“Thank you for this,” said Demelza. She was trying to make herself slow down as she ate, but it only served to anger her stomach.
“I am in the company of a mythical being who is helping me survive—I am the one who is thankful,” said Arris. He reached for a glass on the table and raised it in her direction.
Demelza decided not to inform him that he was holding a candle.
“Mythical,” echoed Demelza, laughing.
“If I may… how did your parents meet?”
“My father plucked out the eyes of a blue-eyed prince so he would look more innocent, then he courted my mother until she fell in love with him, thus trapping her to his side forever,” said Demelza.
Arris blinked. “What?”
“As far as these things go, they’re reasonably happy,” said Demelza.
“Is that bit about the necklace true?” asked Arris.
“That when we fall in love a necklace appears in the hands of our beloved?”
Arris nodded.
“It is,” said Demelza. She touched her bare throat.
“Does it hurt?”
“I wouldn’t know and I hope I never do.”
“Really?” asked Arris.
“I have no desire to be trapped,” said Demelza.
“And I have no desire to be killed, but you have to admit that love is dazzling,” said Arris. “Can you imagine it? To be entrusted with someone’s heart… to be all the radiance in their world? To be the only shelter in which they know both safety and bliss?”
Against her will, Demelza found that every word pulled on her like an enchanted tether. She was leaning toward him. The firelight splashed over his face and his brown eyes turned luminous. What would it be like to make room for someone in her very soul?
A log snapped in the fireplace and Demelza drew back. Once more, her hand went to her neck. She busied herselfwith the rest of the dish, ignoring the frantic cadence of her heartbeat.
“And what would it be like to know that your safety is not guaranteed?” she asked. “What would it be like to live as prey, your very soul in the hands of someone who could change their mind and devastate you?”
“Not one for trust, are you?”
“A veritas swan’s love is the end of her life,” said Demelza. “Once she loves, her life and limb are tethered to her beloved. Once they have the key to her heart, they can change her form. And even if she tried to be free… even if she tried to kill them to get away, there’s no point. The loss of a veritas swan’s beloved is the loss of her life.”
“That’s terrifying,” said Arris, but he did not seem too bothered.
“And you?” asked Demelza. “How can you possibly hold any trust in love?”
“I am in possession of a very peculiar kind of hope,” said Arris. “It’s a strong variety, of the kind one usually only finds when approaching the hangman’s noose.” He raised the empty candle again in a toast. “That said, I trust my instincts. I know what I’m doing.”
“You have been raising toasts with a jar that used to hold a candle. In fact, it does not even remotely resemble a goblet.”
Arris glanced at the jar, momentarily bemused.
“To imagination, then!” he said. “And to love! May the existential panic of such a devastating emotion be worth it!”
Demelza huffed out a laugh. She reached for a candle that was actually lit and clinked it to his, and though earliershe had imagined the room felt a touch cold, when Arris smiled, all she felt was warmth.
Somehow, this pattern of visits continued. The next time, Arris brought blown sugar baubles that tasted of wild roses, followed by a roasted fish with mirror-bright scales, and then a tea of steeped blood grass and then an edible bouquet of spicy, stinging lilies.
