Page 56 of Blood and Roses

"A woman on the train."

"And you just accepted it?"

"I did her a favor, and she was very convincing," Rosa said, thinking of the Snickers wrapper.

"Well, it might have just saved you from Celyn. This hex can't sink into your skin because of its protection, so it's trying to burn its way into you," Eli said as he started to flick through an old book.

"Can you do something to stop it? I had a rough night with the worst sweats, nightmares, and terrors I've had in years."

"Sounds to me like it's more than Celyn's curse giving you nightmares," Eli said as he started to mix herbs from small jars into a pestle and mortar.

"Should you even be here right now? Don't you have a million guests downstairs to attend to?" she asked, trying to distract him. He would think she was a crazy person if she told him about Jane.

"I do, but most are asleep, and Balthasar can handle the rest. He would be furious if I didn't help you straight away. He seemed rather eager to tear Celyn to pieces last night just for looking at you."

"Sounds a bit over the top, but right now, I want to give Celyn a good slapping too," Rosa said, looking at her puffy hand. "It's strange. I'm not afraid knowing that you are Unseelie, but Celyn gave me the creeps no matter how beautiful he was."

Eli cut his finger and stirred his blood into the mixture. "You may not remember much of your childhood here, Rosa, but you grew up with our kind. It's one of the reasons you were sent away. You knew our secret, and it never bothered you. You accepted us like you accepted that the sky was blue. We seem common to you where the Seelie are alien. You are a Wylt. You see things how they really are, so they can't trick you."

Eli whispered a few words in a strange language over the mixture before rubbing his fingers through it. Taking her hand, he began to wipe it into her skin.

"If I already knew that you were Unseelie, how did I forget?" Rosa asked before she flinched. "You made me forget, didn't you?"

"I glamored you, but only to protect you. You were a child going out into the world. I didn't want to have you burdened by that."

"No one would have believed me anyway," she pointed out.

"The Gwaed Gam in London would have. It's hard enough that they know I protect a human family. You were a girl. I have enemies that could have taken you. I never meant to deceive you, but I won't apologize for it," Eli said as the mixture sank into her hand.

"There is something I want to know," Rosa began. "There are blood drinking myths all over the world. Look at Nosferatu, for example. How did that happen if they all came from you and your brothers?"

Eli smoothed more of his remedy over her hand. "Sometimes, humans do not survive the transition, or they mutate like the Nosferatu. I suppose in simplest terms, you could see them as our deformed children. Ones that did not come out quite right. Of course, over the years, the ones that survived the transition tried to make their own family and suffered the same kind of setbacks. The humans gave them names—vampire, strigoi, etc.—but I have never identified with those bastardizations. They are base creatures in many ways, and the Gwaed Gam are driven by their need of blood and fear of the sun, but the Vanes, like my brothers' direct children, are different."

"If you're not Gwaed Gam, then what are you? I mean, of course, you are Unseelie, but they are hybrids."

"I call us The Gwaed Teulu, but that is probably because I have spent far too long amongst the Celts. It's what my wife used to call us—the Blood Family. It sounds much more romantic inWelsh." Eli studied her hand closely. "There we are, Rosamund. It seems to have done the trick."

Rosa flexed her fingers experimentally, the swelling going down in front of her eyes. "Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know you could still do magic."

"I didn't stop being a fae just because I came to live here. A lot of their spells can be undone if you keep a clear head. Most of the Seelie magic relies on the illusions you create in your mind, the glamor. Their glamor is about sensations like smell. I simply added the things you smelled, cinnamon, pine, holly, sugar, oak ash, and finally a touch of my blood because only someone with fae blood can undo their magic."

"That makes a strange kind of sense. Does that mean that Balthasar could do magic if he wanted to?"

"Some of. If he applied himself, I'm sure it could be possible. I have taught him small things over the centuries to protect him against the fae, but that is as far as it has ever gone." Eli put the mortar and pestle down in a small stainless-steel sink and washed his hands. "Speaking of Balthasar, may I say something as a concerned father?"

"I suppose," Rosa said nervously.

"He is very fond of you, so I ask you to exercise some caution."

"We are only friends, Eli."He knows you are lying, Rosa.

"Even so, you are both dear to me, and I don't want to see either of you getting hurt because your emotions became misplaced. I do not object to your friendship. It pleases me that Balthasar is finally opening himself up to someone. The last time he lost someone, it was messy. You are human, Rosa. Your lives are short with intense pleasure and pain. He is immortal, and so he would not be suitable to give your heart to."

"You think I'm going to lead him on because I'm human?"

"Please try to understand. When we fall in love, it's serious. Human hearts can change with a season, but his heart would be wounded forever. Don't encourage him if you don't feel the same way."

"Eli, I understand your concern, but don't take me for some floozie that will change her mind or that would lead a man on for the sake of sport. I'm not interested in hurting him."

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