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“First I have a gift for you. Two gifts, actually.”
Chapter 12
In Which I Receive Something (Mostly) Unexpected
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Interesting how Rogue treats my values and idle whims with the same gravity as any covenant. I suppose in Faerie, nothing is truly without deepermeaning.
~Big Book of Fairyland, “Rules ofMagic”
Iopened mymouth to protest—or negotiate—then remembered that no longer applied between us. However, I felt enough on the short side of the gift-giving at this point that I wasn’t thrilled to accept more. I still couldn’t quite drop the bargaining habit I’d so painstakingly acquired.
Gifts in Faerie always came with a price.
“Okay,” I said, trying to keep my tone neutral.
Amused, probably by my obvious reticence, Rogue nevertheless didn’t comment. “The first gift I’ve had planned for some time, as you’ll see.” He held up his hands and a necklace appeared, hanging delicately between them. Made of inverted Stargazer lilies in shades from deepest indigo at the centers to the barest pale blue of midsummer sky, glowing like living flesh, they matched the flowers dangling from my ears.
Though Starling had piled the front part of my hair on top of my head, the rest trailed down my back in elaborate ringlets, so I turned my back and held it out of the way while Rogue draped the fabulous creation around my throat. The largest of the grouping hung at the lowest point, like a pendant, exactly at the valley between my breasts.
I looked in the mirror on my workbench. It was beyond exquisite and the woman looking back at me seemed more like some elfin princess than anyone I recognized.Let it go, Gwynn.
“Thank you.” I faced him again, feeling self-conscious for some reason. “It’s very beautiful.”
He seemed pleased, but oddly uncomfortable also. Unusual for him. Made me wonder what all lay in store for the night ahead. I would have brought up that he hadn’t fully filled me in on the importance of this feast, but that was typical of him and one of those things I’d likely have to learn to live with, so I made an effort to set that irritation aside.
We all had our flaws.
Rogue came closer and toyed with the lowest hanging lily, examining it closely, his thoughts elusive. Fidgeting.
“And the second gift?” I prompted, terribly curious about what could have the eternally unflappable Rogue acting what I would call nervous on any other person. Of course, the man lacked nerves—or they were made of tensile steel—so that couldn’t be it.
He met my gaze then, his eyes as vivid as the lilies. “I find myself at a loss, it’s true, my Gwynn. I want to do this correctly and I feel strongly this should occur before we meet our guests, but I’m uncertain as to the correct protocol. I don’t want to make a critical error.”
That mademenervous and I sealed up my reaction as deeply as I could. What the hell did he have up his sleeve? Just when we were learning to grow easier with one another, he wanted to give me a gift that could be a critical error. I laced my fingers together so I wouldn’t reach for my throat.
Please, not a collar.With a pitch of stomach-sinking apprehension, I feared he planned to coerce me into exactly that. I’d refuse. We could stay here all night and fight about it, miss the feast and insult our guests, but I would not let him bend me on this one.
“Ah,” he reflected in an even quieter tone, “and now you’ve gone silent. No reassurance from my lady that I could do no such thing.”
I made myself look him in the eye and not lose myself in how deeply I wanted to tell him that very thing. The words in my mouth like dusty moths, instead I said, “I wish—in the abstract way—that I could promise that. But it wouldn’t be true.”
He sighed. “And you would not be who you are if it were. Very well. I shall have to take my chances and hope for forgiveness should I blunder, since blind trust is out of the question.” He let go the necklace and opened his hand. “My forever Gwynn—”
“Maybe you should wait,” I blurted out, really not ready to fight with him.
Narrowing his eyes, he studied me, then shook his head, an abrupt shake that reminded me of a dog shedding water. “No. Tonight we present ourselves as a betrothed couple and you said you required this. I will not letthat, at least, jeopardize our agreement.”
That I required? What had…? I stared in shock at the diamond ring on his palm.
Of all the ridiculous things. He’d taken that stupid remark about engagement rings seriously—but of course he had—and, worse, I started crying. Just a few tears, but they flowed faster than I could wipe them and pretend they hadn’t happened.
Rogue’s face fell. “Is it wrong?”
“No.” The one word was all I could get out before I had to swallow down the excess emotion. The diamond was like nothing I’d ever seen—cut in a perfect sphere with minute facets, brilliantly refracting the light. No human of my world cut have cut a gem like this. “I’m an idiot. This is perfect. But you really didn’t have to.”
“You should agree to this marriage in the tradition of your people too.”
