“Did Carlyle go after Bertie again?” Thornwood asked.
“No. Roger did not return to school—he would have graduated that year but he decided it was best for everyone if he stepped away. Bertie was devastated, though. He felt like he had ruined things for Roger. My uncle behaved like a human for once in his life. He contacted the dean of the college, threatening him with the loss of not only his financial backing, but also that of the other members of his club in London. The dean took the bait, and he suspended Carlyle. It took Carlyle another year to graduate, but he did not bother Bertie again. At least, not directly.”
“And that made him more spiteful.”
“You know humans better than you think.” Mouse smiled limply at him. “Bertie was never ashamed of who he was. It was fear for my uncle and for…someone else he loved that kept Bertie silent at Eton, not fear for himself. At least, that’s what he told me.”
Mouse groaned. “But I’ve failed Bertie. Carlyle gets everything, all because of the bloody taxidermy and nonsense about us staying in the same house together. We should have lied. Why didn’t we lie?”
Thornwood raised an eyebrow.
“Why didn’tIlie?” Mouse corrected herself.
She drifted to the radiator under the window, pressing into the warmth.
“Thistlemarsh will be Carlyle’s in the morning,” she stated. The words tasted like ash in her mouth.
“If we do nothing, yes. It will be his,” Thornwood said. “But there is another way.”
Mouse almost laughed. “I don’t think giving you a lock of my hair or my back teeth will prevent Carlyle now.”
“I am not asking for a lock of your hair.”
Mouse tore her eyes from the window. Thornwood’s features were even sharper, his mouth wider, and his hair mussed as though he had just been out in a storm. The flames in the fireplace reached toward him, sparks curling in his direction before guttering in midair.
“What would you ask for?” Mouse asked. “If we were to deal.”
“Your name.”
The fire stretched further into the room at his words. She shuddered. How could it still be so cold? Thornwood’s eyes fixed on her, and when she met them, she could see that they were brighter, inhuman. Something strange was happening, although she could not focus on the cause.
“What do you want with my name?”
He tsked and started to pace again. “It is not about what I want. We can beat Carlyle at his game, if you give me your name.”
“How would that change anything?”
He leaned closer. “You told me that your uncle’s will stated that to keep Thistlemarsh, you must either complete repairs on the house,which was frankly impossible and ridiculous without the use of magic, or marry, correct? You assumed your uncle thought the second demand would be even more difficult. After all, who would you find in such a short period willing to overlook the state of Thistlemarsh and your unsavory background? But it is not impossible.”
Mouse stared at him blankly, her mind tripping to catch up.
“Must I spell it out for you?” he asked.
“Are you asking me to marry you?”
“Yes, for the last few minutes now.”
Mouse blinked at him. His features seemed to shift in the light. “You would marry me in exchange for my name?”
“Isn’t that the custom among humans anyway? It would just be the groom taking the name of the bride. In a more literal way, perhaps, but the idea is the same.”
“But we barely know each other,” Mouse said. “Not to mention the fact that you aren’t even human.”
“Neither of those things matters in this case. To any onlooker, you are marrying a deposed foreign lord. You will follow in the long line of aristocrats who marry for convenience. Besides, this morning you said that you feel as though you’ve known me for years.”
Everything was happening too fast, and her mind was slower than it had ever been before. As her thoughts shouted out reasons for her not to accept Thornwood’s offer, she could not focus on a single one. She tried to recall anything fromBlakeney’s. What were the consequences for a mortal marrying a Faerie? What happened to the woman who had escaped the guillotine with the last Faerie in France? Or to the Faerie Bridegroom’s first wife?
Mouse wondered if she would share their fates.