Marcello sighed. "Wager me whether he took her," he answered. "It isn't going to prove it to anyone else, but Niabheara will believe it."

"Bet you a smack on the ass he did," Scarlet replied without a moment's pause.

Marcello rolled his eyes, then squeezed them shut. "Did you want to give or receive the smack?" he asked nicely. "It wasn't a very clear wager."

"Oh, receive, of course." She waggled her rear in anticipation, like a puppy. "And you have to call me a cheap tramp while you do it."

Marcello gave her a pained look, and swatted her ass. "That wasn't part of the wager," he pointed out. "Do you know why the hell Duncan kidnapped the kid, or what he did with her?"

Scarlet shrugged, straightened up, flipped a curl over her shoulder and looked, for a moment, as if she was actually prepared to take him seriously. "Why the fuck does anyone around here agree to stupid irrational humiliating life-ruining shit?" she said. "The Puck. That's the answer to all three questions, by the way. Yours and mine."

Marcello gritted his teeth. "So the Puck...made him do it? Or asked him to, or is he working with the Puck, or what?"

"No," she said more honestly. "He got sucked into it the same way everyone else gets sucked into working with and/or for the Puck: because the fucking thing fixed something for him."

"But he stole a child for it?" Marcello asked, letting out a groan. "That seems like a bit much to me; doesn't it to you?"

"It might not be to someone whose primary concern is his own kids," she said.