Welcome to Fae Cafe (High Court of the Coffee Bean Book 1)

The apartment seemed darker after the assassins left. They were almost silent in their escape, but Kate heard the soft click of the front door. She’d never been afraid to be alone before, and tonight was no exception.

But tonight, the darkness seemed darker, and the coldness seemed colder, and the emptiness seemed emptier.

She wandered from her bedroom and peered out the window. It was too dark to see much, but the wind had picked up and some of the streetlights teetered slightly. For a moment, she stood there in her quiet kitchenette, listening to the silence. Listening to all the voices that weren’t there.

She pulled out a notebook from the kitchen drawer and scribbled across a blank page:

Dranian,

I’m sorry I made you kiss my friend’s shoe.

– Kate

After nearly rewriting the note three times, she went to her small desk by the window. She dug through her drawer for her blue-light glasses and flipped open her laptop while shoving them on her nose. The spine of the most recent book she read cracked when she pressed it open. She dragged her finger down a page where notes about things that inspired her for her own novels were scribbled in the margins. Ten minutes went by of her glancing at the door every few seconds. Eventually, she abandoned her novel and made a chamomile tea.

Finally, the door inched open and two fae assassins tiptoed in. Dranian jumped when he saw Kate standing there. He slapped a heavy hand over his broad chest like she’d startled him, like he’d been caught in the act of doing something he wasn’t supposed to.

“You’re up late,” Kate commented, pulling off her glasses and sitting back down in her desk chair. She took a long sip of her tea, waiting for an explanation she worried wasn’t coming.

“You’re up late, too,” was all Shayne said back. He set his crossbow against the wall and stretched with a yawn.

“Well, the café’s grand opening is tomorrow. And honestly…” Kate set down her tea and hugged her arms to herself. “I thought you’d left.”

“We did leave.”

“No, I thought you’d left forever.”

Shayne almost smiled. “Would you miss us if we did?” he asked. He looked way too flattered. He even came over, crouched down in front of Kate, and set his chin on his palm while he batted his eyelashes.

When Kate didn’t answer, his smile widened, revealing the faint traces of dimples. “Queensbane, Human. You like us, don’t you?” He poked her nose. “I think I like you, too.”

Kate tossed her blue-light glasses back to her desk and stood. “I’m going to bed.”

Warmth bled into the storefront, turning the café into a sauna even though the world outside was getting close to winter temperatures. When Kate followed the scent of fresh coffee down from her apartment in the morning, she nearly fell off the last stair at the sight of two burly fae males racing through the empty café, throwing something clear and squishy against the wall.

“What is that?” Kate asked.

“I have no idea,” Mor mumbled from where he sat by the fireplace with his feet up, reading. “Shayne stole it when he was out getting paper drinking goblets this morning.”

“Look!” Shayne’s eyes were wide as he tore the goopy thing off the wall. He hurled it across the room again. It stuck to the window, and the googly-eyed little figurine held onto the glass by its feet. Dranian lunged over a chair to get it, shoving Shayne out of the way.

“Hey! It’s still my turn!” Shayne barked after him, but Dranian got there first and tugged the thing off the wall. He turned with a taunting sneer and jiggled it in the air.

Shayne hopped the chair and tried to grab it, but Dranian flung it away. It sailed toward the café door as Lily opened it and walked in. The goopy figurine smacked her forehead and clung there, and both fae jerked to a halt. Shayne’s hand was still out, frozen in midair, reaching toward it.

Lily peeled the thing off slowly with a horrified face. “What is this?” She threw it into the garbage, and both fae grumbled and moaned. Mor snorted a laugh by the fireplace.

“Wait, who are all those people outside?” Kate pointed toward the window.

“I’d also like to know,” Lily said. “They’re lined up all the way past the flower shop.” The girls pressed against the glass to take in the people on the street. “They aren’t here for our opening, are they?”

“Yes, they are,” Mor said without looking up from his novel.

“How?” Lily asked.

