Page 70 of Lessons with the Mothman

It was the perfect time to put Elias in his place, to draw the boundary wall back up between us, but I was too shocked to get the words out. And Elias was quick.

"You must be Victoria's mother." Elias's smooth, cultured tone was a perfect match for my mother's as he reached out a hand for hers.

"Grace," my mother cooed back.

"Grace. I'm Elias, Victoria's boyfriend."

The dense cushion of the couch rose up to meet me, my breath rushing out at once. Elias's eyes made a barely perceptible wince. What was hedoing?

"Emma, I'm so sorry. You looklovely," Elias said with a sincere duck of his head. And it struck me suddenly that it was hisfirstmoment of sincerity since swanning into the bridal boutique. Everything else had been him playing yet another role.

But roles were for when he and I were alone.Notfor him to come barreling into my life, around my fuckingfamily.

"The beading is exquisite," he continued, delivering my sister a dazzling smile.

Emma blinked, her own smile shy and perfect in return. "Thank you. You just surprised us. Vic didn't mention you. That you'd be coming by, that is!"

"I shouldn't have," Elias said, teasing.

I rose up from the couch, and even though I wanted to shout at him, or snarl, or baldly correct the statement he'd just made,or ask him what the fuck he was thinking, I lifted the mask I'd been raised in, the one my mother would've demanded for such an occasion.

I smiled and said not quite sweetly, "You really shouldn't have."

"Well, I'mdelightedto meet you," my mother chimed in, and she reached out and squeezed Elias's arm, and evenhelooked startled by that. No, grand Elias, rare moth fae, would not have expected an uninvited squeeze of the arm. It served him right. "Vicky is so private—who knows when we would've gotten the chance."

Elias straightened and looked at me, and it didn't matter if he was playing the role of charming, smitten, helpless boyfriend and I was playing the role of unflappable daughter of Grace Dempsey. We knew each other too well now not to see through the lie.

He had made a mistake.

I was angry.

"I should go," Elias said softly, offering Emma another quick smile.

"No, no," my mother, sister, and Kathy rushed to say.

"This is a special moment for you, and I'm a stranger," Elias laughed up to Emma.

Emma smiled back and shrugged. "Don't worry, this one isn't the dress anyway," she said easily.

"Before you go, we should arrange a dinner," my mother said, trying to catch Elias by the arm again. He was prepared this time, stepping out of the way, toward me.

"I'll walk you out," I said.

"Vicky," my mother huffed, laughing, beaming at Elias. Because he was beautiful and gleaming and my mother had a nose for good money and good reputations.

"Later," I said to her, not quite snapping, but enough for Kathy to hide a smirk behind her champagne glass.

"The coffees," Elias said to me, and I wondered if I imagined the slightly indignant stiffness to his posture, like I hadoffendedhim with my anger.

"No outside drinks allowed," said one of the staff, who'd been watching us with smiles that were almost grimaces. "All the white."

Elias's laugh was slightly fragile. "Of course."

I walked ahead of him, steps silent on the thick carpet, out onto the sales floor where three young women were sighing at the dresses on display.

"Well, I mucked that up," Elias said under his breath, a wishfully friendly murmur. "I meant the timing to be more…or at least less…"

I threw my body into the heavy, tall handles of the door, and downtown Chicago arrived at top volume, a siren in the distance, tourists rushing out of the subway toward Magnificent Mile.

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