Page 45 of Lord of the Hollow Court
Katty began to gasp for air, finding it could not enter her lungs. She was a mess—nothing was right. Everyone could see. The moment the gathered fae finished their shouts, they’d take stock of her andknow.
They’ll see you’re just a miller’s daughter.And the one cardinal rule her mother had instilled in her was this: Never let on that you’re a miller’s daughter. “You’ll never get anywhere in life if you don’t act every bit as good as Katrina de Vries,” was the usual phrase.
“Katty?” Braam said, voice distant and near at once, lips almost on the shell of her ear. “Katty, are you unwell?”
As the cheering subsided, she heard it: the whispers. The jeers were so unlike those they’d been sent off with. These were unkind, vile hisses, full of foul words. Every bad thing Katty had ever thought about herself repeated in a rhythm over and over.
Peasant.
Fool.
Ugly, hopeless cow.
Simpering idiot, scrabbling after the wealthy’s scraps.
No one wants you here. No one. They know you don’t belong. Why don’t you make aneffortfor once? Why can’t you be more like Katrina de Vries? Nowshewould’ve made a fine lady. But you—
You’re nothing.
The musical vitriol seized her like her mother’s screech, the beat of it driving into her bones, drawing her toward the center of the room.
“The lady wishes to dance,” someone exclaimed. “Make room for the Lady of the Hollow Court!” To Katty’s ears it sounded like a taunt.
Hugo turned, surprise registering on his face. As his cat eyes blinked in surprise, a flush spread over his delicate fae features. For a moment, Katty could almost ignore his horns and wings and believe he was a shy human boy from Sleepy Hollow. When he extended his hand to her for a dance, she accepted, following the fae way, her feet finding the perfect steps. Unlike at human balls, their hands touched instead of hovering, and when he grasped her at the waist to lift her, she felt as though she could float away.
The voices receded. Katty laughed with joy as Hugo lifted her again.
As she hung above the crowd, lifted higher than the other girls, she spotted Rineke.Rineke. I was so awful to you.Katty allowed herself another joyful sound. She knew how to make it right.
As she and Hugo circled one another, she pushed him toward Rineke.
Rineke’s mouth opened in exclamation as she caught the horned fae, his black and gold wings folding forward like a protective shell. Trying to right him, Rineke’s hands went to his wings and waist. The moment Hugo realized who helped him was all too clear: his face nearly turned purple.
Rineke said something to him, a crass joke to lighten the mood as she so often did. Katty could not hear it. Did not need to hear it. Hugo and Rineke’s eyes locked, and a soft blush warmed Rineke’s cheeks. One awkward moment later, their hands touched, and they joined the dance, still stealing shy glances at one another as they crossed the floor.
Satisfied, Katty stood apart from the dancers, arms folded beneath her chest.
What are you doing?a taunting voice demanded.You don’t belong here. You never will. You think yourself a lady?You?
The voice was back—or was it someone in the crowd? She searched desperately for a speaker, fearing her mother. The voice sounded so like it, her accent just the same, that Katty expected to see her mother’s frown peering back at her from between faerie wings. But the sound was warped by the fiddle. It was just a mistake. Just her imagination. Someone bumped into Katty’s shoulder. A wing brushed her, its translucent edges shockingly painful as it grazed her lip.
Graceless fool. What, are you a tippler, too?
“Milady!” Another blushing fae was before her, a tall woman who lacked faerie wings. “May I—”
“Yes,” Katty said eagerly, clasping the fae woman’s hands as the voice drifted away. They twirled, Katty taking the part of the man. How peculiar, that she still knew all the steps. It seemed these fae dances were that easy to follow. As the dancers parted into separate lines, Katty found herself next to Hugo, feeling a little out of breath.
“Thank you,” Hugo tried to whisper over the sound of the music and dancers’ stomping feet. “You’re awfully good at this dance. Who taught you?”
But no one had. Sweat dripped from Katty’s brow. “You should talk to Rineke,” she said. “I’m sure she’d enjoy your conversation.”
“Not with me, milady,” Hugo said as they surged toward the center of the room, and then they were crossing the floor, heading in opposite directions. She could no longer speak to him. Perhaps it was for the best, as Katty did not understand how they could be that hopeless. She’d literally shoved them together.
As she met her tall partner again, she peered beneath the fae’s arm. Rineke and Hugo were making eyes at each other again. Why couldn’t they justtalk?
“You’re a marvelous dancer, milady,” the fae woman said. “A worthy match for our lord.”
“You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that,” Katty replied.
