“You’re nervous,” Endymion said with a soft chuckle.
“I don’t understand, how can fae detect such things?”
“You know we have heightened senses, yes?”
I nodded.
“Do you know what they are?”
“No.”
“But you’ve hunted before.”
“Yes.”
“And you understand the predators of your land?”
“Of course.”
“Well, our senses are like that of a predator. Our ears can detect subtle changes in heartbeats. When you’re nervous, your heartbeat flutters at a faster pace; now, this could also indicate other things, such as fear—but combined with your scent, I can tell it’s nerves.”
“You can smell emotions?”
“Yes.”
“All emotions?”
“Yes.” He chuckled, amusement dancing in his eyes.
“Does every emotion have the same scent, even in different people, or does it vary?”
“Everyone has their own distinct fragrance, but emotions in general have a signature as unique as each flower, some sweet and pleasant, others soft and almost nonexistent, and some acrid.” His nose crinkled at the last word. “For example, when we were in the hallway, you went from anger, which is akin to hot, stale summer air, to cold fury, which smells of hoarfrost.”
“You can smell hoarfrost?”
He smiled. “We can smell everything, but our auditory senses are better than our olfactory ones, namely because we can hear something before we can smell it. Being in close proximity to someone always gives us more information.”
“So, Amos could smell my terror, but my heartbeat told him something contrary?”
Endymion gave me a pained look, hesitating before he answered. “Yes and no. The thing is, Nyleeria, your scent can be…confusing.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Okay, pretend your eyes are closed and you’ve been given a bouquet of flowers. Typically, when someone is emoting, it’s a single scent, as if the whole bouquet were roses. One sniff and you can identify them as such, but not what color they are, that’s what your eyes are for—and, in our case, ears. When you combine the two, you’re sure of what’s in front of you or of what emotion someone is experiencing.” He paused, making sure I was following, and I nodded for him to continue.
“Now, pretend your eyes are closed again. You’re given a different bouquet; only this one has too many varietals to discern by scent alone. Yes, some give themselves away, like lilies, but the undertones make you certain that it’s not the only one present. Upon opening your eyes, you’re surprised to find a set of white roses. So, based on scent alone, you know your eyes are deceiving you, or your sense of smell is, or that there’s something wrong with these roses—for they aren’t exhibiting the normal qualities of roses at all.”
I latched onto his every word, fascinated at how beautifully complex it all was.
“Sometimes, like in the hallway, your scent is simple, or one type of flower. Other times, like when you addressed Wymond, it’s a complicated bouquet of emotions that are nearly impossible to disentangle. None of us were with you when Amos held you at the ball; however, I suspect he picked out terror from your complicated bouquet, but couldn’t confirm it with your heartbeat. With you, two of our most powerful senses are at odds, meaning we’re blind to your emotions—particularly when they’re complicated. We’re confident in our senses, which have been honed over centuries. So, when we have to decide if our senses are deceiving us, or if what’s being presented is, we’re prone to assume the latter—because the rose in front of us isn’t acting like a rose at all.”
“Oh,” I breathed, my mind reorienting to this new information. He’d described it in a way that allowed me to truly understand how they felt around me. It would be unnerving to look at a bouquet of roses and know in your bones that they weren’t supposed to be roses at all. This didn’t excuse any of their behavior, but I could appreciate that feeling, even if there was nothing I could do about it. Maybe it was because of the spark, or maybe this was just me.
“Yeah,” he agreed, giving me a soft smile as he let out a small sigh.
“And my companions aren’t like that? This isn’t just a human thing?” I asked.
“No, it’s not. You feel more emotions at once than I think any ofyour companions have shown in their lives. In fact, you can tell they are trained warriors from how they don’t allow emotion to surface.”
