Page 47 of A Court Bright and Broken

Maybe it was the Earthwife’s spell making him so flirtatious. Or perhaps this was how he acted all the time with everyone?

Magic or not, rogue or not, I was lucky this stranger had come along when he had.

“Thank you,” I said. “And thank you for helping me at the doorway. I really was invited, I promise. The invitation was only signed with an initial, but it was legitimate.”

The guy chuckled. “I believe you. May I offer you some refreshment?”

He gestured toward a collection of large round tables to one side of the room. They were laden with more food than I’d ever seen in my whole life—cumulatively.

Just one of the tables could probably have fed my entire village for months.

“Perhaps later,” I said. “I’ve only just arrived.”

It wouldn’t do to begin the ball by diving face-first into platters of food, would it? Besides, I saw no sweets that I could stuff into my purse for the girls. Perhaps the kitchen staff would bring them out later in the evening.

“Quite right. Would you care to dance then?” he asked.

The Elven music was mesmerizing, the sound of it sweet and dangerous all at once, like no music I’d ever heard. I felt an almost irresistible pull to say yes and join him on the dance floor and just let my body move to it.

But eying the couples performing intricate steps and coordinated hand movements in the center of the room, I shook my head.

I didn’t know that dance or many others. Perhaps the Fae had entirely different dances than we did, and I wouldn’t know a single one. It was unfortunately a little late to think about that wrinkle in the plan.

“No, I don’t think so. I’m… tired from the carriage ride here. It was quite long.”

It had only been two hours, but he didn’t need to know that. For all he knew, I was visiting from the most distant Fae township, wherever that might be.

“I understand,” he said. “There are some comfortable benches along that wall.”

He pointed to the other side of the room. “I’ll escort you there, and we can sit and talk.”

Lands, he was persistent. And quite charming.

His smile was tying my insides into knots that would takeweeksto unravel.

If I lived that long.

I needed to excuse myself and get away from this man before we got into actual conversation, during which I was sure to get lost in those tourmaline eyes and say the wrong thing, revealing my ruse.

Before I could open my mouth to ask where the washrooms were, another man approached us, smiling widely. He looked vaguely familiar. Tall and big-boned, his height was almost equal to my unlikely suitor’s.

“Good evening, brother,” he said. “And who is this lovely lady? You didwell.”

When I heard his voice, I recognized him. It was Sam, my marketplace acquaintance. It took effort to keep my mouth from dropping open.

Having only seen him filthy and bloodied, I would never have predicted he’d clean upthiswell.

His glacier-blue eyes were so much brighter now that they weren’t swollen and ringed with bruises. The nose that had been broken that day was once again straight and elegant.

The dirty blond hair I’d seen in the Rough Market wasn’t dirty anymore. Falling just to his shoulders, it was a slightly wavy golden blond with a few lighter sunstreaks at the crown and framing his temples.

Damn these Elven men and their unsporting camouflage.

They were already so much more powerful than us—did they really need the extra advantage of being impossibly good-looking?

There was no recognition at all in his eyes when he looked at me. The Earthwife’s disguise spell seemed to be working on him.

My escort frowned at Sam, who was apparently his brother.

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