27
" 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 the daoine sìth have on humans. People willingly become victims for a single touch from a faery, for a moment of closeness. Before the daoine sìth were 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. "
― Elizabeth May , The Falconer (The Falconer, #1)
35
" 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. "
― Elizabeth May , The Falconer (The Falconer, #1)