God. “Why should I help Lee?” I said angrily. “I don’t know what you heard, but he took me into the ever-after, not the other way around. I tried to get us both out of there, but your friend wanted to give me to Al, and since I like where I live, I fought back. I warned him, and after Lee beat me to a pulp, Al took him instead—the better witch. I will not take the blame for that. Trying to give me to Al to pay off his debt was inhuman.”

Trent’s face lost none of its hard accusation. “Isn’t that what you did to Lee?”