Page 34 of The Falconer

And now I must act the part or risk losing my reputation. I raise my chin and attempt to impose some order on the situation. ‘Miss Catherine Stewart, will you permit me to introduce . . . erm –’ I swallow hard ‘– Mr Kiaran MacKay?’

Catherine stares at him, an odd expression on her face. ‘How do you do?’

Kiaran finally averts his attention from me and acknowledges my companions. He blinks, as if surprised they’re still there. Then he regards them both with a narrowed, fixed glare.

‘Kam, I’m not here to socialise.’

‘Don’t youdareembarrass me, you oaf,’ I hiss through clenched teeth. Then, more loudly, ‘And this is Miss Dona MacGregor.’

He chose this moment to approach me, and I’ll force him to observe the proper etiquette for greeting ladies in a park, the cad.

Dona doesn’t speak. Her shawl has slipped from around her face and her eyes are wide and frightened her skin even paler than usual.

She can only sense me on occasion, Derrick said. Not that it’s at all difficult to guess Kiaran isn’t human, since he’s terrible at playing the part. His fae nature is evident in his uncanny beauty, in the way he moves and breathes. He would never look entirely normal, even if he cared to try.

Damnation. I should have sent Dona away instead of listening to Derrick. Rose-scented cleaning solution, indeed.

‘You,’ Kiaran says to Dona, very softly, ‘know exactly what I am, don’t you?’

Dona trembles. ‘I’m . . . I don’t understand.’

‘You understand perfectly well,’ Kiaran says. ‘But maintain that pretence. It might save your life one day.’

I step in front of Dona, glowering at Kiaran. ‘Couldn’t you even attempt to be human?’ I ask. ‘For a mere five minutes?’

Kiaran sighs and mutters something in that language I don’t understand.

Catherine doesn’t appear to notice my maid’s panic, or the strangeness of our conversation. She stares at Kiaran in silent, unabashed awe. Then she blinks rapidly and puts her hand out, palm down, as though she had forgotten that part of a proper greeting.

Kiaran takes her hand. ‘What am I to do with it? Kiss it?’

Dona shivers and Catherine looks to be on the verge of swooning. ‘That would be wonderful,’ she whispers, in a dreamy way that sounds completely unlike herself.

I gape at Catherine with dawning horror. Oh, hell! She’s been faestruck. Kiaran told me about the terrible effect thedaoine sìthhave on humans. People willingly become victims for a single touch from a faery, for a moment of closeness. Before thedaoine sìthwere trapped underground, many humans had died because of it.

‘I’ve changed my mind. Stop inadequately playing human,’ I say. ‘Drop her hand and step away. Take a very big step.’

Kiaran leans against the tree next to me. ‘Are you quite finished, then?’ he asks. ‘We must discuss—’

‘Forgive me, Mr MacKay,’ Catherine says, shaking her head as if to clear it, ‘but I must say, you’re so very beautiful.’

Kiaran regards her calmly. ‘I see this is not going as well as I had hoped.’

My goodness, what an insensitive buffoon. Just when I think he can’t be so at sea when it comes to being around humans, he goes and proves me wrong. ‘This is what happens,’ I tell him, ‘when you decide to make yourself visible. Are youmad?’

‘It seemed . . . convenient at the time,’ he replies, apparently unconcerned about the effect he’s having on my friend.

‘To the devil with you, Kiaran MacKay.’

Dona clutches Catherine’s shoulder to keep her at bay. ‘My lady,’ she whispers, ‘we should leave. This . . . something isn’t right.’

‘I don’t want to,’ Catherine says, wrenching out of her grip. ‘I’m not ready.’

Catherine grasps the sleeve of Kiaran’s frock coat, twisting the fabric to pull him to her, her eyes dazed. The faestruck will rip and tear clothing for another touch of a faery’s skin. She hasn’t reached that point, not yet, but any further contact with him and she might.

I yank her back and insert myself in front of her, grasping her shoulders. ‘Catherine?’

Her fingernails dig into my coat, her movements uncoordinated and unfocused. ‘Beautiful,’ she breathes, never taking her eyes off Kiaran.

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