Page 14 of My Fae Lady

“Of course,” I said with false brightness. I knew what came next. My questions weren’t genteel. I was wasting my time indulging in pointless curiosity. I had heard it all before. But my answer remained the same. “If I don’t ask the questions, how will I learn the answers?”

“You want to know about ancient Unseelie customs? Why?”

Well, that was a question I hadn’t heard before. Most people tried to bottle up my curiosity. “Because it is knowledge. I want to know everything. It is ridiculous that I don’t even know if your kind can mate with mine. Isn’t that knowledge that should be shared with every fae child before they reach maturity?”

My father had tutored me in Seelie customs and magic, and Mother had taught me how to survive the human world, but my knowledge of the Unseelie was frustratingly low. I had already embarrassed myself enough believing the stories about how to sneak close to Sylvan’s tree. I had no intention of making such a fool of myself like that again in the future.

“I’m surprised to hear the Seelie even practice their own mating traditions these days. They had started to favor human marriage even before my slumber.”

I lifted a single shoulder. “Marriage is for bloodlines and inheritances. We only bother adding a mating ceremony into the mix when the union means something more, which it rarely does. Now, will you finally answer my question? Is the feather exchange required?”

“Tenacious as a wolverine,” Sylvan muttered, shaking his head. His lips quirked up ever so slightly. “The feather is a token only. The actual mating happens via blood exchange for us, too.”

I smiled. “That makes much more sense. I suppose a lock of hair could serve the same sentimental purpose as a feather.”

I glanced at his waistcoat again. Given the scars on his back where his wings should be, I supposed I could understand why he might choose to wear what remained of his feathers. But I couldn’t take him into civilization dressed like that. Though hiding his Unseelie nature would be next to impossible, we still had to play by Seelie and human rules. Sylvan must act as though he wanted to be Seelie. I could explain away his lack of fine garments when we put in a rush order for a proper wardrobe in the town that straddled the border between Faerie and the human realm. I could not explain away such a waistcoat, however.

“To be clear, I sympathize enough that I will allow you to continue to wear your waistcoat here, but it will not be coming with us to the human realm. One does not wear feathers in such profusion in polite society.” At the very least, staid gentlemen did not.

He crossed his arms. “Then aren’t I lucky that society here is not particularly polite.”

I sniffed. “Leave the feathers here without argument and I’ll take you to the confectionery shop that makes the bonbons. They have dozens of different chocolates available.”

His arms fell to his sides, and he pressed one palm flat against the wall. After a deep breath, he lifted the other hand and pointed at the box I had left sitting next to the gramophone. “What flavor are those?”

“Mint truffles. Which you will not be sampling until you have mastered the steps of the quadrille.”

He sniffed. “Mint, you say?”

I nodded. “A creamy mint filling covered in decadent dark chocolate.”

“Then I suppose I could be persuaded to learn whatever this sorry excuse for a dance is.”

I set the needle on the gramophone and flicked the switch, starting it spinning. The stately music filled the room, and I faced Sylvan. “The first step,” I said with a shallow curtsey, “is to greet your partner.”

The song finished playing before I was satisfied with Sylvan's bow. A quarter of an hour later, I gave up repeating the instructions for the first figure. I flipped open the box of truffles and shoved one into my mouth. Once I swallowed—and felt the sugar had taken the worst edge off my frustration—I faced Sylvan again. “Have you ever seen an elephant?”

The giant animals lived in one of the far-flung countries in the human realm, but I had seen one once in the menagerie in Windonbury.

The Unseelie fae narrowed his eyes. “No. What is an elephant?”

“A large, graceless animal that clomps about.” I let the slightest smirk turn up the corners of my mouth. “In other words, you.”

“I told you I don’t dance.” He snatched the box of truffles from me.

I let him have them. He needed the chocolate even more than I did. He had tried—I’d give him that much. He simply couldn’t remember the steps and turned the wrong direction. Just as well he no longer had his wings, for if this was what he was like on land, I couldn’t imagine him being safe in the air.

I rubbed my temples. “I can probably talk us out of having to dance the quadrille, but we will have to dance in front of people at some point.”

Though we wouldn’t have much time in Isthmuston, where Mr. Hilferty now lived, we’d no doubt attend an event one evening. Letting the old Seelie see us out together would be the best way to convince him that this was a suitable match. Either that or, upon learning of my nuptials, Douglas’s wife would host a ball in our honor. It was simply a fact of life among the gentry in the human realm: if more than three congregated together for any amount of time, there would be dancing.

“It will have to be the waltz.” I claimed another truffle for myself before he could finish them. The sweet treat did nothing to dispel my dread. “If we are only going to dance one dance, it will have to be the waltz.”

Without waiting, the manor changed the disc on the gramophone, and a lively waltz replaced the earlier melodies.

Sylvan cocked his head to the side. “This music is better.”

“The waltz is a couples dance,” I explained. “The male leads his partner around the dance floor in a series of circles. Like this.”