Clenching my fists, I stiffened my spine and glared back at him. His opinion didn’t matter. It only stung because I’d let my guard down—a mistake I wouldn’t make again anytime soon.
“One more thing,” he murmured, stepping toward me, reaching toward my face. When I flinched back, he hesitated. “May I?”
Slowly, I nodded, unsure what exactly I was agreeing to.
“Hold still,” he murmured, invading my space a bit slower this time.
I inhaled sharply at the light pressure of his fingers on my forehead and cheeks.
He closed his eyes.
When he stayed like that for a moment, I started to relax. Then those sharp blue eyes opened again, just a few inches from mine. Moving slowly, he brought his hand to my ear, lifting my hair slightly to trace the tip.
I shivered.
If he noticed, he didn’t say anything, just moved to my other ear and did the same thing.
This time, I was prepared. I clamped my teeth together to avoid any reaction.
But I wasn’t ready for the way he moved to cup my cheeks with both hands, stroking his thumbs across my eyebrows and down the sides of my face achingly slowly.
My lips parted despite my best efforts.
Bit by bit, Soren pulled his hands away and took one slow step back, studying my face.
I was barely breathing.
“That should do it.” He nodded to himself, turned on one heel, and moved down the tunnel without looking back.
My lungs yanked back into motion, firing rapidly, like they were making up time for the way I’d held my breath a second ago. I jogged after him. “What was that?”
“A glamour,” he said, glancing at me briefly. “They can be a bit fragile on humans. I’d recommend keeping your hair over your ears when possible. Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“Failure.”
Oh, great. That totally clears it up for me.I hated when people answered questions with the least information possible. It seemed to be Soren’s favorite hobby.
I lifted a hand to touch the tip of one of my ears, expecting to feel a point, but it didn’t feel any different.
A glamour is an illusion, I reminded myself.Not real.
“Can I see it?” I asked, glancing behind us at the tunnel that led back to the bathroom. Just a peek...
“No.” He glanced at me and must’ve caught the disappointment all over my face because his lip twitched upward. “I focused all my efforts into how it will affect onlookers, since I have no need to deceive you.”
“Oh.”
The way he’d worded that reminded me of the fae who’d deceived Dad into thinking they were police officers.
But... I’d seen through that. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“It will.” Soren’s confidence as we strode through the library toward the front door was unflappable.
That annoying lack of information again. If he was going to treat me like an obnoxious kid with never-ending questions, fine. I could lean into that. “How can you be sure?’
He sighed, stopping with one hand on the doorknob. “Glamours are a complicated subject. They vary widely depending on the fae who use them. But suffice it to say, while the potency of some might weaken or fail to hold up under scrutiny, they happen to be a strength of mine. I have both a natural affinity as well as the help of an enchanted object.” He patted the breast pocket of his jacket but made no move to take this supposed enchanted object out.