“It was those two.” Mor lifted a foot and pointed at Shayne and Dranian with his toes. “They visited every bookstore, academy, and storefront for miles and flirted shamelessly with all the humans.” His gaze finally flickered up with a look. “They made a lot of promises. There will be plenty of disappointed young—and old—females in here by the end of the day.”

Kate’s face fell. Lily looked repulsed.

“Unreal.” Lily muttered, casting Shayne and Dranian a look. She turned to Kate. “Hey, let’s talk upstairs for a sec.”

“But we’re supposed to open in like ten minutes.”

Lily took Kate’s arm and redirected her toward the staircase. “I’ll be fast.” She bounded up the stairs first and pushed into Kate’s apartment. She started talking as she whirled. “I just got a text from Connor. He says Officer Riley attacked him last night.”

Kate put a hand on her forehead. “Oh, that. Well, it’s not what you think. Connor totally came onto me and—”

“Wait, you know about this?” Lily put her hands on her hips, and then, “Wait, did you just say Connor came onto you?”

A flood of loud noises filled the café below, and Kate’s head snapped toward the stairs. “Did they open the doors already?”

Lily grabbed Kate’s shoulder before Kate could race back down. “Kate—what happened? You can’t just say that and then run off!”

“I’ll tell you about it later. We need to get back down there.” Kate jutted her thumb toward the café.

Lily dropped her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Actually… I’m so sorry, Kate. I have to cover the extra shift Connor was supposed to work today. He’s not coming in now, and I need to leave in like thirty seconds. I’m the worst, I know,” she said.

Kate dragged a hand through her hair. “It’s okay,” she promised, coaching herself mostly. She nodded toward downstairs. “I have them. We’ll be fine. Go do what you need to at work.”

Lily nodded, but her face was hard. Kate was sure they weren’t finished their conversation about Connor.

They headed down the stairs, slowing to a stop on the bottom stair at the sight of the café full of customers, and…

“Oh no—”

“Wow! Look at all the people here for our coffee!” Lily exclaimed, but Kate didn’t hear her.

Shayne’s bare chest glistened in the morning sunlight like a beacon for every lonely woman in the city to come running. He fastened an apron to himself that didn’t hide much, and he winked at a lady coming in.

“What are you doing?” Kate rushed over to ask. “Shayne, get a shirt on right now. You’re going to get my coffee shop shut down!”

“Shut down? Look at all the coin you’re making! I’ll make you rich, Human.” Shayne opened his arms like he was presenting himself as her greatest asset.

“There’s a thing here among the humans that’s called, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service!” Kate argued.

Shayne’s face fell—he glanced down at his bare feet.

“Just put on a shirt and I won’t make you wear shoes,” Kate negotiated, shaking her head in disbelief.

“As you wish, Human.”

Before Shayne reached for his shirt below the counter, he blew a kiss at Lily as she headed for the door, and Lily’s enthusiasm changed to a scowl.

Kate sighed as she pulled the to-go cups from the cupboard and began setting them out for Dranian to fill. It took all of three seconds before she caught Shayne reaching across the counter and encouraging some random customer to feel the muscles in his arm who didn’t ask to.

The first hour went by like a breeze. Orders were taken, Dranian whipped up drinks, and Shayne charmed every person who came to the counter. Mor tidied up as people passed through, sweeping the floors, wiping tables, and resetting the chairs.

Kate watched them with a strange amazement. She kept expecting one of them to lose it and throw a table across the room, but none of the fae raised a single protest about their chores. Mor even hummed as he worked. Shayne didn’t stop smiling once.

“Feel free to take a break whenever,” Kate said to them, but they ignored her and didn’t stop moving.

When she headed to the chalk board to come up with a daily special, she found a remarkably detailed drawing of a whipped coffee drink filling up half the board. Beside it were the words: Ca-FAE Mocha.

“I came up with it,” Shayne bragged when he noticed her looking. “It’s espresso, milk, chocolate syrup, a pinch of whipped cream, and the free handsome smile of a fae serving it on a silver platter.”

Kate burst out laughing. Her raspy alto filled the shop and turned heads. “How about next week’s special can be a Fruit and Yogurt Par-FAE?” she suggested.

