That glint in her eyes sharpened. “She insisted. I told her I’d lock her in the closet and bind her there if she kept insisting. She knows better than to test me. So it’s just me, which means we’ll get through this much faster.” She looked at Gabriel. “Once I actually start saying something useful, right?”

“I believe I was the one who stopped you.”

“Which is never wise. Derail a fae in conversation and you’ll spend an hour herding her back on track. So, in the interest of staying on track, I’ll get straight to the point. Thirty-five years ago, we made a bargain with the sluagh. We…” Her voice quivered, and her glamour wavered. She took a moment to pull it back. “This is difficult for me. I’m shaken by what happened yesterday morning, and angry at the role we played in it. At our lack of foresight. This will be easier if I don’t need to maintain my glamour. I realize that may be disconcerting for you…”

“Whatever makes you comfortable,” I said.

“Thank you.”

Her body shimmered. A pop of light, like a low-voltage flashbulb. Not enough to make me blink but just to lose visual focus for a split second, and when my sight cleared, she sat in her true form.

Veronica looked about Gabriel’s age, with curling black hair, tan skin, and green eyes, brighter than usual. She bore little resemblance to the coblynau statue in my garden—a squat, ugly gnome. Yet I could see where the caricature might have come from. As in her human form, she was small, particularly for a fae, maybe barely topping five feet. Sturdier than others I’d seen, with a fifties pinup-model figure. Beautiful for a human, perhaps not by fae standards.

She settled in and said, “Back to my story…You were not a surprise to us, Olivia, as you may have realized. We knew a Matilda was coming. The signs were there long before you were born. There would be a Matilda for Cainsville. The question that concerned us most was…” She looked at Gabriel. “Would there be a Gwynn? While we could still win over a Matilda without one, it introduces an obstacle. Particularly if there is an Arawn for the Cŵn Annwn.”

“It would slant the odds.”

“Yes. So we called in favors. We made bargains. We gave up some of our already dwindling power to get an answer from those who could give it. Would there be a Gwynn? Would there be an Arawn? The response was exactly what we most dreaded hearing.”

“An Arawn but no Gwynn.”

She nodded.

“That was the deal you made with the sluagh,” I said. “Somehow they were able to guarantee Cainsville a Gwynn.”

“They have powers beyond our own. Dark magics. They heard of our dilemma and offered us a deal. They could promise us a Gwynn. In return for a favor.”