“Well, ah, Dreamland opens tonight,” Kazrian said, not yet willing to let the conversation end.
“Yes.” Lucie brightened. “Lady Mariselle must be thrilled.”
“She has been talking of little else.”
“Every year I hear such extraordinary things about it.” Something soft and longing touched her face. “I should love to see inside Dreamland one day.”
The words left his mouth before his mind had any say in the matter. “You should come tonight.”
A blink. “What?”
“To Dreamland.”
Lucie stared at him. The warmth in her expression shifted into something careful and uncertain. “Oh, no. I—I cannot. Surely you must realize that I …”
“You?”
“I could not possibly accompany a fae lord to—well, it is simply not done.”
“Oh, no. No, of course not.” The words tumbled out. “I did not mean it that way. Not that you would comewith me. That is—I was not suggesting—” He was making this worse. “It was more … ah … that if you wish to experience it, then you should.”
His gaze darted about the lane as though a solution might be lurking behind one of the stalls. “Oh.” His gaze shot back to her. “Rosavyn.”
“Rosavyn?”
“The two of you are still friendly, are you not? Through your sister Charlotte.”
“Well … yes.”
“So you would not be with me.” He felt his face warming. “Well, notonlyme. Not—not alone with me, which would be entirely—I would never—” He stopped. Closed his eyes for a moment. Drew a breath.
Start again, Kazrian.
“There would be nothing improper at all,” he said, slower now, “about visiting Dreamland with your friend Rosavyn. And Rosavyn will of course invite her good friend Charlotte. So you would be there with Charlotte and her husband and Rosavyn, and if you would prefer not to see me at all, then I shall stay far away from?—”
“Oh, no, it is not that. I did not mean that I do not want to see you.” Lucie’s hands moved to the handle of her basket, gripping it. “I should very much like to go. However …” She hesitated. “There is one other … complication.”
“Complication?”
“Dreamland is …” She trailed off. Her gaze dropped briefly to her basket and then returned to him, and he saw in her expression that she was trying to communicate something without saying it aloud. Something he was clearly failing to understand. “Well, ah, most human families are not in the position to …”
It took him another moment. Then understanding struck him, and he felt like an absolute fool. Of course. Dreamland was not a public garden or a morning promenade. It was an exclusive, ticketed event, priced for the sort of purse that did not need to think twice. For Lucie and her family, it was likely an extravagance they would never even contemplate.
“Oh! No. Of course. Forgive me, I should have—that is not a concern. The advantages of being related to the founders. Complimentary admission.”
Lucie ducked her head, her gaze on the basket again. “I, however, am not related to the founders of Dreamland.”
“But your good friend Rosavyn is. How remarkably convenient is that?”
She studied him for a moment. “Rosavyn does not even know of the existence of this idea.”
“Rosavyn will embrace this idea with considerable enthusiasm. That I can guarantee.”
“You cannot simply decide on your sister’s behalf?—”
“I can, in fact. I know her well, and I am exceedingly confident in this prediction.”
The corner of Lucie’s mouth twitched. She pressed her lips together as though to prevent the smile from forming, but it was too late. He had seen it.