“Brilliant.” Shayne grinned.

“What about a Spearmint Ca-Fae Latte? With a magical touch,” Dranian said in a monotone voice from where he sorted milk and cream pods. “We can put a trick inside that’ll make human tongues tingle. And the drink can have those little crunchy bits of candy you sprinkle on top of whipped cream. Coffee should always have those in my opinion.”

Kate’s smile warped. “What do you mean—that’ll make human tongues tingle?”

“Speaking of names, this establishment doesn’t yet have one.” Shayne folded his arms and leaned against the counter. “I had all kinds of trouble telling the humans how to find a place with no name. I want to make a sign to hang out front.”

Kate sighed. “Lily and I haven’t been able to land on the right name yet. I know, it’s terrible business to open without one.” She tapped her chin in thought as she watched Dranian put away the cream and Mor scrub the drips off the front counter.

“What about Fae Café?” Shayne suggested.

What was left of Kate’s smile faded and she dropped her arms to her sides. “You’re talking like you’re going to be here forever,” she said.

Shayne’s grin disappeared, too. Mor slowed his cleaning, and Dranian muttered something and disappeared through the door to the kitchen.

“I can’t enslave you forever. My conscience isn’t happy about even doing it up to this point,” Kate said, glancing down at the squeaky-clean tile floor. She chewed on her lip as she wandered to the coat hooks and pulled down the navy sweater. Her thumb ran over the soft fabric. She folded it and extended it to Mor.

“Give this back to your Prince when he turns up again.”

Mor looked like he wanted to say something. He took the sweater slowly.

“I think I’ve forced you to do these jobs for long enough. It’s not fair for me to ask you to help here, even if I need it. From now on, you don’t have to work in this café, or attend social events, or come to book club.”

The air turned strange. Kate fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. Then she pulled her coat from the hook, shrugged it on, and headed for the door to give them the space to leave quietly. A cold hollowness filled her chest when she thought about them not being there when she came back. The income they already earned her café in the first hour was more than she could have ever made on her own with her simple coffee recipes, unpublished books, and social media page for marketing.

Kate tugged her coat tighter and shivered as she walked over the fresh snow, scanning the streets for an off-duty patrol car. She guessed Connor would be stopping by at some point to give her an earful.

The trees had lost most of their leaves, but a few still clung to their branches, not ready to let go. Kate eyed them as she stuffed her hands into her pockets, wondering why she never thought to bring a hat and mittens.

She walked for thirty minutes before a speckle of white floated down and landed on the tip of her nose. She went cross-eyed watching the snowflake melt. She lifted her hand to catch another one, cracking a faint smile. Snow was responsible for so much joy in her life. It brought outdoor adventures, cozy sweaters, hot drinks, sweet pies, and Christmas. But it was also responsible for deep, numbing pain. Kate’s favourite memory was in the snow. So was her worst one.

Kate redirected her course and headed toward one of the last parks in Toronto still populated with trees. She clutched her arms to herself and broke into a jog when her teeth began to chatter. It still took another ten minutes to reach Grandma Lewis’s house.

The familiar smells of baking and herbal tea drifted out of the warm home, flooding her on the porch stairs. Kate knocked, hiding her smile before her grandmother would answer the door and see it.

“Come in!” the old woman called from the kitchen.

Kate pushed through the door with a relieved sigh as the soothing heat of the house encompassed her. She slid off her coat and hung it up, shaking off snow and chills. Grandma Lewis was already holding two mugs of freshly steeped tea in the kitchen, and Kate laughed.

“How did you know I was coming?” she asked.

Her grandmother blinked. “I didn’t.”

The front door squeaked, and Kate turned toward the foyer as a deep, masculine voice filled the house that made Kate forget where she was.

“Grandma Lewis,” he said as he nudged the door shut behind him. Two full grocery bags hung from his grip. “They didn’t have any brown sugar, so I got…”

His words halted when he noticed Kate standing there. One of the bags almost slipped from his fingers.

He stared at Kate. Kate stared at him.

“Katherine,” Grandma Lewis said, carrying the tea past her, “this is Cress.”